Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - February 01, 2026

[**GEH                        **](#thebutton)

[**GEH**](#kumikolook)

Instant eargasm. Among all the tunes they used in the episode, this one caught my ears the most. Hope it'll soon be available on streaming services.

>*Checks on Sound! Euphonium Season 3 - Episode 10 discussion thread*…

Strange. I checked the thread for Episode 10 and there was almost nothing there, but after checking again, everything was fine and all posts are showing up now.

>I’m at least glad that all the comments about 12th episode are still there. Arguably one of the best episodes in anime that I’ve seen.

Gah! Why did you remind me of episode 12? Why?! I still can't get over what happened there, so [now I'm like that](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/k739cknmm87.png).

That episode made me hate Reina so much. I used to quite like her (even if she was really annoying at times), but after it, she became my most hated character, not just in anime, but in any work of fiction. I just feel pure hatred every time I think about her or see her, I'm not kidding.

*[Hakumei to Mikochi](https://myanimelist.net/anime/36094)*, it follows two adult women as they mostly goof around in search of good food, drink, and company in a slightly magical world.

Hidamari Sketch

Aria the Animation.

Finished in January:

* Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: A lonely dragon wants to be loved (8/10)
* Cosmic Princess Kaguya (5/10)

For February, I think I’m only watching seasonals.

As always, series I finished (some I started watching quite a bit earlier than January):

* My Hero Academia season 7 - **7/10**
* Black Lagoon season 1 - **9/10**
* Loup=Garous - **4/10**
* Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ - **6/10**
* Kowarekake no Orgel (the "movie" version) - **8/10**
* Mardock Scramble: The First Compression - **7/10**
* Chihayafuru season 2 - **8/10**
* Chihayafuru season 2 OVA - **7/10**
* Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict - **7/10**
* Heart and Yummie - **8/10**
* Black Lagoon season 2 - **8/10**
* The Garden of Sinners Chapter 8: Epilogue - **4/10**
* The Big O - **8/10**
* Cosmic Princess Kaguya - **8/10**
* Legend of the Millennium Dragon - **5/10**

No drops and a bunch of 8s and a rare 9 from me: January was a really strong month. Was disappointed at the static yap fest that was the Garden of Sinners epilogue, but apparently there is still more anime to watch in the series so this wasn't the end.

EDIT:

Almost forgot the list of anime I hope to finish in February. This includes Chihayafuru season 3 (will likely have to pick up the manga next), Fist of the North Star part 2, One Piece season 1 (j/k, but I will reach episode 1155 by next week), Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches... at least these, and maybe a few movies and a one cour anime or two I might start after some of ones above end.

I managed to finish a lot.

* Is the order a Rabbit? (Whole series as part of 2026 bingo): Really cute, funny and a comfy watch. Season 1 was the weakest one but after that it really hit its stride with Season 2.
* Yokohoma shopping log + Quiet Country Cafe: Melancholic, foreboding but a really nice watch. Only 4 episodes in total so might have to pick up the manga.
* Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms: Great movie, wanted to see somewhat similar themes to Frieren and to find out how Maquia handled them and it did it well.
* Natsume's Book of Friends Season 1: Finally got around watching Natsume and it was great. Glad I liked it because I now know that there are 6 seasons just waiting for me to get around to it.
* Super Cub: This ended up being one of my all time favorites. I want more Super Cub.
* Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater: It was good but nothing too special.

As for February at least:

* FLAG
* The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor (for 2026 bingo)
* Usagi Drop
* Should squeeze in Cosmic Princess Kaguya and maybe Prism Rondo.

Title | Score/10 | Comment
-|:-:|-
Watanare Specials | 7 | A good continuation of the first season [and] >!a surprising polyamorous end which I like.!<
[Fire Craft](/r/anime/comments/1q8h0jd/nominations_for_the_2025_ranime_awards_are_now/nyni2kh/) | 6 | A short film that suggests a much bigger world beyond the story here that I wouldn't mind seeing more of it.
Ueno-san wa Bukiyou | 5 | It has essentially one flavor of joke but it's amusing if I'm in the right mindset for it.
100 Meters | 7 | I appreciate it as a cinematic experience but it's not especially to my taste otherwise.
Seirei Gensouki S1 + S2 | 5 | There are certainly worse isekai power fantasies out there. This one has a couple of decent ideas but it doesn't flow well.
You and Idol Precure | 6 | A conservative season that doesn't do much with its theme.
Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose | 4 | [If] >!everyone's a childhood friend does it even matter?!<
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me | 6 | It's very much an "average guy gets hot girlfriend" kind of series but still sweet despite that as he learns to be attentive and communicative and they explore what being in a relationship really means emotionally; they also do a lot of couple things together which I'll never complain about. [However] >!I wish it leaned more into the premise of her past experience, she's a bit insecure about him having firsts with her but not vice-versa and that was a nice avenue to explore. But not a single ex of hers showed up or was even really discussed?!<

This month is finishing the next couple of things on my [bingo board](/r/anime/comments/1qrygy1/anime_questions_recommendations_and_discussion/o2v7pji/) and getting more into Ranma and HaCha Precure but getting nowhere close to done on those two.

