Bakemonogatari — The experimental cinematography, great soundtrack, abstract environments, and the deeply personal stories... 9/10. Hexbear won't like it though. The Hitagi Crab arc was my favorite.

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight — It had a strong opening but I'm not really sure how I feel about the series overall... A lot of episodes introduced an interpersonal issue between characters and then resolved it in a single episode. But that's what you get when you have twelve episodes, deuteragonists, and seven other girls you're trying to tell a story about, too.

Chainsaw Man the Movie: Reze Arc — It was good, but it's definitely overrated. #2 on MAL and 4.4 on Letterboxd? Yeah right...

And then I'm also watching This Monster Wants to Eat Me and A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace.

Last season stuff that finished since the last thread:

Sakamoto Days - finished up the second season (part? second part of season 1? I'm not sure how or why they're categorizing it) and it was fantastic across the board. Stylish, great animations, unabashedly silly and creative, and I don't remember anything noxious about it at all. A

Dandadan - I think this wasn't done yet by the last thread, so really just what's already been said about it. It's fantastic, incredibly stylish and gorgeously animated, with an absolutely no-fucks given approach to throwing in creative and silly concepts, while at the same time diving into really dark places. Everyone already knows all the drama over whether it's content is exploitative or not so I won't rehash that. S, it would easily make a top ten list if I made one and probably even a top five.

There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless... - Have you ever stopped and thought "you know, I really liked Bocchi the Rock, but I didn't like the band stuff and I really wanted to see a cross between Rae Taylor and Seto Kaiba gaslight and manipulate Hitori Gotoh in a weird toxic yuri thing instead and also it's a harem"? Of course not, that's horrible, but unfortunately that's what this is, in spirit. It's absolute slop, although it has made the valuable scientific advancement of discovering that just making harem slop yuri instantly makes it way more tolerable. It also gets points for consistently setting up just how incredibly unsettling Mai is as a person, where it's clear literally every word out of her mouth is some kind of lie or half truth aimed at manipulating someone else and when one tactic isn't working she just gets this blank, dead expression when the other person looks away as she tries to come up with a new strategy. Loved the ending of the season, and I hope the 5 episode continuation doesn't ruin it. What does this even get? C? B? It's problematic slop from a problematic genre that's only redeemed by being yuri and having at least some awareness of how Mai is the literal worst.

Things I picked up since:

Secrets of the Silent Witch - "What if Bocchi the Rock was an overpowered secret agent mage going undercover at an elite boarding school, and all the very attractive noble boys were really nice to her but in a way that respected her agency and had no ulterior motives?" yep it's shojo reverse harem slop with a dash of OP protagonist who is at the same time very anxious and socially awkward. There's really not much to say: it's entertaining, inoffensive, and well executed enough to be fun to watch. It's nothing mindblowing, but it's a big trough of kind of generic but pretty good slop. B

Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra - It's Temu Overlord but instead of WoW it's Endless Legend/Age of Wonders, and is somehow less noxious than Overlord in the process. It's absolute low grade slop, with shoddy execution, mediocre animation, very little writing, shoddy worldbuilding, and not great pacing. It does do all of these things better than Overlord though, which I find incredibly funny and nets it some bonus points. D

New Panty and Stocking - It's an edgy, trashy, absurdist shitpost of a series, like a much higher quality version of the old absurdist shorts from Adult Swim. I bounced off the Gainax season of it, but the new Studio Trigger one was actually fantastic so far as gross, edgy, absurd shitposts go. It also proved that you can in fact do that kind of humor without punching down or doing random bigotry, so for as transgressive as it is it never feels malicious. It's also incredibly stylish in its own abstract way, and plays with different art styles and formats in a very creative way. A

Touring After the Apocalypse - Watched the first few episodes. It's haunting, visually nice, and hitting some poignant notes. It's not mindblowing but I like it so far. B

Dusk After the End of the World - Watched the first few episodes. I don't know what to think. Nice sakuga action, haunting post-post-apocalyptic world, some level of background LGBT acceptance, a core plot that seems at least vaguely anti-fascist, but I can't shake the feeling that there are a lot of red flags to it. Like how the villainous faction is called "ORWELL" which immediately tells me the story's message is going to at best be completely incoherent, the way it sets up the worldbuilding for normalized polyamory is so transparently setting up for a male-centered harem plot, and the random inclusion of a random homophobic stereotype villain just makes me think "damn, still doing this shit like it's the early 00s huh?" Not gonna bother rating this one, I'll see where it goes and if my reservations were right or not.

