What Have You Watched This Past Week That is NOT a Currently Airing Show? [January 18th, 2026]

Me last week: Tune in next time for most likely more of all these shows (including starting on Hallow for D.Gray-man), although probably less of One Piece and YGO GX while I have to do as much Iruma-kun prep as I can.

Yeah, definitely had less of One Piece and YGO GX this week as expected. [](#cantbehelped)

---

**Yu-Gi-Oh! GX**, episodes 64-65

[Hell Kaiser Ryou.](#utahapraises)

**D.Gray-man**, episodes 100-103 + **D.Gray-man Hallow**, episodes 1-2

I’m pretty content with where the OG series left off in terms of incomplete adaptations. Hallow is… taking some getting used to because the whole voice cast is different and I really don’t vibe with some of the choices (I’m sorry Noriaki Sugiyama, but you are *not* a good fit for Krory), but its OP is like… pretty immediately my favorite one I’ve heard so far in 2026, which is saying something considering how many great Winter 2026 OPs I’ve heard. So that’s good at least.

**One Piece**, episode 18 + **Movie 1**

The movie was a nice little side-story with some great animation, and it *almost* managed to make me cry too. Episode 18 was also a little side-story that was nice as well.

**Earth Maiden Arjuna**, episodes 4-10

I still really don’t know how to feel about this show… [](#hardthink)

**Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun**, episodes 4-13

*Man* this show is so much fun to rewatch. [](#ilovethiskindofshit)

**Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz**

Oh yeah, I got to rewatch this on the big screen alongside the IBO stuff on Thursday, and it was still just as great as I remember it being. Last Impression is an all-time banger of a song.

[](#justright)

---

[That’s all for this week~](#michaelwink)

[Tune in next time for most likely]>!the rest of Arjuna, plus more of everything else including doubling up on Iruma-kun episodes as the rewatch starts properly this week.!<

**COMPLETED**

**Pumpkin Scissors (21-24/24)** This last arc wasn’t as satisfying as the rest of the season. I like the conflict and themes it presented. I liked the initial fight and character development for our team. But felt like they dragged it for too long and it got resolved in a rather unconvincing way.

But overall, I do still feel I found a hidden gem with this show. Never even heard of it before. But it has an interesting premise. I love the military atmosphere and it does both the episodic and multi-episode arcs well. A lot of the stories were interesting and engaging. The characters took a while to warm up too though. There’s definitely still some story left but I think they ended it in a satisfying way.

**ONGOING**

**Mono Rewatch (1-6/12)** Rewatching this for my iyashikei weekends. But it was so fun I’m already halfway thru. This definitely has that Yuru Camp vibes. And I do remember this was basically a going around doing stuff type of show cos they rarely did club stuff lol. I mean they still did take pictures and stuff but that wasn’t the main focus. No complaints from me though cos I enjoy it either way. Shikishima is the best though. Oh and I also remember there are some legit horror elements as well.

**THIS WEEK**

Maybe I’ll take a break from non-seasonals since I have a lot on my plate with seasonals this season. Though I still have **Minami-ke S4**

I’d also continue with **Mono** on the weekends

I’ll see what type of show I’m in the mood. Certainly spoilt for choice though

Last week was **UBW** and **HF**, this week **Fate/Zero** and **El-Melloi Case Files**.

Waver and his servant were easily the highlight of FZ. Also the scene with Waver and his 'grandpa' on the roof.

Case Files was fine. Nice to have more Waver but I did not find the mysteries that interesting.

Next, I have decided to go back and watch the 2006 Fate. I have only seen a couple episodes so far and it is fun seeing the same scenes interpreted by a different studio even if it is a visual downgrade. I also appreciate Japan's dedication to keeping voice actors in the same roles.

