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alias_sqbr) wrote2024-01-19 11:26 am
alias_sqbr) wrote2024-01-19 11:26 am
Reviews: Past and Current Anime Seasons
DID YOU THINK I WAS DONE?? I STILL HAVE AT LEAST ANOTHER POST LEFT AFTER THIS.
(I know I could just NOT review everything but I do always like having done it)
Past (just finished):
I finished it:
My New Boss is Goofy
Tearmoon Empire
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me
Heaven Official's Blessing
I dropped it:
Frieren
Migi & Dali
100 girlfriends Who Really Really Really Love You
Current (just starting):
Delicious in Dungeon
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp
Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I'm Not the Demon Lord
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!
7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
A Sign of Affection
The Demon Prince of Momochi House
Cherry Magic
Past (just finished):
I finished it:
I already reviewed the start of a bunch of these and they all ended about how I expected.
My New Boss is Goofy (m/m-ish): Continued to be cute and more overtly slashy than the average yaoi-bait Cute Boys Doing Cute Things, but any time I got my hopes up too high for actual canon romance I was disappointed.
Tearmoon Empire (m/f): Continued to be funny and silly and a bit wish-fulfilment-y. I still sometimes felt weird about the 12 year old boy/20 something woman in 12 year old girl's body romantic vibes but I get the impression they won't get together til they're older and there's always that "is she just a 12 year old with some memories of another life" ambiguity.
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness (m/f): Continued to be funny and silly and shippy and a little male-gazey. They don't QUITE get together by the end of the season but they are pretty close.
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me (m/f): Continued to be male gazey trash I enjoyed >.> While I overall didn't mind how the love triangle was handled too much (eg it did not turn into '5 girls all pine for protag') at one point the Bad Girl tries to trick him into sex and this is glossed over. The fat friend's romantic arc was Not Handled Well.
Heaven Official's Blessing S2 (m/m-ish): I still can't accurately judge how good this is if you haven't read the book but I liked it! It ends on a pretty bittersweet ambiguous note (the end of Book 1 of 4 of the original novel).
I dropped it:
Frieren (gen? m/f?): An elf in a eurofantasy setting dealing with her bittersweet relationships with more short lived species like humans. Seemed pretty good and I've heard good reviews but I didn't click with it. I might come back to it.
Migi & Dali (??): VERY WEIRD story about identical twin teen boys who pretend to be a single person as they investigate the mystery of their mother's death. Too weird for me!
100 girlfriends Who Really Really Really Love You (m/f): Very silly male-gazey rom-com about a perpetually single teen boy who is told he has 100 soulmates who will die if he doesn't love them back. So he earnestly does his best to find them and love them. It was too silly for my suspension of disbelief and there was a Humourously Ugly Female Teacher Who Forces Kiss On Male Students which Nope.
Current (just starting):
Delicious in Dungeon (afaict mostly gen with some background m/f and all sorts of subtext): A group of adventurers in a generic euro-fantasy setting are having trouble making it through a dungeon to rescue a member of their party, and one guy gets VERY enthused about the prospect of eating monsters as they go. I hear this is really well made slice of life with enjoyably surreal cooking and a satisfying ending. I'm enjoying it so far!
Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I'm Not the Demon Lord (m/f): Modern gamer girl from Japan is reborn as the hidden female boss of a magic highschool otome game, decides the best way to avoid death is to both live a quiet life AND level up to be strong enough to survive the dangers. Except this makes her so powerful everyone thinks she's the Prophesied Dark Lord. Very silly and self indulgent but her "telegraphed villain" Wednesday-Adams-ish vibe is funny in contrast to her just Not Caring about the cliched plot going on around her. Unfortunately it leans too much into making the original "heroes" of the story bad guys for her to triumph over for my tastes, but so far the original "heroine" is genuinely nice, and sometimes the way the show pokes fun at otome conventions is pretty funny, even if it's still more "otome as always portrayed in villainess stories" than ACTUAL otome. We haven't really met her love interest yet but he is described as Just Some Background Guy in the original otome's opening credits which bodes well.
