What Anime are you watching?

I fell out of watching anime for years, and I'm now getting back into it, so I have HEAPS to catch up on!

 

So far:

Sailor Moon Crystal, Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family, re-watching Monster, Legend of Mana and Gintama.

I've recently caught up with SpyxFamily, Mob Psycho 100 and rewatched My dress up darling again~
 

I’m watching Cautious Hero now and it’s hilarious! I really recommend it if you need a good laugh.

Recently went on a Nostalgia kick, and purchased "Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water", "Armored Trooper Votoms", "Record of Lodoss Wars", "Megazone 23" and "Orguss". 

All on Blu-Ray and complete series. 

Looks like quite a few of my weekends are going to be marathoning a Lot of "Old School" stuff I haven't seen before.. 

(Curse you, Amazon!!) 🤪

Currently watching Nier.
 

And I have an ongoing project trying to watch all of One Piece. currently going at about a 100 episodes a year so... 7-8 more years to go 😂

i recently watched through gundam witch from mercury, as well as the first two galaxy express 999 movies! planning to start the original captain harlock anime & the queen emeraldas ovas next, i love retro anime and leiji matsumoto's list of works seems almost endless...!!

My partner and I are currently catching up on One Piece episodes.  IIRC, the previous Wano arc is done, so we have some catching up to do.

I'm also watching solo watching Assassination Classroom, and I was re-watching the first seasons of Re:Zero, Blue Exorcist and The Rising of the Shield Hero, as well as S3 of My Hero Academia and the last season of Attack on Titan.

Since CR decided to make it so that we have to pay to watch anything past the first season on these and many other anime, we're probably going to end up leaving the free tier and paying so that we can keep watching whatever we want. 

 

Ryu

Just finished up the newest arc for Demon Slayer and man was it good!  UFOtable is just so amazing with their animation.  The fighting scenes are just so top tier with movement and special effects, it's hard to hold a candle to them.  

I've also been catching up on My Hero Academia and I'm just starting Season 5.  So far it's plenty of fun.

 

Billy

I just finished Chobits last night, so now I've moved on to Maria-sama ga Miteru. It's really nice to see yuri anime (and manga/light novels as well apparently?) written by a woman. I hadn't heard of it until a couple days ago, but that fact alone pushed it up to the top of my watch list. The length of the characters and their legs seems like a challenge to Code Geass though 😂 very elongated anime girls. After this I might watch DearS, although I'm hesitant to jump into more ecchi.

43 minutes ago, Emil said:

It's really nice to see yuri anime (and manga/light novels as well apparently?) written by a woman.

Milk Morinaga and Saburo Uta are both women who do GL manga. I read a lot of GL, and there are a fair number of female mangaka out there. There is also Inori, who I believe is female, and if I'm not mistaken referred to herself as having a female partner in an interview. Her series 'I'm In Love With The Villainess' will be getting a TV adaptation this year.  

hmmm... yuri ... now I want to rewatch Strawberry Panic ... despite the typical girl boarding school setting.

anyhoo... guess a update is in order:

Last season picks:

Beast Tamer: Isekai harem series without the rebirth bit, which was refreshing I guess in itself, with a humble hero turned superpower while adding the girls to the team. Nothing obnoxious, though nothing spectacular either.

DIY: I guess this falls into that girls doing things category, but a relatively nice look into actually crafting stuff by hand, instead of just pushing print on a machine. Still cant get over the white mouth of the otherwise overly klutzy main girl.

Villainness taming the last boss: At first I thought this would be Bakatrina-light, but it does have its own merits in terms of the heroine being a fair bit more of a thinking sort, which brings about its own shinenigans.

Top Picks:

Spy X Family: More of the same fun and shinenigans that come about mixing Scarecrow & Mrs. King with the Man from UNCLE, and maybe even some of the original 60's Get Smart. But the second series seems a bit here and there in terms of plot focus. But still the cast manages to be hilariously amusing with Yor kicking the crap out of Loyd by accident, and the other funny business that ensues.

Chainsaw man: Like it or hate it, Chainsaw man goes about its business without any wish for forgiveness of any kind. Its rude, its crass, its gory, and disgusting, with one of the most hilarious translation jokes for a outro song ever (Get on Chu!, oh yea... right). And one of the most surprising side cast developments when the most timid of people put the fear of god into the most hardcore bad guys.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury: I knew that Gundam: Blood orphans would be a very tough act to follow, but sunrise despite the info's here and there about corporate descisions getting in the way of artistic stuff seems to still know how to keep Gundam relevant. After the rather bleak prologue episode, it seems like it would be Gundam: Strawberry panic, with the girl on girl setting with the delightfully stumbling Suletta, and Flatpan hard-butt Miorine, but the dark undertones come in first very slightly and then literally smashing down by the series finale.

