It's been a few years since I last updated my blog with my current anime viewing so it's now time to get back into that habit! Here are my completely subjective personal opinions about the handful of series which made it into my viewing scheduling this past summer.
A final impressions post requires the usual completely arbitrary top three, and accordingly here it is.
1. Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
2. The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You season 3
3. Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun season 4
If this had been last season I think Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun might have been top of the list, as I loved the music festival arc and Purson Soi is one of my favourite characters. 100 Girlfriends came in strong, though, and while it's difficult to enthusiastically 'love' Jaagugar in the same way, given its darker themes, I've found it compelling each week.
Outside of anime, I've also been enjoying Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Taskmaster, Chef & My Fridge and Monday Late Show (Getsuyou Kara Yofukashi) during their weekly airings.
Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! 2
文豪ストレイドッグスわん！2
One of my preferred formats for gag shows is a run of short episodes, making it easy to fit them into my schedule and preventing the hyperactive comedy from outstaying its welcome. Full length episodes would definitely be too much for titles like Bungo Stray Dogs Wan!, which takes the cast of the mystery/action series Bungo Stray Dogs and runs them through dozens of quickfire joke scenarios, exaggerating the characters' already-over-the-top personalities further through ridiculous clashes which wouldn't be possible in the main series.
As this is a sequel to the first batch of episodes released in 2021, I already knew what to expect before this series aired. It met my expectations; as a gag spinoff it's not the most memorable but it's entertaining, silly and fun. The whole 'dogs' theme seemed to have completely fallen by the wayside after the premiere before being briefly revived in the final episode, but it was still fun to see the colourful characters of the Bungo Stray Dogs world again, even if there are now so many of them that the less popular ones don't get much screen time. For a series of shorts I can't complain.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 6/10
Clevatess II
クレバテスⅡ-魔獣の王と偽りの勇者伝承-
What a weird season of anime Clevatess II had to offer, pivoting from dark fantasy to magical high school, then back to dark fantasy via some schlocky isekai elements. I'm unsure about the isekai hints which suddenly appeared towards the end of the season, after having been delighted that this fantasy series was relatively free from popular current tropes until that point. At least they were minimal and broadly irrelevant to the main cast. Several major first season characters were completely absent for most of this series (Nelluru and Luna barely appeared) while some of their replacements kind of sucked (Tigel/Leon never grew on me). Then, just as everything seemed to be wrapping up with Alicia finally getting to move forwards, there was a rather dark turn right at the end of Clevatess II. Even if the series may have already peaked with its first season, are we going to get a sequel so we can all find out what happens next?!
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 6/10
Goodbye, Lara
さよならララ
A decent, whimsical series which explored friendship between girls, toxic expectations in relationships, finding oneself amidst the stifling pressure of family expectations and various other topics, all wrapped up in an alternative take on The Little Mermaid with some lovely visual flourishes. I spent most of the series trying to understand why the merfolk were so intent on Lara seeking love beneath the waves when (as far as I could tell) her sisters and widower father were the only romance options there. It was also a bit confusing that they lived in Lake Biwa when Lara's previous love interest seemed to be a storybook European-style prince - but who cares? None of that was the point of the series anyway.
