What Anime are you watching?

[B E C K]

I like Always a Catch. Cute punchy girl.

Watched some of that Agents of the Four Seasons and it lost me under four minutes. Good job. I hate the cutesy girls that talk in third person. That's where I mentally gave up.

Go For It, Nakamura is fine. This guy thirsting this much for his classmate is kind of cringe. But this has its audience.

[B E C K]

Daemons of the Shadow Realm is okay. I've tried reading the manga and I find the story kinda confusing. But, hey, my man Rikiya Koyama is Right. One of my favorite seiyu so I'm probably sticking around.

Akane-banashi has a really good first ep. I don't know if I'm in for the rest of it but it's on YouTube so it has accessibility going for it.

Bookworm was meh, as it has been. Myne meets some nobles, Myne cries and acts like a baby. Myne's sick and dead. And it's just  Why the fuck does she keep acting like a little girl when she's a grown-ass woman? This story continues to have no steam powering it.

Observation Log of My Fiancee blah blah name-too-long is also pretty decent. Another villainess isekai'd into an otome game except the pov character is one of the capture targets instead of the villainess or heroine. It makes it feel very fresh. Also, the villainess is called Bertia in translations but I swear it sounds like they say Bathia when her name is spoken. Bathia is a way cuter name.

[B E C K]

Witch Hat cheapo'd out by not killing her mother. The spell should've turned the mom to stone if they didn't have the balls to kill her off. Killing off the mom would've been a more powerful narrative. Instead, she's gonna, uh, defrost mom? Like a frozen burger patty? "B-but if the kawaii shojo kills her mom, we can't have the genki vibes of episode 2."  I guess she doesn't have the side ponytail so she was never fated to die.

Presentation and world-building here is absolutely amazing but this story is fat mid.

[B E C K]

Marriagetoxin is fine. Kind of like Chainsaw Man: I can appreciate it for what it is but it's not for me.

[B E C K]

Wasn't terribly impressed with Barbarian's Bride. I know it's not being called that but the name's shorter. I can't put my finger on it but the pacing of the episode felt off. Similar to Always a Catch. Even though I like that one, it does have pacing issues, too. I think the protag carries that one for me. Anyway, I'll hang with this one for a bit and see if it grows on me. Otherwise, I'll just stick with the manga. We'll see.

[joe]

I tried that Barbarian one and found it very flat. The amount of time they spent dancing around the idea of her entering into an existence of sexual slavery like, "Ooh! Tee hee hee! Maybe...?" was insufferable. Then we cap off the episode with a flashback where she's a generic ojo with all the trappings and I was just done. Won't be back.

[B E C K]

Yeah, that's exactly what I mean: the pacing was terrible. I don't understand why shows do this. Just dragging out the beginning. I went back to the manga because I thought I misremembered how it began but, yeah, they dragged out a chapter and a half of the manga into 20-whatever minutes. They should've actually done a speedrun to the barbarian not having a beard and ended it there. Maybe even skipping the breakfast in chapter two to get there. Like, dudes, you need a strong first episode. And they thought to end it on a throwaway dick joke. 

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

Barbarian's Bride is a title that reminds me a lot of Farming Life in Another World and Reincarnated as a Slime in that, after getting a good start and getting you into it, begins the tedious task of world-building and relentless excursions "this is a day in the life of X" slogs. Sure, I get it, you want to draw it out. But please. It's a killer of titles that otherwise would be nice, uncomplicated, digestible pieces of simple entertainment. Not everything has to be Legend of the Galactic Mother Fucking Heroes.

[B E C K]

The Klutz and Short Skirt show is actually pretty decent. I gave it a shot expecting sludge and found it entertaining. It's also pretty nice to look at. Don't know if I'll stick with it but it gets a thumbs up.

I was going to try that other show with a gyaru, that otaku one, but barely a minute in and I was just NOPE. That one's "all boo-hoo I'm an otaku who's into girl anime" and bro comes off creepy. Maybe it gets better but I was not encouraged.

[B E C K]

That Kujima show is like one of those odd animes I call "slice of weird". Where a (seemingly) normal Japanese person encounters something fucking bonkers but the main character never acknowledges how fucking bonkers it actually is and the show itself feels genuinely boring. I find these more miss than hit with me and this one's no exception. At least With You and the Rain was cozy... although I haven't finished that one either.

[joe]

That's the bird one, yeah? As soon as that thing started talking I stopped the video and deleted it. Holy fucking shit. Also, the animation looks like pish.