**Full Metal Panic: Invisible Victory** episodes 6-12 (rewatch) - Sousuke's solo mission is awesome and has one of the best action sequences in the whole series, so I always enjoy watching it again. It's also great to see [everyone] >!reunited at the end when their paths cross for the attack on Leonard's base,!< and [Kaname's] >!radio confession!< was really sweet. *Rating: 10/10*

**Full Metal Panic** episode 1 (rewatch) - Starting my fave from the beginning again! I'm going to switch it up a bit this time by watching the comedy episodes from Fumoffu in chronological order with S1 and TSR.
***
**K-On! OVA** - I watched season 1 a while back, and now finally managed to catch the OVA on Pluto TV's HiDive channel. This was a cute extra episode with the light music club girls playing their first live show outside of school. I think this was their best performance yet, and it's a New Year's episode too so it felt like good timing. *Rating: 8/10*
***
**Bullet/Bullet** episodes 1-5 - I was looking forward to this one because I'm a big fan of sci-fi, but the beginning feels like style over substance. The frequent car chases and vehicle designs are pretty good, but the absurd humor falls flat for me, and the assassin designs are ridiculous. There are hints of more emotional depth though in the scenes with Gear's found family, his boss who's suffering from an illness (which is his motivation for taking on dangerous jobs, to earn money for medicine) and a robot with multiple personalities. The plot is holding my interest better now that Noa joined the team and things seem to be getting more serious, so I'll stick with it and hope the comedy is toned down.
***
Next up, more **Full Metal Panic** as always, plus the rest of **Bullet/Bullet** and hopefully some **K-On season 2** if I can catch it in time. Also going to start rewatching **Digimon Adventure 2** as my next childhood nostalgia show.

all Baki seasons

Watched what there is thus far of **The Summer Hikaru Died**. And well, it really balances the small town atmospheric horror/general overarching mystery of what's going on, the less than thinly veiled gay subtext, and just the whole SoL thing this bunch of small town teenagers have going in this batch of slow burning candles. That said, I can't say I'm feeling like making this one a priority watch when the second season comes about. That's not any kind of diss towards this series. It's just, this was just something I got the vibe that I should pass this over to get around to it later back when this aired, and while the end result was interesting, that vibe still remains.


Landed on the series **Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru** aka **Reign of the Seven Spellblades** at random. But you know, one thing more than anything jumped out at me most here. Whereas *Mashle Magic and Muscles* featured a magic school where the students are pretty much free to assault, kidnap, and do god knows what to their fellow peers with nary a faculty member/caring adult in sight to put a stop to it. This magic school is like that too, it was just being less indirectly encouraging about it. In Mashle the school fostered and encouraged conflict (not to mention classism) among the students. Here the students just do that kind of stuff to their fellow peers all on their own just because they end up figuring out that they can and can get away with it.


But past that, well, for one thing this one certainly took it's sweet time getting to telling us what the big central crux plot goal at hand was. Not that this ad for the source material really harped on that string past that specific point, but instead just kept playing at the same kind of "story arc of the week" as it were, jumping from one thing to the next like it was doing before that point. Not that that was a huge problem for me by then, I'm merely just saying what I noticed. It didn't really focus on any one thing for any real extended period. Which I'll admit had some real negative repercussions on character work and tone and such at times.


So while I can't say I know anything about the source material I'm gonna make a a bold assumption that between the plot arcs of the week this is merely only scratching the surface of a long and intricate chess game it's playing with the central crux conflict. Which I'll grant could be interesting if well executed, but I'm left to wonder how exactly the source material goes about handling this. Not that I'm feeling inclined to read it having seen this. I'm merely thinking out loud.


So yeah. This one's "okay" as a middle ground series. It's not bad in my opinion but it's overall lack of focus is a flaw that feels like it has that bumps it down from ranking higher than above middle ground.


But I also gotta say one more thing, Pete. Somehow, from the very first moment that I saw him I just *knew* what his deal was gonna be. Dunno how I knew it, I just knew from the get-go that his deal was gonna be what his deal was. It was just a question of what capacity it would get brought to the table.


And lastly I watched something called **The Galaxy Railways: A Letter from the Abandoned Planet** at random. Seems part of a bigger franchise. Maybe I'll look into it.


Maybe.

