Fall 2023

While a pretty stacked season, I didn’t watch quite as much as usual, gaming and other interests taking front and center these last couple months…


3. SPY x FAMILY Season 2: Aside from a minor tonal bump part way through in the Cruise Ship arc, SxF continues to deliver creative misunderstandings based fun and humor that hits the mark much more often than not.


2. Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri: I like a good mystery… and this was that. Without trying to get too clever about the various cases, logically working through the tricks was fun and never boring. I’m also a fan of the psycho-pass character designs and eventual corny reveal of the evil organization through which all crime is run through to raise the stakes and set up for future season(s) (lol so anime). The only thing missing was Isshiki getting any significant growth as a detective as the season went on; it really was just Ron solving them all the time.


1. Bullbuster: A surprise for sure, workplace dramas don’t usually have legs after the introductory arc, but Bullbuster wisely established a strong core narrative for the characters and dramatic reveals to bounce off of that carried the series. This feels like a P.A works show that doesn’t star a young disillusioned girl finding a new dream, but rather a starry eyed engineer trying his best to contribute (his mech designs) to a workplace while constantly rubbing against the friction of reality; operations cost money and budgets really limit the scope of activities. While that is roughly covered in the intro, what kept me coming back was the unraveling of the mystery, the clashing character motivations, and the underlying hopeful tone of Bullbuster. A good watch for me.


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Hey, buddy, I got some… special awards… at a great price…


Boushoku no Berserk gets a bronze participation trophy for being not so bad: For an edgy series about a ‘low-key OP’ protagonist in a fantasy world, Berserk forgot most of the the embarrassing edge and instead focused on the stories of the decent people around the protagonist and didn’t wallow in the ‘darkness’ of his circumstances. That kept the power fantasy from becoming boring. I also liked the cocky attitude of the sword. Not great, but I liked it just fine.


Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta gets a ‘punkin’ for being daddy’s little girl: A meager production for sure, the warm core of S-Rank Musume still won me over. Belgrieve and his daughter are fun to watch, and how they care for others around themselves is really… wholesome. As in, no one is this consistently nice but I don’t care wholesome… Especially since they do so partially for each other’s sake. The comfy vibe established early on is maybe a little too cozy as the show struggles to present any meaningful tension when the need arises during some of the fights, but what story we get through is obviously part of a bigger whole we may never get to see. Still, fun and recommended.


JUJUTSU KAISEN Season 2 gets some remedial classes: It’s hard to view this divorced from this arc’s massive hype, but I would give this a ‘solid’ season for what JJK has come to mean for me: mean-spirited (see what I did there?) one sided fights between disposable characters with one defining quirk in their personality to set them apart, maybe. Take it or leave it, the power system is unsatisfying in how it interacts, and the fights lack much tension, and most of the emotional moments fell flat due to how transparent the author’s torture tactics are at this point. On the other hand, the animation is still a cut above and the pacing is pretty snappy. Tojo deserves a better show.


Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijou gets the wet charcoal- a total non starter: One episode in, I felt like I saw all of the jokes this one could muster (she’s the young one?) along with the nearly fetishistic back and forth dialogue about how these two didn’t need any others (especially any men) in their lives… Yawn; not for me.


Keikenzumi na Kimi to, Keiken Zero na Ore ga, Otsukiai suru Hanashi gets the ‘salesman of the quarter paid half day off’ by making me actually want to read the manga it’s based on. As I’ve harped on to the point of comic effect, it is the supporting cast and side stories that ultimately separate the mediocre rom comics from the slightly less mediocre rom coms. This is that. Nothing new within the borderline ecchi shenanigans, and the drama was artificially conjured, but the side character stories were much more fun (unpredictable, really) to ride along with and many plot threads are begging for some closure. Good job.


SHY gets the cracked pathfinder award for trying something new:... and failing. Who’d have thought a superhero show could focus too much on feelings and social anxiety? Everyone? Oh, well that explains why this was so boring… moving on.


Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! 2nd Season gets the resurrection necromancer staff: Jolly fun, and off a binge of the second half of the first season, it surprisingly didn’t get stale. Cid’s chunniness and everyone else’s misconceptions of his intellect still carried the show to as good a conclusion as that messy arc could have hoped for.


The ‘most disappointing villain fight’ whoopie cushion goes to Blue Eye Samurai (s1): Netflix anime, so the violence and genital count was a good order higher than your typical seasonal fare, but the core story was very entertaining and events led into each other naturally. The real star of the show to me was the great season villain Fowler; he had a presence worthy of a 'final boss' and lit up each scene he was in.. except the final confrontation where some hyping up beforehand backfired into a slog of a fight that wasn’t interesting beyond its plot implications. Deduct a few more points for some awkward shoehorned feminism, truly stylistically ugly CG animation, and you still have a still above average show worth a watch. Just make sure you handwave the ‘Mulan’ twist or the show doesn’t work.


Under Ninja gets the deodorant stick: Weird is good. Weird is fun. But sometimes, weird is… funky and gross. Under Ninja is one of those shows that reflects its author’s specific fetishes maybe a little too well… Quirky modern day ninjas who are slovenly and mundane just like us, right? That’s all fine and well, but it forgot to be interesting as well.


Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki no Monmon gets an ankle brace for breaking on the pivot: Weakling vampire must conceal their weakness and appear strong to keep her troops in line. In a world where death is automatically reversed anyway, so the wars are more like reality television; for the drama? After the first episode, I didn't see where the story could go or escalate to satisfyingly, and apparently neither could the author. One mega boring bully battle arc was obstacle enough to kill my interest.


The public service recognition award goes to Megumi no Daigo: Kyuukoku no Orange: The show I wanted to like the most this season, Daigo goes hard narratively during its intro bootcamp arc and the foreshadowing is solid, but it cuts both ways, teasing that the firefighters efforts will ‘save all of Japan from a terrorist attack’... Huh? I feared finding out just how badly that would be handled enough to scare me off from continuing. It may be good, but I'm afraid to find out.


Kimi no Koto ga Daidaidaidaidaisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo witnesses me adjust my thick glasses as I insufferably posit in my most nasally voice ‘the manga was superior’: But it was. I reeeealy like "100 girlfriends" the manga, and the anime adaptation isn’t much less, but some of the pacing and jokes suffer slightly by the pacing and sound design, but that falls easily within nitpick range. Keep an eye on it and check it out if you at all enjoy rom-coms that don’t take themselves too seriously.


Pluto gets the Keith Davis bust: Major disappointment to me as a good adaptation of an ultimately bland story that relied too much on audience buy in and limp shock twists without consistent compelling storytelling to get us invested, but hearing the dub of Dr. Tenma was a hoot, as was hearing the Nolan North voice a german KKK member named Adolf. The stuff of Ambien dreams.

Sadly, a few sequels fell on the floor that I would have watched if I could find the time (Dr. Stone, Kanojo, Alchemist) more at all, but there’s always more to consume. To next season!