This post is a long time coming. It annoys me when I tune into a Twitch channel just to find the streamer yapping for hours about their personal lives, so I won’t bore you with details of my own struggles. I’ll just say that my situation is still not great, but it’s better now than it was back in March. No new cats yet. Just been reading a lot of books and playing a lot of games. And yes, watching a lot of mediocre anime. With that out of the way, let’s talk about some recent anime.

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Dandadan

What usually dooms shounen series for me are the non-stop battle scenes. I’m not saying shounen series are bad, though. They’re just not for me. It’s a me problem; I yawned when I tried to watch the latest John Wick entry, so what chance does your typical shounen battle have? I think I got to the tournament arc of My Hero Academia before dropping it. Hell, I’m surprised I even managed to get that far. Episodes after episodes of characters throwing kicks and punches, monologuing in their heads, momentum-breaking flashbacks to reveal the backstory of one of the combatants in case you weren’t emotionally invested, sidelining female fighters in the bigger fights, so on and so forth. I can’t even hope to name all the things that annoy the piss out of me about shounen anime. But more importantly, it’s usually nothing you haven’t seen before. After decades of watching anime, very rarely do I see anything fresh or interesting in shounen fights. So enter Grandma floating down on a anatomy doll while a baby alien shrimp(?) thing sings in the background. And the scene just lingers until your shock almost becomes uncomfortable. It’s not that Dandadan’s fight scenes blow me away, but they are silly and unpredictable enough to keep my attention. At least until I get to the quieter character-developing moments that actually resonate with me. This doesn’t guarantee that I’ll stick with Dandadan to the very end, but for now, it works.

Dandadan isn’t perfect. There are absolutely things that annoy me about the show. I don’t know why Momo and the cast keep having to fight aliens and ghosts in their undies all the time. I know that deep down Jiji is a good bean, but he’s still fucking annoying every time he’s onscreen (even if it was a nice Ranma 1/2 reference). I’m not a big fan of the gyaru-nerd pairing mostly because I’m really not a big fan of the chronically awkward male lead who can’t speak a sentence without stuttering. Yeah, yeah, Okarun is improving and has improved a great deal since the start of the first season. I still rolled my eyes when he yelped because Momo’s finger — A FINGER — grazed one of his. But for now, the pros mostly outweigh the cons.

My Dress-Up Darling

Speaking of the pros outweighing the cons, when My Dress-Up Darling isn’t painfully horny about 15-year-olds — and to be fair, the second season has been drastically less horny than the first — it’s a pretty good romance. Marin and her classmates are just so… refreshingly undramatic. Whenever Gojo slips into one of his frequent bouts of crippling self-doubt, they consistently defy his misinformed expectations. No, you don’t have to do everything for the school festival. We got you. Go work on the costume. No, we don’t think it’s weird that boys can do make-up. My brother is an aspiring beautician. So on and so forth. Basically, no one in this cast has a single mean bone in them. Well, except for the girl who traumatized Gojo, I guess. My point is that… yes, bullies exist, and so do mean people. No one’s denying that. But anime has stopped doing anything interesting with those subplots. It’s the same old nonsense over and over. So in lieu of that, gimme unbridled joy and passion. God knows we need it in this day and age. There are few things more enjoyable than listening to someone who really care about their hobby or craft, so even though I don’t really have any interest in cosplaying, it’s fun to watch Gojo and Marin geek over the process of putting together an outfit.

Most of all, I really appreciate the razor sharp focus on just the two leads. If the ultimate goal is for the two kids to eventually admit their feelings to each other, there are very few detours along the way. This works to the show’s great benefit in my eyes. If you compare My Dress-Up Darling to other critically-acclaimed romance anime, I think the former delivers a very consistent product every week. Something like Love is War might have higher highs, but there’s also a lot of nadirs jam-packed with filler and faffling about with uninteresting side characters and plots. The lowest point in both seasons of My Dress-Up Darling so far has honestly been Sajuna (typical tsundere attitude, creepy loli schtick, etc), and I’m glad she and her sister (sweet girl but ultimately a middle schooler) didn’t really take up all that much time. For now, anyway.

