To elaborate a bit, this used to be a show about Subaru fighting himself, his insecurities, and imperfections. That was accompanied by some nice psychological horror which led to Subaru changing in significant ways. But ever since S2 ended, it feels like Subaru’s character development stalled, and now he’s this new man who faces external challenges and finds clever ways to overcome them with the power of RBD. It became repetitive.

Also I hate the archbishop they’re fighting in this season. Every time I see them on screen I roll my eyes, because not a single word that falls out of their mouth makes sense. (I’m exaggerating, but I really hate them)

And the questions keep pilling up. We’re getting very few answers but more and more questions, and I’m tired with this.

I know it makes sense how others see him, given that they only see the golden path that makes Subaru look like superhuman, but all that fawning over him from other characters makes for a poor relationship on screen. There’s also no chemistry between him and Emilia, and IMO never was. And generally I never watched this for the characters other than Subaru. They all didn’t appear convincing and authentic to me, but I watched it for the mystery. Now I stopped caring about the mystery too.

There are some people who try to provide MTL subs, but they all have abysmal quality and no person with an iota of self-respect watches these

Fansubs are way less common than they used to be, because in the last years Crunchyroll’s subs were just good enough. People are not waiting for new fansub releases, but go for what’s available right now. There’s no point doing something that nobody cares about, so no wonder many fansub groups ceased their work. That said, there still are some groups that make fansubs, but very often they base their work on already existing Crunchyroll subs and mostly just apply different typesetting, provide/improve translations for on-screen text, and fix some awkward dialogues/timing. For example in the last season Commie group was releasing The Ghost in the Shell with improved subs, because Amazon subs did not translate on-screen text. As for legality, they’re providing releases via torrents, of course it’s illegal. I don’t know who and from where is supposed to delete your subs. I guess, nyaa could get taken down…

The Ghost in the Shell - 9/10 - My favorite take on GitS so far (that said, I haven’t seen SAC yet). I liked pretty much everything about it. My only complaint is the breakneck pacing, but it only bothered me in dialogue-heavy scenes
Mushoku Tensei S3 - 9/10 - an outstanding season. It looks like the production woes are gone (remember cafeteria scenes in S2 where no one in the background moves? Forget it. Nothing like that happens this time). It started on a high note and ended on even higher one. None other series excited me as much as this one in this season. Can’t wait to see S3P2
Goodbye, Lara - 9/10 - Wonderful story that surprised me both with the quality of writing and great production values. The ending was pretty abrupt, but I don’t think that makes it bad. The series would have benefited from another 10 minutes of runtime, though.
You and I Are Polar Opposites S2 - 9/10 - hands down the best romcom of the year. I don’t even know which season I like more, this or the first one
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - 8/10 - I had high expectations because of Naoko Yamada’s involvement, and while it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be (I didn’t like the time jumps), it was still a very interesting tale, with an original art style, that leaves you wanting more.
Draw This, Then Die! - 8/10 - probably my biggest surprise of the season. I expected some SoL CGDCT, but it turned out to be a very touching story of a former mangaka in disguise
Chainsmoker Cat - 8/10 - deranged story, foul comedy, mixed with a sad reflection on addiction. I absolutely love it. It had some ups and downs, but a lot of it was absolutely hilarious. Best anti-smoking ad I’ve seen in a while.
Dara-san of the Reiwa Era - 8/10 - another surprisingly good story. This one was solid throughout the whole runtime, mixing backstory of a yokai with modern day comedic shenanigans. Also great for big titty connoisseurs 😏
Though I Am an Inept Villainess - 7/10 - they said it’s like The Apothecary Diaries, but the only similarities I noticed are the character designs and that it’s a court drama. It’s less grounded and more magical, but that said, it’s also quite fun, even though the ending wasn’t very satisfying
Daemons of the Shadow Realm - 7/10 - it had a great start, well written characters, and an interesting premise, but at the end of the second cour it lost the initial momentum and it felt like the author didn’t know how to transition from one arc to another. Also it feels like we didn’t achieve any significant milestone, even after 24 episodes, which is quite disappointing, and there were a lot of unnecessary cliffhangers. You could shift the whole story 3 minutes forward, and none of them would be necessary.
Saga of Tanya the Evil S2 - 7/10 - more political than S1, apart from episode 1 3DCG did not improve, the last battle felt like it was missing some parts, and for me it feels like the show lost some charm. But it was still quite entertaining, despite all that
SHIBOYUGI: CLOUDY BEACH - 7/10 - more Shiboyugi. IMO maintains the level known from the series
The World Is Dancing - 6/10 - the first two or three episodes were amazing, with hypnotizing performances and incredible mood, but after that it starts meandering and never goes back to that magical atmosphere from the first part. Production quality is really good tho.
Grow Up Show - 6/10 - fun anime original. Some great reaction faces from Mizuka
Tensura S4 - 6/10 - the first cour could have been an e-mail. The second baited us with some actual stakes but ended with the usual nonsense. This show hasn’t been the same ever since Rimuru became so powerful that he can solve any issue.
RE:ZERO S4 - 5/10 - I’d have to write entire essay to justify this score, but the gist is that I can’t force myself to grow into liking these characters, and from psychological horror it turned into something that resembles your typical isekais too much. This season had some strong episodes that reminded me of S1 and S2, but they were just few and far between
I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day - 5/10 - the story has an interesting premise, but it feels like the studio couldn’t bear the weight of the story, and the execution left me unimpressed
Sparks of Tomorrow - 4/10 - beautiful visuals, music, designs, absolute dogshit story. One of the worst shows by KyoAni I’ve seen. It made me laugh a few times, tho, I admit that
KAIJU GIRL CARAMELISE - 5/10 (dropped) - not enough com in this romcom for my liking
Clevatess S2 - 5/10 (dropped) - the exposition dumps killed it for me
Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky - 4/10 (dropped) - I didn’t even get to the interesting bits, I just couldn’t stand the never ending monologues in MCs head about every little action he had to perform
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You - 4/10 (dropped) - just meh, and I couldn’t stand that MC is over 40 but acts like a teenager meeting a woman for the first time
Victoria of Many Faces - 4/10 (dropped) - subpar direction with meh story
The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System 3/10 - (dropped) - I was just morbidly curious what GoHands show looks like. It made me nauseous
Mebius Dust - 3/10 (dropped) - absolute slop