> D.Gray-man

Probably the battle shounen of my childhood I have the biggest soft spot for. Hope you enjoyed it!

Finished in January:

* Great:
* 100 Meters
* Kingdom S6
* Spy x Family S3
* There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless… ~Next Shine~
* Wandance
* Good:
* Cosmic Princess Kaguya!
* This Monster Wants to Eat Me
* Okay:
* The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess

Was very happy with a lot of what I watched last month. Kingdom and Watanare continue to be great. I was feeling the padding more this season of SpyFam, but I'm still enjoying it. I think a lot of people have gushed about 100 Meters.

I think Wandance is the most under-appreciated of my favourites last month. I really liked the protagonist and how his speech disorder was depicted. He reminded me of the protagonist of Blue Period: sensitive and passionate, a little more real and raw than anime-like. The dancing CG was sadly the worst part of the show in the first half for me, but either it improved or I got used to it, because in the second half I found myself replaying and really looking forward to the dances. An episode with nothing but back-to-back dancing had me riveted.

Planning to finish this month:

* Love Through A Prism (I'm about halfway through and really liking it)
* More fall seasonals

Finished in January:

* Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle Chapter 1 (9)
* rewatch of both seasons of Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! (7.5 each) and first time with the movie Take on Me (8)
* Magic Knight Rayearth (6)
* Mobile Police Patlabor (8) and the first movie (8.5)
* Cosmic Princess Kaguya! (10 and might be one of my favorite anime things like, period) and its epilogue MV (9.5)
* You and Idol Precure (7)

Planned for February:

* the second Patlabor movie
* rewatching both seasons of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid before doing the movie
* rewatching Beastars's first two seasons before the finale comes out next month
* rewatching Baccano!
* Love Through a Prism
* the You and Idol Precure movie

Show|Score|Comment
:--|:--|:--
| Ao-chan Can't Study! | 7 | I like shows that feature young women thinking about sex. Would have been better if she actually did it.
| With You, Our Love Will Make It Through|4| I don't understand the point of making your male lead a beast and then have him be a literally perfect gentleman who is perfect in every conceivable way. Also, all of the antagonists are just... Horrifyingly poorly written.
|Kuzu no Honkai|10| [Here](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qf9fjm/anime_questions_recommendations_and_discussion/o04nlei/). TLDR: What scumbags desire is for other people to love them.
|Classroom of the Elite|6| I mean as a story it's not good at all, and the setting makes less than zero sense. Ayanokoji is neither smart, cool, nor interesting. There are a lot of great manipulator characters in anime (see flair), and he's not one of them. But, like, man, there's a scene where they drink mineral water from champagne glasses in an on-campus "hostess club" and the way everyone's breasts work... it's so unintentionally hilarious.
|Kaichou is a Maid|8| Delightful comedy. It's kind of just the same set of jokes over and over again, but it keeps working really well. Usui is also just a god damn shojo manga machine.
|Grimgar|8| Very, very pretty. Insanely pretty. Like holy shit I just want to look at those backgrounds forever. The story was also good enough.
|Gokudolls|6| An amusing powerpoint presentation with a fantastically absurd premise. Maybe it would have been even better if they animated it.
|March Comes Like a Lion 2|4| It's difficult to exaggerate just how grating the way the sisters were written was becoming at the end. Perfect angels of pure light who are constitutionally incapable of doing or even thinking wrong, who flawlessly perform every single little ritual of traditional femininity... I hated every second of it. They also more or less cut Kyoko out of the show entirely, and she was by far my favorite character. And in general, it just felt like a meandering story that was aimlessly moving around in circles. Sure was very prettily drawn, though.

As for February, I'm currently watching Tsurune, Guilty Crown and Kiss x Sis.

One month into the new year, I've made a good start catching up on a few shows from 2025.

[](#morecomfy)

**Finished watching in January:**

1) **Full Metal Panic** (always rewatching, 10/10) - Probably no surprise to anyone at this point. I love this show. I'm switching it up a bit this time by watching Fumoffu alongside season 1 for a sort of chronological order, and it's interesting to see how nicely the character development from the main series flows into the comedic side stories this way, with Sousuke and Kaname's relationship being more rocky in the beginning until they really connect and start to understand each other later on.

2) **Pokémon: To Be A Master** (8.5/10) - This was so nostalgic. I've been a fan of Pokémon since the very first season, and it was nice seeing Ash go on an adventure with Misty and Brock again. This short season really plays up the comedy between Ash and Pikachu, which is great. There were a few parts that felt lacking, or a bit like filler, compared to the rest, but I also really enjoyed the ongoing plotline with the legendary Pokémon Latias. A fitting first anime for the new year, since *Pokémon Journeys* was the last anime I finished in 2025.

