ALSO, while I was double-checking my facts, I saw that a new season is releasing this year.

Not only is a new season releasing, it’s being animated by Science Saru. Very exciting.

Dang. It takes a lot of work to make a cosplay, so being told at the last moment that it can’t be used would be devastating. I might refuse to show up in such a case, even if I had another costume I could use.

Yeah there’s no way I was going to be watching either of those shows in the first place.

It’s not that I disliked it for being dark or for being edgy or for being fantasy. I disliked it because it wasn’t very good.

IMO Teio’s story in season 2 is still the best. I hope you would stick around long enough to finish it.

No need to worry; unless they’re actually bad I usually finish the things I start. It’s not like season 1 doesn’t have its moments; Gold Ship is great and after having watched Cinderella Gray it was fun seeing Oguri Cap in the eating contest.

So it does, I guess I wasn’t paying close attention; thanks for the correction!

I tried a few of the new shows from this season:

• Sentenced to Be a Hero - A bit edgy for my taste. It has some really cool, flashy action scenes but the characters are frankly a drag. After I completed the first two episodes I got the distinct feeling that I would’ve had a better time watching something else. Not sure I’ll finish this one.
• You and I Are Polar Opposites - A fun, very cute shounen romcom. Made me laugh a few times. It’s probably pretty similar to whatever you imagined when you read the title. Would recommend to anyone who’s into that sort of thing; I’ll definitely be finishing it.
• Journal with Witch - I don’t know wtf is going on with that title. There aren’t any witches, though there is a journal. The Japanese title, 異国日記 違国日記 (Journal in Another Country) makes a bit more sense given the visual metaphors that the show likes to use. This is a very grounded story about a woman who adopts her teenage niece after said niece’s parents die in a car crash. It’s quite well-written, and is easily my favorite from among these three shows.

I also watched some sequel shows:

• Frieren - This felt like a return to form; the first episode of the season felt a lot more like the first half of the first season than the second half of the season. I hope they can keep that up 'til the end of the season; I’ve read the manga but that was a while ago so I can’t remember how long these nice short bits go for.
• Jujutsu Kaisen - The Jujutsus sure are Kaisening over there. If you liked previous seasons for the fights you’ll like this season too.
• Oshi no Ko - Fun seeing more of the girls. Also, banger of an OP.

Currently catching up on:

• Umamusume - It’s okay. Not as good as Cinderella Gray or the movie, but okay. I hear it gets a fair bit better after the first season though!
• Golden Kamuy - The only anime I know of where the characters have a canonical dick size ranking chart. Couldn’t have been made for a more excellent story; I love these ridiculous goofballs. If you want to watch crazy people kill each other in Hokkaido this is the good stuff. I just wish the animation were a little better, though it’s generally not nearly as bad as the first episode might suggest. Don’t worry, nothing looks as bad as that bear looked.

What a great episode. This is really shaping up to be the anime of the season for me, perhaps excluding sequels.

I swear I had exactly the same chair when I was in college, and it sure did look like this when I finally got rid of it.

This felt like a return to form to me; much more like the first half of season 1 than the second half. I wonder how long they can keep this up; I read the manga but that was ages ago and I genuinely can’t remember.

The beginning of Redline gave me the impression that the whole movie would just be a sequence of cool shit happening, and then the whole movie was a sequence of cool shit happening. It ended up being one of my all-time favorites, and proved to me that an anime doesn’t need a complex story to be excellent.

It’s always a good time watching these shitheads have a bad time.

Started watching Golden Kamuy this week so I could get caught up with the new season that’s airing and I’ve got to say it’s a wild time. Shame the first episode having that horrible-looking bear turned so many people away.

Edit: Just watched the first episode of You and I Are Polar Opposites. Not sure how I feel about the story yet, but wow. What a gorgeous adaptation. Also worth noting that the subtitles are well-executed with good typesetting and everything!

2nd edit: Just watched the first couple episodes of Ikoku Nikki. Seems like a good, chill, well-written story with a competent adaptation. Unfortunately the subtitles in the first episode had at least one error and I noticed while watching the second episode that Crunchyroll didn’t bother with typesetting for this one. I guess since it’s not a big shounen thing they don’t care much about doing a good job.

Oh yeah, Apocalypse Hotel was a lot of fun.

LOOK BACK is super good, and it’s a short movie so it’s not as much of a time commitment.

If you’re into sports anime my favorite recent one is Medalist. Now is a pretty good time to pick it up since the second season starts airing in just a couple weeks!

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon is also super good if you want more of an adventure.

Lol, definitely not making isekai light novels look good if this is what’s winning literary contests and readers choice awards.

Right?? I just finished the last three episodes today and was extremely surprised when the big race ended halfway through episode 22 and episode 23 featured a race entirely populated with characters we’ve never seen! I guess they’re following the Dan Da Dan school of ending a season: “This is how far we got with the source material. It’ll make sense later when you can watch it all at once.”

Really unfortunate that the one I’m most interested in, Medalist, is one of the last ones to start.

I feel exactly the same way about Frieren. It’s not that the shounen battle stuff is done poorly - quite the opposite! But before the mage exam it felt like Frieren was a really unique story. Once the exam arc started it began to feel a tad generic (though still quite well-executed). I really liked the third exam though!

I’m glad they adapted most of my favorite chapters, but they didn’t quite get all of them. I wouldn’t mind the show ending this way if we got 3 or 4 episodes instead of just 2. At least what we did get was top-quality. I enjoyed myself immensely beginning-to-end.

Well, I guess saying “the show ending this way” is an exaggeration. I almost forgot there was a movie teased at the end.