On the other hand, now I noticed that in the scene when he’s writing the second part of the letter, after the dream encounter with Shitogami, Rudy says to himself, in his mind, that he’ll kill Orsted even if it kills him. So maybe he actually will try that, and I’m just coping here, because the plan to kill Orsted sounds so ridiculous, and it’s that bald asshole who needs to bite the dust

It’s annoying when Netflix or Amazon gets exclusive rights to a show. You either need to wait for fansubs (and you’ll only get them for the most popular shows after a wait) or deal with this bullshit.

This wasn’t as bad as I imagined. It’s actually even kind of funny? Let’s see how it develops

… In how long though ? 😭

They announced it will be 2027, but no concrete date. If previous seasons are to be any indication, it’s probably gonna be 6 months break, so April 2027

I agree, I don’t think he would let Hitogami fool him that fast after getting a stern warning from his future self. I think Rudeus will definitely try to confront Orsted and decide what to do after hearing him out, or they’ll outright plan to assassinate Hitogami together, since Hitogami can’t see stuff related to Orsted in his visions. That way Rudy can pretend to go along the Hitogami’s plan, not antagonize him at the same time, and meet Orsted, which is a sensible thing to do in Rudy’s current position anyway

Pretty fun start of the season. Initially I did not plan to watch this, because season 1 fell off after a good start, but I decided to give it another chance, since I don’t have much on my plate this fall. It’s nice of them to skip the OP (or actually ED) and show us a short recap instead. I’m happy that gathering The Twelve Heavenly Stars seems to be speeding up. That part was dragging a bit in S1, because formula is quite repetitive. Karkinos looks like a fun guy, a decent addition to the harem. Though, he did Aries dirty with that soup

For me, this is definitely one of the biggest positive surprises of the season. I was expecting a SoL CGDCT show, but weaving in Teshima’s storyline made the story not only heartwarming and pleasant but also deeply moving. So much so that this final episode brought me to tears. I’m thrilled that another season has already been announced, because this series definitely deserves it.

I hope she gets better soon

The worst thing in all this is that Rudeus did a lot of this to himself. Sure, man-god killed Roxy, but such a thing could have happened anyway, without anyone plotting to kill her. Accidents happen, people die all the time, especially in times like these. It was all Rudy’s fault for not being there for his family when they needed him, not trying to get out of the rut when they reached to him. Instead he shut everyone out, like he did in his previous life, and pushed Eris away too, instead of listening to what she has to say. I mean, sure, her approaches with fists were dumb, but that’s the main theme of this series, that everyone is flawed, and Eris is a dumbass and doesn’t know how to express herself. At some point Rudy could have tried to figure out why she keeps following him, instead of ridiculing her for years. He promised himself not to waste his second chance at life, yet that’s exactly what he did. It’s like man-god said, Rudy had the seeds of that in him all along.