Nevertheless, My Dress-Up Darling is such a tough sell. It’s very hard to convince normies in my life that once Marin’s boobs stop defying physics, there’s a really heartwarming friendship-slash-romance between the two leads. That if you can look past Marin’s shiny ass — and why is it so shiny all the time — there’s a very wholesome show about coming out of your shell and being proud of your passions. It’s normal for teenagers to think about sex all the time, but you don’t have to be so graphic about it.

Fragrant Flower something?

I feel like I can’t even talk about this show, because I only watched a single episode. But I really did not vibe with that single episode. A private girls-only academy right next to a public school? And they just absolutely hate each other? I can already picture a subplot where one of the girls tries to keep the leads apart in order to protect the female protagonist from her counterpart. And to top it all off, they won’t even be mad at her, because the friend has good intentions. I can’t do it. If the first episode is a strong indicator for how the rest of the series will turn out, I don’t wanna sit through that overwrought tripe.

New Saga

When I went on a visual novel binge during covid (the pandemic made all of us explore some odd rabbit holes), one of the series I tried was Muv-Luv. Namely, Muv-Luv Extra, Unlimited, and Alternate. They were so highly rated and acclaimed by every visual novel fans, so I had to know what everyone was clamoring about. What I got, however, was honestly pretty overrated in my eyes. But the saving grace for the series was watching the MC (see, I don’t even remember his name anymore) redo everything in Alternate to great (and sometimes not so great) effect. I like that kind of story — the classic “let’s redo my fuck ups” tale. Unfortunately, New Saga doesn’t really give you a setup. Well, check that; it kinda does. In the opening few minutes of the first episode, we get to see Kyle lose everyone he cares about before getting sent back in time. But how are we supposed to compare and contrast without anything to compare and contrast his current life to? For example, Kyle was previously best buds with Zentos. Or so we’re told. In this life, he kills Zentos for the sake of the princess. Will this turn out for the better? Shrug, iunno. There’s no emotional impact because (again) we’re only told about the friendship. And we don’t really know if saving the princess is good or bad, because we don’t really know what the past life was like without her. Feels like we got shafted out of a storyline.

Not only that, the bones of the story is kinda generic. You got the childhood friend, the voracious loli spirit that lives in the sword, the elf babe, the potentially Machiavellian princess, the bumbling best friend, etc. Basically, all the tropey harem ingredients are there. And the pacing doesn’t leave any room for much character reflection or development. To be fair, I was mildly surprised to learn that the bumbling best friend was actually a really competent fighter. Cool, I guess.

I’m still tuning in every week for now, because I’m curious to see how the story will turn out. I can’t possibly see it coming to a satisfying conclusion in just a single cour, though.

Cultural Exchange with a Game Centre Girl WHO IS TOO YOUNG FOR YOU

Cool concept, terrible execution. Why does the female lead have to be 13? And why does the male lead IN COLLEGE not immediately shut down the girl’s romantic advances? Just fucking weird, man. It’s shows like this that make people side-eye anime fans. I think I gave this three episodes.

Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter WHO IS ALSO TOO YOUNG FOR YOU

You know how in Dandadan Ken didn’t just stand there like a completely passive idiot and let Aira kiss him? Instead, he palms the shit out of her face and shoves it away? Yeah, the MC in this show can’t even manage that. As a result, he ends up being blackmailed into staying on as her tutor. I can’t stand weak-willed protagonists.

Boy hero is kinda dumb but he gets real mad and screams real loud and stuff

This is my general impression of Gachiakuta, Onmyo Kaiten, Tougen Anki, and probably a few other shows I’ve forgotten about. Calm down, bro. Relax.

I have nothing else to say about these shows. They’re kinda boring. I’m caught up on Gachiakuta, but I honestly can’t tell you what happened in last week’s episode. They’re relegated to dub only, and whenever the characters speak, it’s often in one ear and out the other.

Summer Pockets

It felt like a Key adaptation right from the very first episode, so I looked the show up and confirmed that it is a Key adaptation. Put me right to sleep so I dropped the series pretty quickly. Some storytellers can only tell their stories in one style.

Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with nonstop yapping in a boringly ugly forest for weeks and weeks

See subtitle above.