Carry overs:

To your eternety S2: This series will probably be a marmite thing to people, personally I think it suffers from a problem with story pacing, where we are occasionally stuck in one situation from episode to episode, and then suddenly we have years worth of story narration in just a few minutes. but overall its still a compelling story of sorts, although I still wish it would occasionally get a move on with it.

KanColle S2: The original series was a surprise to me, at how entertaining it was despite the setting, and I was expecting a bit more of the same from the second series, which seems to be a monthly ova thing. But this is a fair bit more grounded, and serious in nature, which sort of works against itself, versus the first series.

This season picks:

Ayakashi Triangle: Ecchi amusment from the creator of To-love ru, so certain things are granted, although not quite as risque as I would have intially thought, even with the genderbender main setting, and foodie childhood friend getting to grips with the developing situation. -- Currently on hold due to Covid.

Grace of Gods S2: Slime tamers second season. nothing really to write home about apart from the isekai reborn thing, but watching it while waiting for more appealing stuff to come around on saturdays.

Otherworld campfire cooking: This one caught me by surprise, and initially I didnt even give it any kind of attention due to the silly title. The premise remains as silly in series, but the way the story goes about its main theme without even trying to explain things is a huge bonus in its entertainment value. The only downside is the real world inability to summon foodstuffs to my own kitchen at will as the recipies will induce near fenrir like wants for nutrition.

Fired from the demon kings army: Slow life isekai series that rests totally on Tomokazu Sugitas portrayal of the lead role.

Nagatoro Second attack: The senior teasing continues, with the stakes being raised ever so slightly, and when stuff backfires on Nagatoro, its always quite fun.

Handyman Saitou: An isekai series that seems quite ordinary, but not so ordinary at the same time. What brings this up a notch or may be a downer to some is the initial light hearted nature of it, but it takes a turn towards the dark side literally at mid point of the series. The cute chubby fairy being the big warning sign.

Bofuri S2: The first season of All in defence was a hilarious take on the slightly worn .Hack//Sign and SAO Virtual MMO stories, with a seemingly airheaded player just accidentally going from upgrade to upgrade to becoming an unstoppable monster of a character. the second season is just more of the same, and again I am drawn towards Maple's armor design in creative ways.

A tale of outcasts: Beauty and the beast meets Anchient magus'es bride, although you could argue those two had a thing in common already. But the tale of a girl gone blind surveying the world with a demon overlord is interesting, despite my dislike for period pieces in general.

Tomo-Chan is a girl: Tomboy girl stories are amusing to me in some weird ways, but this one manages to have a bit more substance to it with the addition of the supporting cast having a fair bit of sad background undertones despite cheerfull outward appearances.

Slightly better picks:

Reborn to master the blade: An isekai reborn series, where the reincarnation was from that world to begin with? You have piqued my intrest. Adding in the genderbender angle from old geezer to young girl has its amusements on the contemplations of past behaviour and such. and the animation is also quite nice.

The reincarnated Princess and the Genious young lady: The Isekai is strong in this season, and this time its rather pleasing that the past life of the heroine isnt really explained nor explored that much, other than what ideas she brings to the midevil magical setting... which is slowly turning into a all yuri harem. But the shinenigans are very amusing, and nothing is too much off kilter and it does keep a nice pace in its story.

Top picks:

In / Spectre S2: The slightly less wordgame inclusive, and trippy version of Bakemonogatari continues with its main herioine continuing the deliciously worded explanations and suggestions in the every day happenings between spirits and humans. Yotogibanashi is also the first theme song in awhile I might actually aquire in physical form along with the mercury witch themes.

Nier/Automata: At first I was very speculative about how the anime would bring anything new to someone like myself who had platinumed the original game on PS4 years ago, and going through every nook and cranny in the game. But there is something to be said about telling the story from a more close up manner, instead from a distance as most of the dialogue was done with in the games.  Unfortunately also went on hiatus because of Covid.

Buddy Daddies: Spy X family on break giving you the blues? ... well what if I had a series that might take its place in a somewath similar but modern setting, when two assassins take in the five year old illegitimate kid of a mobster they offed. Miri is more in line with what you might think a five year old would be in terms of wanton destruction (because not an esper, so of course), and thus amusement values are high.... also the weird choise of Renault 4 as the main means of transportation from the trio.