As a short (mostly) original series there were a lot of loose ends. Many of the characters' fates are ultimately ambiguous, and I wasn't personally convinced by the idea that this is an overtly girls' love series. There are definitely seeds there which might well bloom into romance one day, but while it's clear they both meant a lot to one another, neither Mari nor Lara seemed at all ready for a relationship for most of Goodbye, Lara's run. To its credit, the show left things more open in that respect. For me personally, when a series is about romance I prefer to see those feelings convincingly reciprocated and expressed before the end of the show. Tying everything neatly up at the end with a confession always feels overly neat and tidy, so cutting away before resolving anything at least left me feeling that the pair might grow as time goes on and build on their established bond.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 6/10
Grand Blue Dreaming season 3
ぐらんぶる Season 3
The diving series which is actually a coming-of-age comedy show, occasionally featuring a little underwater action. The setting actually came into focus more often this season, with the characters first going abroad to work in Palau, then to Okinawa (again) for even more scenes in the water. However, that's never been the main thrust of the show; Grand Blue Dreaming is a fascinating glimpse into a hyper-exaggerated version of university life where a bunch of young adults have every opportunity to explore what the world has to offer them... and instead spend the entire time drinking, coming up with stupid schemes and very occasionally, diving with their equally-dumb friends. All of the boys desperately want to sleep with girls but they treat the girls around them terribly, which is somehow the most perfect representation of modern heterosexual relationship dynamics that I've seen in a long time. Everyone in this show sucks and it's hilarious to watch them all continuing to fail in such ridiculous ways; I've especially enjoyed the focus on Kebako (Cakey) this season as she gets closer to Kouhei than either of them ever wanted. I'll definitely be back when season 4 rolls around.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 7/10
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
天幕のジャードゥーガル
The art style is immediately polarising, with the anime faithfully recreating the visuals of the manga and sticking to realistic hair colours (almost entirely black) for the whole cast. This has led to a few complaints from people who struggle to tell the various brothers and consorts apart from one another. Strangely, however, even though Science Saru's animation style doesn't always work for me, I found Jaadugar delightful and never had any trouble keeping track of the characters.
I have made a point of reading a wide range of opinions from Muslim and Mongolian fans, given the historical background of the show and the story having been retold by a Japanese creator, and while I cannot say that some of the criticisms aren't justified one of the moments which stood out to me during my viewing was seeing Sitara thinking about the difference in the way that her captors deal with butchering animals. She has been raised with one opinion on the best way to slaughter and process the meat but she is expected to follow Mongolian conventions while working as their slave. The way that it was written was interesting; both sides gave reasonable justifications for their opinions and neither conceded to the other as they went about their business. Of course, Sitara is the victim of a power imbalance and has no say in how things are done in her place of work - but rules don't stop people from internally criticising the status quo even as they are forced to carry them out.
Even though I don't have an opinion on the matter myself since I don't eat meat, the mature storytelling stuck with me. The story features a number of culture clashes in the background of the narrative and seeing how Sitara clings to the traditions she grew up with makes her very endearing, as well as highlighting how diverse people are in the way that they see the world. It's not a perfect series but it has a beauty all of its own. Our world could use some more nuanced depictions of cultures which seldom benefit from any spotlight overseas; there's a lot of humanity in every scene of the show.
Some of the criticisms from English-speaking anime viewers have been embarrassing to read, however, and have often crossed the line into racism. It's baffling that people can skim through a challenging series like Jaadugar and only come away with a simplistic moan about it glorifying actual historical slavery (English-speaking nations like the US and UK being famously guilty of this), then turn around and churn through endless sloppily-written isekai power fantasies where the main character buys himself a cute slave to treat as a pet. The slavery in Jaadugar isn't there as titillation. It's a critical element of Sitara's motivation and informs who she is as a person as she continues to struggle in a world where even at her happiest, she was never truly free.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 10/10
