Summary

Longing for each new episode

• Goodbye, Lara
• Mushoku Tensei S3
• Re:zero S4
• Grand Blue S3

Worth my time

• Ghost in the Shell
• A Witch in Mongolia
• Smoking Behind the Supermarket
• Yani Neko
• Youjo Senki
• The Elusive Samurai S2
• Iron Wok
• Liar Game

Mixed Feelings

• World is Dancing
• Sparks of Tomorrow
• Daemons of the Shadow Realm
• Clevatess S2

Waste of Time

• Hellmode S2

The Goods (in no particular order)

• Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You - It’s sweet. I really love Tamaya’s manager and Sasaki’s coworker. Tamaya also knows how to have some fun, though Sasaki himself could use a little more personality.
• The Elusive Samurai Season 2 - The original manga was already pretty weird, but season 2 of the anime has solidly placed it in “batshit insane” territory, all while telling a good and coherent story. Honestly this one might’ve ended up with “the greats” if “the goods” section didn’t look so lonely.
• Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - An excellent and very unusual anime. Cutest Mongols you’ll ever see. This is another one I wavered on when categorizing, but I just didn’t find myself looking forward to each new episode as much as I did with some other shows.

The Greats (in no particular order)

• Re:ZERO - This season had everything. New enemies and obstacles? Check. Ram reminding us she’s best girl? Check. Cool new fantasy environment? Double check. Subaru dying in horrible ways? Sooo many check. He did get some new clothes so he doesn’t look homeless anymore though, so good for him.
• You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2 - Season 1 was incredibly cute and incredibly well-executed. Season 2? Also incredibly cute, also incredibly well-executed.
• The Ghost in the Shell - What can I say? I liked the 1995 film and loved Stand-Alone Complex, but this stands above even that for me. Truly a great Ghost in the Shell experience; I really hope we get more of it.
• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You Season 3 - My favorite character (Naddy) has finally been introduced, and I’m extremely pleased with how she was handled. They also introduced another character I don’t care so much for, but overall this season was hilarious. An absolute riot.
• Goodbye, Lara - A very sweet Little Mermaid story. Feels more like a Miyazaki movie than perhaps any other non-Miyazaki thing I’ve ever seen. The ending wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t bad enough to ruin an otherwise excellent show.
• Daemons of the Shadow Realm - A new action-adventure anime based off an Arakawa manga and animated by Bones? Sign me up! The characters? Charming. The enemies? Menacing. The main character? Kind of crazy, but in a way you can understand as you learn more about how he grew up. This show was a blast, and I look forward to getting more of it whenever that (surely) happens in the future.

The Rest (in descending order of goodness)

• Clevatess Season 2 - It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t as good as the first season. Probably my biggest disappointment of the season; I’m not certain I’ll watch a third season if they ever make one.
• KAIJU GIRL CARAMELISE - For such a fun premise this show was boring af.
• The Exiled Heavy Knight Something Something Something Something - I started watching because I wanted to experience the notorious GoHands cinematography. Oh boy did that first episode not disappoint; this might be the first time I’ve thought an anime was actually difficult to look at. Unfortunately there are other problems; the story is just the same dull isekai slop you’re likely imagining from the title and the pacing is awful. On top of that, recent episodes haven’t even been doing insane camera movements or any of the other weird shit that made this show pique my interest in the first place. Lately it’s just been kinda boring.

Not From This Season

• Devilman Crybaby - This has to be the most batshit insane anime I’ve ever seen, and that includes Mind Game. It’s the perfect show for anyone who wants to watch a very nsfw story about a guy trying his best to do what he can for a perilous world, accompanied by his friend Evil Tomoyo.

Silly awards time!

• Most Disappointing: This one’s a tie. First up, Buchigire Reijou wa Houfuku wo Chikaimashita/A Livid Lady’s Guide etc. I dropped this abruptly mid-season when the main character decided that taking out innocent third parties as part of her revenge was apparently just fine and didn’t deserve even a moment of guilt. Secondly, Rakudai Kenja/Talentless Sage. After a surprisingly good opening episode (considering the hackneyed premise), this one proceeded to gradually drop the ball as it acquired a harem trope, then descended into utterly unnecessary torture-porn for an episode and a half to emphasise that one of the antagonists was a really really really bad person, m’kay? The sheer amount of material suggests disturbing proclivities on the part of the original author. To add insult to injury, the antagonist whose evils they spent so much time lovingly detailing was a total pushover the MC spent less than five minutes trashing afterwards.
• Most Motion-Sickness Inducing: The Exiled Heavy Knight etc. I mean, it’s GoHands—enough said.
• Best Use of a School Setting: Clevatess . . . because it largely ignores that it’s a school setting that the characters have been sent to infiltrate. There’s no time wasted on school cultural festivals or on the characters panicking because one of the other students asks them an innocent question.
• Most Pleasant Surprise: Sayonara Lara. I almost didn’t watch this one, because I was afraid it would get bogged down in literal fish-out-of-water comedy (which doesn’t interest me), but it managed to maintain its tone despite that aspect.
• Worst Visual Effect: Thunder Three. This is a rather odd show, quite a bit darker than the first episode would lead you to expect. However, the halo of halftone dots around the main characters irritated me beyond measure. It was somehow even worse than the disjointed artwork styles of the runner-up, Exiled Heavy Knight.
• Mascot That’s Most Likely To Eat Your Face: Thunder Three again. It actually has two (arguably three) animal mascots. The bulldog is fine in both versions, but the alien winged mouse critter looks highly suspicious to me. I think it’s the way it always has its tongue sticking out. Anyway, I keep expecting it to eat someone.
• Most Obnoxious Protagonist: Dogulwang/Tomb Raider King. He isn’t really evil or anything, just snarky and exasperating in a way that makes you want to slap him sometimes.
• Best Dragon: Neko to Ryuu/The Cat and the Dragon. Of course.

