I don’t think you missed anything; I think the arcs just feel weirdly disconnected. The manga was like that too.

This definitely has a prominent place among the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen.

It’s absolutely true that most anime is kinda bland and way too much of it is the same isekai slop however that’s what’s great about having threads like this! Most everything people are talking about here is excellent.

If it makes it any more appealing to you, it’s just as much about the coach as it is about the child; the target audience is mainly adults. Also, her goal is to compete in the Olympics. That presumably means she’ll be at least a little bit older by the time the series ends.

Journal With Witch is absolutely incredible, and Frieren is pretty good too. Someone else mentioned You and I Are Polar Opposites, and I pretty much agree with what they had to say about it. Another favorite of mine right now is the second season of Medalist.

Medalist is a story about a girl who wants to become a figure skater, but in the figure skating world someone who hasn’t started yet at 11 years old is basically a washed up old lady. She runs into a coach who also started late, and then they have an incredible sports anime together. The manga is marvelous. The first season of the anime adaptation was good. The second season seems to have fixed some of the minor animation issues the first season had, and so far I’m enjoying it just as much as I enjoyed the source material. It’s really fun.

Overall this season is nuts. It’s a good time to be an anime fan!

That movie you linked sounds weird af.

a surprising development with Makio and Shingo that likely won’t renew their romance but at least should take down some of their walls

I don’t know about that. Makio seems hesitant to get together with Shingo because she probably doesn’t see herself as someone who can coexist well with another person. But she’s coexisting with Asa, one way or another. Maybe by doing so she’ll learn more about herself and how she can deal with constantly being around others. Shingo seems like an incredibly understanding person who would absolutely respect any requests she made to accommodate her (let me be completely alone at such and such hours, etc.). Even just living in a bigger place where Makio has the space to be alone could be the difference it takes, and I think he’d be willing to extend himself financially to try it. That might terrify Makio, but lots of things terrify Makio. Could make for some good drama much further down the line.

I think the weakest part of season 1’s animation was probably the spins, and it’s clear from this episode that they’ve vastly improved them. Really enjoying this.

It’s easy to say that from an audience’s perspective, but it’s possible that either:

1. The mangaka was out of ideas for how to use him right away
2. The mangaka is saving him for a later arc

Anyways, if he were here I think he’d have Stark And Fern in a stable relationship by the end of the season. Can’t have that! Either way, they could always run into him later.

His legs only gave up because he was afraid to catch a stray from Frieren 😅

She really had to do that from the most difficult angle imaginable while Fern had a clear shot of its legs. What a showoff.

!nominate

I couldn’t decide which of GQuuuuuux’s amazing insert songs deserved the nomination, so in the end I had to nominate it for best soundtrack instead. It’s actually crazy just how many of them there were.

I’ll give another perspective then: If you’ve already seen another decent battle shounen you’ve already seen Demon Slayer. Sure Demon Slayer is mostly well-executed, but it’s far from perfect and nothing it does is really unique. You’re really not missing all that much. If you’re specifically interested in interesting stories over action or fun characters I’d recommend skipping it.

Edit: there are too many excellent shows out there to waste time on one you’re unlikely to love. Some of the other shows people are recommending are incredible. Why bother with Demon Slayer when Dungeon Meshi and LOOK BACK exist?

Ghost in the Shell - A staple of cyberpunk literature. Stands up there with Blade Runner. See also: Psychopass, Cyberpunk Edgerunners.

Probably should be more specific about whether you mean the movies, the existing TV shows, or the TV show that’ll be airing later this year. Honestly any of those three options are probably good, but my recommendation would go to Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex. I’m open to having my mind changed by Science Saru though!

It’s a battle shounen and if that’s not your cup of tea then they’re all equally worthless

I wouldn’t go quite that far. Dan Da Dan is also a battle shounen, but it has other elements that made it worth watching even for my wife and I (even though we were kind of tired of battle shounen).

Man I would’ve been sweating bullets in Makio’s place there! For a moment I thought grandma or some other person was embezzling money and trying to make Makio take the fall for it! Thank goodness Asa fessed up right away. Speaking of which, it’s really funny to me that she decided joining a band club was so out-of-bounds that it wasn’t even worth asking but dropping 2 grand on a new laptop was okay. I wonder if that says anything about how her mother viewed spending money. Maybe this is a place where Asa actually had some freedom.

Meanwhile, are Asa and Emiri growing apart? I can’t imagine that, but at the moment, that’s sort of how it looks…

That’s just part of growing up though. I don’t think there’s anyone I was friends with in middle school that I’m still in contact with.

Based on what Emiri said in the last two episodes and her reactions in this one, I’m making a guess that she is a lesbian.

What did she say last episode? I must’ve missed it.

I’m so happy with Asa’s club choice. I want to hear her sing.

But what if she becomes a bassist?!

Yeah I’m taking a Learn to Skate classes right now and even just gliding forward on one foot is a challenge.

These are such minor differences I have no idea how that can bother you.