**ElDlive Episodes 9 - 12 (Completed)** - Fairly decent wrap up to this, a show that shouldn't be taken too seriously. Nice to hear Hiroshi Kamiya joining in for the last few episodes.

**Super Dimensional Century Orguss Episodes 21 - 27** - Orguss continues to be a perfectly average 80s mecha/sci-fi anime show. Can't say there's much this week that either surprised me or was that special or terrible. Now that I'm reaching the home stretch of the show hopefully we'll build up more to an interesting climax.

**My Dress Up Darling Episodes 7 - 12** - This wraps up season 1. I get why this show gets a lot of love, it is a very sweet wholesome relationship between the two leads and tons and tons of fanservice. This feels much like The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity; attractive guy doesn't realize he's attractive and has some self confidence issues, more outgoing girl goes for it and bam, they're together. Well kinda, I still think Gojo is a bit aloof over how Marin really feels about him. Very sweet moment to wrap up season 1 that he slept through. Anyway, onto season 2 starting later today.

I've also watched the first half hour or so of **Laputa Castle in the Sky** and will likely finish the rest this weekend, marking my 400th completed anime, by my own personal tracking system (MAL has me over 500 already).

in midst of a Yugioh Gx dub rewatch just finishing S2 (this dub is it's own abridged series lol)

**Gintama'** (eps 227-232, in progress) — another comedic arc parodying dating sims (eps 228-229), nice. Also, good to see Sakamoto and the sidekick lady again, I think it’s been over a hundred episodes since we’d last seen them.

**Earth Maiden Arjuna** (eps 4-10, in progress) — following the ongoing rewatch. Sometimes this show feels like a social awareness ad conveying something conservative at best or plainly anti-scientific at worst, sometimes it becomes surprisingly melancholic and romance-focused.

**Space Dandy** (S1 E5-13, S2 E1-4, in progress) — the first few episodes scratched that *Kill la Kill* itch and really hyped me up by having tons of well-animated action, shameless fanservice and over-the-top absurdity all at once, but later on these things toned down and it turned into a collection of very random episodic adventures with wildly varying sci-fi concepts and styles. Still enjoying this show a lot, also the OP is one of my favorites of all time.

Some episodes even have their own visual style, one episode looked very much like it was from *Kaiba*. This must be the result of this anime being authored by many different writers and episode directors.

Talking about writers, I mentioned Eun-Young Choi in my previous post, but upon digging further I couldn’t find any tangible reason why MAL specifies her as the "original creator" — from what I found, she only directed S1E9, and most of the credit for the show’s general writing is attributed to Watanabe Shinichiro, who’s most famous for also being *Cowboy Bebop*’s director. Must be inaccurate info on MAL’s side.

**Eromanga Sensei:** Episodes 10-12 + 2 OVAs - it is quite unnerving how (almost) any anime with a sister/step sister incest background ends up being really good. Oreimo was excellent throughout while Eromanga Sensei sacrificed its highs for more consistency. 8/10 x2


**Battle Girl High School:** Episodes 10-12 - there's a reason this has such low ratings on Anilist. Usually I don't take them seriously but this one feels generous to even be close to 60%. Misaki was interesting but it had such horrific cast bloat that it all fell apart, despite having good quality of life with the character bios. The story was weak and barely touched on the high school aspect the back cover mentioned. Part of a big haul including Oreimo S1, Girlish Number, Nurse Witch Komugi R and Busou Shinki. 3/10


**K-On! Season 2:** Episodes 10-12 - this is merely a coincidence lmao. A big step up on the previous episodes which put me off for a while, the humour is hitting more now and the stories feel more engaging. Goldizz didn't like my latest update so it isn't real. 

Assassination classroom season 1

Now taking a short break before continuing with s2

Takopis Original Sin

I'm rewatching Idolish7 with a few local anime fans and we're reaching the S1 climax with all the drama and I'm so excited for all that angst! Also I can't wait to start S2 with them and inflict everyone the menace that is ReVale (Also S3 with Zool, because everyone loved bad guys /guilty :D)

I just finished the aobuta/rascal series this week
lets just say im a big fan

I am rewatching Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-Kun in preparation for the new season that's coming out. I just got passed the Royal One arc, where Iruma and his class get their new classroom. This show is a nice, fun show to watch whenever I want something more lighthearted

I'm watching ***Asobi Asobase*** because my girlfriend wanted to watch it.

