What Current Anime Are You Watching Version v4.0

[Podtastic]

On 4/8/2022 at 4:05 PM, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

wow,  what did they do poll a random middle school? 

No idea, but one would expect representative sampling if their going to make statements like that.

I enjoy AOT but I wouldn't say its my fave.

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Kyoukai Senki is back. It was a good 1st episode.  Honzuki no Gekokujou is also back.  This show is still great.

[Seto Kaiba]

Thanks to a moderately slow day, I got to start watching this season's offerings.

Started with Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It r=1-sinθ, the second season of Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It.

This show is just as weird as I remember it being, equal parts edutainment program about the scientific method in general and occasionally biochemistry in particular, and a love comedy about two of the most willfully oblivious people around.  The second season started more or less exactly where the first season left off, though the first episode has a lot more fanservice than I remember it having.  The new characters, Chris and Suiu, are a couple and VERY showy about their relationship and public displays of affection that border on public indecency... to the dismay and bewilderment of Himuro and Yukimura.  The whole mess - involving measuring oxytocin levels using saliva tests - very quickly winds up a pastiche of Dragon Ball Z complete with a backdrop of a barren wasteland full of plateaus and rock formations.

It's just weird enough to draw you in if you let it, and just absurd enough to keep you watching to see what nonsense they'll get up to next.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Kaginado is back.  It was hilarious as always.

[Seto Kaiba]

Ascendance of a Bookworm's new season has finally started, after dropping two compilation episodes on us first.

It picks up pretty much exactly where Ep26 left off, with Myne getting ready to move into the cathedral for the winter season.  Her self-appointed mission to drag the fantasy world she lives in into the age of bulk-printed literature proceeds apace, with the first new episode featuring an apprentice blacksmith who seeks her out to become his patron, with her almost immediately hitting on the idea of having him make the parts for a mechanical printing press.  Her DIY projects are also stirring up some drama among the trade guilds her work is stepping on the toes of.

There's some excellent worldbuilding going on here, even if most of it comes in the form of Benno or Ferdinand explaining at length how Myne's latest brainstorm is rocking the proverbial boat.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2022-04-15/in-another-world-with-my-smartphone-anime-gets-2nd-season/.184648

 

I am shocked, but i won't complain.

[Scyla]

Watched the first two episodes of Spy x Family and the series is pretty great (just like the manga). Makes me want to read the manga again from the start.

 Haven’t had a chance watching Shield Hero season 2 yet but it seems the first two episodes are not well liked so I’m anxious watching them…

…especially since Hamefura season 2 was such a letdown.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

I have way too much on my viewing plate at this point of the season,  and no immediate drops,... yet.      I'm liking Skull Knight,  and Spy x Family,  Otome game and Yuusha, Yamemasu are probably the closest to the trash pile at this stage.         And without stating the obvious Kaguya S3 is knocking it out of the park again. 

 

 

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de has been great. I love Desumi.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

I think Angel Beats saved Kaginado.    2 episodes in and I already think its beating Season 1 by leaps and bounds.

 

On 4/18/2022 at 4:57 PM, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de has been great. I love Desumi.

Go check out the manga,   I am enjoying the anime,  but content is getting skipped.   For obvious time constraint reasons..

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

14 minutes ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

I think Angel Beats saved Kaginado.    2 episodes in and I already think its beating Season 1 by leaps and bounds.

 

Go check out the manga,   I am enjoying the anime,  but content is getting skipped.   For obvious time constraint reasons..

I now plan to read the manga, thanks.  Kaginado has been better this season.

[Seto Kaiba]

Kaguya-sama: Love is War's third season is proving to be as good as the previous two, which is pretty damned impressive IMO.

It was a really solid story as a manga, and it translated really well to a TV anime.  

I'm gonna start Love After World Domination in a bit... the premise seems sort of similar to Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department in terms of being a send-up of tokusatsu superhero shows.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

11 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Kaguya-sama: Love is War's third season is proving to be as good as the previous two, which is pretty damned impressive IMO.

It was a really solid story as a manga, and it translated really well to a TV anime.  

I'm gonna start Love After World Domination in a bit... the premise seems sort of similar to Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department in terms of being a send-up of tokusatsu superhero shows.

