At this point in time, the Winter seasonal shows have mostly either wrapped up or are airing their finale this week. So, I wanted to hear your thoughts on shows you watched this season. Shows you liked, disliked, were surprised by, disappointed by? Let those opinions rip!
Please feel free to use this thread as a normal weekly discussion thread as well! Anything that would normally be in the weekly discussion thread any other week is welcome here.
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
You must log in or # to comment.
Journal with Witch - my AOTS and probably AOTY. I know it’s very early to say that, but this was such an exceptional experience that I seriously doubt I’m gonna see anything better this year. A fantastic story with outstanding, realistic characters and great dialogues, that approaches you with a maturity you rarely see in anime. If you haven’t seen this, do yourself a favor and try it. It’s melancholic but heartwarming, can bring you to tears but also make you laugh. This show is like life itself.
Oshi no Ko S3 - what can I say. This season has everything I love OnK for – the drama, the grounded insight into the entertainment industry, and, most importantly, some great interactions between my favorite characters. At some points it gets a little cringe, but we all know Aqua. The direction is so good that I don’t care.
Frieren S2 - writing in this season of Frieren didn’t feel as good as in S1. I think they handled flashbacks much more tactfully back then. In this season, various events feel more disjointed, and it gives me the impression that they’re playing it safe at some points, instead of slowly building a bigger narrative brick by brick, intertwining the past and present. The direction is doing a lot of heavy lifting to keep it in decent shape. Despite that, it’s still a very good show. I liked that it had more lightweight comedic moments that actually made me laugh. The fight sequences were really well done too. I hope we won’t have to wait too long for the continuation.
JJK S3 - this is probably the best JJK has ever been when it comes to direction and animation quality. I like how they incorporated some references to iconic scenes from popular movies like Kill Bill and The Matrix. JJK never disappoints when it comes to fight choreography, and this time it was awesome in that regard as well. Can’t wait for the second cour.
You and I Are Polar Opposites - an awesome romcom with multiple pairings, where every character could be the MC of their own show. Every episode made me smile. I wasn’t expecting much, but it became one of my favorite shows of the season.
Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider - It had some ups and downs but more of the former, and it probably won’t be as funny on a rewatch, but overall it’s a great show that made me laugh a lot over the past 6 months.
Golden Kamuy S5 - it’s rare to see a full adaptation, and even less common when the adaptation is good, but in this case it actually is. This season doesn’t reach the heights of S3; it’s more serious and gory, but it’s still a lot of fun. Hinna hinna.
Fate/strange Fake - after already seeing several Fate shows, I knew what to expect, and it’s exactly what I got. As usual, there’s hardly any plot, but I like to turn my brain off and watch how the battle royale unfolds. When it comes to quality of the visuals, it’s probably my favorite version of Fate.
Hell’s Paradise S2 - this was an improvement in every regard compared to the first season. The characters feel more fleshed out, we get a glimpse into the world of the antagonists, and there are more character interactions that don’t only boil down to fighting. I’ve never been a big fan of this show but this season was really solid.
Sentenced to be a Hero - I don’t quite get how this got such a fabulous adaptation. The story doesn’t feel like it deserves this amount of care, because the production quality is top tier while the plot feels like your typical cookie-cutter fantasy show you get every season.
Shiboyugi - I’m not sure what to think about this. I really liked the first few episodes because they gave me the impression that the story would have something more behind it. But later it felt like there was more and more style over substance as the series went on. Overall, I think I will remember this series mostly for the direction because only that kept me interested. After seeing this show and Gimai Seikatsu before, I think Souta Ueno proved himself a very talented director, and I cannot wait to see him in charge of a more ambitious project.
Tamon’s B-Side - it had a fun start, but it was reusing the same kind of joke over and over so I got bored quickly and dropped it after 4 episodes.
There was a Cute Girl in the Hero’s Party - that’s just stupid isekai slop, I’ve got nothing more to say.
The Holy Grail of Eris - the premise seemed interesting, but the direction sucked, so I dropped it after 2 episodes
Roll Over and Die - another typical isekai, only this time with a female MC and some yuri, I think. Dropped after 2 episodes
The Darwin Incident - the idea for the show was really interesting. The story takes place in the USA, but it feels like the author is trying to tell something serious while having learned about America through movies and memes, so everything he portrays comes off as surface-level at best and plain ridiculous at worst. Dropped after 8 episodes.
