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Iaboo, Youaboo, Weallaboo for Anime!

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Talentless Nana went from a regular rollercoaster to an emotional rollercoaster and left me a wreck because I am gullible. It's very obviously an incomplete adaptation, though I think the stopping point works well at reframing the story as a tragedy.
So, it turns out that this manga is available on Crunchyroll manga, which I know because I went straight from the final episode to there and didn't go to bed until I'd read everything published in English. Anyway, if anything, I'd actually say the story gets better from here, so I'm excited for a season 2 (not officially announced, but rumoured), which, judging by chapter count, they already have just enough source material for. I can already think of a perfect place to end that second season too.

Incidentally, the first season was an incredibly faithful shot-by-shot adaptation of the manga, so there's a very low barrier to just hopping right it where the anime stopped (Chapter 28 was the last chapter animated) for anyone who is similarly inclined.
 
I find Yasahime to be very boring and by-the-numbers. Like, so was Inuyasha, especially in later seasons when it began treading water, so it's fine, but I wish it had more ambition.
I have pretty much the polar opposite take of you. To me, Inuyasha (and this show) are at its best in its more quiet, 'comfy' (for lack of a better term) moments. So I've GREATLY enjoyed everything in the show so far. I actually dread when the long term plot finally kicks into gear and the show becomes a typical shounen battle gauntlet. I would honestly rather watch a slice of life Inuyasha/Yashahime show about just kinda living back and forth between the Sengoku Era and modern times. Can you imagine?

Towa: "Setsuna! Hurry up or we'll be late for class!"
Setsuna: "But Kaede said she needs help flooding the rice fields."
Moroha: "Setsuna, you'd better not keep me from getting yakisoba-pan before it runs out again!!! :mad:"
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
First sign 2021 will be a better year?

January 1st there's an announcement for Zombie Land Saga season two and hopefully it will be a premiere date for this year. Also, I missed that there's a new season of the show officially announced. So... good.
 

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
I have pretty much the polar opposite take of you. To me, Inuyasha (and this show) are at its best in its more quiet, 'comfy' (for lack of a better term) moments. So I've GREATLY enjoyed everything in the show so far. I actually dread when the long term plot finally kicks into gear and the show becomes a typical shounen battle gauntlet. I would honestly rather watch a slice of life Inuyasha/Yashahime show about just kinda living back and forth between the Sengoku Era and modern times. Can you imagine?

Towa: "Setsuna! Hurry up or we'll be late for class!"
Setsuna: "But Kaede said she needs help flooding the rice fields."
Moroha: "Setsuna, you'd better not keep me from getting yakisoba-pan before it runs out again!!! :mad:"

But, uh, Yashahime hasn't been any of those things. It's a Monster-of-the-Week slugfest (often against enemies they have little to no connection to, or are the assumed Main Baddie's lieutenants.) There hasn't been any contemplation beyond the Reiwa Period eps, just tiny snippets of Towa sharing some modern convenience with the locals. She is so laser focused on getting senpai to notice her that there has been no time at all to explore how she feels about the Sengoku Period, or how different her life has been, or how different it is now. So far, the formula has been, "Learn about MotW, see how the locals are affected by it, slay MotW, and either have Towa gain a minor powerup or have Setsuna thaw a tiny bit. Maybe Moroha does something." Even Setsuna's violin skills have come up, what, twice? since it was first introduced? And both times it was more in a sense of, "Wow, she can play really well and people enjoy it" rather than as a way to express her feelings or anything deeper than "she's stoic and aloof because of a McGuffin".

Presumably, Towa's driving goal is to restore Setsuna's dreams (which I still think it's a heavily contrived scenario, when simply reconnecting with an estranged, possibly resentful sibling would have been plenty sufficient for a character's motivation in the hands of a more skilled writer). And, presumably, the reason she's tagging along with Setsuna's day job as a demon slayer is to gather enough intel on the Dream McGuffin. But the development of the episodes so far has pushed that goal so far into the background as to be immaterial to the ep-to-ep shenenigans. When the writers actively avoid the main conflict that the majority of the audience* is invested in (what happened to the original cast), and the protagonists explicitly reject the conflict laid out for them (the rivalry between Angry Fluff and Angry Giraffe), and only one of said protagonists has a motivation, but she barely does anything to pursue it, it feels more like the writers and director would rather spin their wheels to keep old fans latched on, instead of investing on a compelling narrative**. And with the addition of new, Original Character antagonists like Riku, and the return of the Shikon Shards In Fun Size Mode, that's at least four major plotlines that the show has spent 15 eps only teasing at but almost no time actually developing. (And oh boy, if they cram all those plotlines into the final five eps of this season, it'll be a mess.)

