Anime

I have been doing some catching up on backlog this week as work settled down a bit (especially with my manga reading). I managed to watch most of the shows I wanted to this past week. First off, the non-seasonal I watched:

• Squid Girl - I knocked a couple more episodes of this out. It's been quite a while since I last read the manga, and I don't think they are going in any particular order, so some shorts I remember reading, and others I don't. It's been nice in a turn your brain off kind of way.

Now, for this season's shows:

• My Happy Marriage - This show has been pretty consistently good so far this season. A kind of crazy cliffhangar last episode, so looking forward to the next one.
• Ameku M.D. - A better episode this past week, but it was an incredibly misleading opening and episode title.
• Apothecary Diaries - It's kind of surprising that corpses and fungus were key components to both mystery shows this week. In any case, Apothecary definitely delivered the mystery better.
• Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf - This show doesn't reinvent the wheel by any means, but it definitely delivers on what it promises. Surprised at how much I am enjoying this.
• Guild Receptionist - Finally some lore this past episode to explain her compulsion to be a receptionist. Interested to see if they can actually make sense of the story in this one.
• Bureaucrat to Villainess - Biggest surprise for me this season. It has exceeded my expectations so far.
• 100 Girlfriends - This series always finds some way to keep upping the insanity.
• Beheneko - I checked this show out and it is wild. I don't think it is for me, but I simultaneously surprised at both how interesting the world and other characters are as well as how absolutely degenerate the show is. Never change Japan. If you like this show, then good for you.

Man, I finally ended up starting the new aquarion show and it's... a thing haha. I love the opening and the worldbuilding has some potential, along with the atmospheric music but that art style is so hard to swallow. Trying to figure out if it's worth continuing but might give it a few more eps.

I've started a few new shows lately:

I have a Crush at Work - meh. I watched the first episode and dropped it.

Armored Trooper Votoms - I've watched two episodes so far. Hard to evaluate off of that, but I think I'll keep watching a while longer.

Terror in Resonance - Pesky terrorists doing terrorist things. Why are they doing them? What is their goal? The show has dropped some vague hints, but so far it seems very unclear. It seems to want me to believe that nobody is being killed in these attacks even though there's rubble falling onto sidewalks from dozens of feet in the air. I guess "a good terrorist doesn't kill other people" or something like that.

Started off last week with the rest of Scrapped Princess (2003), which was excellent. It has everything - an intriguing story, great characters, fascinating worldbuilding, humor, action, intrigue, drama, tragedy, redemption... And quality animation and music to boot. It was just a pleasure from start to finish.

And then, of all things, I followed it up with one that was even better, and from a somewhat unexpected quarter. Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na / Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (2020).

It was directed by Yuasa, which is a huge point in its favor IMO - he consistently impresses me. But at the same time, it's an anime about anime, which is a niche genre that I find to be mostly tedious and self-absorbed, so even with Yuasa at the helm, I wasn't expecting a whole lot. But I was so, so wrong. It's glorious, and immediately jumped high onto my all-time favorites list..

One thing is that it mostly skips past the drudgery and workaday world of making anime - the part that most series focus on, IMO to their detriment. Instead, it gets all of that out of the way right off the bat by bringing together a main cast of three who are perfectly suited for their respective roles of director, animation lead and producer, then puts them in a wonderfully run down studio with every tool they might need just sitting there waiting for them. They do of course face problems, but they're generally more abstract, with the biggest recurring one being that they just can't stop creating - every idea leads to another idea, every one of which they want to draw.

And that really sets the tone for the anime - what it is is a celebration - a love letter to anime, and further to imagination and creativity and the thrill and fulfillment of visualizing something and striving to communicate it, then watching as an audience gets it, with all the impact you hoped for.

And a wonderful thing about it is that all the while that the characters are coming up with ideas and animating them, trying to capture movement and mood and interesting design, the anime itself, in the background so to speak, is casually throwing in its own wonderful animations. There's a constant stream of just little riffs scattered here and there - a transitional scene or a bit of background movement or some camera work - that are astonishing, and apparently the same thing the anime is depicting - people creating interesting imagery just for the joy of it.

And even with all of that, the characters manage to be engaging, there's a satisfying amount of growth and it's even laugh out loud funny. Even the OP is awesome. What more could I want?