Dead Account - the most shouneny battle shounen that ever shounened. The first episodes used pretty much every battle shounen trope they could, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. Also, the MC was insufferable. Dropped after 2 episodes.
Champignon Witch - at first it felt like an interesting, somewhat dark fairy tale, but it quickly got repetitive, the characters were one-dimensional, and generally it gave me an impression that the story stood still. I’ve given up after 8 episodes. It has cool opening song, tho
To Your Eternity S3 - I literally cannot understand how this was written by the same person who came up with S1. This is such a jumbled mess that I don’t even know what to say. Instead of playing to its strengths, it introduces a bunch of useless and annoying characters, inappropriate jokes that ruin the mood, and on top of that sometimes it feels like Fushi is mentally regressing despite his age. It’s a terrible drop in quality and I’m only still watching because I had a slight hope it would bounce back at the end, but no. It’s awful all the way through. I won’t be watching S4.
Gnosia - It was fun in the beginning, later had its ups and downs, some plot holes here and there. I think many characters didn’t have enough time to be fleshed out. Overall, not terrible for a game adaptation, but also not great.
Cosmic Princess Kaguya! - cosmic yuri, teehee. Pretty good movie, ngl. The visuals were spectacular
Love Through a Prism - a nice anime original; a coming-of-age story mixed with some romance. Nothing special, but not bad. Has gorgeous backgrounds.
Beastars Final Season Part 2 - I haven’t finished it yet but it seems like the problems I’ve seen in previous seasons still prevail. Paru has some great ideas but once she lays out the canvas, she starts to toss around and makes some really questionable choices.
This seems to be a sort of consensus already on this thread - I’m following more anime this season than I think I ever have before.
For me, the best of the season has been Journal With Witch, no contest. That’s not so much a reflection of the competition though as it is just that it’s that good. I was also very impressed by You and I Are Polar Opposites. I didn’t expect a whole lot from it since I’d already read (and loved) the manga and figured it would pale in comparison, as so many adaptations do. But it not only managed to keep everything good about the manga - it added notably good animation, music and voice acting. That’s the way it should be, but cynically not what I expect.
Most of the rest of the series that I’ve followed have been good enough that I’ve continued to follow them, but not really outstanding, and unfortunately that’s included Frieren, which is still good, but nothing close to as good as the first season was. But that’s also included some series for which good enough to follow is an accomplishment in and of itself - things like Scum of the Brave, Roll Over and Die and Shiboyugi, all of which have been, if not masterful, at least better than I would’ve expected.
All in all, it’s been a solid season. The only things I dropped were Trigun Stargaze and Gnosia (and in hindsight, I could’ve dropped Champignon Witch without missing out on anything) - everything else has at least been worth watching. Mostly though, this will go down in my personal history as the season of Asa and Makio and Journal With Witch - quite possibly my new all-time favorite series.
And my watch record for last week, spoilered for space:
Started the week off quickly and impressively. On last week’s thread, Crank mentioned Kensuke Ushio, and since I don’t pay very close attention to soundtracks (other than noticing when they’re especially good), I didn’t recognize the name. But after googling, I found that he had done a surprising number of soundtracks that I remembered being impressed by. And there were of course also things I hadn’t seen and things I hadn’t even heard of, so I checked out some of those, and especially the ones I hadn’t heard of, just because I love discovering hidden gems.
And among the things I found that looked at least promising was a movie - Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (Cider no You ni Kotoba ga Wakiagaru). So I tracked it down and watched it that evening, and it was wonderful. The characters are charming, the story is sweet and very satisfying, the soundtrack is terrific and the artstyle is amazing. I just loved everything about it (and especially the artstyle). So then I watched it again.
Then, as if that wasn’t enough, I followed a recommendation from that to Josee to Tora to Sakana tachi (Josee, the Tiger and the Fish), which was probably even better all in all, though somewhat differently. The artstyle and soundtrack were both straightforward and unexceptional, but the story was very, very good. Instead of just falling into a love relationship that could be summed up in a montage, as was the case with Words Bubble Up, the protagonists in this one - Tsuneo and Josee - had to work at it and overcome a lot of difficulties. But that just made it all the more rewarding (even if the climactic moment was a bit ridiculously contrived).
Next up I rewatched the current three episodes of Release That Witch, just because it’s caught me off guard by seeming better than I expected, and I always see better the second time through. And my opinion stands - it’s really quite good and it’s only barely scratched the surface so far. If it lives up to the world it’s in the process of building (and I see no reason why it wouldn’t), it should be well worth watching.