I mean, I dropped the original manga because it was stretching out a relatively straightforward plot in the shonen-iest way possible, but at least there WAS a goal everyone was committed to and was constantly driving towards, even if it also involved MotWs and Mega Man powerups.

* Anecdotal evidence, since I don't follow many English-speaking fans, but LatAm fans are livid with the show. Even the ones still giving it a chance denounce the treatment of Moroha as two-bit comedic relief.

** FTR, by "compelling narrative" I don't mean shonen slugfests. Turn Yashahime into Yokohama Shopping Log if you want, or into an episodic comedy like Ranma, just have the protagonists actually have an arc and engage with it. Honestly, I would LOVE your proposed version, where they switched back and forth and developed the characters through daily-life conflicts like those. I felt that Takahashi missed lots of opportunities there by not giving Kagome any personal, modern-world issues to deal with beyond the occasional exam, and your version sounds like it would do wonders to fix that.
 
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But, uh, Yashahime hasn't been any of those things. It's a Monster-of-the-Week slugfest (often against enemies they have little to no connection to, or are the assumed Main Baddie's lieutenants.) There hasn't been any contemplation beyond the Reiwa Period eps, just tiny snippets of Towa sharing some modern convenience with the locals. She is so laser focused on getting senpai to notice her that there has been no time at all to explore how she feels about the Sengoku Period, or how different her life has been, or how different it is now. So far, the formula has been, "Learn about MotW, see how the locals are affected by it, slay MotW, and either have Towa gain a minor powerup or have Setsuna thaw a tiny bit. Maybe Moroha does something." Even Setsuna's violin skills have come up, what, twice? since it was first introduced? And both times it was more in a sense of, "Wow, she can play really well and people enjoy it" rather than as a way to express her feelings or anything deeper than "she's stoic and aloof because of a McGuffin".
This reductive look at the show isn't wrong per say, but I feel like it's incomplete. Part of why it is incomplete, is because you're putting most of the emphasis on the writing as constituted by the literal dialog and the events of the plot, and not as much examining the subtext. Which I usually spend a lot of time and energy on, and I think personally can make up for a lacking script or strongly elevate a show. Especially in Japanese mediums where subtext is proportionally a larger thematic emphasis than your average Western media. For example, Setsuna even taking on the violin to begin with is loaded with subtext, because it displays a subconscious desire for her to engage in recreational/artistic/pleasurable activities that runs contrary to the personality she projects to those around her. And the keen aptitude for it shows she has capacity to be far more than just a brute that hits things until they die. And when she gives a wistful look of satisfaction seeing kids fall asleep to her music, that is itself character development from when we first saw her. When her attitude was cold and indifferent about the world being a dog-eat-dog place and you'd better toughen up if you wanna survive. That Yashahime even indulges in such things at all, even if it's only a few times, puts it waaaay above its predecessor that never bothered to give any of its characters this kind of nuance for even a single moment. Could the show do a better job of emphasizing these themes and elaborating more on these moments? Sure. But that brings me to the point I wanted to address.

When the writers actively avoid the main conflict that the majority of the audience* is invested in (what happened to the original cast), and the protagonists explicitly reject the conflict laid out for them (the rivalry between Angry Fluff and Angry Giraffe), and only one of said protagonists has a motivation, but she barely does anything to pursue it, it feels more like the writers and director would rather spin their wheels to keep old fans latched on, instead of investing on a compelling narrative**.
I likewise couldn't tell you about broad fan reception. But I think part of your criticisms come from a misalignment of expectations. I don't say that to say you're wrong to have the expectations and desires you have for the show (I actually share most of them) but I don't think the show is made with you, or I, as its primary audience either. Inuyasha was a family/kids show, put into a primetime timeslot for kids, with the structure and narrative focus of a show designed to entice kids to watch. Twenty years later, this show isn't trying to be a show for *us* as devotees of the original, nor is it concerned with keeping *us* entertained as adults with adult sensibilities for what constitutes a compelling narrative. To me, it seems pretty obvious that it's a kids show, designed to entice a new generation of kids into engaging with a classic franchise. The links to the old show are mostly for the benefit of Japanese parents who grew up on Inuyasha and are now rearing their own children. So that they have a hook to get them interested in showing their kids the show to begin with, and also so that they're not bored to tears watching a kids cartoon that isn't actually for them. I don't see Yashahime as "spinning its wheels" but rather very intentionally following and trying to modernize the blueprint of Inuyasha before it.

