glilimith

I feel like Oohara has been too passive with all this

It definitely feels like we're setting things up for Honjoji to be the brains and Oohara to be the heart, and as things drift from scheme to genuine relationship, we'll see him grow and start to be a bit more active. At least, that's my prediction. For now I'm here to see him do his character development, but if they take too long it'll definitely be frustrating to watch.

We got a very different type of fishing this time, so I'm curious if we'll end up seeing a bunch by the end. I remember someone in the first episode with a fly fishing reel so we might see some of that eventually, though our hero is by no means ready for that level of difficulty, lol.

Cleaning fish isn't something I'm really able to do (I'm pretty sensitive to gore and skinning a raw chicken is about my limit), but the casualness our little fishing club had was pretty true to life - most anglers I know think very little of the process.

I had this one written off because the title makes it clear that it's yet another time loop "I'll marry my enemy to prevent myself from getting killed again" anime, but this one seems like it's doing something interesting with it. Since I was going in blind, it got me with the fiance bait and switch, and I do really like Hades' puppydog eyes (I'm a sucker for some gap moe men).

But that brings me to the main problem: the ages. I don't really understand why we have two anime this season with uncomfortable age gaps, but this one is definitely worse, with our leads being 19 and 10, and he says he would have even preferred if she was a few years younger. Now, to the story's credit, she definitely doesn't have the mental age regression some redo protagonists do, and though the description says she's 10 and 16 in the different time periods I definitely would have guessed 2-3 years older. Also, I've heard that his comments are not coming from his "tastes" but rather from some future plot element that only affects girls/women aged 16 and up. For me, I'm willing to decide that the anime is wrong about her age and she's 13/19 and sort of be ok with that (as long as she stays in outfits that makes her look like a teen and not in that dress that makes her look like an elementary schooler), but I just seriously wish anime would stop doing this.

I give the premiere a mixed 3/5. If it leans into the age gap stuff I'll be dropping it real quick, but if it lets me ignore that I expect this will be a good ride.

And so begins General Dante's reign of terror, lol

Finally, some slop for the shoujo fans. Even after just about every red flag possible, I'm worried that our heroine will end up falling in love with her terrible fake brother, but I'm ready for it to happen anyway. I'm hoping this has some tricks up its sleeves, especially with the flashforward at the beginning, but I'm ok if it turns out to be the kind of story where it's no thoughts, just doki-doki. After so many "everyone thinks I'm weak, but what if I'm strong instead?" it's nice to get some "what if I'm suddenly a princess?" even without the substance. I give the premiere a 3/5.

Going into this blind, I got a bit of whiplash, lol. I was expecting a bit of an "against all odds" romance where our leads fight for their relationship through yakuza power struggles, but instead we got more of a thriller where Yoshino has to learn to manipulate the men around her to survive, without getting herself on the wrong end of their violence. It has some strong josei smut vibes (though it's apparently a seinen?) but hopefully it doesn't try to redeem our unhinged leading man - if anything, I'd prefer to see Yoshino stoop down to his level and become a walking red flag herself. I'm definitely invested in the horrible mess this becomes, and give the premiere a 4/5.

The numbers comparison is a little skewed, I think because more tags get added as an anime goes on. Some of the shows that are included in those previous lists are a little dubious to me - from just the stuff I know, Delusional Monthly Magazine shouldn't be there at all, and stuff like Tonari no Yokai-san, Windbreaker, and Mashle make the cut because they have a bi, trans, and non-binary supporting character respectively (Windbreaker's having almost no screen time at all). I'd guess by the end of the season a few of the current shows will get that type of "there's queer people in there somewhere" tag. We're definitely short on anime about queerness, though.

A bit less exciting of a season this time, I think.

Eager to continue:

• Acro Trip - Lots of fun with good comedy that manages to also not fumble the action scenes. It does have a lot in common with Gushing Over Magical Girls, but I think it is making its own path and will continue to diverge as it goes forward. It also doesn't have any sexualization of middle school girls.
• Dan Da Dan - Science Saru is going absolutely wild on this one and it's amazing to watch them work. The characters also feel very expressive and real. The first episode does have a pretty brutal sexual assault / attempted rape scene that is sort of justified by the narrative and IMO isn't made into a spectacle like you'd expect from some anime, but was nonetheless a little hard to get through. I've been told this is not the norm going forward, though, so I will trust.
• How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer - In an "LGBT+ themes" drought, this is the best I've got, and it's cute. I like the pairings and it's always nice to see men go through a bisexual crisis.
• 365 Days to the Wedding - Also a very cute romance. It's just getting going, so we'll see if it has follow-through.
• Let This Grieving Soul Retire - As I wait ~~im~~patiently for the Eminence in Shadow movie, this is the best replacement I have. Not 100% sold on it just yet, but it's got a very similar vibe.

I'm also watching (for now): Negative Positive Angler, Mecha-Ude, Magilumiere, and Ranma 1/2

And now for the garbage bin (things that weren't good enough for me to make threads about)

Suggestion: It might be worth labeling the ones that have to be manually requested, but I'm not sure how much extra work that'd be to implement.

@[email protected] it looks like this is one that actually does air earlier in japan than everywhere else (5 days early).

There's a lot more fanservice in this show than I'd prefer, but it's not that bad when Krai seems to not even notice he's being flirted with (much like Shadow-sama before him).

I'm interested in seeing what Krai has up his sleeves relics-wise. Being a relic nerd is an interesting angle that would give him some combat capabilities that he'd still write off as him not being that strong, and it'd explain his "Thousand Tricks" title.

I think this might be the first piece of media to make me feel old, lol.