Then for whatever reason (I suspect just as a notably broad and extreme change of pace), I decided to indulge in some trash, and after poking around a bit, ended up with World’s End Harem, which was awful, and not in a good way. The characters were awful (and especially Reito, who’s quite possibly the single worst anime protagonist I’ve ever seen), the story was awful, the music was awful - even the ecchi was awful. It didn’t even manage to be decent trash.
So then, still in the mood for trash but unwilling to gamble again, I switched to one that I watched the first season of a year or two ago and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that underneath the trash was a surprisingly good battle royale - Queen’s Blade. And the second season was much like the first - sultry girls in bikini armor (or less) and a pretty much permanent male gaze camera angle, and behind that a solid and engaging battle royale plot fleshed out with loads of political intrigue, bitter rivalry, raw emotion, ambition, redemption, hope, tragedy, grief, well-staged fights, and even some decent comic relief. That’s the way trash should be.
Current:
Release That Witch - as already noted, it was surprisingly good, which inspired a rewatch of the three episodes up to now, which remained surprisingly good.
Shiboyugi - the final episode, and it was… okay. It left a lot of unanswered questions (including some that I thought would obviously be answered in this episode) and even introduced some new questions. But I still enjoyed both this episode and the series all in all (enough that I’m currently reading the LNs).
MF Ghost - At least they’re finally back in the cars again. And so far there’s been no confirmation that this is the last episode of the season, so maybe we’ll even get to see the end of this race without having to wait until 2028.
Roll Over and Die - just as I expected, the sort of weak and stupid Flum from last episode was a plot device to put her friends in danger so that she then would be spurred to go do some righteous asskicking to rescue them. And some righteous asskicking she did. And there’s more to come, and I’m so there for it.
Champignon Witch - Shame about this series. It started out promising - Luna was an interesting character and her situation was intriguing, but as soon as Lize was introduced, it went sharply downhill and never recovered. His story is vague and uninteresting and as a character he’s mostly just tedious. Granted that that’s not just a poor characterization - he’s tedious in-universe (and in fact, Gustave commented on exactly that in this episode). But that doesn’t make it any more interesing, or even tolerable. And after spending the latter 2/3 of the series just endlessly repeating the same tedious loops with Lize, the series ended on… repeating the same tedious loop yet again. All in all, it was just disappointingly mediocre.
Frieren - Finally, an episode that actually felt like one of the earlier Frieren episodes - the ones that made me fall in love with the series in the first place. Comfort food for the soul.
Scum of the Brave - this was just a genuinely good episode, all the way through. And even better yet, it wasn’t just good in and of itself, but as a part of the broader story. I fell into this series in the first place not so much because of what it was as because of what it seemed it could work out to be - it just seemed to have a lot of potential. But then it stubbornly failed to live up to that potential. Until now. It finally feels now like it’s coming together and becoming what it seemed it could be, and just in time for the second cour of the season.
You and I Are Polar Opposites - at this point, it’s pretty much just a given that each episode is going to be terrific, and this one was no exception. I especially enjoyed Nisshi and Yamada, but all three couples had their moments.
Journal With Witch - this was such a gratifying episode. It still had those terrific bits of brilliant insight, but the context was different, since the characters have grown so much over the past year. And notably characters plural. Not only has Asa changed, but so has Makio (and there was a great moment when you could see Makio suddenly realizing, and being pleased by, how much she’s changed). I’m just so happy for them all.
I haven’t been watching anime for that long, so this is in fact the most stacked season of anime that I’ve watched while they are airing.
Here are the ones that I have enjoyed the most:
collapsed to save space
- Medalist
- Beastars - last season
- Isekai Office Worker
- Journal with Witch
- Jujutsu Kaison - season 3
- Oshi no Ko - season 3
- 'Tis Time for “Torture”, Princess - season 2
- Frieren - season 2
- The Demon King’s Daughter is Too Kind!!
- Gnosia (continued from previous season)
- You and I are Polar Opposites
- Hell’s Paradise - season 2
- Watanare - season 1.5?
- Tamon’s B Side
- Love Through A Prism
- My Hero Academia: Vigilantes - season 2
That’s 16 anime!
Looking through my watch history, the second best season for me is Fall 2023 with 7 most-enjoyed anime:
collapsed to save space
- 100 Girlfriends
- Frieren
- Attack on Titan - finalfinal movie?
