Author didn’t want to commit to the cat ears. I don’t think they’re permanently stuck to her head, but she does wear them in combination with a lot of different outfits. (Tried to find an example without the antennas, but couldn’t find a conclusive example.)

My only complaint about Frieren is the exam arc. Up till that point, it’s a tightly knit group of adventurers traveling with a very vague goal, it’s about their journey and their internal relationships. But the exam arc has an actual goal and introduces a lot of recurring characters, which really changes the vibe of the world. I liked it enough in the end, but I would’ve preferred more smaller arcs. On the other hand, season 2 could put the exam arc in a whole new light and make me appreciate all those characters much more when we see them again.

I was just thinking, can I honestly think of a perfect anime? But yes, Steins;Gate, without a doubt. It is so perfect that the second season, which is an almost-perfect anime and fits neatly in the events of the first, can only bring it down in perfection.

I recently rewatched it and there’s a lot of foreshadowing and plot points that hit harder when you see them coming.

Akarin~!

7cm from her belly button to the tips of her ears. 28cm from the belly button down to her toes? Long catfish.

For the English dub, yes. I even found Italian, French, German, Spanish and Russian. But none of the pirates set their VPN to Netherlands to get the Dutch dub.

And then you have me, who’s so hardcore I was forced to sign up for Netflix so I could watch the Dutch dub of Tonari no Totoro . If I was any more hardcore, I’d figure out how to rip it from there, because it’s the only home release it ever got, as far as I can tell. Can’t even find a second-hand VHS (wouldn’t be acceptable quality anyway).

But that whole situation means I’m a Netflix subscriber who “prefers dubs” for their stats, even though I rarely watch a dub.

Wow, how strange to hear Gotou Yuuko use her Mikuru voice again. I recently heard her in a minor role in HanaShura and she used this old lady voice that immediately made me feel ancient, but now I realize she can do whatever she wants with her voice and it wasn’t a sign of her (or my) age. I’m still young! 2006 wasn’t 19 years ago!

I’m impressed by the soundtrack and sound design. For most things they had a great manga to copy from, but the sounds are all brand new. It fits the animation and style very well though.

It’s trash and I love it. I hope we’ll get some yuri love triangle plot, I spotted what looked like a Yuu daki in Suzu’s bed? She’s also clearly tsundere for Yuu.

The cast reminds me a bit of

but this episode didn’t immediately show the quality of jokes and pacing that made Hitori such a memorable show (that we didn’t forget about, right? It’s Hitori Bocchi, she’s the girl who sits in the corner seat. We were friends!)

Definitely watching City and Dandadan. And Yofukashi no Uta S2 snuck up on me, have to watch that too.

As for originals/newcomers, I put Bad Girl on my PTW ages ago and it’s finally time! Just some silly yuri shenanigans, I don’t expect too much of it.

Is Tomo doing her Capirinha pose?

I tried to find the hidden microtonal harmony, but no, it seems to be properly off key. Let’s hope they change it after 6 episodes and it turns out to be the vocals for a completely different song. (Now I got myself hyped for a 4d move that’s probably not even real.)

No longer cold Miku

I really like any Miku in the snow, the color of her hair matches the cold nicely. Though I also think it matches the beach and racing, so maybe I just like Miku…

Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku
I didn’t really have high expectations of this, but the first episode did a good job with the animation supporting the poems, so I kept watching. Sadly, the entire series was setting up for a championship arch that didn’t actually appear. Instead, the climax/resolution of the last episodes introduced a bunch of new characters and some family drama that would have needed 5 episodes to properly explore, so it just fell flat. They introduced plenty of interesting characters for a cool qualifier event or something, I just wanted Hana to read more poems. That’s what hooked your viewers, it’s what sets you apart, so use it.

Medalist
Really solid, punchy animation. Well choreographed action. Wormies.

Blue Box
Love how it combines a sports story with a romance story without compromising on either. All likeable characters getting into believable drama and it never feels like the writing is stalling, every episode develops the characters and story in an interesting way. And outside of the romance, I love to see Taiki train hard, play good badminton and beat strong rivals.

Blue Box is dropping but it’s still so good though! Best romance I’ve watched in years and it’s also a really good sports anime.

The inspiration for the thread: I’m rewatching Tatami Galaxy and I remembered that I accidentally watched it in reverse order the last time. It worked surprisingly well, but I did watch episode 11 again at the end, after I realized what had gone wrong. There’s some time shenanigans anyway, and every episode contains about as many callbacks as callbacks-to-future-episodes and that doesn’t change in reverse order.

One anime that really is built differently, in structure, art style and themes:

Tatami Galaxy

Every episode is the main character making a different choice to try and fulfill his dream. It’s like Groundhog Day, but where Mr Groundhog eventually manages a perfect day, Mr Tatami learns to accept the imperfection of life.

Scene from Tatami Galaxy ep 9

Shuumatsu Train isn’t difficult to watch! It is the most classic of classic plots: a band of heroes sets off to save their village and faces all kinds of trials along the way, making them stronger as individuals and as a group, before defeating the Great Evil and saving the princess. It also has trains.

Seconding Penguindrum as “built different”. It’s a classic imo, but it isn’t discussed enough, probably because everyone (like me) is convinced it isn’t a real anime but a fever dream they had after watching too much anime.