A Wild Last Boss Appears - it's Overlord except actually good, with a genderbent protagonist (who comes across as a hilariously oblivious egg in the novels imo) and much better themes overall. It's not some mindblowingly well executed show like some of the things I've mentioned, just pretty good isekai slop that actually justifies it's premise and plays with the idea that its setting is basically a shoddily written video game world that at the same had to exist diegetically because it's also a real world that has to function for the people who live in it. I'm giving it an overly generous A

Pass the Monster Meat, Milady! - have you ever asked "what if Senshi from Dungeon Meshi was a girl, Laios was a duke and competent, and instead of there being an actual plot with like a dungeon and other characters they just fell in love and were just weird little freaks together?" Of course you have, everyone has, and this series is the answer. C-B

This Monster Wants to Eat Me - it's like someone mashed up Elfen Lied and Twilight into yuri bait. And it is bait, I've read the manga. I'd say the OP and ED tell a better story than the actual anime. I do still kind of have a soft spot for it, though. The supernatural stuff and how the sapient yokai relate to humans and the world is genuinely well thought out and executed (in the manga, and where it's shown up in the anime too), and some of the onscreen chemistry of Shiori and Hinako actually kind of works. It's just so much of it is just this like mid 00s empty tragic suffering slop that's just there to give the audience vicarious emotions without anything deeper to it - its themes where it relates to trauma, grief, and alienation are entirely surface level and aesthetic, and I find that Miko's take on Hinako's backstory hits a hundred times harder than all of Hinako listlessly wafting around looking sad and contemplative while a visual of sea water and strange ocean creatures surrounds the scene does. With its glacial pacing I don't think it'll even get to the more interesting yokai stuff and more about Miko's backstory. C, peaking for brief moments at A maybe.

May I Ask For One Final Thing - top tier. Stylish, well animated, love both the OP and ED, great themes so far. There was a good thread about it the other day. A

For once I actually catch this thread within +- 24 hours of it going up! Oh boy, I can't wait to discuss aaaaaall the really cool anime I watched recently...

Pulls up "recently watched" tab

Umamusume: Cinderella Grey

Nothing else

Closes tab

On second thoughts I'm just going to comment on other peoples lists and sit this one out

(Fr tho I'll probably make a thread for the Chainsaw man movie another day)

Gundam SEED Destiny

I've been binge watching the Versus Wolves podcast and... well just take a look for yourself

Manga

Started Kingdom, currently around chapter 400. It's alright, kinda weird how the manga starts using the characters' japanese names after the first arc when apparently the anime uses the chinese names. Obviously extremely ahistorical but whatever, it's fun shonen slop. Also big props to the mangaka for having lots of women fighting or being generals, and only one of them (so far) is being weirdly sexualized (Karin).

I'm probably going to read Rooster Fighter because it's such a stupid premise.

Anime

Asobe Asobase is an absurdist comedy disguised as cute girls doing cute things slop that lands because of how over the top they go with the animation and voicework. As with most anime, it has a weirdo pervert character for no reason. 7/10.

Paranoia Agent is a surreal, episodic thriller about a number of different characters and their run-ins with the mysterious Lil' Slugger (aka Shonen Bat), a boy who is going around assaulting people with a baseball bat. It is also about how cutesy anime mascots are copium and that you should consider maybe facing the real world instead of shirking your responsibilities by watching anime. Episode 8 is a noteworthy standout, I cried. 8/10.

