IMO Teio’s story in season 2 is still the best. I hope you would stick around long enough to finish it.

No need to worry; unless they’re actually bad I usually finish the things I start. It’s not like season 1 doesn’t have its moments; Gold Ship is great and after having watched Cinderella Gray it was fun seeing Oguri Cap in the eating contest.

So it does, I guess I wasn’t paying close attention; thanks for the correction!

Finished Magic Knight Rayearth 2. What an ending. It might actually be more unhinged than the Magic Knight Rayearth one. It was a pretty good time overall, but if I’m being honest I was enjoying the art more than the story or characters.

Anyways since I finished that, I went and started too many dang things in return. This week I started reading:

• The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity - My main complaint with the anime was that the female lead didn’t seem to have much of a personality. I started reading the manga because I heard she gets more characterization later, but it’ll be a while before I catch up even to where the anime left off.
• Magus of the Library - I started reading this one because I heard it was excellent. So far so good, but after over 2 hours I’m only 2 chapters in. They’re long chapters (nearly 50 pages each), and they’re each chock-full of nerd words. They use a kanji for library that’s so rare it appears in 0 words in the jmdict Japanese-English dictionary (圕)! So yeah this is gonna take me a while to get through.
• My Sister Knows - I started reading this one as a recommendation from a friend. It’s a story about a man and his sister. He’s an office worker, she’s an idol. The thing she “knows” is that her brother is great at coming up with punchlines for jokes. So far it’s not super strong, but I’m only 6 chapters in and it’s a lot easier to read than Magus of the Library so I might as well keep going and see if it gets better.
• Damedol and Her Only Fan in the World - A story about an incompetent idol and her only fan. I’m only one chapter in, so I can’t say too much about this one.
• My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999 - A story about a girl falling in love with a pro gamer who happens to spend time in her MMO guild to relax. Seems decent so far, but again I haven’t even caught up to where the anime left off. It’s gonna take me a fair bit of time to get to the end, but it’s somewhat motivating knowing that the story is complete. No idea how good the ending is supposed to have been, but I guess I’ll find out.
• Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku - Once again I started this one because I really loved the anime. It’s taking me a while to get through though; it’s not quite as difficult as Magus of the Library is, but they keep using nerd slang from over a decade ago and half the time it’s not in my dictionary (though I can usually figure out what they’re saying if I google it). It also doesn’t help that the female lead will randomly start talking like a medieval samurai just for fun. That said, this series is hilarious. In case you somehow haven’t noticed the theme, it’s gonna take me a while to get caught up to the end of this one.

I also got caught up with Witch Hat Atelier this week. Heart-wrenching stuff!

I tried a few of the new shows from this season:

• Sentenced to Be a Hero - A bit edgy for my taste. It has some really cool, flashy action scenes but the characters are frankly a drag. After I completed the first two episodes I got the distinct feeling that I would’ve had a better time watching something else. Not sure I’ll finish this one.
• You and I Are Polar Opposites - A fun, very cute shounen romcom. Made me laugh a few times. It’s probably pretty similar to whatever you imagined when you read the title. Would recommend to anyone who’s into that sort of thing; I’ll definitely be finishing it.
• Journal with Witch - I don’t know wtf is going on with that title. There aren’t any witches, though there is a journal. The Japanese title, 異国日記 違国日記 (Journal in Another Country) makes a bit more sense given the visual metaphors that the show likes to use. This is a very grounded story about a woman who adopts her teenage niece after said niece’s parents die in a car crash. It’s quite well-written, and is easily my favorite from among these three shows.

I also watched some sequel shows:

• Frieren - This felt like a return to form; the first episode of the season felt a lot more like the first half of the first season than the second half of the season. I hope they can keep that up 'til the end of the season; I’ve read the manga but that was a while ago so I can’t remember how long these nice short bits go for.
• Jujutsu Kaisen - The Jujutsus sure are Kaisening over there. If you liked previous seasons for the fights you’ll like this season too.
• Oshi no Ko - Fun seeing more of the girls. Also, banger of an OP.

