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).
Weekly ranking roundup:
- Anime Corner - Full Results - Weekly Winner: Days with My Stepsister
- Reddit Karma - Weekly Winner: Oshi no Ko
Credit to /u/Abysswatcherbel for making the chart for reddit karma and /u/Nooble5 for the Anime Trending chart.
Oshi no Ko comes back to the top of the chart this week as the best-girl wars heat up to a new fever pitch. There were also 3 finales in the top 5 this past week. Something to notice is that Nokotan ended the season outside the top 10 after such a strong start (and a strong OP).
So, I have a clear favorite of what I have watched this season. The standout show for me was Oshi no Ko Season 2. There is one more episode to go, but it has been an absolutely stellar adaptation of an already good manga. The source manga is still ongoing, but it is heading into its final arc. I cannot wait to see the rest of the story in anime form if the quality was as good as this past season. Anyway, enough gushing, here are the shows I watched:
- Oshi no Ko - see above
- Dungeon People - My biggest surprise of the season. It was way better than I thought it was going to be based on what I saw before the season.
- Dahlia in Bloom - I feel like this story in interesting, but moves a bit too slow to make a good anime adaptation. I haven’t watched the finale yet though. I would probably recommend reading this one if it catches your interest.
- Love is Indivisible By Twins - A fun guilty pleasure. Lots of teenage drama born from an incredibly elaborate arrangement of people crushing on each other. I really enjoyed this one and look forward to the finale.
- My Deer Friend Nokotan - Lots of ups and downs. Like many sketch shows, some segments are going to connect and some aren’t. Overall, I still enjoyed it.
- Sometimes Alya Hides Her Feelings in Russian - I feel like this one is trying to do more than it needs to do. All I wanted was a cute romcom, instead we got a ton of political scheming and mind games. With season 2 announced, I hope we get more romcom going forward.
- Pseudo Harem - I have a couple episodes to catch up on, but this has been fun. It is a great manga, and the adaptation of the super short chapters to anime form has been done fairly well. Overall, it has been very cute.
- Quality Assurance in Another World - I am a couple episodes behind on this one, but I intend on finishing this season. I really like the art in this one and the world is interesting enough that I want to keep going.
- My Wife Has No Emotion - I only watched a couple episodes before dropping. I really like the manga, and I think I will stick with it. The anime adaptation just didn’t really do it for me.
- Plus-Sized Elf - I watched a couple episodes of this before dropping. They cranked the fan-service dial way past what the manga has. It just wasn’t really for me.
- Tower of God - This season has been a big change compared to the first, and not for the better. The second cour is still to come, so I will see where it goes from here.
I watched a whole show (shikanoko) this season. So yea banger season, almost never happens lol.
Favourite of the season: Oshi no Ko without competition, the animation quality and story were both amazing! There were some scenes that go so hard that I’m sure they’re still going to be talked about for years.
Biggest disappointment: Tower of God S2. I really looked forward to this, but the story didn’t pick up until the final two episodes of the first cour :/ The animation quality was also pretty mid. I’m still looking forward to the second half though…
Kinda meh: Elusive Samurai. At first, I got pulled in by the fantastic animation and interesting premise, but the follow-up didn’t really live up to the initial hype. It’s still entertaining to watch though, even if I think the way the protag is portrayed and treated by the cast is kinda…sus, sometimes
I watched a few shows:
- Elusive Samurai - This has been my favorite so far. The animation and general art direction has been incredible, and the characters have been fun.
- Shikanokonokonokokoshitantan - It was fine. I dunno, past the first episode or two I didn’t feel like the jokes always landed.
- Spice and Wolf - It was good, but not quite as excellent as I’d heard. Lawrence can be kind of an idiot sometimes, and wow is Holo an asshole.
- Konosuba S3 - If you liked the first two seasons of Konosuba, this is more of that at about the same level of quality. The jokes land really well when they’re not about sexual harassment. Want to guess what lots of the jokes are about though?
I still haven’t watched the new spice and wolf, I was wary the second it was announced as a remake. The original is just kinda timeless to me, the animation style and music very well done.
I can’t really say whether the new one is better or worse than the old, but I think it’s probably worth watching for a Spice and Wolf fan. My impression is that the execution was pretty good; most of my hangups have to do with fundamental writing choices that would probably be in both versions of the show. It’s not like re-makes are always bad; just look at Fullmetal Alchemist!