 

I can't comment about Miss Kuroitsu as I did not watch it.   If its worth a watch I may go back and find it. 

But your spot on about Love After World Domination,  I think the manga does a better job with the overall pace,  and while I am enjoying the anime I keep getting distracted by what is getting cut out,   but they are doing much out of order so it may just yet come around only being 3 episodes in.

 

I'm still on the fence with Otome game.. its not terrible but without spoilers the MC is pretty unlikeable in the manga.        While Yuusha Yamemasu is just boring.

 

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

6 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

 

I can't comment about Miss Kuroitsu as I did not watch it.   If its worth a watch I may go back and find it. 

But your spot on about Love After World Domination,  I think the manga does a better job with the overall pace,  and while I am enjoying the anime I keep getting distracted by what is getting cut out,   but they are doing much out of order so it may just yet come around only being 3 episodes in.

 

I'm still on the fence with Otome game.. its not terrible but without spoilers the MC is pretty unlikeable in the manga.        While Yuusha Yamemasu is just boring.

 

 

I can see what you mean about the Love after World Domination.  The anime is really cutting much out.

[Seto Kaiba]

10 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

I can't comment about Miss Kuroitsu as I did not watch it.   If its worth a watch I may go back and find it. 

Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department was an office comedy about a girl who works in the R&D division of one of the evil organizations looking to take over the world by defeating various local tokusatsu-style superheroes.  I found it pretty amusing, in a relatable sort of way, given that a fair amount of it is jabs at corporate culture until the end of the series.

 

10 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

But your spot on about Love After World Domination,  I think the manga does a better job with the overall pace,  and while I am enjoying the anime I keep getting distracted by what is getting cut out,   but they are doing much out of order so it may just yet come around only being 3 episodes in.

Ah, that sounds problematic.

I know I had a lot of issues with So I'm a Spider, So What? because of how much they cut out of the story to make the anime... which made the B cast of reincarnated humans even less likeable and interesting after cutting out a lot of their character development.  I hope the cuts in Love After World Domination aren't that severe.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I have been watching Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi is such a funny show.

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

I have been watching Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi is such a funny show.

Oh yeah, that's a good one.  I enjoyed the hell out of it.  

Kinda wish that one had been longer, TBH.  It had a good vibe going.

[Seto Kaiba]

Well that's the weirdest thing I've seen in a while.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War always does weird, arsty stuff for its ED that has no real connection to the main show... and for season three it's an extended reference to Starship Troopers.  Not the Studio Nue one either, the terrible live-action movie complete with a totally unmodified Roger Young appearing.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

18 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Oh yeah, that's a good one.  I enjoyed the hell out of it.  

Kinda wish that one had been longer, TBH.  It had a good vibe going.

This show is just so good.  I am glad I decided to watch it.  I am more interested in the relationship of Kazama and Sakurai. 

[Seto Kaiba]

On 4/29/2022 at 4:09 PM, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

This show is just so good.  I am glad I decided to watch it.  I am more interested in the relationship of Kazama and Sakurai. 

I get more of a kick out of Igarashi and Takeda... but then, that has some personal resonance since I'm like 2m tall and short girls are disproportionately overrepresented among my direct reports at work.

Ascendance of a Bookworm is getting a bit dark.  I kind of miss the happy-go-lucky adventures of Myne the bookworm before it got all political intrigue-y.

[pengbuzz]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I get more of a kick out of Igarashi and Takeda... but then, that has some personal resonance since I'm like 2m tall and short girls are disproportionately overrepresented among my direct reports at work.

Ascendance of a Bookworm is getting a bit dark.  I kind of miss the happy-go-lucky adventures of Myne the bookworm before it got all political intrigue-y.

Well, at least you have people who look up to you.

[Seto Kaiba]

Started Trapped in a Dating Sim: the World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs.

Honestly, this has one of the worst starts I've seen from an isekai title outside of zero-effort isekai shovelware shows like Isekai Cheat Magician.  It's surprisingly straightforward on the topic of its own setting being an unholy melange of genres that do not go together, but the opening setup feels more like it belongs to a parody than the played-straight story of this series.  (I would not have been at all surprised if the protagonist, instead of dying by falling down his apartment's staircase, had done a handspring back to his feet, landed in the street, and been creamed by a truck or had a forced-perspective shot make him look like he was about to only to be hit in the ankle by an RC car.)