 

"The Squid Girl" ended up becoming an instant classic for me.

i went in on a whim, certainly not expecting much, and BOY was i ever shown otherwise;

 

On 2/18/2023 at 1:56 PM, finnleo said:

Nier/Automata: At first I was very speculative about how the anime would bring anything new to someone like myself who had platinumed the original game on PS4 years ago

Now that the series has restarted again, and EP6 rolled around, this turned from a being just a novelty viewpoint to actual new stuff to be experienced.

Spoiler

Fans of A2 are going to have a moment. Personally I was surprised with just how much her demeanor had changed, and the original resemblance to 2B, and especially her wielding a katana, if assumed to be Virtuous Treaty, giving even more of a boom to when A2 gets the sword back from 2B, and cuts her hair.

Talk about going full circle.

Yoko Taro is evil... evil I say.

Neo Genesis Evangelion. 
Currently at episode 11. I honestly enjoy watching this mid 90’s series. Soundtrack is also nice. Never knew that Shiro Sagisu made that one too. 

17 minutes ago, Rajke said:

Neo Genesis Evangelion. 
Currently at episode 11.

Ah, the original mind-bender. Just remember to have the Death/Rebirth, and End of evangelion movies on standby at the end, and forget the last two episodes never happend ... or something of the sort.

But if you liked the idea, but the ending left you with a big question mark, something to consider might be Fafner in the azure (though its in 4:3 aspect ratio if I recall correct).

20 minutes ago, Rajke said:

Soundtrack is also nice. Never knew that Shiro Sagisu made that one too

Sagisu made the music for at least the more notable Hideaki Anno series like Nadia, and Karekano. though in the case of evangelion I did like the score enough to get the S2 collection (seven discs worth stuff, including the variations of the BGM's...), though I guess his more notable stuff would be bleach, berserk, and the SSSS stuff.

So... Are we ready to Bakuretsu?

Its nice to see that megumin has had her priorities set even at a young age putting a veteran mage to their knea's with her determination: "Is there anything you wish for? World domination! Big tits! be a Demon lord!"

although the first minute of the series makes her pyromaniac nature a lot more adorable ... and also the ending of the movie even more touching.

now to watch the rest of the episode and not choke on edibles while at it.

I feel so stupid for recently writing that I thought the beginning of Clannad: After Story was a bit dull.

Now I realise it might just be the greatest TV show I've ever seen. It's definitely the most intense viewing experience I've had since Watership Down back in 1978.

I did really get into Babylon 5 and the remake of Battlestar Galactica. Battlestar had some crushing heartbreak, and you always felt no character was safe. But anime always seem more intense. Elfen Lied and Chobits also crush my emotions.

Next up is Violet Evergarden (I think) although I am also overjoyed to find the Clannad game has recently appeared on the PlayStation store. It seems to work fine on my PS5. I'm also scheduling in Little Busters as I have a couple of figures from the show (actually both are Kamikita).

Other anime I've watched recently:

• Demon Slayer looks amazing but I got a bit bored. I'm not a huge fan of period dramas (anime or live action).
• Re:Zero has some amazingly iconic characters but the anime is overrated. The second series is a mess, even if Rem is most otakus' wifu.
• When They Cry is... strange. I did like season 1 although the picture quality was not in the league of Clannad or Demon Slayer. Season 2+ don't play on my TV so I'll watch it on my laptop sometime.
• Love is War is hard to watch due to the extreme amount of dialogue (i.e. subtitles to read). I'll give it another go some time.

Here's my Clannad Big Dango Family. I thought about getting enough Clannad outfits for all my girls, and commissioning somebody to make Kaito an outfit so he could cosplay as Tomoyo. But what we really need is to find a big yellow field of yellow flowers so we can recreate the iconic opening credits.

Well this season has quite a lot in my viewing selection, but in the interest of keeping things as short as possible, just the main picks from this season:

Kizuna No Allele.

Its sort of amusing thinking back to the days when people figured out they could use an X-box kinect sensor to realtime animate a MikuMikuDance model, and as a result we got Kizuna Ai, one of the first "professional" virtual youtubers. Ai seems to be in semi retirement, but the spinoffs are still out doing their thing (China Ai is still a hoot to listen to). When the anime series was pitched, I was skeptic to say the least, but in the end we seem to have a generic vanilla flavored idol-wannabe series with stereotypical cast set in a slightly more futuristic setting.

As a side note I wouldnt be surprised if the revised anime version of Ai got a doll re-release, or if a comeback tour of Ai pops up when the series ends.