3) **Wandance** (8.5/10) - This show wasn't on my radar at first, but I watched it after seeing all the comments about how wholesome it is, and I'm glad I did. My family and I really enjoyed this one! Wanda and Kabo are a sweet pair, and the dance club has a really positive vibe. The dance battles had me feeling a lot more invested than I expected, especially in the second half after getting to know all the characters. I'm planning to read the manga as well.

4) **K-On! OVA** (8/10) - 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.

5) **Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood** (8/10) - The story was very sweet with some nice found family themes, and the other world had a neat fantasy vibe. It was a little confusing at the start with the two timelines being shown in parallel, but I really liked the concept of an isekai where people can easily travel back and forth to visit/live/work in one world or the other.

6) **Disney Twisted Wonderland** (7.5/10) - This is a show that got better as it went along. The first episode was kind of rough and suffered from showing off too many characters without giving them time for proper introductions. After the focus settled on about a half dozen characters, it was easier to see their individual personalities and their banter is pretty fun at times, and I liked the Disney references. The main conflict was a little silly, but it fit the original Alice in Wonderland story it's based on. I think it's a missed opportunity though not having the MC be aware of Disney stories before he was isekai'd. It would've made for good comedy.

7) **Bullet/Bullet** (6/10) - I was looking forward to this one because I'm a big fan of sci-fi, but it ended up being style over substance. The frequent car chases and vehicle designs were good, but the absurd humor fell flat for me. There were hints of more emotional depth in the scenes with Gear's found family, and some interesting worldbuilding in the second half with a surprising twist. However, many characters seemed defined by their (unfunny) quirks, and the assassins and the "final boss" were so ridiculous that it was hard to take the plot seriously.

**Plan to watch in February:**

- Full Metal Panic (my fave, always rewatching)
- Spy x Family (rewatching before the season 3 dub drops on Hulu)
- Horimiya (I'm hosting the [rewatch](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qgkmwo/valentines_triple_feature_horimiya_shikimoris_not/)!)
- FLAG (I'm joining the [rewatch](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qa8z7u/flag_20th_anniversary_rewatch_announcement/) as a first-time viewer)
- Cat's Eye (now that the dub is complete on Hulu)
- Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms

I may get a head start on Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie for part 2 of my Valentine's rewatch as well. I'm also rewatching Digimon Adventure 2 but probably won't finish it this month.

I think this is the most anime I've ever included in one of these month end posts.

Completed:

* Zenshu
* Maetel Legend
* elDlive
* Laputa Castle in the Sky
* Super Dimensional Century Orguss
* My Dress Up Darling
* Fate/Strange Fake Whispers of Dawn (rewatch)

Overall [AnimeBingo/2026 PTW List](https://i.imgur.com/Uf2e0RY.jpeg) progress is at 6/48

In Progress:

* Orguss 02 (4/6)
* Revisions (10/12)
* Mobile Fighter G Gundam (rewatch) (2/49)
* Flag (rewatch) (1/13)
* Horimiya (1/26)
* Oshi no Ko season 3 (3/?)
* Shiboyugi (4/?)
* Fate/Strange Fake (4/?)
* Frieren season 2 (3/?)

February Plans:

Orguss 02, Revisions, Flag and Horimiya should all be wrapped up, the bottom four are all seasonals and will continue into March. The newly released Cosmic Princess Kaguya will get watched at some point, I've just got too much on my plate right now to get to it as fast as I want to.

[*(December 2025)*](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1q10to2/anime_questions_recommendations_and_discussion/nx3yxce/)

1. [**One Pound Gospel**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/1328/). There's some pretty good names attached to this. It's perfectly fine but at the same time not one I would enthusiastically recommend. Consider it if 50 minute to spare and like Rumiko Takahashi works.

2. [**Idol Bu Show Movie**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/51147/). GCI idols you've never heard of and some drama or whatever, it was pretty short (this got a 5/5 in [the survey](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1qby98n/the_end_of_fall_2025_survey_results/) and was popular enough to count, good thing I forgot I watched it when filling the survey).

3. [Shibuya♡Hachi Part 4](https://myanimelist.net/anime/61922/). Given this is for toddlers I didn't expect it to get into the real Hachiko's origin, life and legacy and [round off with]>!the reuniting of Nana (the pink dog that hangs out with the gang wnting to be the centre of attention) and her owner turning to tragedy as he collapses and needs to go to hospital (feeling like the cycle will repeat, although he makes a recovery).!< I should watch part 1-3 sometime.

4. [**100 Meters**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/58919). If you hated the more philosophical parts of Orb you may get a bit of deja-vu but don't stay away as the artistry the anime offers is an impressive showcase of rotoscoping.

5. [**Chalk-iro no People**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/18071/). I didn't like Two on Road so this was that but worse. Maybe start from the 3rd story as they figured out consistent BGM at that point. Barely any animation, no voice acting, art doesn't compensate (pseudo Belgium comics but average panels) and a noisy Laserdisc source doesn't help.

6. [**Mellow**](https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=27559). This silly and crass OVA about a guy on the run from the yakuza takes the role of his depressed sister (a teacher at a school) was a bit mixed but anything is a good time after Chalk.