[joe]

I'm enjoying Ramparts of Ice so far. It doesn't always look the best, but the story is compelling enough.

Nippon Sangoku looks really, really nice. I'm wondering if they have a bigger than average budget because of Amazon's direct involvement in production.

[B E C K]

I'm iffy on Ramparts, if only because Polar Opposites was cute for a while before I dropped it and I have a feeling it will be the same. Also the premise interests me even less than Polar Opposites did.

[joe]

[B E C K]

Smoking? In MY 2026 anime? 

[B E C K]

Okay, so far, I've stuck with...

Daemons of the Shadow Realm. Still a shitty name. Wish they had just kept it as Yomi no Tsugai. At first, I was a bit lukewarm on this but it's managing to suck me in. The manga is still a bit meh to me. And it occurs to me that I didn't really read much of FMA either. I think I really like Arakawa's world building and characters but don't so much care for her as a mangaka. Something about the story and structure feels clunky but the adaptations of her work sort of iron down all the wrinkles.

Last Most Heretical Boss Queen - It's still all right. I watch it during lunchtime at work. The latest character was kind of lame, kind of all "ohhh, i just luv my country soooo much i could weep!" Like, sure. I guess. Still, it manages to entertain me enough.

Always a Catch - My other lunchtime watch. This one's cute. I know the anime community or whatever was gushing over Scarlet from Can I Ask You For One Final Thing but Scarlet was shit. She was beautiful and punched things and had nothing else of interest to her. Maria Annovazzi is the superior punching heroine.

Barbarian's Bride - This one's hanging by a thread. I'm not gonna watch it at work. It had one decent episode but it mostly just meanders. A high chance of being dropped or DNF'd.

Klutzy Skirt - Somewhat surprising me on how I'm watching this. Sometimes it feels boring like I should drop it but then it does something nice. I will say, I was impressed that it had two side characters just appear and take over the latter half of an episode and it was legit interesting. I felt way more invested than any of the side characters from Polar Express** or whatever.

Akane-Banashi - I see why this story's a hit but this is also hanging by a thread for me. I think it being on YouTube makes it so low effort to watch that I'll probably stick with it. And now that I've seen a few episodes, it regularly appears in my feed whenever a new episode drops.

Observation Log of My Fiancee - My Friday lunchtime watch and probably my favorite one of the season. Nice bright colors, two good lead characters, a fresh take on the "isekai'd villainess in an otome" genre, nice music. Also one of the few light novels where I'm enjoying actually reading it. (I'm only on volume 1 so I'm unsure if I'll stick with it.)

I have a few more I've been meaning to try to nothing else is sticking. Like Liar Game. I wanted to like it but, no, I actually don't. Maybe if this came out ten years ago, I would've been more inclined to continue with it. But I couldn't get through half an episode. Doesn't help that I looked up the manga and the ending sort of shits the bed.


**Polar Opposites, but I've just started calling it Polar Express in my head.

[joe]

Dang, I really enjoyed Polar Express. I remember you mentioning you didn't like how much time was spent on the secondary characters, but those scenes were typically some of the highlights for me. I feel like if it had been nothing but the main duo, it could have become nauseating very quickly, although I did appreciate their stuff as well.

[B E C K]

Yeah, I think as I watched a bit more, I realized it didn't stay on the main couple because those two couldn't carry the entire series. As much as I enjoy watching them, even they started to get a bit boring. But those side characters weren't doing it for me either. They weren't the worst by any means but my interest would tank when they'd appear. They just seem a bit too one dimensional. Cynical guy, snide girl, stupid guy, weird shy girl... Ho, ho, you think that's all they are but everyone's also secretly NICE all along. In the words of Syndrome, "if everyone's nice, then no one's nice!" (I think that's what he said )

Whereas Klutzy Skirt does characters that seem one dimensional but have points of interest to them that lift them away from being a trope. Like the overbearing former delinquent who is a health officer and is serious about his role. Or library dude who is an ikemen but only inside the library and then turns into a rude, weird woodchuck the moment he's outside of it. It's funnier and more engaging. No one's cruel or anything either. They are as capable of being nice as they are at being rude and selfish and they feel more interesting for it.

[joe]

[B E C K]

All of the AI CEOs saw Ghost in the Shell and were all "GOALS."

[joe]

Ah! Smoking is everything! Banzai!

[B E C K]

Ah! Smoking is everything! Banzai!

I did actually read some of it a while back. For some reason, the main dude reminds me of that creeper Sasaki from Sasaki and Peeps.