Otherworld cheat skill.

So how do you make a isekai series just that more different than the rest of them? Keep the lead schmoo jumping between the two worlds, and go from blob, to ripped. Although after four or so episodes I have yet to figure out what the hook is supposed to be, other than the ugly duckling story on steroids.

 

Yuri is my job.

On the themes of how do you untangle, a very much misunderstood and flammable relationship with someone from your past, this one has my attention. Now the question remains that will the series do the obvious thing of untangling the situation, or is just going to continue spitting venom between the two leads, while the two are forced to play nice for a theme cafe setting. Add in the other leads current best friend with yandere tendancies and this one probably will have some spice in store.

Idolmaster Cinderella girls - U149

this has to be one of the more dubious idolmaster series, the title included with the U149 standing for Under 149cm. So yes it is the gradeschooler idols this turn around. In terms of series concept it seems to follow the original Idolmaster anime (no, not the Xenoglossia one) that had Haruka be the glue of the series, just replaced with Arisu. So far nothing especially wrong with it, and we seem to get guest star appearances from the more older Cinderella girls, so far Shiki, Frederika (not terribly impressed), to Shin who I sort of adore for seeing profit in throwing a junior to the wolves for profits.

If anything I wouldnt be surprised if a Arisu and Momoka doll come out of this since the last cinderella girls anime can be attributed to Rin, Mio and Uzuki more or less.

Mobile suit gundam: The Witch from mercury season 2

Im still slightly in awe, that how this franchise manages to occasionally re-invent itself. Mercury witch still hasnt knocked Blood orphans from my number one recomendation for a gundam series to watch, but its very much a strong contender for #2. And why is this? ... Im left to quote Brad Fidel of The Terminator theme fame of saying something of the sort: "Music is typically the last thing on the budget for any film, which means there's typically no money for it when the production gets around to it-".
and considering this is how the series goes about its music, its no wonder it has your attention:

on the theme of music, the ending theme with its visuals this time always leaves a deep sense of foreboding, and the in series plot twists will have you believe the ending will not play nice, and I can only hope it wont be as savage as blood orhpans was.

An Explosion on this wonderfull world.

Now... Out of the konosuba cast Megumin was already best girl for me for various reasons, and if anything her own series has made her even more best, if such a thing is possible. The animation is rubbish, but the story makes up for it with all the details added to what we assume makes megumin tick.
Just the four episodes so far have me reminiscing scenes from the main series and movie, and again im fighting the urge to rewatch both just to see if Megumins eyes are lit up or not in certain scenes now.
She is such an adorable combination of ambitions, principles, and savage opportunism. But most important loyalty.

 

Other short mentions would be Sacrificial Princess for those who wanted continuation to a Tale of Outcasts... and on the same subject I probably should get around to watching the Magus Bride S2

 

My girls and I watched Anohana. Now we want the Menma Pureneemo but she has mythical grail status.

Anohana is a terrific little series (of a single series). Despite the small number of episodes, the song at the end (Secret Base) is one of the best loved in all anime history.

We also watched Violet Evergarden. She would make a great DD. There are many unanswered questions in his show, but it looks gorgeous and is quite restful to watch.

Now we're watching Attack on Titan. This show is NOT restful to watch. It's insanely action packed and the pacing mirrors the live action Battlestar Galactica reboot. I can see why both Call of Duty and Fortnite licensed Attack on Titan for use in their games.

I'm currently watching Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation because I thought the manga was cute... but ngl, it's reminding me why I swore off watching anime in general. 😰 It's really terrible.

I like spooky/supernatural/horror manga a lot but for some reason it just doesn't seem to translate to anime at all. 😓 I'm still gonna give Akuma-Kun a chance when it comes out though, it looks really cute

Our family have made a huge move into watching anime. We don't have terrestrial TV so it's anime or Youtube or Fortnite.

Oshi No Ko has delighted my girls (and Kaito). I think episode 1 could be the best first episode of anything I've ever seen, anime or live action. We hope and pray for an Ai Hoshino DD. And has anyone noticed that Aqua and Ruby are absolutely spitting images of Len and Rin???

Chainsaw Man was deserving of the hype. I understand it's only just getting going but I just love anime where the characters have teeth! I need a Power DD, but an Angel Devil DD would be super awesome too.

Kanon was good and kind of a beta version of Clannad. Clannad is better because they ramped up the emotional music, but Kanon perfected the small town vibe of KyoAni titles.