7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (m/f): Oh look it's a noblewoman engaged to a prince, who is dumped and then dies and comes back to fix things! Except this has happened to her six times already, and this time she's been proposed to by the guy who was responsible (generally indirectly) for all six of her deaths. She decides marrying him is her best shot at ACTUALLY fixing things or at least living an easy life until she dies. So yeah, still kinda cliched, but fun enough so far that I'm enjoying it. And not JUST because in the first scene her love interest coldly murders her while she's crossdressing as a male soldier >.>
The Demon Prince of Momochi House (m/f): Teen orphan girl inherits an old house and discovers it's a portal to the world of supernatural beings from Japanese folklore, guarded by a Sad Mysterious Teen Boy With Magic Powers cursed to remain inside. A fun premise let down by middling execution, I'm still watching but wish it was better.
A Sign of Affection (m/f): Romance between a sweet earnest sheltered deaf girl and a quietly self confident stoic guy who enjoys travelling and learning new languages. Feels well intentioned but not actually made by or for deaf people, she's very moe. Also it's plotless fluff so far asides from some slight love triangle drama. But it's sweet for what it is.
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (m/f): Male gazey trash about an awkward nerdy boy from Tokyo who moves to cold and rural Hokkaido in the north, and immediately bonds with a fashionable energetic girl with implausibly large boobs. Ok for what it is from the first two episodes but I worry it's going to turn harem-y from the other girls who show up in the credits. I will put up with a lot in trash but I just don't like harems!
Cherry Magic (m/m): An anime version of the manga about an awkward, virginal guy who gains telepathic powers on his 30th birthday, and discovers his cool, handsome male coworker has a secret crush on him. Only two episodes in so far but I'm liking it, it's similar to the live action version yet with enough differences in approach to not feel too stale. Fewer fakeout kisses so far, and hopefully less cutting away from actual kisses once it gets to that point.
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp (m/f): Remarkably bland and generic "Villainous noblewoman engaged to the crown prince is about to ruin everything, then her personality is replaced by a transmigrator from modern Japan with medical knowledge/a future version of her who regrets screwing up, and she saves everyone and finds love" plot played painfully straight. Literally the only interesting aspect is that she is simultaneously a transmigrator from modern Japan AND a future version of the noblewoman, since after she screwed everything up the first time she was reborn in modern Japan, lived as a doctor, THEN died AGAIN and went back to her old body. Dropped!
There doesn't seem to be ANY f/f this season unless I missed something.
(I know I could just NOT review everything but I do always like having done it)
Past (just finished):
I finished it:
My New Boss is Goofy
Tearmoon Empire
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me
Heaven Official's Blessing
I dropped it:
Frieren
Migi & Dali
100 girlfriends Who Really Really Really Love You
Current (just starting):
Delicious in Dungeon
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp
Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I'm Not the Demon Lord
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!
7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
A Sign of Affection
The Demon Prince of Momochi House
Cherry Magic
Past (just finished):
I finished it:
I already reviewed the start of a bunch of these and they all ended about how I expected.
My New Boss is Goofy (m/m-ish): Continued to be cute and more overtly slashy than the average yaoi-bait Cute Boys Doing Cute Things, but any time I got my hopes up too high for actual canon romance I was disappointed.
Tearmoon Empire (m/f): Continued to be funny and silly and a bit wish-fulfilment-y. I still sometimes felt weird about the 12 year old boy/20 something woman in 12 year old girl's body romantic vibes but I get the impression they won't get together til they're older and there's always that "is she just a 12 year old with some memories of another life" ambiguity.
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness (m/f): Continued to be funny and silly and shippy and a little male-gazey. They don't QUITE get together by the end of the season but they are pretty close.
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me (m/f): Continued to be male gazey trash I enjoyed >.> While I overall didn't mind how the love triangle was handled too much (eg it did not turn into '5 girls all pine for protag') at one point the Bad Girl tries to trick him into sex and this is glossed over. The fat friend's romantic arc was Not Handled Well.
Heaven Official's Blessing S2 (m/m-ish): I still can't accurately judge how good this is if you haven't read the book but I liked it! It ends on a pretty bittersweet ambiguous note (the end of Book 1 of 4 of the original novel).
I dropped it:
Frieren (gen? m/f?): An elf in a eurofantasy setting dealing with her bittersweet relationships with more short lived species like humans. Seemed pretty good and I've heard good reviews but I didn't click with it. I might come back to it.