The Demon Girl Next Door is a parody of the magical girl genre where the generally useless main character awakens to her hereditary demonic powers and has to be tutored by a semi-retired magical girl who is definitely gay. Generally pretty funny, but as with most of these things, there are weirdly creepy bits. Like, canonically the main character is very uncomfortable in her "battle armour" which is of course skimpy and revealing, and this is just supposed to be funny. 6/10, both seasons.

Started Panty and Stocking, which is essentially just the joke "what if we made an adult cartoon with the art style of the powerpuff girls". It's interesting imo how despite it being extremely openly horny and characters constantly referring to sex and/or having sex just out of frame, that it's actually giving me less creepy vibes than many other shows I've watched. Maybe it's just a matter of expectations, but I think there's definitely something to be said about P&S being portrayed as sexually-active adults who are choosing to do the things they do and the way they dress, as compared to eg The Demon Girl Next Door where the "jokes" centered on sexualization are at the MC's expense.

Also started Log Horizon because I may have accidentally deleted Panty and Stocking and had to download it again. As is typical of the genre of "oh no I'm inside a video game I used to play", the game is poorly thought out. I think it's the fourth episode where the big "amazing 4000IQ play" that the protagonists use is to... use an ability again as soon as it's off cooldown. Rather atypical of the genre, if someone "dies" in the game, they actually just stay in the game and resurrect at the last great temple they visited. Ninja girl whose name I forget is a boring trope and horny party member must be stopped.

Yeah, you never made one of these threads for October, I was wondering why. Did you just forget all month? You've gotta sharp yourself!

Wasteful Days of High School Girls is something I picked up on a whim and surprised me.

I think I added this one to my planning list after I saw a clip of the freaking Pocky scene. It looks like a lot of fun, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Manga

My manga reading has slowed down considerably lately. In the start of September I read a bit more of The World of Narue, but mid-September and onwards all I can really mention is that my mom and I have been reading Non Non Biyori together again, apparently taking a break from The Demon Girl Next Door. I've got some shake-ups in my daily schedule so I haven't really been taking the time to read manga for myself.

Animation with mom

My mom and I finished Neon Genesis Evangelion and we saw The End of Evangelion on October 13. We also finished Samurai Champloo and I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level season 2, the latter of which I hold was a step down from the first season.

We started watching the fourth and final season of The Boondocks, as well as the second season of the Ranma ½ reboot. The Boondocks season 4 has a bit of a different vibe than the previous three seasons, but it's also not nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe it would be; Ranma ½ season 2 is continuing, incidentally, basically right where I left off in the Norwegian translation of the manga, so it's a bit déjà vu, but I don't mind. It's fun to hear SungWon Cho as Mousse. The OP feels a bit tonally off for Ranma but I think I'm growing used to it anyways.

We're still continuing Ojamajo Doremi, Steins;Gate, City the Animation, The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan and Squid Girl season 2. Not much to say about these.

We saw the short film bâan together but we weren't very impressed with it: it's a novelty insofar as the story was created by an anituber, but that novelty isn't really enough to carry it — I honestly don't even particularly like Gigguk.

We've also started watching Haunted Hotel together, which definitely has some "Seppolandic adult animation cringe" in it, but dammit it's still pretty fun. I'm particularly fond of Esther and Abaddon, they're very "kids rock".

Animation alone

I saw a bit more Tokyo Mew Mew and Futari wa Precure; I'm about midway through Futari wa Precure now, episode 26/49, and things definitely ramped up in the past few episodes (to avoid spoilers). Precure is a very good magical girl show, there's a reason why it's so enduringly popular, I recommend it.

I completed Urara Meirocho and ended up trying a few things for my main alone anime:

• I saw an episode of Aria the Natural for the first time in ages, but for as great as it is I still don't feel up to continuing it right now.
• I saw the first two episodes of Joshi Kausei but decided I didn't like it. The gimmick is that all the characters are mute, but that doesn't really carry it, it's just kinda weird.
• I saw the first episode of Endro, which has character designs by YuruYuri's mangaka Namori, but for some reason fantasy just doesn't really excite me that much.
• I tried continuing Madoka Magica, but didn't feel up to it because it's kinda heavy.