7. [**Junkers Come Here Pilot Film**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/42228/). The animation is really good on this (2s and 3s). I suppose it was like that Pluto PV (which IIRC looked better than the same bit in the anime itself), get investors on-board.

8. [**Hitorigurashi no Shougakusei**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/35235/). This was a vertical short anime on Anime Beans app ([quite a few of those are lost media](https://myanimelist.net/stacks/50179)). Somehow it took me until episode 9 to figure it's set in Enoshima.

9. [**Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/8896/). A mix of anime parts set in 1945 (based on a records in a school diary) and live action present day of the parents who survived but whose kids did not.

10. [**Cosmic Princess Kaguya!**](https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=62896). This [NHK doc](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/2099029/) says it was 3.5 year project with 1000 hands working on it (and it shows). A joy from start to finish (some critics disagree saying a few bits dragged on or some plots points could be tighter). If you're worried about the duration, the time flies by and feels like a good summary movie for a series that was never made.

11. [**You and Idol Precure**](https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=60407). [With the pedigree of staff behind it, I'm baffled.](#frustration) Left so afraid of its idol shadow even insert songs are largely cowered away as the ~30s MOTW finisher (maybe on paper it was going for being a highlight but it undersells what should be part of its identity, plus doesn't vary it up enough and just happened to air in the same year *Princession Orchestra* embraces insert songs as the full battle theme including unique performances to it, might only be a few words strained). It was not helped that script writing resorted to paint by numbers with predictable catchphrase driven dialogue ([these stats](https://old.reddit.com/r/precure/comments/1qodokm/the_you_and_idol_counts_are_finally_here/) are an under-estimate of how bad it is), bland monster of the week designs (maybe them all being similar makes the finisher bank footage easier to template) and sometimes combat was bank animation quota (not the first season to fall into that trap), some characters development fizzled out. It's a shame as it's not without charms being a light-hearted relaxed season (some moments were very comedic, [slapstick too](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/4dc52e9c97e0.jpg)), even down to Idol Precure not being career focused at all (more being a fan and expressing support; a "you and I" as it were), can be very heartfelt [e.g. eps]>!(14, 28)!< and kids seemed to love it was a great year for merch sales. A weak Precure entry; one for franchise completists. Must watch for anyone wanting to be on next years r/anime AOTY jury however (to avoid shortlisting, I hope).

12. [**You and Idol Precure: Movie**](https://myanimelist.net/anime/60773). There's only Chinese+Japanese hardsubbed raws right now (tree sub tracks on screen gets pretty chaotic, especially when there's insert songs+dialogue). Wasn't a bad watch, I enjoyed the [plot having elements of]>!when an idols time comes to an end, how do fans cope with abandonment!< and it did some things the show really should have done (including starting a insert song from a different section). [This bit gave me great joy](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/3c12b775e610.jpg) [movie context]>!she hated Uta bursting out singing...happened in show over 50 times to the same tune, so I'll take this pushback!<.

**February plans**: [Animated Travelogue: The Adventures of Marco Polo](https://myanimelist.net/anime/5935) has 2 episodes left to be subbed and been pretty consistent schedule thus far. While it has been 10 months for me, it was 24 years for Marco Polo and 46 years for NHK (wiped the only known broadcast version, eventually dubless film for the Italian dub was found and NHK were able to obtain fan audio recordings of the Japanese broadcast).

Anime | Score | Notes
---|---|----
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -Stairway to Adulthood | 8 | Natural relationship progress? In my Anime medium? Its nice to see this trend continueing with first Horimiya and now Kaguya.
Chainsaw Man - The Movie: Reze | 8 | The action scenes were phenomenal and ridiculous and crazy and all the other adjectives and even that is underselling it. Very enjoyable movie. Makima remains the most interesting character.
The Fruit of Grisaia | 5 | This was so weird at times, what was supposed to be a sad emotional moment often had such comedic timing that it took all the emotion out of it. It was also very rushed at points, like how are you gonna do an entire route in one single episode... Atleast some of the arcs like the Angelic Howl one were decent.
Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns | 6 | Oh that's where the drying pan meme comes from. Not the best Pokemon movie, but still decent enough.
The Labyrinth of Grisaia: The Cocoon of Caprice 0 | 3 | [Spoilers & SA trigger warning]>!Incest, rape, pedophillia, murder-suicide, they really just tackled all controversial topics just for the sake of it huh. They literally thought of all the awful backstory tropes and said hey lets do all of them.!<

Let's see. I finished:

* First Line - A junior animator is given the opportunity to handle the final scene, but struggles with self-doubt and loses his perspective. Art about making art can get kind of self-absorbed and navel-gazey, but the focus on creating under pressure as a job kept it grounded, and the production was fantastic. Really worth tracking down to watch before awards voting ends.
* Watanare special - A fun five episode finale to the sluttiest (affectionate) yuri we've gotten since Citrus. The ending is polarizing, but that just means you had a good harem.
* The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity - No synopsis necessary, this was just ok. The constant apologizing and therapy speak heart to hearts didn't work any better for me in the anime than they did in the manga. It just feels like a romance made for the tiktok crowd obsessed with green flags that think two years is a problematic age gap.
* Nomo no Kuni - Really nicely produced short adventure movie about a sister and brother pulled into a storybook world. I wanted to like it more than I did, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the moral of the story was that it's a moral flaw to feel anxious and weak character to get your feelings hurt.
* Golden Kamuy: The Bodyguards of Barato/Terror! The Mysterious Giant Bird - When I went to start the new season, I noticed I'd missed some earlier OVAs. It's Golden Kamuy, so it's good stuff. I just love how it manages to blend violent action and dark comedy.
* A Few Moments of Cheers - A teenage boy who likes making music videos runs across a woman busking in the rain and becomes obsessed with making a video for her song. This was on the opposite end of the art about making art spectrum and climbed all the way into its belly button, spouting vacuous platitudes about touching people's hearts along the way. Nobody acted in ways that felt relatable, and the main character was pretty irritating to watch. I did like how it looked, though, so there's that.

I plan to watch Reze and The Colors Within, and maybe My Melody and Kuromi just to see whether I'm mad it was nominated, but beyond that, who knows. I'm watching too many seasonals and reading too much BL to do much backlist watching.

Watched:

* Full Metal Panic (2002)
* Kino's Journey (2003)
* Gunslinger Girl S1 (2003)
* Ghost in the Shell: The Stand Alone Complex (2002)
* Ghost in the Shell (1995)
* Cosmic Princess Kaguya (2026)

February:

* Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu (2003)
* Chrono Crusade (2003)
* Planetes (2003)

After that we'll see. I'll either continue through the Fall, 2003 series that interest me or watch some of what I missed from the last couple years.

Only did True Tears rewatch. Started rewatching Strawberry Panic but put in on-hold for now. No soecific olans for anime vesides seasonals as I am on a rare live-action series binge at the moment

I thought I was gonna say "I've been watching more seasonals than ever so I haven't actually finished anything", but looking back, it was still a decent amount!

I'm still just kinda getting back to anime after years of watching barely anything at all, so I'm pretty impressed with myself.

[](#seasonalconfused "Or maybe 'worried' would be a better word.")

***Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote*** *(The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio)* -- started it purely on a whim, I think it was on Crunchyroll front page or something for some reason. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. Just harmless good fun, good characters, solid yuri bait. **(7/10)**

***Sounan desu ka?*** *(Are you lost?)* -- another random pick from Crunchyroll front page on a weak moment. Weird and wacky premise, some fun moments, decent ecchi, and surprisingly good production values. But ultimately, nothing particularly good about it. **(5/10)**

***Fruits Basket (2001)*** -- this has been a slow burn, I started it back in June last year and enjoyed it one episode at a time every now and then. Loved it. Funny, emotional, heartwarming, bittersweet. **(8/10)**

***Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn*** -- it's an exposition dump, but a good one. The series has been awesome too. **(8/10)**

***Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna*** *(Earth Maiden Arjuna)* -- It was interesting. Really interesting. The author had a vision. He couldn't pull it off. More frustrating than anything else, but *interesting*. **(5/10)**

***Paripi Koumei*** *(Ya Boy Kongming!)* -- Loved the premise, loved the first three episodes, then the whole premise was forgotten and it became just a solid but very normal entertainer anime. Had a good time though. **(7/10)**

***Toaru Majutsu no Index*** *(A Certain Magical Index)* -- Filling gaps in my classic shounen knowledge. I probably would have been all over this had I watched it back when it first aired, now I feel like I'm not really in the target audience since it feels like a show aimed at teenagers even more than most shounens. I'll happily keep going with the franchise, though. **(7/10)**

---

Currently watching:

* **Spy x Family season 2** (probably won't finish in February)
* **Odd Taxi** (will definitely finish soon)
* **How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?** (will probably finish in February)
* **Mushoku Tensei season 1** (should finish in February)

No other plans yet, really. I usually just go with vibes when I want to start a new show. I should work on some on my bingo card, though, I'm only 4 episodes into Mushoku Tensei and that's the only one on there I've started!

This month, I only managed to finish my rewatch of The Dangers in my Heart in preparation for the movie. Still my favourite romance in anime and one of my favourite anime in general.

In February, I hope to finish Hell's Paradise season 1 and continue to season 2. Also, I started Ex-Arm in a drunken stupor over the holiday break, and now that I'm halfway through I decided to soldier on and finish it.

Scarlet is also coming out and they're re-releasing Princess Mononoke again, so I'll be watching those as well.

[Did I actually finish anything besides Gundam Wing?](#hardthink)

I... guess Hell's Paradise S1. But I think it was just that crazy binge of Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, the IBO "movie" and short, and your Hell's Paradise rewatch.

Oh, according my history on Cruncyroll I watched the last half of Gankutsuou at the beginning of this month, and the final episode of SxF S3...