It was almost a relief to follow that up with something... not good. If nothing else, it gave my smile muscles a chance to rest.

Duan Nao / Die Now is Chinese, and... well .. it shows. It's very derivative and tropish. The biggest problem with it though is that it introduced what could've been an interesting story in spite of the tropishness, and dropped all sorts of hints to apparent multiple layers of mystery... then ended. With another... oh... 30 or 40 episodes, it could've been good. Maybe.

So after that I was in the mood for a sure thing, so I'm watching Megumin's KonoSuba spin-off - An Explosion on This Wonderful World (2023) and laughing my ass off.

Oh, and along the way, and uncharacteristically, I'm following not one but two different current series - Honey Lemon Soda and I May Be a Guild Receptionist, But. Honey Lemon Soda is okay - most notable so far for being pretty good in spite of being very tropish. Guild Receptionist is great though, and with the latest bit of character background, looks like it could turn out to be really special.

Since this season seems fairly light and pretty heavily weighted towards the weekends, I've decided to supplement with other shows from my backlog to watch in between:

• Sasaki & Miyano - This is based on one of my favorite manga of all time, but I skipped the anime when it came out because I was so disappointed by the BL budget and sort of weird pacing. But going back in knowing its flaws, I'm able to enjoy seeing my boys fall in love all over again. It's not the perfect adaptation I would have dreamed of, but it's still that same story I love so much.
• Revenger (not to be confused with Tokyo Revengers) - I was pretty busy during the season this came out and ended up not being able to continue basically any of the shows I'd wanted to, but this was one I was pretty excited for. It's about feudal Japanese catholic assassins who only take on clients who are looking for revenge, and all of the characters have silly anime weapons that they use in pretty brutal ways, like the kid who uses a kite where the string is covered in bits of broken glass. I think so far it's balancing well its edgy tone and its goofy elements, where it's fun and not meant to be taken too seriously. I've seen a lot of bad reviews, though, so maybe it is supposed to be taken seriously and I'm the only one laughing at seeing a man pray to the virgin Mary for the souls of the people who he just killed with a sheet of gold leaf.

I completed the Shirobako series over the past few weeks.

This is probably one of the most relatable anime for me. At first I thought it's because 95% (or some other stupidly high percentage) of software development work is in fact common to most other jobs as per Working with Coders.

However, the more I watch it, the more I realised just how similar anime production is to software development. It's not just the stand-up meetings, the team dynamics, suffering from burnout, etc. Even the creative process - the way animators / designers / etc approach their work - is so similar to building software.

Picking just one example out of many,

With all the similarities, this anime may have as well been about making software.

Quality-wise (encompassing characters, story, and everything else), this anime is top-notch. To be fair, it would be ironic if an anime that's about making anime is badly produced.

As with any series that I'm extremely impressed by, I'm giving it a 10 / 10.

P.S. I would totally watch 3rd Girl Fighter Wing if it's an actual anime

Watching Headhunted to Another World This one has been surprisingly enjoyable so far. They made the office worker serving the demon lord gimmick work. The characters are fun, but generally more mature than in typical anime, with pretty good chemistry. Episodes do follow a roughly repetitive format, but so far that is not an issue. 4/5

I'm a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic It is still ridiculous how easily everything falls into place for the main character, but that seems less silly and annoying in the anime. There does not really seem to be much of a plot and none of the characters really stand out yet, but it holds my interest just to see how much crazier the power creep goes. 3/5

Zenshu So far the good is outweighing the bad, but I'm not sure how long that will last. I love a lot about the show. The throwback vibe of the character designs, the art style, the overall concept... but something about it just feels empty. Like it is more of a picture book than a story. I hope that improves, but as is... 3/5

Solo Leveling I enjoyed the first season well enough, but this season has really amped things up. I binged the first few episodes, and really enjoyed them. Seems like several parts of the story are developing in the background. 4/5 maybe even 5/5.

