Summer season is drawing to a close. Most shows have either wrapped up last week or are wrapping up this week. So, let’s talk about it! Did anything surprise you? disappoint you? exceed your expectations? Of course, more general topics are still welcome just like any week.
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
Late and Random Superlatives:
Best Returning & Exceeds already high expectations : Oshi no Ko
No surprise here, the show picked up right were it left off and kept running strong. I still have a few episodes to catch up on, but I’m sure it is excellent.
Most surprising: No Longer Allowed in Another World
Started a bit rough, but once it got the characters and formula established it worked and was easily one of the seasons most enjoyable shows.
Best Trash: Failure Frame
I’m sucker for isekai, level systems, and OP protagonists. This had all that and was generally enjoyable but I would not accuse it of being good…
The Wilford Brimley “diabeetus” award: Pseudo Harem
I love the show, but the couple is just so cute and sweet it hurts to watch. Still have a few episodes to finish.
Bonkers but it works: I Parry Everything
Somehow the central gimmick never quite got old, and the insanity actually sort of made sense.
Most likely to forget I watched it: The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord’s army was a Human
The show was fine, but nothing about it really stood out to me.
So bad its kinda good: A Nobody’s Way Up to an Exploration Hero
The show was bad, but somehow that worked for me.
Largest Dumpster Fire: Bye, Bye, Earth
An absolute disaster. The setting looked really interesting, but was so poorly developed and threw in so many unexplained situations it just turned into an unwatchable mess.
Most missed now its gone: Dungeon People
This was not the most creative, exciting, or flash anime, but it was solidly enjoyable and I really came to look forward to it each week.
Guilty Pleasure: The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies
Love the show but forgot it was airing Spice and Wolf
Most Disappointing: Nokotan
I really, really, really wanted to love this. I expected irrelevant and random, often surreal humor. What I got was one joke, told over and over again and drug out to the point that it quickly stopped bring funny.
Most Underrated: My Wife Has No Emotion
This might be my favorite new show of the season. It gets weird at times and there is an element of uncomfortableness about the human/robot relationship, but the show explores that, and does a decent job of it… I especially appreciated how, despite the title, Mina was able to demonstrate so much emotion without the ability to show it on her face at all.
Surprisingly great season. Actually had a good amount of time to watch new and catchup too. A bit heavy on romance, but so many variations that it didn’t feel too repetitive for me.
Completed/almost-completed new releases:
- Oshi No Ko S2 - I think there’s another episode or so left in the season. Great season, lots of character development and overall plot movement too, although didn’t land quite as hard as S1 for me. 9/10
- Makeine - Surprise hit of the season for me. Really loved it. One episode left that is a new anime-only story written by the original writer iirc. I do wish it had simply avoided a few tropes completely, but that’s about my only complaints for this gem. 9/10
- Pseudo Harem - Another surprise. Loved this adorable couple, and almost didn’t give it a shot because the title didn’t sound like something I’d be interested in. Beautiful complete series in only 12 episodes. Honestly one of my top romance animes all time. 8/10
- I Parry Everything - Another out of nowhere really fun show. I really enjoyed this, in a silly what-is-happening way. Reminded me a lot of Helck, in a good way. 7/10
- Dungeon People - Filled the gaping hole left by Frieren and Dungeon Meshi. Very good, although the art style made me think this would be more chill than it ended up being. Some surprising violence and adult content. 7/10
- Days With My Stepsister - Shocked this turned out so good. It’s one of the most nuanced and careful presentations of young adults trying to make the best choices they can. I wish it didn’t have the titillating premise, because I’d love more romance anime that took its characters this seriously. 7/10
- Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings … - I think I’m tapping out after this season. I found the political intrigue not engaging and several of the characters grating or extremely unbelievable. It’s fine, just not for me. 6/10
Tried/dropped new releases:
- My Deer Friend … - Too hit or miss.