It does also feel a bit too close to home: because as absurd as the premise is that he can't connect the cute cashier to his smoking buddy, I can also be blind like that. I've literally not recognized twins that are sitting in the room with me. As in I register them as similar people but they are the same generic randoms to me as every one else there. So I see nothing special about them until I either get to know them better or someone points them out as twins. I feel like I can't judge the guy. 

[B E C K]

Six episodes of the Smoking anime were released. Not leaked or anything but just... released. Crunchyroll has them split in halves like 12 mini episodes. I don't know what the deal with that is and I don't really care... The show's fine. I've seen enough bad adaptations of stuff to grade this as fine.

Oops, lost some of my post. Insert "age gap comment" here. Insert "comment about lolicon Sasaki from Sasaki and Peeps" here.

[joe]

I found the Sasaki thing odd as well, so I googled it and apparently the kanji that comprise that name signify help/assistance, so yeah it's just a cultural/stereotypical label for a working stiff.

[joe]

Summer 2026!

I'll probably end up trying some other stuff as well, but these are the ones that stood out to me at a glance.

[B E C K]

This is probably the main show I'm stoked for but I also think there's a chance it could be a dud. I like the story so I hope it's not.

There's a bunch of other shows I want to try but I'm honestly more excited for continuing Daemons of the Shadow Realm than any of them. Wait, that's a lie. I forgot about Ghost in the Shell. Too bad evil Amazon got the streaming rights for that one.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I've finally turned into a creeper who loves the romance shit...Angel Next Door has me captivated, as does Second Prettiest Girl.
Nigetsuri has been fun, though I spoilt myself reading the manga.
Wistoria has been a lot of fun, especially not having watched past the first season's first ep before starting to download this second season (which is really the first season second cour) Art is a little weird, but surprisingly well-rendered for a weekly show.
I pulled Classroom of the Elite, but I haven't watched since the second season (this is the fourth), so I don't know why I bothered other than it binges well. As if I didn't have a boatload of backlog already.
Short-Skirt Girl is entertaining for what it is.
The Appraiser isekai was shit, as you'd imagine...terrible art, terrible pacing, terrible characters, terrible story...bleh.
Witch Hat French Word...haven't started yet.
I want to End the Lying Game...haven't started yet, but I read the manga.

Next season is freaking stacked.

[B E C K]

Romance anime doesn't make a man a creeper. Creeper anime makes a man a creeper: panty shots on children, gratuitous sexual assault, gropin' and shit like that.

I finished Always a Catch. It did sort of meander in the end and that creepy 30-year old coming on to a teenager kinda ruins it as a recommended. Then we get a fucking psychopath appearing in the last couple of eps. What the fuck. However, it gets a solid B since it had some good characters and moments.

I also finished Observation Log. It started as an A but it lost some steam at the end and became a B+. I understand it was trying to be sweet and cute in the final episodes but being sweet and cute with no story or purpose is fucking boring. And the friends in the story turned into afterthoughts, which was kinda sad. At least I can recommend the show since it didn't have a 30 year old creeper and his stalker ruining the good vibes.

I finished all twelve "mini-episodes" of Smoking, which I understand to be the first six episodes. I started off kinda "it's fine" but ended up enjoying these a lot actually once I got through them. To the extent that I'm actually rewatching them. It'll be a pain to wait for the new content. The show manages to be hella cozy somehow. I hope it's a raving success, if only to bring in more animes with adults. Also, I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me crave a cigarette.

[joe]

Are you an ex-smoker, or a lifelong non-smoker who has never seen the appeal until now?

[B E C K]

Ex-smoker. Smoked from around 2021/2022 to around 2007/2008. I was never a heavy smoker. At most, a pack a week but sometimes a pack a month. I only quit because that's around when all the public places started cracking down. Like restaurants, bus stops, my job, and my school. Also, the smell can be annoying to deal with. I never smoked at home or even outside of it but after I'd get home for the day and change, the smell would be still be clinging on strong to whatever I wore that day. And even though I enjoyed cigarettes and smelling them as I smoked them, I actually did not want to smell that shit in my home.

I was able to quit with ease and never felt addicted. Smoking helped me manage stress. Probably why a craving for a cigarette is one of the three main ways my body responds to extreme stress.

I guess it's more like the Smoking anime makes me nostalgic for a cigarette back when I was twenty-four like Yamada. Because good luck finding a spot to light up at and people to light up with these days.