Anime

I have gathered my quick impressions of shows I have watched this season below in no particular order:

• Frieren - Continues to impress. I am actually not a big fan of this arc in the manga, but seeing it animated, I have liked it more. I am looking forward to the gang setting out on the road again though. I think those slow, SOL moments are when this series is at its best.
• Chained Soldier - I have enjoyed the show, but it hasn't really blown me away. I get the sense that they have really held back on the ecchi and the action animation has been inconsistent. I like the story so far, but feel like it has only scratched the surface of a much larger story.
• Sasaki and Peeps - This show is all over the place. It has been inconsistent in its week to week storytelling, but I am still watching just to see where things go as each week is extremely unpredictable.
• Tsukimichi Season 2 - I have liked this season a lot. The first episode was pretty boring and meaningless, but since then, the story has broadened out a lot and I have been much happier with the adaptation.
• 'Tis Time for Torture - It has been really silly, not very deep, and a bit repetitive. However, it has remained entertaining and cute.
• Hokkaido Gals - I keep wavering on whether to continue watching this show or not. I kind of have trouble staying awake a lot during this show, but so far, I have continued watching.
• Villainess Level 99 - I have enjoyed this adaptation a lot. It's clear that the animation budget has been restrictive, but the humor has been great. The VA work has really carried a lot of this show's humor due to how static the animation often is during things like internal monologues.
• Gushing Over Magical Girls - I ended up dropping this series as it was a bit too ecchi for me. However, for those that don't mind, it seems like an interesting premise and source readers have hyped up the story that is layered underneath the plot.
• Metallic Rouge - This show is a weird one. Like, I am completely unable to follow the story, but I have enjoyed just turning my brain off and taking in the vibes instead. Some of the recent episodes haven't had as much of the nice action scenes as early episodes. If the animation quality drops as it goes, then there really isn't that much left to redeem this show.
• Delicious in Dungeon - I think this show got a lot better after the first episode. It has a great main cast and it has done a great job of slowly pulling back the curtain on an immensely rich world.
• Bravern - A true hidden gem this season. It is unabashedly a cheesy, super robot series while at the same time, a gruesome depiction of humanity fighting extinction.
• Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - This show has been a slow burn so far, but they are building up to a huge conflict. If they can deliver in the back half, then it is going to be great.

I also wanted to provide a quick meta-update from last week's thread. I am continuing to debate with myself about how best to handle episode discussion threads going forward (as well as doing a lot of coding work to enable options). If you have further ideas or feedback, please feel free to reach out to me in a PM if you don't want to post publicly. I have gotten quite a few messages about this issue from people and wanted to let others know it is an option if you would feel more comfortable reaching out that way. Another option for those that are inclined would be discord as I have been in the [email protected] discord here.