... ... ... 

I have kind of a really REALLY bad feeling about this show.  Like, the uncomfortable vibe at a large family gathering right before some slightly-drunk distant relative launches into a racist and/or sexist tirade.

[JB0]

I picked up 2018's Transforming Bullet Train Robot Shinkalion, out of a desire to have something lighthearted and predictable. It looked like a competently-produced genre piece, about young boys entrusted with way too much responsibility and authority, shouting about friendship and courage, and a plot that's traveling some well-worn rails. And it has delivered all of that, being both entertaining and predictable at the same time.

Slightly odd in that it is sponsored not only by TakaraTomy, but also the Japan Railway Corporation. So our hero is a train otaku, and he might be allowed a little more time to share his love than one would expect. But still... predictable and enjoyable. Like macaroni and cheese, only with sword-wielding robots.

...

And then Hatsune Miku showed up, my brain derailed, and I spilled my mac&cheese all over my lap in confusion.

 

The Vocaloid mascot is a recurring guest character/train-robo driver. For some reason. I don't even know.

And then the next episode featured a one-minute Evangelion parody as our hero goes train-watching and catches the arrival of a then-real Evangelion-themed bullet train(which the episode helpfully reminded viewers was scheduled for final departure later that month).

And a brief bit of internetting after being very confused by the Miku mechu tells me there's a couple more guest appearances in store that just leave me wondering how they got the various licensors to approve this crossover.

 

 

I'm just saying... this is still a predictable show about children fighting giant monsters with robot trains, but it is a fair bit weirder than I expected. I don't regret riding this train in the least.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Love after World domination was again great this week.  My favorite show of the season.

[Seto Kaiba]

Okay, yeah... Trapped in a Dating Sim: the World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs can't seem to stop coming across as a bit misogynistic.

To be honest, I'm not sure if that's an accidental byproduct of the way the story plays many of the worst cliches of the genre laser straight while viewing them from the outside or if the author really just has it in for independent women.  Harem stories are always low levels of cringe, but this is so heavily laden with cruelty and sexism that it's actually a little bit unsettling.  This goes way WAY beyond the kind of objectification you see in harem shows to the point that the women are near-universally depicted as being greedy and uncaring social climbers who are only interested in men for money, status, and appearances and have zero qualms about saying so publicly or being physically abusive.

(It's like this is a training academy for Disney's evil stepmothers of something... it's really off-putting.  Even the most blatantly fanservice-y harem shows aren't THIS sexist about it.)

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

17 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Okay, yeah... Trapped in a Dating Sim: the World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs can't seem to stop coming across as a bit misogynistic.

To be honest, I'm not sure if that's an accidental byproduct of the way the story plays many of the worst cliches of the genre laser straight while viewing them from the outside or if the author really just has it in for independent women.  Harem stories are always low levels of cringe, but this is so heavily laden with cruelty and sexism that it's actually a little bit unsettling.  This goes way WAY beyond the kind of objectification you see in harem shows to the point that the women are near-universally depicted as being greedy and uncaring social climbers who are only interested in men for money, status, and appearances and have zero qualms about saying so publicly or being physically abusive.

(It's like this is a training academy for Disney's evil stepmothers of something... it's really off-putting.  Even the most blatantly fanservice-y harem shows aren't THIS sexist about it.)

I think context is needed here though..  the world that the MC is in is a Female dominated matriarchal society.      Men are disposable and are treated very poorly.   You can't really make the above statements without stating this fact.         

However.. I do agree this series is pretty bad and its MC is pretty terrible.    Between getting preachy to others for doing what he himself is doing,  and just generally being an A-hole.   His Ai orb thing reminds him of that regularly.   

 

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

This week Kaginado was hilarious.  Akio and Sanae are just as goofy as ever.

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

I think context is needed here though..  the world that the MC is in is a Female dominated matriarchal society.      Men are disposable and are treated very poorly.   You can't really make the above statements without stating this fact.

