Odd episode, after rushing like crazy for the first third of the season they slowed down drastically, and even included some filler content (at least compared to the manga).

Not really complaining since this type of series tends to be more fun when it takes its time exploring the cast, but I wonder if they’ll stick to the slower pace for now or this was just a short breather.

They’re rushing like crazy, I just checked and they already went through almost three volumes of the manga. This makes characterization feel shallow, and skips a lot of the fun city building aspects.

I mentioned in another comment in this thread that I have Megane wo Hazushite from Seihantai na Kimi to Boku as my favorite this season, but I want to say that TEST ME is a very close second.

Also wanted to comment once again that Mephisto is so. fucking. good.

I added quite a few to my favorites list this season.

• Arne no Jikenbo OP
• [Oshi no Ko] 3rd Season OP1
• [Oshi no Ko] 3rd Season OP2
• [Oshi no Ko] 3rd Season ED
• Yuusha Party ni Kawaii Ko ga Ita no de, Kokuhaku Shitemita OP
• Seihantai na Kimi to Boku OP (Favorite of the Season)
• Okiraku Ryoushu no Tanoshii Ryouchi Bouei OP (Catchiest/Cutest of the Season)

Easy recommendation for You and I Are Polar Opposites. Series has been amazing so far and I can’t wait for the next episode even though I’m not usually a fan of romance.

I had high hopes for Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord because isekai+city building is my perfect junk food, but I think they’re rushing too fast through the material compared to the manga. Still fun, but could be better. Has the cutest OP of the season at least.

Odd season, there’s a lot of popular sequels… for series I haven’t watched. So for continuing series only one:

• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2

And for new series I only have two in my list:

• Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord -> Isekai with city building aspects are my favorite type of “junk food”, so I’ll almost certainly enjoy this.
• The Holy Grail of Eris -> Heard lots of good things about the manga for this one.

For once I’m not late with the current season (only series I haven’t finished yet is the assassin isekai), so I might take some time to watch some series I’m backlogged. Witch from Mercury would be my biggest priority, been stalling that for a long time, maybe MHA Vigilantes S1 after that since the premise is interesting.

Scarlet is 100% correct in immediately going “you’re getting punched” after that trolling of his.

Double release too!

Still at work but will happily watch Scarlet elegantly beating the crap out of corrupt nobles later today.

There’s only two I’m watching for certain:

• A Wild Last Boss Appeared!
• May I Ask for One Final Thing?

There’s a couple more I may give a try later, but I’m still going though a backlog of series from the last two seasons.

The “engagement broken in a party” setup is ridiculously common in female-led fantasy or isekai. It’s the genre’s truck-kun.

I hope she still pulls the ‘one more thing’ after every episode and beats the hell out of someone anyway

I think this episode shows that the production team is lacking in budget, but also shows that they care about the source material and are trying to do their best within their limits - and decent direction and voice acting can go a long way towards it.

That Atou face was just perfect.

Finally started this season, only two shows so far.

• 7th Prince: The MC’s design will keep turning people away from this series, which is a shame because of how consistently fun it has been to watch. Production is also really good, the magic spell effects are beautiful.
• Mynoghra: Isekai+Nation Building+Strategy Games is a combo of my favorite genres, so it was impossible for me to resist this one. They definitely don’t have a great budget but have been doing a decent enough job, Atou+Takuto being dorks is really fun, and the small bits of horror have been quite interesting.

Unexpected, but I’m in for another season of Yuke x Rain flirting.

Arifureta S1.

I asked for recommendations on something trashy ,“so bad it’s good”, and ended up with this. And it worked perfectly - I was in just the right mood to laugh out lout at the horrible CG monsters and chuuni bullshit.

Some series not mentioned yet.

• Tonikaku Kawaii
• Aharen-san wa Hakarenai (more focused on comedy but has surprisingly good and wholesome romance parts)
• The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity (upcoming)

“wow anime is really popular right now”

CR’s success is pretty much that + not having any real competition.

I’ve been really impressed with this series so far.

The initial premise is fairly boring, but once they kicked off the secondary plot with Mia it instantly became of one of my favorites. There’s a really great dichotomy between the “healing” story from Philia’s side and the struggles Mia is facing, and the loving relationship between the sisters is one of the most wholesome things I’ve seen in a long time.

This comparison with 0079 is really cool. https://bsky.app/profile/yuyucow.bsky.social/post/3lmv6zp2gc226

Though I suspect anyone new to Gundam will be feeling rather confused after this episode.

Also Cyberpunk.

The first half of this episode was amazing.