Despite the staked season, there's only a several series caught my attention

Can't Miss

• City The Animation:
  This will be THE anime that I won't miss. The spiritual successor of Nichijou, not only from the same author (Keiichi Arawi) but also by the same studio, Kyoani. The short teasers [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] posted on Kyoani's channel already solidify this as AOTY for me. Just look at how vibrant and expressive it looks.
• Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku:
  I've read the manga. It is a sweet romance that can't make you stop grinning. On top of that, it will be animated by Cloverworks.
• Dandadan 2nd Season:
  Pretty well known, a continuation of an already popular anime last year. Also have read the manga

Will Watch Some Episodes

• The Summer Hikaru Died:
  The trailer seems interesting. Heard a lot of buzz about the manga as well. Animated by CygamesPictures, so the quality will be top-notch. Don't know about the BL theme, though.
• New PANTY & STOCKING with GARTERBELT:
  Haven't watched the original, but the art style pulls me in.

Waiting to See the Reception First / Waiting for Full Release

• Arknights: RISE FROM EMBER:
  I'm yet to finish the first two seasons. I've played the game before, so I hope I can just jump right into.
• Turkey! Time to Strike
• Secrets of the Silent Witch
• Ruri Rocks:
  Studio Bind (not because of MT but onimai)

I'm still open to suggestions. Like other seasons, probably going to follow r/anime first 3 weeks reaction. Still open to the possibility of a dark horse this season.

Meta Question

On the topic of Kaoru, since Netflix JP has exclusive right to stream a week ahead, will the discussion thread follow Netflix JP release or global?

While taking a look at my AniList stats, I noticed some amazing numbers:

Will continue Witch Watch for my first seasonal.

For the second, I thought I'll pick either Dan Da Dan, Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus, or My Dress Up Darling. Then I saw The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity could be the dark horse of the season (same director as Akebi's Sailor Uniform). With that in mind, the slot's already accounted for.

Summer season is deadly for me. In the last couple of years I have only time and drive to finish a hand full of shows each season and this time around there are way to many for me that I consider "must watch" (Grand Blue, City, My Dress Up Darling, DanDanDan, Boxxo, Call of the Night 2). Then there are a bunch that I read the source material of and want to see how it gets adapted (Water Magician, Silent Witch, Apocalypse Bringer, ). And then there are the shows that just seem to be made for me going by the synopsis (Solo Camping, Ruri Rocks, Food Court, With You and the Rain, Outcast Restaurant, Fragrant Flower). It's going to seriously eat into my other activities. It's a first world problem, but a problem nonetheless.

I came into this thread already planning to not mention any upcoming anime because, as usual, I haven't paid any attention. I prefer to let a new season go for at least a week or two, then see if anything catches my eye.

But in browsing the thread, I saw that City is getting an anime, so that's one already that I will be watching.

Last season, I only watched two series - Apocalypse Hotel and Maebashi Witches.

Apocalypse Hotel has been excellent, and is finishing up later this week, and I'll likely have something to say on the thread for it

Maebashi Witches though... it's unsurprisingly never gotten its own threads in the first place, and I've never seen any mention of it at all (other than a couple I made), so I want to take this opportunity to say that it's really pretty good all in all, and some of you should watch it.

Its target demographic is definitely young teenage girls - the "witches" of the title are five middle school girls who get roped (by a sort of froggish mascot character winningly voiced by Ono Daisuke) into becoming sort of combination magical girls and idol singers, operating out of a magical flower shop, the door to which appears in front of whoever needs their help.

But it's not quite that simple. This isn't like Madoka level deconstruction - not even close - but there is a hint of that. Things don't ever work out quite like the girls naively believe, the whole magic thing is revealed to not be quite the unalloyed good they thought it was going to be, and it turns out that granting people's wishes isn't necessarily what they need, or even what they actually want.

And the characters are dealt with a bit unexpectedly as well. The girls are all more complex than they initially seem, and though their task is to help other people, a lot of the focus ends up being on them and their struggles to deal with their own issues, and especially how that affects their attempts to help other people.