Currently catching up on:

• Umamusume - It’s okay. Not as good as Cinderella Gray or the movie, but okay. I hear it gets a fair bit better after the first season though!
• Golden Kamuy - The only anime I know of where the characters have a canonical dick size ranking chart. Couldn’t have been made for a more excellent story; I love these ridiculous goofballs. If you want to watch crazy people kill each other in Hokkaido this is the good stuff. I just wish the animation were a little better, though it’s generally not nearly as bad as the first episode might suggest. Don’t worry, nothing looks as bad as that bear looked.

I find this paneling to be incredibly cool.

It reminds me of screen tearing. There’s the panel before the slash, then the infinitesimally quick slash, represented by the thinnest line dividing the panels. The reader’s eye is drawn to the point where the line goes through Chihiro’s eye, and it’s implied that in that moment he was able to see the slash and react to it.

Well you’re on Lemmy so your odds are better than most at least.

Also because only people who liked season 1 of Frieren enough to watch season 2 will vote on season 2. Sequel seasons always have some inherit bias as a result.

Not really. It might’ve helped if I’d watched it when it was new or if the fandom weren’t so far up their own asses.

I hope Nutmeg-kun treats her right.

The beginning of Redline gave me the impression that the whole movie would just be a sequence of cool shit happening, and then the whole movie was a sequence of cool shit happening. It ended up being one of my all-time favorites, and proved to me that an anime doesn’t need a complex story to be excellent.

Not a fan of how everything is a gacha in Japan. I saw some cool Dan Da Dan figures in a store in Japan once but of course it was a random draw and my wife had just told me “don’t get anything that would embarrass me if my mom visited” and Evil Eye was one of the prizes so I decided to refrain.

I can sympathize with the photo posing issues. When I first started dating my wife we both had no idea how to pose and ended up looking awkward together in photos.

It’s always a good time watching these shitheads have a bad time.

Anime largely doesn’t have this.

There are a few. Kaguya-sama: Love is War is arguably best in its third season and imho the first several episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are its weakest part. Eureka Seven, Umamusume, and Gintama also come to mind. I had to wrack my brain for those examples though; they really are the exception.

Gifts are hard! I keep scrupulous notes; every time someone in my family mentions wanting something I write it down. It’s nice to have a list when birthdays & Christmas come up.

The Office and Fairly Oddparents were both big shows when they were current though.

Started watching Golden Kamuy this week so I could get caught up with the new season that’s airing and I’ve got to say it’s a wild time. Shame the first episode having that horrible-looking bear turned so many people away.

Edit: Just watched the first episode of You and I Are Polar Opposites. Not sure how I feel about the story yet, but wow. What a gorgeous adaptation. Also worth noting that the subtitles are well-executed with good typesetting and everything!

2nd edit: Just watched the first couple episodes of Ikoku Nikki. Seems like a good, chill, well-written story with a competent adaptation. Unfortunately the subtitles in the first episode had at least one error and I noticed while watching the second episode that Crunchyroll didn’t bother with typesetting for this one. I guess since it’s not a big shounen thing they don’t care much about doing a good job.

Been reading Moriagaranai Date/An Unexciting Date lately; currently 16 chapters in. There’s a certain charm to how awkward these main characters are. Each character’s awkwardness just bounces off the other character’s awkwardness so well; very charming and humorous.

Also been reading Magic Knight Rayearth 2. After Magic Knight Rayearth finished with one of the endings of all time I’m glad to see that the story continues. Gonna be honest though, the story doesn’t seem to be anything special so far. Still well-worth reading for the gorgeous art!

Oh yeah, Apocalypse Hotel was a lot of fun.

LOOK BACK is super good, and it’s a short movie so it’s not as much of a time commitment.

If you’re into sports anime my favorite recent one is Medalist. Now is a pretty good time to pick it up since the second season starts airing in just a couple weeks!

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon is also super good if you want more of an adventure.