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Re: ZERO - I still love their commitment to maximizing the time slot. Barely flashed the title screen in the first ep. The arc is starting a bit slow, but in a way that makes sense as build up for later. Its nice to scale down to a smaller group of characters for a while and rotate a few in that haven’t been active in a while. It’s kind of funny, I don’t recall ever really liking the first season, but at some point the world building, characters, etc. all built that into a foundation for a show that I do really enjoy. Its holding to my expectations so far.

Always a Catch! - I expected nothing, and the first episode was a bit rough until the end, but this one has been fun.

The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King - I’m not sure about this one yet. The humor and culture shock parts could be good, but the show has not fully resolved the fact that the main character is being held against her will, is being pressured into a relationship she would not have chosen otherwise, and that her homeland appears to be legitimately struggling. It seems to try to justify the situation by making everyone in her past horribly misogynistic…

*An Observation Log of My Fiancee… - I like it more after each episode. I always enjoy twists on the whole otome/villaness concept, and this one has been a lot of fun. The main character’s innocent approach to being a villaness in order to safeguard the game’s plot and see her prince get the good ending, just makes her more endearing, especially when she is clumsy at it and the prince is completely aware…

Snowball Earth - Binged the first three episodes which are essentially the prolog. Enjoyed it well enough, and there is something compelling about the weird way mismatch in its tone. The underlying story seems serious but the elements of the story are bonkers. The eyes and overall design and concept of “Intergalactic Kaiju” seems more at home as a theme park mascot than existential threat, till they kill people… I’m not sure how well it will hold up once the real plot kicks in.

The strongest job is apparently not a hero or sage, but an appraiser - The season’s popcorn isekai. Nothing really wrong with it, but nothing really to it either. Easy to watch. Easy to forget.

Ascendance of a Bookworm - I’ve only watched the anime but the first two episodes felt like someone just story boarded chapter titles. A summary of a summary running through what seems like they should have been bigger events. I mean from the end of the previous season through the beginning of episode 3, Myne was forced to give up her family, moved in with a noble, moved back into the church, saw her family, then moved in with another noble. Thankfully the last episode seems to be the start of a story arc and slowed down a bit.

Daemon’s of the Shadow Realm - Seems solid so far. I like how it sets up the MC to learn about two worlds that were hidden from him. The modern world and the daemon handler/conspiracy stuff. Playing those off each other could work really well. I also like that there seems to be a bigger unfolding story with multiple players and hopefully meaningful motivations…

Witch Hat Atelier - For me, it lives up to the hype. Well maybe not the Frieren comparisons… The seeds are there for something good. I like the look and feel of the world, the story book fantasy elements, even the characters. All the girls are a bit annoying right now, but they are children… and they’ve barely been introduced. I expect them to become more nuanced overtime.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - First episode as a catchup, character refresher was fine. But beyond that the pacing issues from previous seasons continue. The show does a lot of hyping up a plotline, then filling it with fluff, before resolving it near the end of the season. Kind of makes the first halves dull.

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As has become tradition, I added a bunch of shows to the watch list, watched mostly mediocre fantasy, and likely over looked some great shows.

Frieren - Excellent as always. I love how just the simple details and moments, like a banner blowing in the wind are pulled into the story and setting and never feel wasted. Many shows try to do that, few succeed. In a way the second season was stronger… the nostalgic melancholy vibe could call back to the first season and these really are now established, remembered characters. 5/5

Sentenced to Be a Hero - I’m half a season behind, mainly because I wanted to binge the arcs together. What I saw I enjoyed, and the production level is insane… 4/5 for now

Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None - If I could go back in time, i’d skip this. Lot’s of useless, pointless, time wasting scenes. Obvious, predictable events would be discussed in two scenes and stretched over two episodes. Pacing was awful. Season record for hitting skip. 2/5

Noble Reincarnation - I liked this one more than it probably deserves. The main character never making a mistake and constantly doing the exact right thing should have become annoying, but it never did. Maybe just being different than the average fantasy was enough. 3/5

Easygoing Territory Defense - A mixed bag. Some parts were great, and I’m still a sucker for the whole town/community building thing, but other parts seemed like filler. Still I’d welcome a season 2. 3/5

Kunon the Sorcerer Can See - Because the main character was raised wrong as a joke, he was often insufferable. Some decent humor at times. Fell flat at others. Watchable but didn’t really do anything… 3/5

The Holy Grail of Eris - This started so very strong, with a fun twist on the whole otome/villaness/betrayal thing. The ghost haunting a girl while she investigates a mystery thing was fun. The characters were all fairly well constructed, but the plot… there were good ideas and good scenes, but the parts were much better than the whole. That and I’m not happy with the ending… there were 4. the first 3 brought closure in different ways, the 4th undid all that. I’ll still give it 4/5, but it had the potential to be a lot better.

Roll Over and Die - I remember enjoying the source novels years ago, then made the mistake of rereading a few of them as this aired… I found it very disappointing as an adaptation. Ended up dropping it early. 2/5

An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at Age 29 - Most surprising show of the season. Would you believe a show that starts with a boob obsessed adventurer adopting a young girl who turns out to be a succubus, grows into an adult during the night, oh and they share one bed in the inn… was actually very wholesome? That whole setup seems like they were just trolling the audience because none of those massive, massive red flags ever turned into anything. 4/5

Champignon Witch - Loved the start with the whole setting, storybook feel, creative creatures, slight melancholy, but once it transitioned into the actual plot with the kid it lost something. 4/5

Wow. Lesser anime would have stretched this into at least four plodding episodes. This was essentially perfect. Neither rushed nor lagging. Every moment felt important and impactful. Several times I tapped the screen afraid it was about to end only to have half the episode left.