* **Frieren S1** (Rewatch)
* **Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn** (Rewatch)
* **Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc**
* **Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro**
* **Medalist S1** (WIP)

Not too much completed this time, mostly brushing up on seasonals. Managed to finish Frieren in time for the start of S1, ended up a few weeks behind on Fate (caught up now) and Medalist (still watching S1). Also managed to watch Chainsaw Man and Lupin with my movie group, those were both pretty fun.

Cool idea! Though, haha, I guess we can see what draws the attention of the people in this sub.

> In the Chinese animation community, "Yuri" or "Light Yuri" is widely considered the current meta (or "the winning formula"). Shows like Lycoris Recoil, MyGO!!!!!, and GIRLS BAND CRY all generated heated discussions and fan creations.

So Lycoris Recoil is often associated with yuri, and I get that Girls Band Cry at least has a confession... but in what universe is MyGO considered yuri in *any* capacity? Taki obviously has a crush on Tomori but, really?

[](#niatilt)

it wasnt just anime. life was really like that back then.

There's a fair bit more of psuedonyms or created names out there than one would realize. Granted these are older creators, but Yoshiyuki Tomino and Tomonori Kogawa both used a number of pseudonyms for some of their works. Hajime Yatate is credited as the creator of a lot of Sunrise anime but isn't actually a real person. Same for Izumi Todo with Toei.

Anyway, yes, Yoko Kanno is amazing!

I don't know if I ever had a smoking best girl, and now I might get two at once.

[](#flustered)

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Kyousougiga

Kubikiri Cycle

The Tatami Galaxy

Kuuchuu Buranko

Learn all languages involved and realize there is no perfect translation so it's an art that depends on the intended audience as well as the context of the line itself.

[](#elves)

Unless you can understand both languages, it's mostly a matter of trust. If the subtitles have more apparent issues, like spelling, timing, or grammatical errors, that's usually not a good sign.

there really is no other way other than to know both the source and the target language

the difference between English and Japanese is arguably the largest "distance" between languages, so there is a lot more room for creative interpretation, especially if you want to have a sentence that doesn't sound like it's spoken by a robot

*Alya* has another layer because now you got three languages to translate, and when she speaks Russian do you translate the Russian to English? Or do you translate the Japanese translation of the Russian to English (to match the experience that the Japanese audience had)?

Embrace your weakness. Make it your strength. Catgirls are your friends.

Embrace furry supremacy 

Silent Witch


I highly recommend not watching Towa no Yuugure. It's terrible.

Perfect time for Trigun Stampede, since the second half is airing right now (Trigun Stargaze)

1 vote for air gear

Summer Ghost is one of my top 5 favorite movies and it's quite short as well (~40 minutes).

>infestation of mushrooms


I hear there's a witch who could help with that.

Tamon's a witch he just hasn't realized it yet

Tamon is saving the world by absorbing all the gloominess and turning them into mushrooms.


That's why we worship the Church of Tamon

One of the seas sources seem to have a Hulu version in English so dunno where they got it. That's odd

Reina is basically "be a spunky Tomoyo Kurosawa character and they'll eat it up", ngl they're right

I'm sure you're a smart watcher that can make their own choices. Plus Idk your Watched list. But for 2024, I'll shill for the low-popularity *Brave Bang Bravern* and *Dead Dead Demons*. BBB needs 2 episodes for a fair analysis. DDD probably only needs one (Episode 0 is an epilogue).

I don't think I've seen any announced but with so many shows airing there probably is a chance. Would have to check TV schedules I guess.

Jigokuraku moved to later timeslot.

> Realizing that made me think it would be fun to have a -san series watch order as a joke at some point,

The first entry no matter what has to be [Sazae-san](https://anilist.co/anime/2406/Sazaesan), and it is absolutely required to watch to understand any of the others.

Kubo-san's one of my favorites, hope you enjoy! The manga is well worth it to finish out the story, since it seems very unlikely we ever get another season at this point.

How about another take on characters from *Journey to the West* and watch [Saiyuki](https://anilist.co/anime/129)?

NG Knight Ramune & 40
Mahoujin Guruguru
Slayers

Which episode? That's actually the best selling point so far u/zairaner

That's more like a reference than an actual spoiler imo. Never ever are anime onlies getting truly "spoiled" by this, it's way too vague if you don't know the manga (fortunately).

The latest episode of OnK *should' have contained spoilers for the ending of a different show, but they seemingly cut that extra chapter, which is quite certainly the worst thing that is going to happen this year.

Just curious, which show it is now?

I will not stand for this middle aged online shopper and gachi fighter slander!

[](#punch)

And just when we were getting to the good part.

"The industry will improve if they cut the shows I don't like"

Entitled Fan Exhibit A.

every industry has its slop. does it mean it cant improve? no. you could argue you dont need a 1/3 of the phones currently produced or in production, because some companies just create phones for no actual reason. i cant think of any examples right now but when i was looking for a phone it almost always used to be the case, there's too much and most of them are shit.

does it mean the industry will improve if they stop producing it? no.

the harsh reality is that most light novels/mangas are trash. but they're doing well, so they get enough budget to produce a series.