Kaiju No. 8: Narumi's Week at Work
怪獣8号 鳴海の平日
It's hard to say much about this miniseries of four shorts. Each explores a moment in the everyday life of the popular Narumi Gen, captain of the First Division and relatively recent addition to the Kaiju No. 8 anime cast. The shorts are funny but they're so brief that very little happens, and unlike most of the Internet I'm still not all that convinced by Narumi's appeal. I'm always glad for extra content about Hoshina Soushirou, though.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 6/10
Link Click season 3 part 1
时光代理人 第三季 Part One
Another show which has yet to finish its run thanks to starting its English broadcast at an odd time. I was a latecomer to the world of Link Click after finding the donghua's first episode appealingly dark but not getting around to watching the rest for a few years. It probably peaked in season two, where the series' combination of ominous plot threads and style were the perfect antidote to the samey anime titles cluttering up my viewing, but I'm invested now and need to know where things will end. By this point in the third full season we're getting to the stage where a lot of characters have supernatural powers of some kind and the stakes are continuing to escalate; while I'm happy to see a lot more of Vein and some of the other Bridon characters again, the story has completely moved away from the interesting standalone adventures and into a longer arc. I hope that Lu Guang finds a way to live a happy, peaceful life one day.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 7/10 (after 9 of 12 episodes)
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe
機動戦士ガンダム 閃光のハサウェイ キルケーの魔女
Mixed feelings about this movie, which is the follow-up to 2021's Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway and suffers from being the middle act of a trilogy, in which nothing much is actually resolved. It didn't help that the delayed release meant I had forgotten most of the details of the previous film until they were referenced again. The Sorcery of Nymph Circe lacked the impact of its predecessor and visually it felt a lot worse than the much-older Gundam Unicorn, with a glut of thoroughly mediocre CG taking the focus away from the nice design work. Things picked up in time for the climax but I struggled to stay interested in the lead up to that. The use of Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child o' Mine for the end credits was a nice touch. In hindsight, I would probably have preferred to wait until the final movie comes out to watch them all together.
Availability: Netflix
Score: 5/10
Red River
天は赤い河のほとり
I'm only covering this briefly here because I never made a 'first impressions' post for this season; it's not yet finished so I can't fully judge the show. Notwithstanding, I want to make a note of how I feel about this tepid adaptation of a lengthy shoujo drama now it's at the halfway mark. I can forgive the melodramatic clichés and the way that the plot is entirely driven by the crazy lead character having no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. I don't even mind the toxic relationship dynamics and plot contrivances. What I can't forgive, however, is that the pacing makes everyone seem brainless and the series is visually stuck in the 90s in all of the wrong ways, except worse because the frequent battle scenes involve cheap-looking CG goons to cut corners. This could have been a flawed yet compelling classic if the adaptation had elevated the source material to fit the anime medium; instead, it's a wasted opportunity. That it aired alongside Jaadugar just made its shortcomings even more apparent. At least Red River has a cool angry horse and the occasional background detail about the unusual Anatolian setting.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 4/10 (after 12 of 24 episodes)
Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You
スーパーの裏でヤニ吸うふたり
I don't usually watch laid-back slice of life shows where nothing ever happens, but this one was cunning in starting out with half-length episodes aired at the end of the previous season when there wasn't much else to watch. The full-length version finally caught up partway through the summer and by that point, I was already invested in the characters. The slow burn romance building up between Yamada/Tayama and her overworked older friend Sasaki is oddly compelling to watch and the series commits to its premise, doggedly having every development in the pair's relationship take place in or around the titular supermarket and its shabby outdoor smoking area.