... that much was communicated pretty comprehensively in the show itself.  The problem is the way it's handled makes a good chunk of the narrative come off like a misogynistic incel fantasy.  Every woman is a narcissistic gold-digging social climber and the men who humor them are either desperate doormats or himbos with the intellectual capacity of a single uncooked potato.  It's just... creepy.  Not in a horror way, but in a "hey author, are you okay?  Do you need someone to talk to?" sort of way.

 

4 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

However.. I do agree this series is pretty bad and its MC is pretty terrible.    Between getting preachy to others for doing what he himself is doing,  and just generally being an A-hole.   His Ai orb thing reminds him of that regularly.   

The main character (Leon?) being terrible seems to be pretty intentional... as in, he's consciously choosing to behave like a prat to knock some sense into the many people in the society he disapproves of.  The last couple episodes he was just maximum trolling and clearly very aware that he was doing it.

 

 

For now, jumped to Don't Hurt Me, My Healer!.  It's definitely one of the weirder starts I've seen to a fantasy series, with the warrior/knight main character literally asking a monster to stop for a minute so he can have a sidebar argument with the healer passing by over how one properly asks for help...

EDIT: Good lord, that's one articulate bear... people pay good money for counseling like that.

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Seto Kaiba

[Seto Kaiba]

OK, so Don't Hurt Me, My Healer! is pretty lame.

It's basically the same two jokes cycled ad nauseam, Alvin gets himself beaten up by a monster that is actually very friendly and quite apologetic for having hurt him and Carla is verbally abusive as all get-out and refuses to actually prove that she's a healer.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

18 hours ago, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

This week Kaginado was hilarious.  Akio and Sanae are just as goofy as ever.

Last episode was pretty good,  but would make no sense to the casual viewer.    The theme was Trauma..   And if you haven't played Clannad your not going to get the Akio & Sanae skit.     As for the entire cast of Little Busters freaking out.. that was dark.. but made me laugh.

 

 

[Marzan]

I thought Kaguya-sama was going to be the best thing on this season, but Spy X Family has been everything as good and entertaining. It keeps on surprising me.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

6 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

Last episode was pretty good,  but would make no sense to the casual viewer.    The theme was Trauma..   And if you haven't played Clannad your not going to get the Akio & Sanae skit.     As for the entire cast of Little Busters freaking out.. that was dark.. but made me laugh.

 

 

It was dark.  But I found the Ayu and Nayuki singing the Kanon theme song funny.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

So just for giggles and sh*ts I went and found the manga for "Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu"  and decided to read abit of it,  to see if the flavor is any different.    And boy is it ever!   I don't wanna spoil it,  but the MC REALLY hates the world he ended up in,   as I mentioned previously the world is radically different from Western society with Women at the top and Men most of the time not even rating.    This becomes really apparent early on and the MC grows incredibly bitter because of it.     Lots of the events that take place transition to the anime medium exceptionally poorly,  a good example is the Queen comes to the academy and if you go by the anime the MC is just a rando douche.     If you go by the manga the scene is given its proper subtext and while the MC is still being a douche it is somewhat justified.   

I think the manga is still not something I would recommend,  but its does give proper subtext to many of his more questionable choices and why he acts the way he does.    The anime like usual cuts out way too much subplot and makes him look far worse then he is. 

Still even with all that I would say its one of the worse selections this season.

Yuusha Yamemasu is still boring,  not sure why the group is sticking with it.  

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Love and World Domination is just a laugh riot.  I can't wait for Friday.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

Kaguya S3 is outright crushing it.    I fell behind and I am trying to catch up.  

On 5/9/2022 at 4:29 PM, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

Love and World Domination is just a laugh riot.  I can't wait for Friday.

Yes it is,  I highly recommend the manga.  

 

So I went back and pulled a title from my shelf which I had mixed reviews on when I first watched it.    Infinite Ryvius  a Bandai release from the early 00's   Very much a lord of the flies in space,  but with a Rando Anime girl in it, which really does not make any sense.       I am about halfway through it,  and it gets REALLY dark..   to the point of where I don't remember any of this.. lol   I am hoping to have it completed this week,   the OP theme is stuck in my head..  definitely an ear worm.