There already are usually at least 10-20 high quality shows per season...? I don't really understand how cutting the lower quality shows made by a bunch of separate entities really does anything.

>We don't have to agree on what the exact shows are

I think you fall apart due to this. How do you decide which shows are the "slop just to advertise a mediocre source material" and should this be cut? For anyone to decide, people *must* agree on what the exact shows are. Obviously there are many bad shows, but every person you ask is gonna have a different list of what they are. Likewise for deciding what a great source material is or which are high quality shows. I don't think this is a useful or healthy way to discuss changes to the industry.

The problem isn't about individual series, it's systemic. The anime industry has an overproduction crisis. It doesn't matter what any individual person thinks of any individual show, the problem isn't that bad source material is adapted but that there are so many anime being made that the industry is spread thin. This affects the quality of all anime, regardless of what anyone thinks of the source material. I also don't think there's anything wrong with "bad anime" existing for the same reason that I have no right to decide which shows are bad. Those are ones that don't click with me, it's fine that they exist. Meanwhile, even in this messy industry, I have no issues finding stuff I like.

Stumbled upon a post of yours in another thread so I'll quote it here:

> If you've got 50 isekai anime in a year you couldn't cut 10 to adapt Vagabond, Yotsuba, Punpun, etc?

The thing is... it's not the isekai that's going to get cut. Those are the safe investments. There are so much of them because they are safe. Less anime means less money means less risks. What they'll do is double down on safe bets like isekai.

I've heard at least Yotsuba and Punpun have author-related reasons as to why they won't be adapted, but regardless, unusual series and originals are high risk. Those are the last things you'll see in a less risk-taking environment.

It's right to want a healthier industry and less over-worked staff. But you should toss the assumption that it's going to mean a more, rather than less, interesting industry to you personally.

> You can disagree on methodology, underlying reasons, and what makes a good anime but I think it's near undeniable that there are several bad anime that come out yearly made by talented staff, and their efforts could be better used to adapt a great source or even finally make some great originals.

Bereft of work, studios would be forced to close, and a lot of those talented staff members would be forced to leave the industry for brighter pastures.

Production capacity vs. demand is an issue for the industry, but cutting production (especially that arbitrarily far) isn't really going to fix it, at least not without making things worse in the process.

Your problem is that you're begging the question. You're working from the assumption that there's an identifiable category of anime that makes the quality of the rest of the medium suffer, but you haven't put forth an argument to support that. You have to identify your problem first before you can debate solutions.

Alright, could you give us your top list for this season? We'll cut your 15 favorite anime.

No?

So you want to cut some shows, but you want the cuts to be SOMEONE ELSE's favorites?

No matter what 15 you pick, it'll have a lot of someone's favorite. It doesn't matter if you pick the most degenerate ecchi, the most generic isekai, someone will love them just as much as you like your top shows.

>you don't need 1/3 of all anime produced to be slop just to advertise a mediocre source material

Other than garbage like Ex-arm (which probably doesn't use too much manpower) no one agrees on what is "mediocre source material".

I think Ikoku Nikki wasn't interesting. I wouldn't mind cutting this one. But I do have a feeling r/anime would mind.

Meanwhile, some people in r/anime thought Shiboyugi was bad. (And I'm taking note of all their names).

So, which of us get to make the call?

Or who in the community gets to make it?

Everything that gets adapted is presumed to have an audience for it.

>I would much rather have 15 high quality anime every season

If we go by any of the rankings of best seasonal anime either in here or in one of those websites that post in here, only like 2 of my top animie this season are in these top 10 or 15.

Not everyone likes """High quality anime""".

>We don't have to agree on what the exact shows are

No it's 10 times worse than "having to agree" on it: Someone has to make the call, and decide what everyone gets.

If the person making the call decided that your top 2 shows this season don't make the cut, are you okay with this?

"B-But my two top shows are quality anime! They should stay!"

Well maybe I don't like them. Maybe other people don't like them. Maybe people like variety to choose from because everyone likes different things.

(one more go at it after reading the full discussion)

You seem to think cutting the slop will improve the quality to the top... That's not really how it works.

It's like if high-end designer clothes were seeing a tiny drop in quality so you argued for companies to stop producing plain t-shirts... Okay it's not gonna affect anything.

Get the top designer to make 3 outfits this year instead of 4. This will lessen his load considerably.

But cutting on tshirts doesn't matter, because there's no quality designer working on these plain tshirts, there's only sweatshop industries.

Some garbage Isekai made by a 3rd rate studio on their 2nd anime, or some 'light anime'/power point presentation like Way of the house husband, doesn't affect the high end stuff.

You want the high end stuff to be better/the high end workers to have better conditions? **CUT THE HIGH END STUFF**

Free the "Designer" from a heavy workload.

Cutting some garbage that no one with an ounce of talent worked on, will not ensure better quality anime gets produced.

The idea that if you cut Way of the house husband and the Potion anime, these guys will team up together to produce Frieren come again due to a smaller work load, it's a bit silly...