I expected a saccarine girl doing cute things show, like Ichigo Marshmallow.

It's not. Every single girl in this is positively deranged.

I love it. It's completely refreshing when so much media doesn't allow its female characters to act silly, petty or dumb. And it's super well animated too!

Just finished “In Another World with My Smartphone“. It was an interesting premise, and the characters were fun. I enjoyed all the fan service too. I hope we get to see more of it.

Finally got around to finishing Sanda. Boy that was a ride lol

Vending machine isekai - lowkey banger, weird premise.

Bed & breakfast for spirits - I would die for chibi

Standing on one million lives - Terrible slop and that's coming from an isekai slop enjoyer.

Over the last few months I have watched isekai Quartet and all the shows associated with it. Minus konosuba and re zero which I had already seen. I really liked them individually and I really liked them together. If I had to rate them from best to worst.

1. Konosuba
2. Re:zero
3. Tanya the Evil
4. Overcautious hero
5. Eminence in shadow
6. Overlord
22. Shield hero

I love the humor and characters of konosuba and the writing depth of re zero. I still liked overlord, just enjoyed the others more. Though eminence did start to wear out it's welcome at the end. Shield hero just sucked after the first season and I struggle with the whole slave justification thing.

**Machikado Mazoku S1 + S2 (rewatch)**

Because the manga is nearing the 2-year hiatus mark, and I miss it so much, and this adaptation is my comfort anime. I just love how the people of Tama City are all so fundamentally kind to one another despite their differences. The show just... makes me happy.

And it's also the standard to which I hold all "CGDCT with an actual plot and character development", still haven't found another that scratches the itch like this one does. Love the character writing in it especially.

Binged **Gundam Wing** in preparation for the Endless Waltz remaster this past Thursday. It was a bit of a confusing mess, with it not being very clear what the Gundam pilots actually wanted outside of a nebulous "peace," and them being incredibly hypocritical and nonsensical the entire time, and the show didn't paint this vacillation as an issue. Also Relena wanted me to tear my hair out with every appearance she had on screen, she's like the quintessential college freshman who learns the basics of a single philosophy and decides to make it her entire personality without ever questioning how this ideology would work out practically. Or thirsting after Heero, that girl was thirstier than a guy lost in the Sahara desert. 4/10.

**Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz** however fixed so much. I'm just gonna quote the review I gave in CDF since I don't feel like rewriting anything:

>It fixes so many things I hated, like acknowledging the shortcomings of the philosophy it seemed to be pushing, and maybe most importantly *actually gives us the backstories of the Gundam pilots*. You had 49 regular episodes to do this, and just refused to. Which leads to actually realistic interpersonal conflicts and makes them feel connected to the world instead of characters adrift and aloof to everything that happens. I feel like I understand Heero more from these 1 and a half hours than, what, the 16 hours I spent marathoning Wing? Wufei is the other huge winner from Endless Waltz, going from possibly the most 1-dimensional pilot to one of the most interesting. I guess Relena as well, she didn't seem like an incompetent hypocrite this entire movie and actually moved into being a good character.

>The battles and combat were also so much better - Wing rarely had equal fights, so it seemed like either boring endless slaughter or "oh no, I'm being shot at by like 50 mobile suits, guess I lose now" and it wasn't dynamic at all. Endless Waltz had the fights feel like they were moving and not just static shots of one mobile suit exploding as they move into another one. And oh my gosh they got rid of that stupid anti-energy-beam tech, that introduction into Wing killed so much interest once it was omnipresent on the battlefield and no countermeasures were ever introduced except "I guess it fails when we need it to." Oh, and they got rid of the baffling decision to [G-Wing]>!have a system that drives the pilot mad with hallucinations. And may also be able to tell the future, I dunno.!<

>I'm genuinely impressed they managed to make something this good off of Wing's chassis. It's still not perfect; Trowa, Quatre, and Duo felt like they were there but never important or got a real moment to shine, which isn't great for a series supposedly about 5 Gundam pilots. It was also a bit jarring going into the flashbacks at times, as there weren't obvious cues whether we were in the past or in the present and it took me a few seconds each time to figure out when we were. But still, a solid 8/10, *incredibly* impressive since I'm giving G-Wing itself either a 3 or a 4, depending on how generous I'm feeling.