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

It’s been a neat season. I’ve watched/still watching:

• Clevatess S2: a bit of a downgrade unfortunately. It was flashback and exposition galore which made the pace extremely slow. It was still overall enjoyable. 1 more ep to go though.
• You and I Are Polar Opposites S2: still adorable, but it felt like it was rushing and skipping so much, especially in the 2nd half. Also still 1 ep to go.
• Though I Am An Inept Villainess: really fun. Reirin’s positive attitude is infectious.
• Draw This Then Die: a good, heartfelt anime about creating things and the driving force behind it.
• Jaadugar: a great historical anime in a setting and with cultures you rarely see in anime (or western media for that matter). The artstyle was also very unique and very refreshing. I hope for a 2nd season, because there’s still so much more to see. I did struggle a bit with how nonchalant it was about slavery, at times even almost positive. I guess, in that time period it was normal, but still.
• Kaiju Girl Caramelise: I just binged this one yesterday. It was good, but ending it there was mean. So much that’s left unsaid.
• Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You: like the manga, the atmosphere was great. Had to set aside my gripes with smoking though.

There’s still some I want to watch:

• Goodbye Lara
• Sparks of Tomorrow
• From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman S2
• Ghost in the Shell

Dropped:

• Chainsmoker Cat: too gross for me and I didn’t like how it was essentially taking the piss out on addicts.

On Hold:

• Daemons of the Shadow Realm: actually put it on hold somewhere late last season. I’d been pretty vocal about my gripes with it, but I do want to continue. Now that it’s finished, I’ll probably binge it.

Summer '26 wasn’t a very good season for me. I had high hopes for a lot of shows, but the anime adaptations were lackluster. The frontrunner in this regard is Bookworm Part 3. But also, Livid Lady and Victoria of Many Faces were just bad adaptations. Even Grand Blue was not funny to me, but that was mostly true for the last season as well.

The only show I was looking forward to that didn’t disappoint was Frontier Lord. The animation was nothing to write home about, but at least it stuck to the pace and plot of the light novel. It might have been too slow for anime-onlies, and making the few action scenes a sakuga-fest would have been nice, but I’m happy with what we got.

For the new-to-me shows, I only really enjoyed Chainsmoker Cat and Dara-San. Those two were great, though, but in the end I would just give those 3 shows my stamp of approval. So, not the best season, and the next one looks even weaker for my taste. I hope there will be some surprise hits for me.

I usually binge the season once they have finished airing so I have not started many.

The ones I have started:

Grow Up Show - Sunflower Circus

I am really enjoying it. It reminds me of Medalist. They are both CGDCT with sport, both have some sort of conflict / struggle and lots of fun moments.

Skeleton Knight in another world - Season 2

If you enjoyed Season 1 you will enjoy this season, Arcs personality seems to have changed a little but he keeps his ridiculousness.

This has been a banger of a season. It’s not quite as stacked as Winter 2026, but I’m on track to complete 10 series this season!

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New Anime

Good

BanG Dream! YUME∞MITA

This anime had a very strong start, but started faltering halfway through the season. I am not sure how to put it. Maybe the drama can be better written? To be fair, I don’t think the writing of Ave Mujia (which I enjoyed more) is much better. The thing is, Ave Mujica has quite a few entertaining plot threads and twists. Yume Mita on the other hand has only one big central drama and if that doesn’t deliver, 🤷

Don’t get me wrong - even though it failed to live up to my initial expectations, I still enjoyed it. The girls are cute, the comedic bits can hit at times and the drama is sufficiently engaging IMO. If you are looking for more cute-girls-doing-cute-things (CGDCT) to watch, I’d say this is a decent choice.

Great

Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia

Just like Yume Mita, I find that this anime had a strong hook, but was not as engaging the rest of the season. The story is an extremely slow burn - which is probably a plus point when it comes to making it “realistic”, but that just makes it more boring.

Still, the writing / execution is great, and there aren’t enough historical drama anime. If this subgenre is your cup of tea, definitely check it out.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess

This anime is the opposite of Jaadugar in certain ways. The story is deep like in Jaadugar, but the entertaining factor is up there. The realism factor is completely thrown out of the window with the existence of magic and whatnot, though the most egregious part has to be the timeline. If I understood it right, everything in this anime happened in approximately 2 weeks. 2 weeks! I think fellow watchers know how crazy this is. The characters are also very tropey, and a few of them are just one-dimensional.