It's neither high drama nor deep philosophy, but it does have more of both than one might expect.

And the one thing I can unreservedly say in its favor is that the animation and music are very good.

So... yeah. This isn't something I'd recommend to just anyone, but if the basic outline of wish-granting magical girls/idol singers seems appealing, this one is worth a watch. I enjoyed it.

Next Season

for rikka to track

Sequels

Dan Da Dan season 2 - needs no introduction

My Dress-Up Darling season 2 - fun romcom

Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus - At this point, I'm wondering: what does rascal dream of??

Grand Blue season 2 - I'm still checking out season 1, but there's a decent likelihood that I will be continuing with season 2

New Shows

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity - Heard about it. Shall give it one episode.

Turkey! Time to Strike - Given how good Medalist and Umamusume: Cinderella Gray have been recently, I'm going a give another random sports anime a shot.

This week I finished watching Kill la Kill. It was a lot of fun. Absolutely wild ride. Still, I can't help but think that Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann executes a similar concept better. I loved Kiryuuin Satsuki though. What a great character.

For this summer I think Dandadan Season 2 and City are the most obvious contenders. I'll also definitely be taking a look at Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu (rough translation: The Summer where Hikaru Died). It's not that I'm particularly interested in the concept, but the manga is well-reviewed and Cygames has been absolutely killing it lately so I have a certain level of confidence in their ability to execute now.

Edit: During my lunch break today I finished Super Cub. I liked the music, but I found the characters very boring. They literally introduced the main character by having her monologue to herself about how boring she is. I feel like Yuru Camp did basically the same thing better, though maybe I'd feel differently about it if I cared about motorized scooters at all.

Also, wasn't the Witch Hat Atelier anime supposed to drop this summer? Do we just not have an exact date yet? That'll be a must-watch to me.

Past Seasons

I completed Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 last week, and I'm glad that it's as good as season 1.

As with similar shows, JJK's story got darker / more brutal in later seasons; I actually like it better this way. The twists are also really something.

I still have complaints about the show though:

• the second half of the season - especially episodes 13 to 15 - involves more exposition, which is really just poor scriptwriting / directing / whatever you call it. "Show, don't tell".
• there's no more Juju Stroll. These small segments at the end of each episode in season 1 are so cute and funny. I understand that they don't fit the darker and more serious mood of season 2, but I miss them.
• it became too predictable. I know that the writer is capable of introducing plot twists; I wish that they would do so more liberally. Otherwise,

It still deserves a 9 / 10 like before though, so it is entering my Peak Shounen list.

Definitely gonna watch The Summer Hikaru Died, Dandadan 2 and the new Panty and Stocking series.

Definitely watching City and Dandadan. And Yofukashi no Uta S2 snuck up on me, have to watch that too.

As for originals/newcomers, I put Bad Girl on my PTW ages ago and it's finally time! Just some silly yuri shenanigans, I don't expect too much of it.

Here is my breakdown at first glance for next season:

Must Watch

• Dan Da Dan Season 2
• Bunny Girl Senpai: Santa Claus Edition - I love the Mai/Sakuta dynamic, so I am hoping we get a good dose of that this season.
• City - By the same author as Nichijou and it looks great.
• Mikadono Sisters - I think I made a promise to watch this one in the past over in [email protected], so this is me fulfilling that promise.

Definitely Giving a Chance

• 7th Prince Season 2 - Curious to see how the production holds up to season 1.
• Silent Witch - I am reading the manga and enjoying it a lot. Nero 😻!
• Vending Machine Season 2 - Hoping it stays as oddly compelling as the first season.

Time/Reception Permitting

• Tsuyokute New Saga - I read the manga and...it was ok. Mainly curious to see what the adaptation is like.
• The Summer Hikaru Died - I have only heard fantastic things about the manga. Waiting to see how the reception of the anime is.
• Nyaight of the Living Cat - It sounds so ridiculous that I think I might wait to see if people are vibing with the humor or not.

Is there a list with the English names?