I don't bring this up to try and gatekeep or say yOuRe WaTcHiNg It WrOnG, but just to pontificate on the reasons why it feels like we're watching completely different shows and getting completely different things out of it. It's something I think about a lot, and a lot of the times I keep coming back to the likelihood that a lot of media criticism in the public sphere has a very distinct lack of awareness of the baggage of expectations, and that most media has a targeted audience that a more general audience won't comfortably fit into. And that targeted audience is very frequently not the audience that forms the discussions surrounding that media. It's unendingly fascinating how consistently movies have polar opposite Fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a broader audience. And with sequels made long after an original piece of media, time/perspective changes expectations so drastically that you can get a sequel that is exactly like the original and get wildly different reactions depending on who is watching it.

For example, 13 Episodes into Inuyasha, Inuyasha hadn't established Naraku as an entity yet, nor revived Kikyo, nor introduced Miroku, Sango, and Shippo as characters. That's our two primary antagonists, and three main protagonist that haven't even shown up yet! The first 13 episodes instead, were about a slow introduction to the setting and the two main characters through primarily Monster-of-the-Week slugfests. The main characters motivations were also similarly tenuous. Like, this is the core foundation of Inuyasha. And yet a sequel show pretty much following the same pattern (I'd argue it's accelerated, even!) is singled out as being sluggish and a disappointing sequel. And that's not necessarily a wrong thing to think! But it lacks a more full perspective. It's like walking into a restaurant and asking for a burger and getting a hot dog. You'd be right to be upset that you got something you didn't order or want. But if this happened while walking into a restaurant that specializes only in hot dogs, that doesn't invalidate someone's wishes for a hamburger, but it also becomes a "well, what did you expect?" situation. Most media isn't overtly labeled and self-categorized like restaurants are*, and/or people just aren't trained in the same way to look at media in that fashion, so it's not like it's a failure on part of the audience. But it is a different type of media literacy that isn't as expansive as I think would be best for people to get the most out their media time. And it's even harder to figure that stuff out when it's a product of a different culture, removed from the context of that culture, put through a translation machine, and given to an audience that doesn't share the same values or interests. It's just fascinating for me to think about.

*At least, that's how it is out here in the "West" - in Japan, every movie, every video game, every anime is always very clearly categorized into genres or sub-genres, which publishers go to great lengths to advertise and communicate to the public. That's part of why a lot of Japanese media seems so derivative at times (hello Isekai genre) and why you get a lot of made up 'genres' for media that pushes the envelope creatively. So Metal Gear Solid's genre was the self-stylized "Tactical Espionage Action", or Shenmue was F.R.E.E. aka "Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment". This compulsion to adjust expectations before you've even begun something is also why you get a lot of overly descriptive titles in anime/manga/light novels. "Mobile Suit Gundam" or "Space Runaway Ideon" or "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" tells you exactly what the show is about in the title, and that gets taken to egregious extremes with modern shows like, "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?" It solves a lot of problems with audience expectations, but on occasion creates problems too when a piece of media dares to subvert those expectations or doesn't neatly fit into a genre.
 

Hilene

Loves "Friendly Girls"
(She/Her)
Just as another perspective, the group that comes together for my weekly anime group watch is comprised of a spread that contains "Has never seen Inuyasha", "Has seen Inuyasha", and "Avoided Inuyasha because of the vocal antis". I really enjoy the conversation this has resulted in, as the old fans get to talk excitedly about the references to the original, and wonder what has happened to the characters that haven't appeared yet, while the new fans enjoy the story of these three girls, with explanations from the others about how stuff tied together, or how the story progressed the last time.

I wanted to come to Yashahime with an open mind because I realized over the last few years that I unfairly maligned the original, and I feel that the way I've been watching it has been among the best ways I could have.


Now, that said, one thing that I do want to say as a response to Wisteria is that I think it is reasonable to talk about the speed of plot progression in Yashahime, in the context of "Do we actually know how long it's going to run?" Yashahime is unlikely to be a continual runner like Inuyasha was; there's not much room in the markets for those kinds of shows anymore, even if I would absolutely love to have continued adventures with these three for years as things stand.

However, I think a fair response to Zef on this point specifically is to consider what the endpoint is or could be. The rate of progression so far doesn't really lead me to think that they're going to have an overly flashy or significant finale to the show; it's likely that dealing with the dream butterfly might be the most important thing they actually deal with. And if that's the case, I think that's fine.

