Anime

Been following Orb. Seems quite decent.

I finished Toradora not too long ago. It was decent. By myself I've been continuing Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card. I'm about midway through now, and I'm liking it so far, I'm getting used to the changes from the original.

With my mom we've mostly been watching Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu, and I'd say I'm hooked on it. I'd say it's on about the same level as Mitsuboshi Colors (if we are to compare anime adaptations of manga by Katsuwo) but they're also clearly very different types of slice of life. Like Mitsuboshi feels like it was more pure gags while Hitoribocchi is more about, like, actual character growth. You want to see Bocchi succeed!

We've also been following along on the Ranma 1/2 reboot as it releases. It's decent, but I don't know if I'd say it surpasses the original.

We've watched a little more Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and The Boondocks as well. For the latter we've just started the third season now, and I've heard it is around this point that the show starts to fall off. But I have low standards so we'll see if I actually notice it.

Rewatching The Slayers (1995). It's great to see a sincere anime adaptation of a fantasy universe (with dark lords, dragons, etc) that is not flavor of the month isekai with bland everyman/self-insert MC and harem waifus.

Did a speed run of all the Dandadan episodes. Need to get the manga, but part of what I've loved about it is the music and voice acting. Would be hard to have that experience in a book, unless I play Otonoke on repeat while reading it.

I didn't watch Dungeon Meshi as it aired--only caught the first few episodes and while it seemed good, it didn't quite grab me. I was busy marveling at Frieren, but I did continue to download Dungeon Meshi episodes since everyone was singing its praises, even saying it was better than Frieren. I was skeptical, since I absolutely adored Frieren and Dungeon Meshi seemed prosaic by comparison, but...now that I'm about halfway through, I completely get it. Even though both stories are about parties of adventurers in a magical land, they're pretty different tonally but more importantly in how their stories unfold. I think Dungeon Meshi's strength that may ultimately give it the edge over Frieren for me is how tightly focused it is on the main story, with no timeskips or anything else to distract from it—each episode picks up right where the last one left off. Now, part of the point of Frieren is how different the titular character experiences time compared to her shorter-lived compatriot, but even so there are things like the testing arc which did feel sort of disjointed from the overall plot and vibe.

Idk, I'm not really good at articulating why I like things, but all that I know is that I am absolutely loving Dungeon Meshi and it's taking all of my willpower to savor an episode or two per day instead of just bingeing it all. Watching it has made me realize that I've gotten too comfortable with watching seasonal slop just out of reflex...there are so many great shows out there that there's no reason to shovel down garbage just because it's new garbage.

Oh, and one aspect where it is objectively superior to Frieren is

Enough gushing about Dungeon Meshi, though! The only two seasonal shows I'm watching are Dandadan and Ao no Hako. The former is incredibly stylish and high octane. Definitely some problematic aspects, especially that first episode (seriously, WTF was the director thinking...), but after the first episode it hasn't been anything that's majorly impacted my enjoyment. Ao no Hako is a fairly conventional romance show, I suppose, but it's executed well and so far has avoided a lot of the things that tend to annoy me (unlikeable/incel MC, creepy fanservice, agonizing misunderstandings). It's my weekly dose of fluff.

Manga:

• Staying up to date on Chainsaw Man, One Punch Man, and One Piece. CSM is the best of the three, no contest. Reze movie when?
• Read Kagurabachi because someone here posted a chapter thread. It's pretty interesting, and is really fast-paced which I'm a fan of after reading One Piece earlier this year.
• Kill Six Billion Demons is back and it asks the bold question: would I still have my infinite cosmic power if I was a part of a worm?

Anime:

• Finished GitS SAC S2. Kuze is the dumbest motherfucker alive, and anime politics strikes again. How can a show mention base and superstructure MULTIPLE TIMES only to then have the solution to the refugee crisis be to

  spoiler

  upload all the refugees into the internet (something which has been set up as almost-always fatal in the past in S1).

• Started Ousama Ranking. It's pretty good so far, and the art style is very blatantly nostalgia-bait but I can't deny that there's something nice about the painted backgrounds. It is kinda forced that "oh Bojji can't be strong" but simultaneously he's incredibly athletic and capable of dodging any attack. The giant ~~3-~~ 2-headed snake is best boy.

• Star Trek: Lower Decks is BACK and it's GOOD.