- The Apothecary Diaries
- Jujutsu Kaisen - season 2 (continued from previous season)
- Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid
- Pluto
This season’s list is easily double that of Fall 2023! (Plus I didn’t watch all of the Fall 2023 anime while they were airing e.g. JJK S2)
Here are some thoughts on my favourite anime from this season:
collapsed to save space
If I must nominate one anime out of all these top-tier anime to be anime-of-the-season, Medalist would be my pick. It’s easy to root for the underdog pair of Inori-Tsukasa in season 1 while they are starting off. Now that they are entering the big leagues, the underdog aspect is no longer as pronounced. But, they made up for it by developing the side characters more (not saying they didn’t in previous season). The result is a bunch of athletes I’d like to root for.
It reminds me of Umamusume (as opposed to another sports anime like Haikyu!): although there’s a MC that we follow, each horsegirl is effectively the protagonist of their own stories, facing their own struggles. I can’t help but root for many of them because they all deserve the win in some way. Same thing with the skaters in Medalist.
The good writing gave us character development, drama and story, but the cherry on the top has to be the comedy. The humour is on point and got me laughing out loud too many times. It can be so funny one moment, then be all touching and getting me emotional the next.
In a nut shell, this anime is peak. Don’t sleep on it people! Here’s a clip you can check out if you’re still undecided: If you don’t know that kind of pain, I’ll never let you be a gold medalist!
collapsed to save space
There are quite a few significant unresolved plot threads in this last season IMO. Even then, they’re not enough to reduce my enjoyment of the anime.
There is less suspense than in previous seasons, but it made up for it with the thrills. One thing it kept up - that I really liked - is the interactions between the characters. Not just the MCs but also the side characters. In fact, I have noticed a recurring theme among my favourite anime: they all have well-developed side characters.
I think the ending could have been better fleshed out, but all things considered, I am satisfied. Is this anime “objectively” peak? Maybe not. In terms of personal enjoyment though? Straight to the top.
collapsed to save space
Based on the title and synopsis alone, you can probably tell that it’s not going to be a standard isekai story. Kazuma may complain that all he has is a useless goddess, and Subaru may lament that he only has return-by-death, but these are nothing compared to Seiichirou’s experience: summoned with no cheats, no equipment, no nothing - not even basic magic resistance! Without magic resistance, he can’t even handle the mana that exists around him. It’s like having a permanent poison debuff at the start of the game, as a level 1 beginner. Talk about a rough start!
Thank goodness the people around him - with a few notable exceptions - are functioning adults. They see the value he brings to table despite the lack of cheats, and thus gave him support. What’s his superpower you ask? That’s right, it’s being an accountant. Bro got isekai-ed just to do his 9-to-5.
Or in Seiichirou’s case, probably 6-to-10 since he’s that much of a workaholic. He’s practically married to his job, and would have actually been had he not met his significant other.
I thought Cherry Magic’s hook was fun, but Isekai Office Walker takes it to the next level. So, regarding Seiichirou’s lack of magic resistance, how do you think it gets dealt with? Apparently, he’s got to get acclimatised to someone else’s mana - and the more directly and physical, the better 😏
Beyond this initial hook, I enjoyed the world-building and kingdom-building a lot. It is also refreshing to see quite a few mature characters in an isekai, though there are still the occasional tropish asshats.
I went in expecting just the tropes, possibly some spicy moments, but it ended up becoming one of my top favourites. I can safely say this is the greatest dark horse of the season for me.
collapsed to save space
I am grateful to everyone who mentioned how good this anime is in the weekly discussion threads. This may just be my bias but josei titles tend to have bland synopses. They would go something like “Due to circumstances, two person met. Follow the story of their life together”. Where’s the hook?? So if not for y’all, I may have missed out on peak.
If we strip all anime down to just their writing, I think this one is the winner. No need for fantasy, scifi, romance, comedy, etc. Just raw human relations and interactions. The fact that it can be so entertaining without all these devices is a testament to its quality of writing.
Others may have pointed it out already, but the characters are so relatable. Depending on the situation, I can see myself in each of them. Perhaps what this means is the all (or at least most) humans have so much more in common than we thought.
If there’s one thing I must highlight about the anime, it’s the episode titles. They are all just one-word long, and yet they capture (or hint at) the essence of the episodes so well. It’s kind of tryhard, but it is indeed very clever.
This anime is definitely a must to check out.
collapsed to save space
Each season of Jujutsu Kaisen just gets better than the last. Season 1 was great, but it was really just setting the stage. Season 2 had some of the best world-building and twists, but I had to dock a point due to some dissatisfying shounen tropes. Season 3 has been nearly flawless thus far.