I don't know, I've just been having a really good time. It's been... comfy, you know? It'd probably actually be better to end my watch sets with this instead of starting, but due to everyone's schedule it works out better at the beginning. Also it works out thematically, too, since I pair it with Adventures of Dai, and we just have this nice Throwback Block to kick things off.



Relatedly, I'm really darn excited for some of the stuff in the new season. I might have a hard time fitting in what I want to put in the group watch's schedule, as a result. Glad that I have a week and a half to figure it out.
 

Erilex

hourglass figure
Akudama Drive might be the most unapologetically FUCK THE POLICE anime ever made. It rules.

The ending left me completely gutted, though. Like, it's the perfect ending for the show, it probably couldn't end any other way, but I hate it. I'm still sad about it. (massive spoilers, obvs)
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
I love its decision to not give Pupil a redemptive or heroic arc, instead ending on her getting "are we the baddies" moment. She's by far the most sympathetic authority figure and someone with a sense of justice rather than a law bully and then she has to realize "Oh, I've been a law bully who is complicit in murdering citizens." THE END. Perfectly harsh.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Finally caught the season finale of Talentless Nana. Stoked for the day another season happens.

Also, currently working fan theory (having not read the manga) that the ineffectual teacher is a back-up killer waiting for Nana to die or Nana's secret handler/guy whose job is to snitch on her.

On another subject: Pui Pui Molcar.
pui-pui-molcar-16038.jpg

Look, its not going to be the new Bananya. Nothing is. But its not for a lack of trying. According to anichart (who erroneously labelled it as a half-hour show, dashing some of my hopes) it is "a stop motion series about Guinea pigs who have become cars." NOTE that it does not say "Who are cars". This isn't like Bananya, taking place in a reality we must accept where banana-cats are a fact of life. A transformation has taken place. A sea change. One day, we woke up and the world was different. I have questions: all the Guinea pigs, or just some? Does it hurt? OK, really its just those two questions and no other questions.

Let's take a look.


So, one of the first things you may note is that people have elected to drive the Guinea pig cars. I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, if a life form that was not a vehicle becomes a vehicle, I feel even after years after the "EVENT", I would hesitate to do so, for fear of crossing some sort of line humanity was not meant to cross. On the other, fuck hand one, lets ride around in a Guinea pig car. Why am I even entertaining the possibility that I would be afraid when it can only be delight? Also, I bet pellets are a lot cheaper than gas.

Also, someone hijacks a Guinea pig. The show knowns exactly what do to do with this premise.

Also, we see a helicopter. The helicopter is not an animal. Why this?

Lastly, the show is not on any streaming service in English, so I think a great wrong has been done.

Thoughts?
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
So me and JBear were going through the shows coming out this season. Lot of trash. Lot of interesting things. A LOAD of sequels. A GoHands production that... doesn't look super terrible? Remains to be seen on that. But here's one that caught my eye. I'm not going to watch it after watching the trailer...


If you didn't watch it, that's fine. It looks like the most generic idol series. But check out the series description on anichart.

To become an idol, I shed blood, sweat, and tears. Even so, I push on. I want to shine. I want to earn it. I want to become number one. I want to smile. I want to make my dreams come true. I want to look back at a sea of people. I want to be noticed. I want to find it. I want to overcome obstacles. I have only pride inside my chest. No one is in the spotlight from the beginning. Everyone is weak.
Is... is this a psychological thriller in disguise? Note that it turned out it has more description when I scrolled down that seems to right the ship.
Only those who do not break will reach the highest peak to become an idol. This is the story of idols who face big dreams and harsh reality.
But when I thought it ended with "Everyone is Weak", I thought "I'm genuinely terrified by this description."

Note, I will actually be trying out an idol show this season: Gekidol. I suspect it won't be good but it is a "post-apocalyptic idol show", which feels like it might be potentially interesting.

Also, I don't remember if its been discussed here but here's a show trying its best to make Berserk feel a lot better about its animation...


Wow. Like, Crunchyroll shows have note been great but most of them have good animation and the rest have... animation. This feels like stupid Ghost in the Shell if the actors were all VTubers.
 

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
Wow. Like, Crunchyroll shows have note been great but most of them have good animation and the rest have... animation. This feels like stupid Ghost in the Shell if the actors were all VTubers.

"Declaring war against all of the SF series around the world!"

