With a special guest, Ren!!!

00:00 Intro
00:48 Goodbye, Lara
38:40 Outro

Music Credits:
“Clover 3” by Vibe Mountain
“Seasons” by roljui

Three shows that any other season would all be anime of the year contenders. And I’m doing better at watching less bad anime!!! Goals!!!

19. Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky — F
I was mostly enjoying this until a twist near the end made me furious. What a stupid show.

18. From Overshadowed to Overpowered: Second Reincarnation of a Talentless Sage — D-
Ok I still watched one anime I really shouldn’t have…

17. That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime — Ongoing
Ok maybe two…

16. Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun! — Ongoing
I should probably drop this too. When we’re having idol contests in the demon world what are we even doing… I was bored this season.

15. Rich Girl Caretaker — C
It was cute… but really did not need to be a harem.

12. The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System — Ongoing
I think the art style is interesting (but also kind of terrible), and I like the evil girl, but otherwise this kind of sucks…

14. Re:Zero S5 — Ongoing
The more Subaru suffers the better this is. This season was great.

13. Though I Am an Inept Villainess — Ongoing
I love these Chinese court shows… This one was good too.

11. Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You — B-
It’s cute. Surprised I didn’t get more bored and lose interest.

10. You And I Are Polar Opposites — B-
Also cute…

9. The Cat and the Dragon — Ongoing
Adorable. Kind of shocked both that I watched this and that it was so good.

8. Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games Review — B
The manga looks better, and half the show was a tournament arc, but it’s hard not to like this.

7. Ghost in the Shell 2026 — B
I enjoyed it! Even if I am not the biggest Ghost in the Shell fan. It sure looks good.

6. Mushoku Tensei S3 — Ongoing
Really well made. As someone who is ashamed to have read the web novels, the pacing in this section is pretty awful, but they did a good job despite that.

5. Draw This, Then Die! — Ongoing
Most of it was just good, but the first and last episodes, those were great. I may have cried.

4. Daemons of the Shadow Realm — Ongoing
So realistically this is not the best made show or anything, but I love how it mixes the fantasy / modern world / ancient Japan aesthetics. In the era of isekai I have to appreciate shows that are genuinely imaginative in some way.

3. Goodbye, Lara — A
What a show. I cried. Multiple times.

2. Clevatess — A
Everything fantasy should be. Talk about imaginative. Tons of fun twists as well.

1. Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia — A
What a show. I cried. Multiple times again. It’s thought provoking and the art is gorgeous.

A cute high school romance.

Usually I get bored with high school romances like this. But this one managed to keep my interest through the end, mostly by introducing multiple pairings, all of which are pretty adorable together. I think it also helped that the characters acted like kids. I hated the ending of Horimiya and this did not make the same mistake.

Also, I just generally like the setup of the opposites attracting. There’s something to be said for people encountering each other, not understanding one another, and then working to figure it out. I’m very basic…

• Storytelling – B – Knows what it’s going for.
• Voice – X – Cute. Like the art style.
• Characters – B – Very likable if not too much depth.
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – B – Looks fine.
• Overall – B-

Recommendations – Horimiya

We love Jaadugar!!!

00:00 Intro
00:40 Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
24:45 Outro

Music Credits:
“Clover 3” by Vibe Mountain
“Seasons” by roljui

A lord of beasts comes down from his domain.

This is everything I want from a fantasy. A fascinating, unique world; tons of interesting moral dilemmas, and a lot of fucked up shit.

For a while now I’ve been despairing of the genre. The number of crappy isekai anime… ugh. They’re awful in so many ways, but what really gets me is how they completely fail to grasp what makes people love the things they’re supposedly based on. People love RPG games for the grand stories and the imaginative worlds and the interesting characters. No one actually enjoys farming goblins in dungeons for their horns and running fetch quests for the adventurer’s guild. People love Final Fantasy for Aerith and Tifa and Cloud and Moogles, not for getting experience in repetitive battles and choosing skills and being the strongest. You would think this is obvious but apparently not…

Anyway, Clevatess is spectacular. I feel like no one is watching this and you all are missing out. Maybe it’s because the first episode or two are honestly kind of gross? I actually dropped this after the first episode until Marina convinced me to stick with it (thank you Marina!!!) Trust me, it’s for a purpose and it pays off in spades. Really hope this can continue.