I really like the execution of the story / the writing, telling the story in a non-linear fashion. The way it was done reminds me of Your Name and Christopher Nolan’s works.
If I have any complaints, it is that there is still too much narration / exposition. This is an animation for goodness sake. Show, not tell!
Can’t fit everything in one comment due to the character limit; see reply.
Getting lazy:
Oshi no Ko - More suspense, more drama, more good music. It is building up towards a big climax, and I can’t wait to see it.
'Tis Time for “Torture”, Princess - It’s more of the same as season 1, but somehow I found this season funnier and more enjoyable. Maybe its pacing improved? Whatever the case, it is still a very cute and wholesome slice-of-life. The characters are very relatable too but in a comedic way.
Frieren - With the shorter episode count and having just episodic stories, this season is clearly just an intermission, the calm before the storm, the bridge to the next big arc. Even so, it still delivered with the direction, the soundtracks and just the rest of the production in general. I particularly enjoyed the light bits of humour.
The Demon King’s Daughter is Too Kind!! - This is my most anticipated anime of the season and I am glad to say that it has met my expectations. Its production value may not be on par with the greats, but it captured the essence of the source material and that’s what truly matter for an adaptation IMO. They know how to exemplify Dou’s cuteness and kindness, providing the perfect healing each week.
Gnosia - Plenty of loose ends just like Beastars IMO, but I still enjoyed the journey. Very fun, and the closest to a whodunnit in anime. (Perhaps I watched too little anime.)
You and I are Polar Opposites - It is always refreshing to see a non-braindead couple, even if it is a standard romcom. Standard romances / romcoms tend to fall off and become boring to me, because it’s always the same story. What this anime did though - just like the rest of the greats in this season - is to develop the rest of the cast. Now there’s way more interactions, keeping things fresh.
Hell’s Paradise - After all the build-up in season 1, we are starting to get to the meat in season 2. There are still more reveals (or at least there should be, otherwise plotlines would be unresolved) to come, so it should be staying interesting.
Watanare Next Shine - Everyone probably saw the ending coming a mile away. Nevertheless, I am still satisfied how this arc ends; in fact, there can be more 😈 This has to be the spiciest yuri harem, the first and only of its kind that I’ve watched, and I am looking forward to more.
Tamon’s B-Side - Quite a fun watch. Without going into spoiler territory, I like the tropes here.
Love Through A Prism - Standard shoujo romcom. In a meta of villainesses, vanilla shoujo has looped around to being refreshing.
My Hero Academia: Vigilantes - More development of side characters in this season compared to the first, which is the recipe for greatness it seems.
This season has been insane. Things I’m watching, in rough order of preference:
- Golden Kamuy Final Season - Absolutely blowing my socks off. I think Lt. Tsurumi might be my favorite villain in all of anime. He’s absolutely crazy, and so are most of his subordinates and for that matter most of the characters in this show. I wish it had a higher animation budget, but the fights are so well choreographed they’re enjoyable anyways. Sorry JJBA, there’s a new homoerotic show about buff guys killing each other in town.
- Journal with Witch - I still haven’t watched the latest two episodes because life has been happening, but this was the biggest surprise for me this season. Very well-written and emotional.
- You and I Are Polar Opposites - Very cute and fluffy. A masterful adaptation.
- Medalist - A great story with a pretty good adaptation. I wish I could say it’s perfect but something about the adaptation doesn’t feel quite right. Still a great show though, which I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to others.
- Frieren - You know it’s a crazy season when this show is this far down the list. It’s good, but it kinda feels like it said what it wanted to say in the first half of season 1 and the mangaka has just kinda been flying by the seat of their pants since then. The weak worldbuilding makes me yearn instead for Witch Hat Atelier, which will be airing next season.
- Jujutsu Kaisen - Some of the coolest fights you’ll see in an anime, but it doesn’t have much beyond that.
- Oshi No Ko - It’s fine, but I just don’t think the author is good at writing serious drama and that’s starting to show now that we’ve reached the serious drama part of the story. TBH I’m quite behind on this one, and unfortunately having read the manga isn’t making me feel more like catching up.
I finished Kunon can see and * Noble Reincarnation* this weekend. They were both mid at best, but a good time killer to watch while doing something else. Noble Reincarnation could be interesting in the source, and I might give it a try when I have a dry spell.