Episode 10 of **Le Chevalier D'eon.** Not really feeling this one too much, the alt-history supernatural stuff doesn't make up for the fact that the cast is just... uncharismatic as all get out. Reserved to the point where the characters aren't fun or interesting to watch... I'll keep going, cuz I'm determined to finish the anime based in France thing, but ehh.

Cat’s Eye. It took a break at the end of October then came back on Christmas. I’m also 2 episodes away from finishing Paradise Kiss. It’s been a good adaptation of the manga!

just finished Hajime no Ippo S2

wow. while i love S1 more than S2, i didn’t realize how annoying that damn guitar got until i didnt have to hear it anymore. had the last fight of S2 been done with S1’s music i dont think it would not have had the same emotional impact

This week I’ve watched Season 2 of Tawawa on Monday and I’ve also re-watched WataNare Episodes 13-17.

*Chargeman Ken!* Also *Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill.*

I resubscribed to Crunchyroll for Frieren season 2 and immediately glommed onto *The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World* pretty much any UC Gundam show they've got. I'll be good for a while.

Bofuri. Gotta watch the antics of that wacky game-balance-destroying abomination Maple than any of the other shows I'm in the middle of watching...

Completed:

**[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (Fushigi no Umi no Nadia)](https://myanimelist.net/anime/1251/Fushigi_no_Umi_no_Nadia)** (Regular Episodes + Movie + Specials)

A sci-fi adventure series inspired by Jules Verne's novel *Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas* set in the late 1800s where a young inventor, a former circus performer, and a submarine captain are fighting an advanced alien race that plans to take over the world.

Based on a concept idea by Hayao Miyazaki from the mid-1970s, this 1990 show has an interesting story and setting alongside mostly decent animation and a good soundtrack for its age. In all, that makes for a very solid work, but unfortunately, with production changes in the second half, some laughably bad filler episodes (around the range of episodes 23–34 out of 39) were inserted without the involvement of the original director. Most of the animation got significantly worse, some of the characters acted completely out-of-character at times, and only some tiny bits had any relevance to the main story.

Things get back on track after that with the original director involved again, but the ending was a bit rushed and features an out-of-place epilogue that splits opinions. Additionally, the sequel movie is terribly made with a cheap story that makes the old direct-to-video Disney movie sequels look like masterpieces. But at least there are also ten 3-to-4-minute short comedic specials mostly featuring the characters in chibi form that provide some interesting background info for the main story.

In all, this is a pretty decent sci-fi series that was tainted by a bad filler arc of episodes and terrible sequel movie that shouldn't have been made. Some kind of fan edit/cut version that only includes the plot-relevant portions of the bad filler material would make this a solid show worth watching.

Overall: 6/10

---

Ongoing:

- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (S2 8/11 Episodes)
- Prison School (7/12 Episodes, 0/1 OVA)

Good week for working on my backlog:

Finished Shirobako and watched the movie. Show was outstanding, while the movie was just pretty good.

Finished Cromarty High School as well, which was good too.

Watched My Oni Girl which was better than I expected it to be, if a little generic.

Started Tokyo Magnitude 8 and Yakitate! Japan and enjoyed both so far.

I watched Takopi's original sin.

Pretty good show

This week was dedicated entirely to Re:Zero. After the psychic experience of Neon Genesis Evangelion, I needed something lighter. However, the influence of NGE pushed me to ask existential questions about Re:Zero as well, for a while.