- Plus Sized Elf - Not for me.
Previous seasons shows completed:
- Dungeon Meshi S2 - Current frontrunner for AOTY, edging out Frieren cour 2. Absolutely loved it. 10/10
- Scavenger’s Reign - Not-anime but excellent. Gripping and engaging bizarre world. 9/10
- Cyberpunk Edgerunners - Phenomenal production, but not my favorite world. Still great though, maybe 8-9/10?
- Hell’s Paradise - Grew on me over time. Really enjoyed the last episodes and looking forward to S2 eventually. 8/10
- I Was Reincarnated As The 7th Prince … - Silly fun and light. Enjoyed a lot. 7/10
- Carol and the End of the World - Not-anime, but very interesting. 7/10
Future wrap-up from this season:
- Terminator 0 - Haven’t been in the right mood.
- Wistoria - 5 episodes. Good animation, great action, and fun story. Probably finish.
- No Longer Allowed … - I’ll give it another shot, but might drop soon.
- Spice & Wolf - Only watched a couple episodes. Interested in more when I have time.
- Nier Automata - I’m currently playing the game, so after that I’ll probably watch the anime.
- Slime-San S? - Eventually.
- Konosuba S3 - Eventually.
- MHA S? - Eventually.
The ones that were better than I expected:
- QA in Another World: I love the fact that they lean into this being a game (as opposed to a gamelike isekai), and that the characters exploit that fact. Other iterations of the “trapped in a game” trope in anime haven’t done that. (Shangri-La Frontier does, but the stakes are a lot lower there.)
- No Longer Allowed in Another World: Just a nice change from stereotypical isekais and stereotypical isekai heroes.
- Atri: I had really low expectations of this one going in, but it turned out . . . okay. Not brilliant, but okay.
- Slime: The last cours was sufficiently bad that this one was an improvement, even if it’s certainly not the best in the series.
The ones that were worse than I expected:
- Dahliya: It’s just . . . where’s the conflict? What little does show up gets resolved within an episode or two. There’s pretty much nothing to drive the story here.
- Tasuuketsu: Started off very strong, but the rest of the season didn’t live up to the first episode. Then again, I don’t know what could have. Not awful, but merely okay.
- Bye Bye, Earth: Interesting world, but they did a horrible job of showing it to us. A lot of things needed a couple of sentences of explanation that they just didn’t get, and the little labels that kept popping up were worse than useless.
Best of the season: NieR Automata (although I had sufficiently high expectations of it going in that it didn’t exceed them).
Hardest to watch: Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction. I think I’m seven episodes behind right now, and having a hard time mustering the desire to continue on. Anything that has bigotry as a major theme is a difficult watch for me right now, given what’s been unfolding in the real world lately.
Most incomprehensible art direction choice: Delico’s Nursery. The backgrounds look like tracings of photographs, or maybe carefully coloured-in photocopies of photographs, and the effect in combination with the characters is just . . . strange. Maybe it’s a carryover from the manga, which I’ve never read?
Best dragon award: I Parry Everything, but mostly by default, because I don’t remember any other dragons of significance (even bad CGI ones, which would be ineligible).
Only Two shows managed to keep me interested.
Oshi no ko season 2 - At times I was on the edge of my seat.
Dungeon People - Very nice CGDCT show with an accent on comedy.
Also I was catching up with Apothecary Diaries but still got finale to watch.
P.S Bye Bye Earth got OST released this week. The only redeeming quality of that show.
Bye Bye, Earth - Vol. 1 - The Duel - (IMO best song)
Bye Bye, Earth - Vol. 2
I have high expectations for Oshi no Ko, and yet it blew me away even if I’m still in the middle of it.
Kimi ni Todoke is largely the same as S1 and S2, only better-paced and with 2020s HD quality.
I only watch two seasonals at a time, so Senpai is an Otokonoko and Spice and Wolf are on hold, but I plan to finish them someday.