I'm trying to watch Haruhi again. Weirdly I don't remember the first episode being the first episode. I think it was shown out of sequence at first. Some day I will acquire the DD, although I do have both Haruhi and Mikuru's outfits.

We're currently watching Gantz. It's quite old but again the first episode is a knockout. I heard of Gantz because many people say it is as violent as Elfen Lied, although it has a very different storyline.

As for movies, Suzume is incredible and it felt so relevant to my own life given what event it is based around. Again Volks had better be considering a Suzume DD. Failing that I'd love to acquire her uniform for somebody to cosplay as her. Imagine going to see Suzume in the cinema with your DD!

Another season kicks off so lets see what we are seeing:

Lesser isekais:

The isekai is ever present, and we seem to be running out of ideas in terms of settings considering one of the lesser offerings this time around, we have stuff like Vending Machine reincarnated and as the title would suggest a dude is reincarnated as a vending machine into a midevil setting, and quite honestly Jun Fukuyama manages to sell the idea somehow.

Am I actually the strongest. This would probably be best described as a more lighthearted version of Mushoku Tensei, with a slightly ditsy Tama-nee thrown in for good measure. the light comedy gives it enough of its own falvor to not be branded a total copycat.

Unique skill makes OP at level 1.  This is fairly generic viewing padding, but have to see what the bunny girl brings to the party.

Not quite isekai, but Atelier Ryza's anime adaptation started ... and quite frankly I dont get what the fuss was about this. Somehow compared to previous heroines I just dont click with Reisalin, especially since the whole series general premise seems like a more basic re-heat of of the previous Atelier Firis. But shall see how many episodes I'll watch before moving on due to dissapointment that I didnt get a Rorona Anime, or even the continuation to Escha & Logy that did.

Not at all Isekai, but still viewtime padding is My Tiny Senpai, which for the lack of a better description is just a role-reversal of my Senpai is annoying.. but the lead is sort of cute with the cat-like gestures.

Picks of the season:

Rent-a-Girlfriend .. I was waiting for this new season with some level of enthusiasm, but at the same time Im a bit worried that the general idea is starting to wear off its charm, and just adding more girls when the previous cast isnt used to its full potential (I want more Sumi) is a bit questionable, but shall have to see if any progression is made.

The Masterfull cat is depressed .. Im sort of lost as to what to think of this. Is it a pathetic male fantasy, or woman fantasy? But the setting of a overgrown cat that does the house chores to perfection for a slob of a salary-person is quite delightfull, combined with the ammount of tough love that is dished out.

Forgotten Glasses .. so school comedy series are quite commonplace, but I do have to admit the nearly blind lead girls shinenigans is what sells this whole endeavour, and now I want a slightly frumpy looking spectacled doll into my collection as well.

Zom-100 .. There once was this series called Highschool of the dead, and I still consider it to be one of the better zombie apocalypse series out there, despite its very ... generous fanservice approach (wich I think is needed to balance all the details). Zom-100 seemed to open up quite strongly in a very similar gritty way, brutally crushing ideals and dreams while it sets off apparently in a supposedly more lighthearted journey.

Horimiya .. Im sort of basing this on the main first animation series that im still trying to get through that was dumped on crunchy some weeks ago, but I would say this is a pretty nice reheat of the old His and Her circuimstances series, with plenty of spice added to bring it to a modern era.

Mushoku Tensei .. I've been waiting for this second series to come around ever since binging the first season. It really joins the better isekai reborn series like Re:Zero, So im a spider and Overlord with the gritty nature of it, and whats best, the Man, The legend, the Kyon himself, Tomokazu Sugita's narration is what crowns it all.

Add to my list... Lycoris Recoil is very good. Azone are already producing characters from the show - could Volks be close behind?

And my girls suggest this thread be renamed... What Anime Are Your Dolls Watching?

 

This year I finally finished BNA: Brand New Animal, as well as Lycoris Recoil and thoroughly enjoyed both! Pleasantly surprised at how much I loved the latter too. I'll be starting up Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury with my partner now that it's over.

Oh man, this reminds me that I need to stop watching so much reality TV! (7 Little Johnstons is just So.  Freakin'.  Hilarious!)  I am way behind in my One Piece watching, we had caught up and was waiting for new eps a while back.  I think its now been at least 3 months. 

I'm loving all the recommendations for new anime!  Thank you all for them!.  I'm hoping that they are on the free tier of CR, but I may have to break down and pay for it so I can watch the last bit of Attack on Titan and the second season of Re:Zero, among others.   

 

Ryu