If you want the designer to have a lower work load, you need to cut designer quality clothes; Not garbage tshirts.

At least some of that is the sheer number of shows available these days. That said, some of that is due to streaming, so it could count as an indirect effect lol

Increased accessibility will do that, yeah.

In the olden days, when you had to go to a store to pay exorbitant prices for a disc or a tape with maybe three episodes of a show, you were far more inclined to stick with it, even if you weren't totally feeling it. Now another show is a few buttons away.

I'm tempted to agree but I think people also like to watch some absolutely dog shit anime so IDK.

A good show is pretty evident from the first episode, and a work of art should respect your time. I don't find that there are many worthwhile shows that don't follow either of these general ideas.

I don't think pacing is the word you're looking for. 3 of the 10 most popular seasonal shows on this sub (Frieren, Shiboyugi and Journal with Witch) have rather slow pacing but that doesn't prevent them from hooking people up.

I'd maybe say that the increased availability due to streaming forced the change in show structure where it must now offer some of its best features upfront to discern itself from 50 other shows, but I'm not even sure that's true. Looking back I can't really remember a significant number of shows that intentionally put off their best moments.

Even the famous three episode rule was always more of an exception, you had like one show a year that started bad but significantly improved by the end of episode 3.

And I think that's a good thing. You can generally tell the quality of an author/publisher/writer by the first few chapters, and you can generally tell the quality of an anime by its first few episodes. This isn't to say you have to dive straight into the action, but you have to do *something* that makes an audience say, "Ooh, I want to see more of this."

For a book example, take the Lord of the Rings. It takes a hot minute before anything actually happens in the Fellowship of the Ring, but the prose and description of the Shire makes me want to read more. I can tell that it's likely going to be a good story because the beginning is written well and interestingly even if nothing important is going on yet.

Same thing with anime. I don't demand that the first episode take me headlong into the plot, it can take its time to develop, but it's still gotta show signs of quality within the first few episodes, or it's hard to justify watching this over... well, any other anime. It can be character dynamics, dialogue, even direction of just *waiting* and doing nothing (Frieren did this iirc) that makes me think that this might be different or better than other things I've seen.

Great character designs, really well animated, novel concept, great character writing, hype moments, etc.

I don't understand why it's #1 on MAL but I do think it's one of the best anime to come out in recent years.

Because a lot of people like it.

My guess is mostly due to being inoffensive. It doesn't really have any of the offputting shounen tropes other series have.

And its not stuck in netflix/disney/amazon jail either.

Elf feet

It has affecting themes, compelling characters (with mostly zero offensive tropes), great drawing quality, animation and musical score, great level of production overall, and a non standard story for an anime of its genre... in that there is no chosen one kid hero struggling to defeat the evil overlord. Instead the main character is the Kakashi / Gojo and the kid heroes are just her latest companions and the story is about doing a victory lap while trying to more deeply connect with others and the memory of one special someone in particular.

When there is action, it can rival the best of any battle series, but more often than not the vibe is calming and more contemplative.

It offers a lot to a wide variety of people in the general anime fandom and is good at most things it tries to accomplish.

I have my criticisms of the series (the writing is not very interested in creating a very indepth fantasy world and there are occasional fantasy RPG elements that I feel are unwelcome), but overall the level of quality is so high that I don't get stuck on those.

i think it's a show that casts a pretty wide net in terms of audience

it has action, drama, romance, comedy, etc., and it executes on it effectively, and it doesn't have any major flaws or weird edges that could make it a turn-off

I think she's just new, her first credited role is in 2023, not surprising she doesn't have a lot of roles under her belt yet. As for why she was chosen, probably a combination of liking her audition and being cheaper than the big names.

(Any) VAs still have to audition, and it’s possible Yurie nailed hers and landed Ruby that way. Like acting, it’s all about finding someone who fits the role. Sometimes even experienced VAs just aren’t right for a role. The panel probably saw something in her and went “Yeah, that’s Ruby.”

Compared to Aqua, Kana, or Akane, Ruby isn’t exactly the most "demanding" role in Oshi no Ko (at least in S1-2). Or maybe they just thought it’d be funny and fitting to cast a rookie in a show about the entertainment industry, and even use her real-life reactions as inspiration to make the anime feel more realistic (this part is just me yapping).

Demon Slayer has sold more manga volumes but both are titans of the medium: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_best-selling\_manga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_manga)

And Demon Slayer likely benefited far more from the anime adaptation than JJK, though neither would have reached anywhere near their status without it.

Among the more hard core anime and manga fans, JJK likely more popular. I can only point to various rating sites like MAL and this site etc., where JJK tends to rank higher and KnY sometimes still gets mentioned with the type of disdain that Solo Leveling does these days.

So my unscientific answer would be:

Demon Slayer is more popular with the casuals and non-habitual anime watchers whereas JJK is more popular with people who actually watch more than one series at a time.

Looks like a VA interview series connected to Fujishoji, a pachinko machine seller.

[](#happyclap)

https://i.imgur.com/fGmmjhs.gif