But! It was such an entertaining watch. Reirin is such an adorable protagonist. Her antics, though predictable, made things fun.

I got to say, I am surprised that there is a sequel. Now that this part of the story has wrapped up, would the title still apply?

Goodbye, Lara

This is such a beautiful anime. When it comes to fairy tales, I’d usually expect Disney’s works, so seeing one in anime makes it stood out right away. And to make it more interesting, they are showing what happens after.

Honestly, the story and characters are kinda basic. However, the execution is so good. I think this anime has one of the best build-ups towards the climax this season. Glimpses of the big-bad kept me on the edge of my seat, while snippets of drama and backstories kept each episode fresh.

As for the climax: it’s best if you see it for yourself 😉

I am aware that there are controversies surrounding its ending, and though it is not the most satisfying ending ever, I can see the vision. This anime has a a certain direction and I’d say the ending aligns with that. It reminds me of 100 Meters in a way.

Top-Tier

The Cat and the Dragon

This is anime is one of the two biggest surprises for me this season. It’s just about a dragon and some cats, how good can it be?

The episodes in this anime are only loosely connected. We follow the lives of various cats and their interactions with each other, or with their human partners. You’d think with its episodic nature, not as much story-telling can be done, but some of these episodes hit hard. There are genuinely some very emotional moments.

That is not to take away from the cute and wholesome moments. This anime is about cats after all. If you are looking for a healing anime this season, this is it.

Btw, my favourite cat is Mama Nyan. Which is yours?

Peak

Draw This, Then Die!

If I must pick a new anime to be my anime of the season, this is it. It is yet another CGDCT anime, but by god is the story peak.

The protagonist’s journey of learning to create manga is so heartwarming. Even though it is not a sports anime, it is basically an underdog story. With zero experience in creating manga, and no strength in the field but her passion, Yasumi is quite the underdog protagonist.

But like all the other underdog protagonists, she is able to surround herself with great people, great friends whom she worked together with to reach greater heights. It is no wonder with such a lovable personality.

And she is not even the one carrying the show.

The true carry has got to be the deuteragonist, Teshima sensei. Life is not easy and sensei’s story reflects that. Her backstory is something that I think many people can connect with on a deep, personal level. I know cause I am one of them.

Without spoiling too much, I’d say the story can get pretty emotional at times.

On the technical and educational front, it also does a pretty good job IMO. I am a noob and I learnt a thing or two about the manga creation process from this anime. In a way, it is like Shirobako.

In a nutshell, peak characters, story, story-telling and everything else all around. 10 / 10, highly recommend.

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Sequels

Saga of Tanya the Evil - Season 2

This season of Tanya clearly has a different focus from the previous season. Like pretty much all the other great war anime, it started off focusing more heavily on the war itself before switching to politics - i.e. what’s motivating the war.

As such, there are fewer cool aerial fight scenes, but it still managed to deliver when it mattered.

Story and writing-wise, though it is not bad, I think it could have been more impactful. We know this story is based on Europe’s theater in the great wars, so more IRL reference could have dialed things up a notch.

For example, we see the mood of the populace becoming more negative as the war drags on. Imagine if they show some citizens opposing / protesting against the war, and the Gestapo rounding them up.

Another issue I’m glad they touched on is the resources required to sustain a war. What if in order to acquire more wealth and resources to continue war, they decide a sacrifice a portion of their populace 👀

In fact, this is moving beyond politics and into the economics of war, but IMO the economic aspect deserves more exploration in this kind of anime. Side note, not anime but I found Money & Macro’s Youtube video on the economics of Nazi Germany amazing in this regard.

To be fair, including all these would be quite ambitious and requires quite the writing chops to pull off. Plus, it would have deviated from the main plotline: that this all just a petty fight between Tanya and God.

But I’m still glad that they touch on a bit of the politics regardless. Still a great watch like before.

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You - Season 3

Unlike other anime airing this season, I am familiar with the source manga, so I judged it less on the story and more on how good I felt the adaptation was.

And I’d say Bibury Studio pulled it off once again.

The team working on this anime are clearly passionate about this project, and could possibly even be fans of the manga. Episodes like the idol arc are proof of how much effort and passion went into producing such quality (pun intended).

But IMO the best aspect is the direction of the anime. The director manages to balance the cute, wholesome, funny, unhinged and serious moments, all jampacked into 12 short episodes that fly by.

It’s too bad there isn’t a sequel announcement immediately, but I’m not surprised given its low popularity. It is what it is 😔

On the bright side, there are still manga chapters to look forward to. In fact, the 38th girlfriend should be coming soon. What do you think her quirk / twist would be? There are still a couple of tropes not implemented yet and they would be the obvious candidates. Off the top of my head: transfer / exchange student, or someone from the student council. Then again, Nakamura the writer, the madman, is impossible to predict.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation - Season 3

TODO: catch up on last two episodes

You and I Are Polar Opposites - Season 2

Gotta finish this series but it’s not done airing. Shall share my thoughts in next week’s thread.