That said, it probably wasn’t the first time man-god fucked someone over like that. Given the resemblance of how adult Rudy behaves to how Orsted acts in Turning Point 2, man-god must have done something to him too. We’ve seen Orsted as the villain for so long, but now it kinda makes sense why he was the way he was.

I don’t know how to feel about that whiplash with sudden change in Shu Gabi – from going crazy to the point of making those ridiculous villain faces in the previous episode, to crying with regrets and accepting Kenshuu’s hugs now. Also kinda bold of Kenshuu to tell Gabi that she shouldn’t have listened to Kin Reiga, while part of the reason for Gabi’s grudge was that Kenshuu herself listened to Reiga’s words and ghosted Gabi for a long time.

All that said I still enjoyed this show and I’m gonna be there for the next season. 7/10

Personally, I really enjoyed the series – both for its technical aspects (it was visually stunning, and I loved the sound design) and its writing. I also found the ending satisfying enough, even if the final minutes felt a bit abrupt. I don’t interpret Lara’s farewell as a permanent departure from Mari, but rather as a decision to move forward in the world she so desperately wanted to be a part of, and to become more independent, much like the other people she met during her stay on land. I like that Lara rejected the fairy-tale trope of a “saving”, all-consuming love for a single person, and instead, her love extends to the world, Mari, and herself, without being the sole thing that defines her. Could this idea have been presented better? Probably. Did that make the ending bad? I don’t think so.

I’m also glad the story didn’t go in the direction yuri fans might have wanted, as I find stories, where romantic love is practically the only thread holding everything together, boring. It makes no difference to me whether it’s yuri, yaoi, or a heterosexual relationship; the specific dynamic is irrelevant to me. I don’t need a scene where two people kiss passionately to recognize the love between them.

So, overall, I liked the show very much. I give it 9/10

Definitely watching

• The Apothecary Diaries S3 - Obvious choice. The story so far has been varying from good to great. There’s also a movie in December. Hopefully will be available outside Japan in timely manner 🙏
• Cyberpunk: Edgerunners S2 - The first season was outstanding - one of the best sci-fi anime out there.
• Fool Night - Trailer looks great and it’s studio Shaft.
• There Is Also a Hole in the Student Organization! aka Raw Anal

Probably watching

• Firefly Wedding
• #I’m Looking For a Zombie - from the author of Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu
• The World’s Strongest Witch - the premise sounds interesting and I’m hearing a lot of positive opinions. Could be fun

Will try, but they start in the drop zone (I don’t request threads for these)

• A Wild Last Boss Appeared! S2 - season 1 started great, disappointed later. I don’t have a lot on my plate this season, so I’ll give it a second chance, but I’m not having high hopes
• Overgeared - looks generic, but has big titties, explosions, and from the trailers it looks like it has higher quality animation than your average JC Staff show, so it could be enjoyable kind of slop.
• FX Fighter Kurumi-chan - sounds like r/wallstreetbets the anime
• The Laid-Off Cheat-Granting Mage Enjoys a Second Lease on Life - I have no reason to pick this up, it looks like slop, walks like slop, but it’s P.A. Works, so I’ll give it a shot at least
• Suikoden: The Anime - the first show from Konami animation, so I’m curious
• Romelia War Chronicle - same as above. New studio, first time director.

There’s also a bunch of movies, but I won’t be able to see them this season, so I guess I can skip that here

Let’s see what Souta Ueno will cook this time. He overdid it with his style in Shiboyugi, but his directing heavy carried Days with My Stepsister

Kensuke Ushio never misses. In addition to what you’ve already mentioned, OSTs from Agents of the Four Seasons, Devilman Crybaby, Journal with Witch, Dandadan were all great too. He’s so talented. His involvement with any anime project alone is enough for me to check out it out.

As for the others, that I haven’t seen mentioned yet, I really like Jujutsu Kaisen S2 OST. It has an interesting mix of electric, rock, and classical themes. Stuff like No Hesitation is fantastic

Grace really did say be gay, do crime. What an icon

I liked the series from a technical standpoint - the visuals, direction, all were very good. Before this season started, I was pretty excited about it, considering that Naoko Yamada had a hand in it. Most of her films really speak to me, so this time, too, I was expecting something that would touch my heart. However, this show didn’t resonate with me as strongly as I’d expected. Overall, though, I liked the story, even though the time jumps threw me off a bit, and I feel like some of the characters weren’t developed enough. The political intrigue was my favorite part, even though Sitara was being played all the time. I hope there will be another season someday. I give this 8/10