Migi & Dali (??): VERY WEIRD story about identical twin teen boys who pretend to be a single person as they investigate the mystery of their mother's death. Too weird for me!
100 girlfriends Who Really Really Really Love You (m/f): Very silly male-gazey rom-com about a perpetually single teen boy who is told he has 100 soulmates who will die if he doesn't love them back. So he earnestly does his best to find them and love them. It was too silly for my suspension of disbelief and there was a Humourously Ugly Female Teacher Who Forces Kiss On Male Students which Nope.
Current (just starting):
Delicious in Dungeon (afaict mostly gen with some background m/f and all sorts of subtext): A group of adventurers in a generic euro-fantasy setting are having trouble making it through a dungeon to rescue a member of their party, and one guy gets VERY enthused about the prospect of eating monsters as they go. I hear this is really well made slice of life with enjoyably surreal cooking and a satisfying ending. I'm enjoying it so far!
Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss But I'm Not the Demon Lord (m/f): Modern gamer girl from Japan is reborn as the hidden female boss of a magic highschool otome game, decides the best way to avoid death is to both live a quiet life AND level up to be strong enough to survive the dangers. Except this makes her so powerful everyone thinks she's the Prophesied Dark Lord. Very silly and self indulgent but her "telegraphed villain" Wednesday-Adams-ish vibe is funny in contrast to her just Not Caring about the cliched plot going on around her. Unfortunately it leans too much into making the original "heroes" of the story bad guys for her to triumph over for my tastes, but so far the original "heroine" is genuinely nice, and sometimes the way the show pokes fun at otome conventions is pretty funny, even if it's still more "otome as always portrayed in villainess stories" than ACTUAL otome. We haven't really met her love interest yet but he is described as Just Some Background Guy in the original otome's opening credits which bodes well.
7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (m/f): Oh look it's a noblewoman engaged to a prince, who is dumped and then dies and comes back to fix things! Except this has happened to her six times already, and this time she's been proposed to by the guy who was responsible (generally indirectly) for all six of her deaths. She decides marrying him is her best shot at ACTUALLY fixing things or at least living an easy life until she dies. So yeah, still kinda cliched, but fun enough so far that I'm enjoying it. And not JUST because in the first scene her love interest coldly murders her while she's crossdressing as a male soldier >.>
The Demon Prince of Momochi House (m/f): Teen orphan girl inherits an old house and discovers it's a portal to the world of supernatural beings from Japanese folklore, guarded by a Sad Mysterious Teen Boy With Magic Powers cursed to remain inside. A fun premise let down by middling execution, I'm still watching but wish it was better.
A Sign of Affection (m/f): Romance between a sweet earnest sheltered deaf girl and a quietly self confident stoic guy who enjoys travelling and learning new languages. Feels well intentioned but not actually made by or for deaf people, she's very moe. Also it's plotless fluff so far asides from some slight love triangle drama. But it's sweet for what it is.
Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (m/f): Male gazey trash about an awkward nerdy boy from Tokyo who moves to cold and rural Hokkaido in the north, and immediately bonds with a fashionable energetic girl with implausibly large boobs. Ok for what it is from the first two episodes but I worry it's going to turn harem-y from the other girls who show up in the credits. I will put up with a lot in trash but I just don't like harems!
Cherry Magic (m/m): An anime version of the manga about an awkward, virginal guy who gains telepathic powers on his 30th birthday, and discovers his cool, handsome male coworker has a secret crush on him. Only two episodes in so far but I'm liking it, it's similar to the live action version yet with enough differences in approach to not feel too stale. Fewer fakeout kisses so far, and hopefully less cutting away from actual kisses once it gets to that point.
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp (m/f): Remarkably bland and generic "Villainous noblewoman engaged to the crown prince is about to ruin everything, then her personality is replaced by a transmigrator from modern Japan with medical knowledge/a future version of her who regrets screwing up, and she saves everyone and finds love" plot played painfully straight. Literally the only interesting aspect is that she is simultaneously a transmigrator from modern Japan AND a future version of the noblewoman, since after she screwed everything up the first time she was reborn in modern Japan, lived as a doctor, THEN died AGAIN and went back to her old body. Dropped!
There doesn't seem to be ANY f/f this season unless I missed something.