Eventually I decided that I was going to watch Land of the Lustrous as my alone anime; I saw the first episode when I was sick earlier this year, and it is genuinely a very special show. But trying four shows before landing on something I felt like watching I think points to a bit of a "full fridge" effect with this stuff. I've been taking my sweet time with stuff and have a bit of a backlog of torrents now.

I also recently finally got around to watching Avatar: The Last Airbender and have been pretty impressed with it so far. I'm five episodes in and have landed on watching the Norwegian dub specifically, something I haven't done for any show in a LONG while — mostly just because most of the things I like never get dubbed into Norwegian to begin with, and even the ones that do get dubbed don't tend to have very accessible/pirateable dubs. Which is a shame, but that's just how it is.

Blorptube

For Garg's nights we finished K-On! and have now moved on to Cardcaptor Sakura. Not much to say other than that both are bangers, though Cardcaptor also has some uncomfortable stuff, by which I mean it has the particular flavor of occasional libertarianism that we can call "CLAMPery".

Stalin is showing YuYu Hakusho, which I stayed up to catch a few episodes of and tried watching on my own, but I quickly lost interest in it. I've also been watching New Game one on one with @AernaLingus@hexbear.net, which has been a lot of fun.

For my own nights, I showed Albert Barillé's Once Upon a Time… the Americas, which was a lot better than expected. Like it's still old and racist at points, but for the most part it's a genuinely good educational cartoon, which was really pretty sympathetic to the struggles of Black and Native people.

I also showed the fanime shows Tokyo Crystal Mew and Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls, which frankly should have each other's places in terms of fame: NNSG even as a parody series wasn't particularly entertaining, while TCM kinda blew us away at points. The evolution in the animation quality is genuinely astonishing, but even in the beginning of the show it's genuinely impressive for the work of a couple ten-year-olds — I'm definitely going to include at least one reference to Tokyo Crystal Mew in my own fanime.

…Apropos "my own fanime", progress on that project is going… not as quickly as would be ideal, but still going. As of today I've finished about two-thirds of the intro and I predict I'll have the intro completely finished by the end of the week if I sharp myself. Once I'm done with that I'll make the outro and the eyecatch, then revise the script for the first episode based on AernaLingus' feedback — and possibly translate all the dialog into my conlang while I'm at it — and then I'll try making an audio-only version of that first episode, which I'll use when making the storyboards.

Aside from Barillé and fanime, I'm of course also still showing the usual My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Fireman Sam. We've finally started the penultimate season of MLP:FiM, season 8; and we've also started the penultimate series of classic Fireman Sam, series 3. We also finally got to My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), and the Equestria Girls films and specials Legend of Everfree, Tales of Canterlot High, Forgotten Friendship, and Rollercoaster of Friendship, so all in all we're definitely in the "sunset" phase of our MLP watch-through (no pun intended). Hence I've been drawing up some plans for what to show after MLP:FiM: I'm thinking Star vs the Forces of Evil and Uma Musume, among other things. Apparently Vaush likes SVTFOE, which is a fact that I really didn't need to know, but now I do and so I'm cursing you all with that knowledge, too.

I've also got some other cool animations planned for my Wednesday watch parties in the coming weeks. I'm especially looking forward to Your Name; I'll be showing its Esperanto fandub this Wednesday.

Manga: The 100 Girlfriends who Really Really Really Really REALLY Love You - the most recent kanojo is a great addition, the slice of chapters remain amazing, and don't forget, we're getting season 3 of the anime.

Spoilers for Anime-only watchers.

Anime: Finishing up New Panty and Stocking. Just watched the F F land episode, great shit.

I watched all of Odd Taxi in one day recently and quite enjoyed it. It's a very tightly woven narrative.

I have been reading Miro in Memory and The Reluctant Demon Cult Leader

Miro in Memory surprised me, I like it quite a bit.