What a season. So many shows that I’ve watched with one eye while writing emails and doing other admin paperwork. Thank *deity* that I’ve been pretty sick the last week and thus at reduced mental capacity and able to tolerate some of the shows I persisted in watch.
Here’s my category by category breakdown. Definitely the same categories I used for previous seasons.
Good:
Death March- so bland and inoffensive yet it somehow was the only show I actually looked forward to watching. 8/10
3-gatsu no Lion- the emotional roller coaster that is this show is indescribale. Watch it. 10/10
Yuru Camp- so relaxing. A great show to watch which downing an alcoholic beverage just before going to sleep. 9/10
Kokkoku- is fine. Interesting setting, characters and plot. End was a bit convenient though. 7/10
Disappointing sequel that only coasted by on the tailcoats of S1
Overlord S2- my god what a wasted season. The first third of the show is an arc about stupid lizard people any reasonable viewer gives no shit about. The g-rated sex scene between two lizards was an unnecessary disappointment in multiple ways. The rest is just a big build up to about 1/3 of an episode worth of interesting fights and otherwise is setting up for the inevitable S3. Which hopefully delivers on this protracted set up.
Seven Deadly Sins S2- this is a two-cour show and thus unfinished but my god is it taking it’s time doing stuff. Some things actually happening would be a good change. Hopefully it’s finished with the protracted set up and will start moving the plot along now. Also the constant recap and extended prologue at the beginning of each ep is pretty blatant filler. Hated that in S1 and hate it even more now.
Garo Vanishing Line- I dropped this at about episode 14 I was so bored. No BestDad from Season 1 makes this 3rd season about as bad as Season 2.
So bland it’s bad
Toji no Miko- high school girls (towards the older end of highschool so the revealing outfits are less creepy I guess) using cool swords and mech-armour suits to fight monsters. And other girls. How could you fuck this up? Well… somewhere along the line (ep8ish), after fleeing the overwhelming force of the evil people in control of the government, the main characters have an episode dedicated to going to a lantern festival. Or something. That’s how you fuck it up. The paperthin plot is too paperthin to maintain a semblance of interest in between incredibly unexciting sword fights. 3/10
Violet Evergarden- I get it, it’s pretty. But I’m stuck about 2/3 of the way through the season and am so uninterested in going forward becuase aside form beutificul aninimation there is not story or compelling character shit happening with any consistency. Even the obvious reveal of ‘the military guy gave his life to protect you but we hid that from you’ reveal it handled very uninterestingly. 3/10
Takunomi- I like alchohol as much as the next person but the absense of content that wasn’t a (hopefully paid for) advert for the *drink of the week* got a bit repetiive after a while. Even the charming country bumpkin attitue of the MC got pretty repeitive pretty fast. 4/10
Mitsuboshi Colours- what started out as a charming story of three kids running riot in a town quickly became a horror story about three kids running riot in a town. I don’t feel human emotion yet still felt anxious for half the adults forced to deal with these manic children as they just fucked things up for people. 4/10
Devilman Crybaby- was presumably cutting edge when the story was written in the 1950s (or sometime around then) but basically Evangelion did it better. Although the incidental, non-sexualised nudity in a very non-hentai style was intriguing and almost arousing at points… although that was quickly drowned out in the gory violence…
Doesn’t know how to handle women
Koi wa Ameagari no You no- romance story between a man and a girl young enough to be his daughter. Who is also him employee at his restaurant. Making the young girl the lead instigator of the romance doesn’t make it better Japan. is well animated I suppose. 5/10
Darling in the FranXX- it’s Trigger. What do you expect? Interesting world and robot fights but man can you get some female writing staff. I do prefer my women as more than simply objects I direct with my penis (almost literally what happens in this anime). Will still keep watching it though 7/10
Generically Bland
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens- a city of assassins assassinating each other. Is fine but nothing stands out about it. 4/10
Ryuuou no Oshigoto- The pitch for his show went something like this I assume: “Oh jeez this ‘3-gatsu no lion’ anime is super popular and well received, it’s obvious about shogi and nothing else so lets make another anime about shogi. But make the MC super OP and successful and also make the female leads all 10 years old.” 4/10
So horrible it’s great
Killing Bites- it’s oversexualisation of very unattractive characters is unintentionally brilliant. It’s uninventive take on the ‘Battle Royale’ tropes are somehow entertaining. The insane juxtapositioning of characters with themselves is amazing (for example- one character is is simultaneously a super ominous villain and played for comic relief within consecutive sentences of dialogue… and then randomly raped semi-on screen for no reason…). The twist upon twist upon twist, the way characters know things and act in ways that make no sense… everything about this show is great. 7/10
Still haven’t started yet
Cardcaptor Sakura- a friend asked around ep 8 if i was concerned about the lack of plot development. I told them I’m saving this show up for when it’s all out and I can be an emotional wreck (as my childhood is either vindicated or destroyed). 11/10
Fate Encore: eh whatever. It’s Fate. It’ll be fine probably. Or so terrible it’s great. 7/10
Re:Life S2- less a S2 and more like four bonus OVAs. Really liked the TV series and was pretty gutted that it ended unfinished. Am assuming these will wrap up the main storyline but from my knowledge of the general plot, ti’s a lot of material to cover in four OVAs so I’m a little worried. Is probably great. 7/10
Random things I’m partway through
Ancient Magus’ Bride- have downloaded a bunch of new(ish) episodes in the last couple weeks but not been bothered to watch any of them. Perhaps that’s telling? 5/10
Samurai Champloo- is quite good but isn’t holding up to the same level I remember. Am only about 6-7 eps in though so the main storyline is yet to really kick in. 7/10
Masamune-kun no Revenge- is fine. About 9 or 10 eps in. Enteaining enough that I’ll fininsh it one day but am in no rush to chase down the last couple eps.
Simply bad and not worth watching
Everything from the season I haven’t mentioned above because I obviously dropped it after three eps… and I didn’t drop some of the shows above which were pretty fucking terrible.