Sasaki's oversensitivity and meddling can be tiresome at times (he sorely needs to learn to leave Tayama's dress sense alone) but at heart he's a flawed, ordinary man who managed to be relatable without desperately pandering to the audience. Even though after twelve episodes it's become a little ridiculous that Tayama hasn't come clean about being the same woman her friend has a crush on, it leads to more scenes where Tayama's snippy manager gets to snark and laugh at her - which is never a bad thing. My enjoyment of the series definitely increased when Gotou first appeared. Other romantic comedies would benefit from the inclusion of a blunt - but kindly - friend watching over the couple until they finally stop messing around and get together.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 6/10
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You season 3
君のことが大大大大大好きな100人の彼女 3期
I was sure that I'd hate this series when its premise was first announced but it's a hilarious, feel-good romantic comedy which doesn't skimp on either the romance or the comedy; it's impossible for me not to love it! Rentarou is up to seventeen girlfriends as of the end of this series but he still takes the time to dote on every one of them, making it clear why they all fell in love with such an earnest, caring boy. This season delivers everything I've come to expect from 100 Girlfriends; date scenes, wacky new girlfriends, heartfelt character growth moments, interpersonal scenes between the girls themselves (in various combinations) and utterly silly, fourth-wall-shattering jokes. We even got a tiny bit of underlying plot development when the useless god who caused the situation showed up again! While Rentarou is keeping his weird cursed destiny to himself for now, he has reasons for that and I hope that the love god will eventually resolve that pressure for him. Why can't more romantic comedies respect the agency of their female characters like this, and create male leads who actually feel plausibly attractive in-world? 100 Girlfriends is a masterclass in playing with a tired genre and I'll keep on watching for as long as they can keep it going with this level of energy - which will hopefully be long enough to meet all 100 of the love interests.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 9/10
逃げ上手の若君 第二期
Another second season which didn't feel quite as good as its predecessor; there's nothing especially wrong with The Elusive Samurai season 2, yet now that it's over it didn't feel as though much actually happened. Tokiyuki got into scrapes and somehow pulled through. He met a bunch of the same people we'd already seen back in previous episodes, and a few new characters who lacked the horrifying impact of those we'd already encountered. And the first season had better music. Still, it had frequent moments of hilarity and the general production values were as solid as ever, making it an enjoyable diversion each Friday night. Maybe I should just be happy that the gang are going on adventures and not running straight into their doomed fates? With the ending of the episode casting doubt on whether the foreshadowed future events are ever going to be animated (is there any way to take a picture of the manga other than a directive to go away and read it?), I hope that I'm wrong and we'll get a third season when the time is right.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 7/10
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun season 4
魔入りました！入間くん 第4シリーズ
I love this series. The tale of a human having to attend a school full of demons without letting anybody learn his secret is a simple formula but over the years, Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun has broadened the scope of its story to incorporate demon world culture, politics and relationships, building up plenty of dramatic twists and turns in what is, essentially, the latest entry in a long tradition of wacky school shows like Gravedale High or Galaxy High School - with much more nuanced characterisation and a beautifully slick art style. Iruma's earnest personality provides a charmingly retro feel amidst countless titles with cynical sociopaths as leads; if the visuals weren't so lush I could easily believe that this was a long-running comedy show from the 90s.
The ensemble cast is the series' biggest strength, with so many wildly varied demon characters having crossed paths with Iruma by this point that there must be someone for every type of viewer to latch onto. My personal favourites are Opera and newcomer Purson Soi, who has been hiding in the background for ages but finally made his proper debut when this fourth season began. I noticed him years ago and was delighted when he ended up being even better than I'd imagined! The other characters are (mostly) great as well; even though Clara and Asmodeus didn't get so much screen time in this season, they were present for most of the important scenes and as funny as ever.
With no fifth season yet announced - though a movie is on the way - it might be some time before we get another animated serving of Iruma's adventures. I hope it does return one day as these good natured 'misfits' still have plenty of stories to explore - and there have been several hints that major revelations are brewing in the near future. I can't wait to watch more.
Availability: Crunchyroll
Score: 9/10
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Since it's been close to a decade since my previous streaming impressions, I'll add some extra categories this time for fun.
Best opening:
ダラダラ♡ダンシング (Dara Dara Dancing)
Best ending:
Clevatess was probably the runner up with MYTH & ROID's Awake Anew. I quite liked the original ending from the mini episode broadcast of Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You (imase's NIGHT DANCER) but they changed the theme songs for the proper broadcast, so STAR didn't have much competition out of the titles I watched to completion. It's a sombre song which beautifully captures Sitara's hope, anger and grief. The animation is also a perfect match - I particularly love the moment when the scales tip in time with the melody.
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The autumn season is not looking to be as packed with sequels as this summer has been, and with only the weakly-animated Red River continuing I'm looking forward to picking up some new titles for my weekly schedule (as well as the next season of The Apothecary Diaries, which is probably going to be my top pick even though I haven't seen any of the competition yet).
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