Is that why your starting gear is nothing but a white flag?
 

Alixsar

The Shogun of Harlem
(He/him)
Wow that show looks like a proof of concept for a PS2 game. Jesus.

I mean I don't like 3D shows to begin with, but that looks bad even for a 3D show! I'm impressed
 
It looks bad, probably not worth watching, but it looks like it's on par with other 'anime' like RWBY. And it blows shows like Kemono Friend and Kemurikusa out of the water. It just looks thoroughly mediocre and amateurish.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Catching up and JWTS...
The links to the old show are mostly for the benefit of Japanese parents who grew up on Inuyasha and are now rearing their own children.
... that this is almost certainly correct, but jesus christ, I still think of Inu Yasha as the newer stuff that's not quite as fun as Ranma and UY, god help me.
 

Zef

Find Your Reason
(He/Him)
Catching up and JWTS...

... that this is almost certainly correct, but jesus christ, I still think of Inu Yasha as the newer stuff that's not quite as fun as Ranma and UY, god help me.

For kicks, I went to 2019's NHK Rumic World Popularity Poll and extracted the "Most Popular Among..." demogs for the five Rumic shows:


UY, MI, and Ranma have fans across a variety of audiences, from early Gen-X to Millennials and even Zs, Rinne's overwhelming Gen-Z appeal is expected, buy IY's sharp distinction of late Millennials definitely makes it a kids show :p

But even more important than the age demogs, take a look at the distribution by gender. IY is an absolute runaway hit among female audiences.

When did the Rinne anime start, again? The manga was around 2008, but I'm pretty sure early Zs would be in their teens by the time the anime came along.
 
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Fascinating graphs there Zef. Basically confirms a lot of suspicions about the demos of those shows. The thing that's most interesting to me, but probably shouldn't have been surprising considering the nature of the show, is just how hard Maison Ikkoku's fanbase skews towards men.
IY's sharp distinction of late Millennials definitely makes it a kids show :p
I don't get the :p ? Anyways, if you're 29 today, you were 9 when Inuyasha first hit the airwaves. And if you're 29 today, you're 1) at that sweet spot where advertisers begin heavily targeting you for your childhood nostalgia, and 2) at the age where you're starting to have kids of your own to indoctrinate into the things you liked when you were a kid. Math checks out to me.
When did the Rinne anime start, again?
2015. So if you were 19 and under, you were 14 and under when that show began. Math also checks out to me there too.
 
Because you had earlier mentioned this? And :p is just the equivalent of a chuckle? Like going, "Heh, yeah, that's right"? Did you believe I was mocking anyone or anything? Geez.
I honestly didn't know what you meant or were trying to imply, just thought I'd ask for clarification instead of making assumptions or casting aspersions. Especially when emojis on different platforms can look different too and everyone has different interpretations of what they mean. (Example: when I see 😤 I think of the original meaning of "face with look of triumph" which is the original purpose of the emoji that correlates with the emoji's origins in Japanese culture, and that's how I mostly use it. But most people I know IRL would assume that's an angry face. And some operating systems even accentuate or play down the angry look, so here in Chrome the face is mildly red, but in iOS it's a more traditional look.) To me, sticking a tongue out can be playful or mocking, but not necessarily malice, and I personally didn't have enough to go on via just context, so just thought I'd ask.
Guys! Guys! Guys!

[dunko]

THIS!
Do we know anything about this? Is it gonna be live action or anime? A remake? A side story? Is Slam Dunk anime finally going to get an ending? Color me intrigued.
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
The only thing for sure: it is an anime. Everything else is, no pun intended, up in the air. OK, maybe not. I just had a pun I wanted to intend. But it is unknown. I feel like if it is a movie, adapting one of the greatest sports games in manga would be great. If its just the first arc in movie form with the promise of more, I'd be a bit disappointed but still into it. This is also a surprised since I've heard Inoue has largely avoided anime adaptations of his work (with the exception of Buzzer Beater, and who remembers that?) as his situation with the anime ended badly (I guess they wanted to do a different ending. I'd assume the big difference is they wanted the protagonists to win the whole tourney rather than simply beating the strongest team and then losing to a much weaker team due to exhaustion). Anyway, whatever the case HYPED!
 

q 3

here to eat fish and erase the universe
(they/them)
Otherside Picnic is literally college lesbians start an SCP Foundation club

Laid-Back Camp is back and as soothing as ever, perfect timing really

Show By Rock is also back and has 100% more high-speed car chases and scenes of the protagonists going to jail, now that's the rock 'n' roll lifestyle
 
Because I am apparently a purveyor of mediocre and bad anime, I watched all of Tonikawa: Fly Me to the Moon. And it wasn't half bad! From the creator of Hayate: The Combat Butler, our protagonist Nasa Yuzaki is on track to go to space because he is smart. Then when he's 16, he sees a girl, loves her at first sight and even jumps in front of a truck to save her! Adorbs! Then due to his love for mystery girl, he ignores blood loss and broken bones to confess his love and ask her out on a date. Mystery girl agrees to date him, but only if he will marry her, to which he agrees. Then she disappears for two years, NOOOO!

