At this point in time, the Summer seasonal shows have mostly wrapped up and the Fall shows are getting started. So, I wanted to hear your thoughts on shows you watched this season. Shows you liked, disliked, were surprised by, disappointed by? Let those opinions rip!
Please feel free to use this thread as a normal weekly discussion thread as well! Anything that would normally be in the weekly discussion thread any other week is welcome here.
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
The Ghost in the Shell - 9/10 - My favorite take on GitS so far (that said, I haven’t seen SAC yet). I liked pretty much everything about it. My only complaint is the breakneck pacing, but it only bothered me in dialogue-heavy scenes
Mushoku Tensei S3 - 9/10 - an outstanding season. It looks like the production woes are gone (remember cafeteria scenes in S2 where no one in the background moves? Forget it. Nothing like that happens this time). It started on a high note and ended on even higher one. None other series excited me as much as this one in this season. Can’t wait to see S3P2
Goodbye, Lara - 9/10 - Wonderful story that surprised me both with the quality of writing and great production values. The ending was pretty abrupt, but I don’t think that makes it bad. The series would have benefited from another 10 minutes of runtime, though.
You and I Are Polar Opposites S2 - 9/10 - hands down the best romcom of the year. I don’t even know which season I like more, this or the first one
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - 8/10 - I had high expectations because of Naoko Yamada’s involvement, and while it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be (I didn’t like the time jumps), it was still a very interesting tale, with an original art style, that leaves you wanting more.
Draw This, Then Die! - 8/10 - probably my biggest surprise of the season. I expected some SoL CGDCT, but it turned out to be a very touching story of a former mangaka in disguise
Chainsmoker Cat - 8/10 - deranged story, foul comedy, mixed with a sad reflection on addiction. I absolutely love it. It had some ups and downs, but a lot of it was absolutely hilarious. Best anti-smoking ad I’ve seen in a while.
Dara-san of the Reiwa Era - 8/10 - another surprisingly good story. This one was solid throughout the whole runtime, mixing backstory of a yokai with modern day comedic shenanigans. Also great for big titty connoisseurs 😏
Though I Am an Inept Villainess - 7/10 - they said it’s like The Apothecary Diaries, but the only similarities I noticed are the character designs and that it’s a court drama. It’s less grounded and more magical, but that said, it’s also quite fun, even though the ending wasn’t very satisfying
Daemons of the Shadow Realm - 7/10 - it had a great start, well written characters, and an interesting premise, but at the end of the second cour it lost the initial momentum and it felt like the author didn’t know how to transition from one arc to another. Also it feels like we didn’t achieve any significant milestone, even after 24 episodes, which is quite disappointing, and there were a lot of unnecessary cliffhangers. You could shift the whole story 3 minutes forward, and none of them would be necessary.
Saga of Tanya the Evil S2 - 7/10 - more political than S1, apart from episode 1 3DCG did not improve, the last battle felt like it was missing some parts, and for me it feels like the show lost some charm. But it was still quite entertaining, despite all that
SHIBOYUGI: CLOUDY BEACH - 7/10 - more Shiboyugi. IMO maintains the level known from the series
The World Is Dancing - 6/10 - the first two or three episodes were amazing, with hypnotizing performances and incredible mood, but after that it starts meandering and never goes back to that magical atmosphere from the first part. Production quality is really good tho.
Grow Up Show - 6/10 - fun anime original. Some great reaction faces from Mizuka
Tensura S4 - 6/10 - the first cour could have been an e-mail. The second baited us with some actual stakes but ended with the usual nonsense. This show hasn’t been the same ever since Rimuru became so powerful that he can solve any issue.
RE:ZERO S4 - 5/10 - I’d have to write entire essay to justify this score, but the gist is that I can’t force myself to grow into liking these characters, and from psychological horror it turned into something that resembles your typical isekais too much. This season had some strong episodes that reminded me of S1 and S2, but they were just few and far between
I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day - 5/10 - the story has an interesting premise, but it feels like the studio couldn’t bear the weight of the story, and the execution left me unimpressed
Sparks of Tomorrow - 4/10 - beautiful visuals, music, designs, absolute dogshit story. One of the worst shows by KyoAni I’ve seen. It made me laugh a few times, tho, I admit that
KAIJU GIRL CARAMELISE - 5/10 (dropped) - not enough com in this romcom for my liking
Clevatess S2 - 5/10 (dropped) - the exposition dumps killed it for me
Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky - 4/10 (dropped) - I didn’t even get to the interesting bits, I just couldn’t stand the never ending monologues in MCs head about every little action he had to perform
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You - 4/10 (dropped) - just meh, and I couldn’t stand that MC is over 40 but acts like a teenager meeting a woman for the first time
Victoria of Many Faces - 4/10 (dropped) - subpar direction with meh story
The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System 3/10 - (dropped) - I was just morbidly curious what GoHands show looks like. It made me nauseous
Mebius Dust - 3/10 (dropped) - absolute slop
Oof, that sucks; I was considering picking it up again.
I was going to ask if this season of Re:Zero is more similar to the earlier seasons or the latest one, but you have answered it before I have to ask.
Guess it shall stay dropped 🤷
To elaborate a bit, this used to be a show about Subaru fighting himself, his insecurities, and imperfections. That was accompanied by some nice psychological horror which led to Subaru changing in significant ways. But ever since S2 ended, it feels like Subaru’s character development stalled, and now he’s this new man who faces external challenges and finds clever ways to overcome them with the power of RBD. It became repetitive.
Also I hate the archbishop they’re fighting in this season. Every time I see them on screen I roll my eyes, because not a single word that falls out of their mouth makes sense. (I’m exaggerating, but I really hate them)
And the questions keep pilling up. We’re getting very few answers but more and more questions, and I’m tired with this.
I know it makes sense how others see him, given that they only see the golden path that makes Subaru look like superhuman, but all that fawning over him from other characters makes for a poor relationship on screen. There’s also no chemistry between him and Emilia, and IMO never was. And generally I never watched this for the characters other than Subaru. They all didn’t appear convincing and authentic to me, but I watched it for the mystery. Now I stopped caring about the mystery too.
FWIW everyone else I know disagrees quite a bit. I personally think it resembles seasons 1 & 2 more than 3, and my friends and family who are watching the show all agree that this is the best season yet.
Ooh
I shall check out a few episodes then.