Journal with Witch - my AOTS and probably AOTY. I know it’s very early to say that, but this was such an exceptional experience that I seriously doubt I’m gonna see anything better this year. A fantastic story with outstanding, realistic characters and great dialogues, that approaches you with a maturity you rarely see in anime. If you haven’t seen this, do yourself a favor and try it. It’s melancholic but heartwarming, can bring you to tears but also make you laugh. This show is like life itself.

Oshi no Ko S3 - what can I say. This season has everything I love OnK for – the drama, the grounded insight into the entertainment industry, and, most importantly, some great interactions between my favorite characters. At some points it gets a little cringe, but we all know Aqua. The direction is so good that I don’t care.

Frieren S2 - writing in this season of Frieren didn’t feel as good as in S1. I think they handled flashbacks much more tactfully back then. In this season, various events feel more disjointed, and it gives me the impression that they’re playing it safe at some points, instead of slowly building a bigger narrative brick by brick, intertwining the past and present. The direction is doing a lot of heavy lifting to keep it in decent shape. Despite that, it’s still a very good show. I liked that it had more lightweight comedic moments that actually made me laugh. The fight sequences were really well done too. I hope we won’t have to wait too long for the continuation.

JJK S3 - this is probably the best JJK has ever been when it comes to direction and animation quality. I like how they incorporated some references to iconic scenes from popular movies like Kill Bill and The Matrix. JJK never disappoints when it comes to fight choreography, and this time it was awesome in that regard as well. Can’t wait for the second cour.

You and I Are Polar Opposites - an awesome romcom with multiple pairings, where every character could be the MC of their own show. Every episode made me smile. I wasn’t expecting much, but it became one of my favorite shows of the season.

Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider - It had some ups and downs but more of the former, and it probably won’t be as funny on a rewatch, but overall it’s a great show that made me laugh a lot over the past 6 months.

Golden Kamuy S5 - it’s rare to see a full adaptation, and even less common when the adaptation is good, but in this case it actually is. This season doesn’t reach the heights of S3; it’s more serious and gory, but it’s still a lot of fun. Hinna hinna.

Fate/strange Fake - after already seeing several Fate shows, I knew what to expect, and it’s exactly what I got. As usual, there’s hardly any plot, but I like to turn my brain off and watch how the battle royale unfolds. When it comes to quality of the visuals, it’s probably my favorite version of Fate.

Hell’s Paradise S2 - this was an improvement in every regard compared to the first season. The characters feel more fleshed out, we get a glimpse into the world of the antagonists, and there are more character interactions that don’t only boil down to fighting. I’ve never been a big fan of this show but this season was really solid.

Sentenced to be a Hero - I don’t quite get how this got such a fabulous adaptation. The story doesn’t feel like it deserves this amount of care, because the production quality is top tier while the plot feels like your typical cookie-cutter fantasy show you get every season.

Shiboyugi - I’m not sure what to think about this. I really liked the first few episodes because they gave me the impression that the story would have something more behind it. But later it felt like there was more and more style over substance as the series went on. Overall, I think I will remember this series mostly for the direction because only that kept me interested. After seeing this show and Gimai Seikatsu before, I think Souta Ueno proved himself a very talented director, and I cannot wait to see him in charge of a more ambitious project.

Tamon’s B-Side - it had a fun start, but it was reusing the same kind of joke over and over so I got bored quickly and dropped it after 4 episodes.

There was a Cute Girl in the Hero’s Party - that’s just stupid isekai slop, I’ve got nothing more to say.

The Holy Grail of Eris - the premise seemed interesting, but the direction sucked, so I dropped it after 2 episodes

Roll Over and Die - another typical fantasy show, only this time with a female MC and some yuri, I think. Dropped after 2 episodes

The Darwin Incident - the idea for the show was really interesting. The story takes place in the USA, but it feels like the author is trying to tell something serious while having learned about America through movies and memes, so everything he portrays comes off as surface-level at best and plain ridiculous at worst. Dropped after 8 episodes.

Dead Account - the most shouneny battle shounen that ever shounened. The first episodes used pretty much every battle shounen trope they could, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. Also, the MC was insufferable. Dropped after 2 episodes.

Champignon Witch - at first it felt like an interesting, somewhat dark fairy tale, but it quickly got repetitive, the characters were one-dimensional, and generally it gave me an impression that the story stood still. I’ve given up after 8 episodes. It has cool opening song, tho

To Your Eternity S3 - I literally cannot understand how this was written by the same person who came up with S1. This is such a jumbled mess that I don’t even know what to say. Instead of playing to its strengths, it introduces a bunch of useless and annoying characters, inappropriate jokes that ruin the mood, and on top of that sometimes it feels like Fushi is mentally regressing despite his age. It’s a terrible drop in quality and I’m only still watching because I had a slight hope it would bounce back at the end, but no. It’s awful all the way through. I won’t be watching S4.

Gnosia - It was fun in the beginning, later had its ups and downs, some plot holes here and there. I think many characters didn’t have enough time to be fleshed out. Overall, not terrible for a game adaptation, but also not great.

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! - cosmic yuri, teehee. Pretty good movie, ngl. The visuals were spectacular

Love Through a Prism - a nice anime original; a coming-of-age story mixed with some romance. Nothing special, but not bad. Has gorgeous backgrounds.

Beastars Final Season Part 2 - I haven’t finished it yet but it seems like the problems I’ve seen in previous seasons still prevail. Paru has some great ideas but once she lays out the canvas, she starts to toss around and makes some really questionable choices.