In the two years, Nasa goes through rehab, tries to get back into school, finds he can't concentrate because of LOVE and drops out at 17 (full disclosure, I have no clue how the Japanese school system works so maybe he has his high school diploma), and gets a tiny apartment and a job, saving most of his money as he doesn't have much for expenses. Until one night the mystery girl, named Tsukasa by the by, shows up with a marriage license. Nasa signs it (cuz of lurve baby!) and thus begins the adventures of an 18 year old boy and 16 year old girl being married! CUTE. Well, they don't really know how to be a marred couple actually, I mean they kiss for the first time in episode 3 for pete's sake! (Whoever the hell pete is) In fine Hayate tradition, Nasa turns out to be really, really smart at many things, but he doesn't seem too motivated to actually succeed at things. In episode 11, we also see the creator's love of video games in not only a Street Fighter 5 tourney, but an original Street Fighter tourney! Including Nasa's modified home controllers to simulate the original action.

There isn't a whole lot of grossness to the show, which is nice. He wants to do the naughty stuff, and so does she, but both are too pure and innocent to take that leap. Worst he does is a little bit of peeping at her bare shoulders or back when she's changing several times. Since this is a show from the Hayate guy, expect a lot of mini skirts but thankfully they never get blown upwards. Instead we get some sexual harrasment of Nasa by the 16 year old bathhouse proprietor.

The only problem I have is that the 12 episodes tease of lot of mystery regarding Tsukasa is actually Princess Kaguya and thus really, really old but it never actually resolves it. Granted, the manga is ongoing, so if there's a season 2 it might, but I highly doubt it.
 

Erilex

hourglass figure
I love its decision to not give Pupil a redemptive or heroic arc, instead ending on her getting "are we the baddies" moment. She's by far the most sympathetic authority figure and someone with a sense of justice rather than a law bully and then she has to realize "Oh, I've been a law bully who is complicit in murdering citizens." THE END. Perfectly harsh.
Yeah, I loved that bit about it too. Not every character needs or deserves closure.

Anyway, new season, new anime! Some shows that have caught my attention:

Yuru Camp 2 is more Yuru Camp and is therefore automatically the best of the season, unless there turn out to be any hidden gems or cult classics among the other shows, which... doesn't seem too likely.

Otherside Picnic is about young women exploring a creepy parallel world, which as a liminal spaces enthusiast is extremely my shit. The show uses some really janky, distractingly obvious 3D character models for long distance shots, but it doesn't bother me too much... yet.

Spider Isekai is not actually called spider isekai, but it is a spider isekai, much like Slime Isekai was a slime isekai. It looks fun, if not particularly ambitious in its narrative so far. I find that I enjoy Isekai shows a lot more whent the protagonist is not a dude, so it also has that going for it (I include Slime Isekai under the category of not-dude-isekais, since the protag seems pretty happy living their life as a gelatinous sexless creature).
 

Hilene

Loves "Friendly Girls"
(She/Her)
Spider is a show I've been excited about for a while now, but I'm also anxious about it. The anxiety is more a carry-over from the LNs, though, where there's a hanging plot point that I'm just terrified about the author handling really poorly.

And let me tell you, it's pretty ambitious.
 

Mightyblue

aggro table, shmaggro table
(He/Him/His)
How it lands is also going to depend on whether they're adapting it in full or if they're going to skip a lot of the alt POV stuff like the manga adaptation did (which apparently makes later things very confusing).
 

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Haven't watched the NEW shows of the season but the second seasons of Beastars and The Promised Neverland are fun so far. Also, I don't know if I forgot him, but there's this fennic fox in Legosi's group of friends and he is now the best character by virtue of adorable smallness.
ddjwugw-67ee2960-d7bd-4120-ad0e-aa013835a3d1.jpg


Did I just forget this guy? Because he's great. Lookit 'im!
 
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