* **Re:Zero - Starting life in another world, seasons 1 (director's cut) & 2**

The story captivated me, even if at first the constant return from the dead seems to trip it up. Regarding the characters, I have mixed opinions. Despite all, I don't like Barosu, both as MC and as character, as he sometimes seems really too incapable of understanding mistakes. On the other hand, the character I appreciated the most so far is Echidna, and I like that the sin of greed is represented as "greed for knowledge" rather than "greed for money/power."
About dubbing. The anime was dubbed into my language all together in the first half of 2025, and it's good compared to others dubbed in recent years. However, the second half of the second season has started to falter a bit (for example, the titles have not bee translated on-screen anymore). Which is strange because, as I wrote, all the seasons are dubbed in succession to catch up, with no changes to the staff. Side note, Emilia has one of my favorite voices (Emanuela Ionica), the same one of Violet Evergarden. I give a bonus for that!

I’m keeping up with my 2025 resolution and combining it with my 2026!

For anime, 2025 was having a list of anime and going through them. 2026 is that every Saturday and Sunday, I watch at least one (1) anime film on each day and I make a stronger effort in seeing anime films, but I’ve been doing double features lately.

##In Progress

**First Timer**

* **The Heroic Legend of Arslan** (EP9/25) (Apple TV, Dubbed): I had finished up the manga <A Bride’s Story> and a friend recommended this anime to me. The character designs remind me of Full Metal Alchemist, so why was I surprised Arakawa made this 😭 The EN dub features a good number of FMA/FMAB cast too.
* **Twelve Kingdoms** (Crunchyroll, Dubbed) (EP17/45) Youko (MC) is a toughie. Lots of worldbuilding which I appreciate.
* **Nana** (No official streams, Dubbed) (EP22/47) I’ve been wanting to watch this, but I never got around to it. I really love Yasu.
* **The Legend of Basara** (No offcial streams, Subbed) (EP11/13) I have the entirety of the manga, so why not do a read along while watching? I was surprised it doesn’t have an EN dub.
* **Morbito: The Guardian Spirit of Water** (No official streams, Dubbed) (EP12/26) A stray comment on the sub had me decide to check out the anime. Balsa is an awesome female lead! I love her relationship with Tanda, and I hope I can find more like it. Lady warrior x healer gentleman is an awesome dynamic.
* **Emma** (Crunchyroll for JP only, Dubbed) (EP8/12) I’m watching it and comparing this to the <Love Through a Prism> UK dub, I wish the entire cast was a UK dub project.
* **Medalist** (D+/Hulu, Dubbed) (EP9/13) Seeing the hype for S2 had me decide to watch season 1. I cannot express how much I enjoy Inori and Tsukasa’s skater/coach relationship. But Yudai having a US southern accent had me cackle!
* **Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play** (Crunchyroll EN/JP, Dubbed) (EP44/52) I read the manga, but it never occurred to me to finish the anime. Technically, I’m a rewatcher for the first couple episodes, but then I never went past those handful. CR had it, so I said, why not? According to my uncle, I was a bouncy little one whenever the OP came on. But it’s such a vibe! For some reason, I thought AL didn’t have this, but it does.

**Rewatches**

N/A

##Completed

**New Series**

N/A

**Rewatches**

* **Magia Record** (Crunchyroll EN/JP, Dubbed) I really loved rewatching this, especially S3E2. After going to the Madoka sub and learning the differences between the anime and the game, I can understand dislikes towards the anime’s direction. But Magia Record just wows me and makes me cry.
* **86 - EIGHTY SIX** (Crunchyroll EN/JP, Dubbed) A strange comfort watch, but I’m pairing it with the light novels. Another one that’s a good cry.
* **I Have a Crush at Work** (No Official JP/EN streams in US, Subbed) I loved it once, loved it again. Romances with an all adult cast is a “I’m so seated” moment.