Witch Watch

I think it’s kinda funny that the heroine’s voice actually has a higher pitch in the dub. Other than that, I expected a romcom and got more silly hijinks. Not terrible, but also nothing remarkable. Caveat: I mostly watched it while lugging materials around in Death Stranding 2 in order to build roads, so I certainly don’t have the most nuanced or informed opinion about the series. But hey, I upgraded every road to level 2 before deleting it off my PS5!

Something about the Mikadono Sisters

I don’t like how overbearing the protagonist is. I don’t like how good intentions means he gets to overstep every single boundary. Oh, the sisters end up liking everything in the end, so it all works out! Sorry, but that’s not a good philosophy to live by. Most of all, wanting a close-knit family is his deal. He doesn’t get to project that desire onto other people. But again, good intentions and all that… It might be interesting if Yuu’s behavior finally backfire on him for once, but I’m not interested enough to stick around on the off-chance that this happens. It might never happen and I will have wasted all that time for nothing.

With You and the Rain

Too slice-of-life for my blood. Also made me miss my cat a bit, which (for now) isn’t a good thing. Too soon. Anyway, the show seems fine. Just not my cup of tea.

By the way, is Saori Hayami overworking herself? It seems like she’s in everything every season. She even has roles in some of my JRPGs on top of all the anime voice acting she does.

Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer!

Yet another show about a dude getting kicked out of his party. Yet another show where he was actually the MVP the whole time but nobody recognized it except for a lone female party member. To top it all off, this guy is frustratingly unaware of his own capabilities. I can’t stand these cripplingly low self-esteem MCs. It’s kinda like when your hot friend keeps whining about how they’re ugly or fat just so you can compliment them. Stop it, bro. You’re embarrassing yourself. But now it’s in anime form, and there’s no one to reprimand the MC for his behavior.

To the show’s credit, the MC’s new party actually has men in it. So often, the protagonists of this ilk will leave their old party for a bevy of babes, thereby drowning in their newly established harem while still pretending to be a massive prude who would never dare to even hold a maiden’s hand. It’s to hide the fact that they’re massive perverts. Look, my harem is forcing themselves on me! I can’t do anything about it! Me, the overpowered MC, can’t possibly hold back the horny female adventurers in my party! Anyway, I can’t predict whether or not the MC here won’t also build his own harem, but at least he doesn’t treat his own sex as competition. That’s sadly a low bar that a lot of similar shows can’t hurdle.

The Shy Hero and the Assassin Princesses

Some of the ugliest character designs I have seen in a long while. Take the priestess with the ultra long legs and impossibly giant boobs on her tiny frame. Almost kinda reminds you of Kronii from Hololive, another design I’m not a fan of. Can’t say much else about the show. Dumb premise.

Kaiju No. 8

It feels kinda weird that we spent an entire season with one set of characters just to trade almost all of them away. What kind of childhood friend doesn’t walk up to you, throw an arm around your shoulder, and invite you out for some catching up? “Yo, how’s the family,” “what have you been up to,” and all that stuff? And yet the tsundere girl who is (AGAIN) too young for the MC gets to stick around, but I don’t really care about her. I then realize I don’t really care about Kafka either. I had hoped that an older protagonist would translate to a more mature protagonist, but if the story doesn’t constantly remind me that he’s an old man at the ripe age of 32, I wouldn’t have known the difference.

Also, I’m over bugs. I’m not threatened by oversized creepy crawlies. There were bugs in Hunter x Hunter. There were bugs in Solo Leveling. And now, there are bugs in Kaiju No. 8. Please fight something else.

Secrets of the Silent Witch

I guess I’m still watching this? I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with this show. It seems competent. I have a tough time vibing with Monica’s character archetype. I’m also an introvert, but I’m not shy. And bringing coffee to a tea party should be disqualifying. I like both. I would not like it if you gave me coffee when I’m expecting tea. Anyway, the primary thrust of the plot — protect the prince — isn’t interesting to me, and none of the supporting cast has been particularly memorable.

Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex

Pretty misleading because the male lead was never her sister’s ex. But more importantly, another MC with terrible self-esteem. This time, due to cartoonishly evil parents (yes, yes, I understand that we’re watching cartoons here…). Every other anime series is a therapy session nowadays. It’s also largely why I don’t watch that Bunny-senpai show. Luckily, the love interest is not a jerk. So often in these romance shows, the guy is a tall and handsome asshole who actually has a good heart deep down if you’re patient enough to withstand his nonstop kabedons. The girl just has to tame him with her courage and pluck. I suppose, however, that with Marie’s negative outlook on herself and her abusive parents, it would’ve been too much to make her also deal with your prototypical bad boy love interest.

The Water Magician

Bland. Watered down. Pun very intended.

Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant!

If you’re going to differentiate yourself via a gimmick, i.e. opening a restaurant, double or triple down on it. But the cooking and being a restaurateur almost feels secondary or tertiary. One of the subplots features a female adventurer who can’t find a party. When our hero helps her join one, it turns out the evil men (only trust in our lord and savior the MC) were aiming to rape her in a dungeon. As heinous as that sounds, what does the restaurant concept have to do with this? Nothing. In another story, a girl was tricked into signing a bad contract, so her party overworks and abuses her on a daily basis. The MC (inadvertently) uses his former status as a top tier adventurer to scare the bad guys away. Again, him being a restaurateur doesn’t really matter all that much.

My second issue isn’t that big of a deal, but if you’re going to talk about food, show me something I can’t make at home. At the very least, show some creativity. Yes, the MC utilizes fantasy cuts of meat, but it’s ultimately diner stuff. Ramen, katsu curry, fried rice, spaghetti napolitan, etc. It doesn’t captivate the imagination.

And why is buying a female slave such a common plot point in these shows?

Reborn as a Vending Machine

Even as a vending machine, MC pulls hot babes left and right. This anime actually doubles down on its gimmick, but we still go through the same basic song and dance as every other isekai so whatever.

Clevatess

If the conceit is to help Clevatess understand humanity by taking care of a child, I think this show could massively benefit from slowing down and having one of those “quieter moments” that I highlighted above. Instead, the pacing has been pretty relentless. From slaughtering a bunch of heroes to slaughtering a bandit camp to confronting an ambitious general, there is no rest for our demon lord. So how do you learn anything about humanity and whether or not they deserve your mercy? When do you get to pause and introspect? All of this is just a bunch of words to say I’m not emotionally invested in any of the characters, because I don’t get to see what makes them tick. That’s the problem with action. Anime series are often limited by the format, i.e. 20 or so odd minutes per week in order to tell its story. That’s not a whole lot of time to work with. And while action might be exciting and great for react fodder, it doesn’t always give me interesting character moments to chew on. And right now, Alicia, Clen, Luna, and Nell are really nothing to me. Well, I suppose Nell has her tragic backstory.

Also, bugs again?

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And with that, I think I’ve covered everything I’m watching right now. I finished binging the first season of Call of the Night, but I’m uncomfortable with the idea of Nazuna being technically old but mentally young. As a result, I haven’t started the second season. I don’t have Netflix so I can’t watch any of the Netflix only shows (I had to procure the first episode of Fragrant Flower via other means…). I tried looking for more dubbed shows that I can “watch” while mindlessly grinding in JRPGs, but a lot of the stuff that gets dubbed are simply not that compelling. Lots of your typical isekai. Lots of cringey “kicked out the hero’s party” setups like the red mage who collects wives left and right (NO YOU SEE THEY WERE IN A FOREIGN LAND WHERE MEN OWN WOMEN SO THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO PROTECT HIS PARTY MEMBERS).

On the other side of the pond, I finished Severance, which was enjoyable even if the second season is a huge drop-off. But that was the only western show that I bothered to watch. I’ve mostly been gaming or reading. Pirate Yakuza really helped me get over losing both my cat and my previous job in quick succession. Fantasy Life i helped me get through the drudgery of writing cover letters left and right. I also finally got around to reading one of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels, and he’s an amazing writer. I’m currently tackling Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger.

I don’t really have any set schedule nor have I figured out how I want to future posts to go. I’ll just let it play out naturally, i.e. if the mood strikes, I’ll write a post.