The Apothecary Diaries The first season set such a high bar, I worried this one would be a let down. It is not. Everything, story, art, music, attention to detail, etc. picks right back up where it was. Having read some of the novels, it is amazing to see how many little details and concepts were teased earlier on than I realized. The writing is probably the best of any anime. I mean, there will be little side conversations, set pieces in corners, unnamed side characters seen only once, many of which end up mattering later and get expanded on in one way or another. 5/5

I Left my A-Rank Party... I've seen several versions of this same anime lately... This one is doing it better than most. It was nice to see the main character stand up for himself and leaving on his on instead of being kicked out for once. Can't say it is doing anything especially good, but it isn't doing anything annoying either. 3/5

Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf For some reason I was expecting this show to be more sexualized, so I've been pleasantly surprised that it has kept the stereotypical fanservice to a minimum. The characters have good chemistry, the overall concept is fun, there is a hint of a bigger story, the world jumping gimmick is working so far. This one definitely exceeded my unfairly low expectations. 4/5

I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time This is another one that might work better as an anime than a novel, at least the overtime complaining has been less annoying so far. The plot is decent but slow moving. The light novels follow the same basic formula of presenting an overtime based problem that leads to a bigger issue, that then resolves to reveal another piece of the meta plot. Very formulaic. The anime seems to be handling this well. 3/5

The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World I was not sure what to expect of this one, there was a similar anime a while back that I found incredibly dull, but so far this has been kind of interesting. The contrast of bringing in modern stuff that makes no sense in the context... reselling modern goods in the fantasy world market, base building, etc. has been interesting enough as are the characters. 3/5

From Bureaucrat to Villainess On paper, this looks ridiculous, but somehow it works. Much better than I expected, and a fresh feeling take on this whole sub genera. 4/5

Close to dropping:

Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time Hmm, I know I've watched this, but nothing notable comes to mind. 3/5

Magic Maker: How to Make Magic in Another World This one started weird. The whole: adult reincarnated as a child using (probably not pedophilic/incestual) love to unlock magic angle was concerning, but thankfully the show seems to be moving past that. Pacing has been incredibly slow so far, but the last episode finally had a good plot and felt much more impactful. Hopefully we are past the intro arc and things will pick up. 2/5

Even Given the Worthless "Appraiser" Class, I'm Actually the Strongest The typical" betrayed, dropped in a dungeon, and became absurdly strong scenario. I like some of the designs, especially the gremlin monsters, and it seems like it should be a good show, it just none of the characters are any good. The doormat MC, meek and nearly silent love interest, and cheeky abusive guide... maybe once they add a few more characters and get the next arc going it will improve. 3/5

Bogus Skill <> Not completely terrible, but not great. The big battle of the first arc ended very underwhelmingly, the MC is becoming increasingly stupid, none of the characters really stand out in any meaningful way. 2/5

Dropped

I'm Living With an Otaku NEET Kunoichi There is nothing to this other than absurdly lewd characters and fan service. No real plot, characters barely have any personality outside their kinks, humor falls flat. 1/5

I want to escape from princess lessons The very first episode, by itself, was excellent. The rest is trash. Not only is the main character denied any agency (with clear foreshadowing that she will be abused/Stockholm-syndromed into "falling in love" with the prince) but she is presented as a clown with all the people around her, who are forcing her into this relationship, presented as the normal/rational ones. Apparently the audience is supposed to side with them and laugh at the "foolish" girl who does not want to spend the rest of her life as an emotionally stunted doll that exists only to be seen and admired by others. 2/5

Farmagia Tried watching this one recently. There might be elements of a good show in there somewhere, but they are buried under a pile of aggressively annoying nonsense. Far too much pointless slapstick, far too little of anything else. Basically everything I disliked about FairyTail without any of the stuff I liked. 2/5

Promise of Wizard I did not even make it through the first episode as it was clear I'm not in the target market for this. No plot, just an endless parade of forgettable characters. Apparently this was made to promote some sort of gatcha game. 1/5

Weekly ranking roundup:

1. Anime Corner - Full Results - Weekly Winner: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun
2. Reddit Karma - Weekly Winner: Apothecary Diaries

Credit to /u/Abysswatcherbel for making the chart for reddit karma.

Just a couple weeks left until Re:Zero comes back and shakes these charts up. There doesn't really seem to be a standout across the charts though. Some consistent performers in the to 5 would be Apothecary, Solo Leveling, and Sakamoto, but other entries are much more varied across AC and reddit.