**Saturday Double Feature Films**

* **Sword of the Stranger** (Crunchyroll for EN and JP, Dubbed) Fucking amazing. People weren’t kidding that the fight choreography was fucking amazing. I really enjoyed the movie. [movie] >!The ending being “ambigous”, but seeing the pain in Kotaro’s eyes when he’s talking to the injured Nanashi… Ugh.!<.
* **Maquia** (Crunchyroll EN/JP, Dubbed) I cried so much I got a headache. My poor cats were sniffing me and rubbing against me. [movie] >!I was surprised Krim was that obsessed with going back to the way things were, but him, Maquia, and Leilia all have different responses to their displacement among humans that I appreciated. One thing I love about these dubs is them hiring child actors. I don’t even want kids, but Erial in the flashback montage calling for “mom/mommy” fucked me up but the kid VA is responsible for that, and god bless whoever they are.!<

I’m excited for tonight’s double feature, *They Were Eleven* and *Gold Kingdom and Water Kingdom*!

***

EDIT: SPAG and added Fushigi.

Hot Spring Yosei Hakone-chan
Phantom Quest Corp

Finished

The Case Study of Vanitas Part 1 - Really good stampunkish setting, well directed and animated, however its characters and story are somewhat incoherent and its comedy doesn't land. 5/10

Just started A Certain Magical Index and really enjoying it so far. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

I'm continuing **Tonbo**. It's a great slice of life.

**Frieren**: I fell off the reddit rewatch during the holidays, but caught up just in time for season 2. Still peak

**The Secrets of the Silent Witch**: I skipped this last year after getting burnt on Once Upon a Witch's Death. This show ended up having some incredibly deep emotional moments. I was blown away e.g. by \[sotsw\] >!Monica getting poisoned, or especially the stuff with Casey!<. But then it would intersperse that with trope space like the student council or the secret identity love triangle, which was so much more annoying than I expected. I have trouble deciding if I actually liked this show or not

**Plastic Memories**: Watched the first episode last night, so not much to say yet. I like the retro sci-fi aesthetic, and the premise is promising (although I dislike how simultaneously vague and over-specific it is: \[pm\] >!"artificial soul" is such an empty phrase, but exact number of seconds until they self-destruct? Really?!< It's neat to see a show about a robot with trauma (shout-out Apocalypse Hotel), although after a single episode I'm pretty sure I can guess her whole backstory and where this story is going

I am slowly going through Anne Happy. I had it on my watchlist for such a long time.

Timothy rap is one of the most memorable anime memes I've seen.

Despite being absolutely drenched in a rain of seasonals (I'm up to 25 this season... after 2 seasons in a row where I swore I would stop going above 20 and didn't, I think there's really just no hope for me anymore) I somehow managed to get caught up and stay that way, giving me time to be absolutely *back on my* ***bullshit*** this weekend.

My ***bullshit***, of course, means binging some saccharine romcom ~~and sobbing my eyes out at 3am~~.

I was in the mood for something similar-ish to *Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible* this time - adorable with at least one introverted MC. I ended up settling on *[My Clueless First Friend](https://myanimelist.net/anime/53621/Jijou_wo_Shiranai_Tenkousei_ga_Guigui_Kuru)* after a number of minutes that was likely entirely too many spent deliberating the decision; I knew before the end of the first episode that I made the right choice. 13 episodes of cute goobers who deserve the world was exactly what I needed this weekend (every weekend?). I'll probably end up reading the manga because ~~I always do with shows like this where I end up sobbing~~ I'm way too emotionally invested in these characters to not continue their story, but for the future, anyone have some lesser known gems in this vein? I feel like I'm already reaching deep cuts but I can't get enough of this stuff.

I finished Dr. Stone season 4 cour 2. Those last few episodes were mental.

Kaya chan led me to give Dark Gathering a try while waiting. It's fun so far.

I’m watching High-Rise Invasion. It’s so trashy it’s amazing, but I can’t say that I totally love it like something like Cross Ange. The latter has a lot of charm. But there’s blood everywhere and plenty of nosedives into pavement. Very fun.

Shangrla frontier

Magi... Though the subtitles are horrifying, the show is entertaining enough to deal with them.

Finally got to see **Komada: Whiskey Family**. I absolutely adored it.