• Storytelling – A – Spectacular. Even when it did things that seemed like a terrible idea to me (i.e., in season 2 sending everyone to school for some reason) they made it work by going down some twisted path I couldn’t even imagine.
• Voice – A – What the fuck this rules so hard
• Characters – A – I cried multiple times watching this
• Attention Grab – A – So good
• Production – A  – Looks great
• Overall – A

Recommendations – KamiKatsu

My hot take of the day: I never thought Ghost in the Shell was all that good.

So, probably still no surprise that even with some pretty awesome animation in this remake, and much better pacing (at least in my vague recollection from decades ago), it’s just good but not great in my opinion.

I think the main issues are, I’m not all that interested in the characters (especially Motoko) and the politics is overly cynical and underdeveloped. No one in this show has any fondness for democracy and the rule of law, not that one should be surprised in what’s fundamentally a cop show. I guess that was edgy and cool 35 years ago (maybe?) but now not so much. Also, as someone who has read way too much science fiction, I find all the stuff about robots and ghosts and whatnot pretty basic, not too interesting, and often delivered through the voice of a character who sounds like a high teenager.

It looks awesome though and overall I’d still say I enjoyed it.

• Storytelling – B – Could be better but it’s fine
• Voice – A – Unique setting for sure
• Characters – C – Meh. I feel like I know very little about them.
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – A – Lorum.
• Overall – B

Recommendations – Serial Experiments Lain, Pluto, Denno Coil

Cute girls do circus.

This was a very well made show, just not my genre and I need to recognize that and stop falling for the great, dramatic first episode followed by an entire season of much ado about nothing. I quickly lost all interest in this after the first episode, but I recognize that if a peaceful show about cute girls doing cute things is what you’re looking for, this show’s pretty great.

Fun fact: I recently tried aerial silks and lyra (spinning around inside a metal hula hoop hanging from the ceiling). The lyra really hurts your butt. Neither of them were for me, but an interesting experience.

• Storytelling – C – Felt like it didn’t go anywhere.
• Voice – B – I did quite like the older setting.
• Characters – B – They’re cute.
• Attention Grab – D – I got bored.
• Production – B – Looks pretty good.
• Overall – C+

Recommendations – I need to stop watching shows like this because I don’t like them, I never like them, and I always forget and think I will.

How in the world did this get a sequel…? Is there still hope for AKB0048 season 3???

I quite enjoyed it. Pretty gripping story. It’s hard to capture the balance in a show like this, when you have characters who are very much the bad guys, but it still makes you root for them at least on a small personal scale while simultaneously recognizing how awful they are. I really enjoyed the story with the two generals in particular. They’re both truly awful while trying to do the right thing (as much as possible) but still realizing how awful they are.

A shame more Nazis didn’t die but what can you do.

• Storytelling – B – Pretty gripping drama especially the second half.
• Voice – A – Nothing like it.
• Characters – B – Loved the two generals. And Tanya is fun (in an “I hope she suffers even more because she deserves it” way)
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – B – Looks fine.
• Overall – B+

Recommendations – Hellsing Ultimate

Actually they do…

A solid show! I especially liked the first half where they were trying to hide that they were playing the games at school. Then the second half transitioned to a fighting game tournament and tournaments are just not something I tend to enjoy. They did make it interesting as far as these things go though due to some larger than life characters. Especially loved the little girl who was a total asshole.

I read the start of the manga years ago, and I have to say, I honestly liked it better… What made it so much fun was the insane reaction images. The anime just couldn’t match that. Still, a fun show!

• Storytelling – B – Petered off in the second half.
• Voice – A – Fun premise.
• Characters – B – Larger than life, but felt like the second half didn’t develop the main cast much.
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – B – Looks fine.
• Overall – B

Recommendations – Don’t play fighting games

It seems tough for everyone…

This is the kind of show where everyone is a piece of shit and they all get what’s coming to them. And I am so there for it.

It’s a fun time if you enjoy that sort of humor. Honestly, not the best produced show, and probably went a bit too far into the serious side, but overall a fun time.

• Storytelling – B – It was funny most of the time.
• Voice – C – Some interesting ideas but setting feels pretty half-assed (intentionally so but still)
• Characters – B – God… these morons
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – C – The animation is not great…
• Overall – B

Recommendations – Milky Holmes