I just signed up for their 2 year subscription deal, and always looked forward to getting my latest edition. Also listened to their podcast, which was great too. Super bummed about this.

Lighter season for me. Quite a lot I’d like to catch up on.

New:

• Frieren - my 2023 AOTY. This’ll be a must-watch.
• The Dangers in my Heart S2 - first season was so much better than I expected. Definitely check this out.
• Solo Leveling - know nothing about it, but there’s a lot of buzz, so I’ll try a couple episodes.

Catch-up:

• Apothecary Diaries - lots of buzz, but haven’t had time yet.
• Helck - almost finished. Enjoyed way more than I expected.
• The Eminence in Shadow S2 - stalled after a few episodes. Wasn’t in the right mood. Try again in winter.
• Pluto - only watched first episode. Good so far, but hasn’t captured me.
• 100 Girlfriends - almost finished. Didn’t like it as much as I expected, but I’m enjoying it more the wackier it gets.

Might finally find time for:

• Trigun (OG) - slowly tinkering through it.
• JJK - stalled somewhere in S1.
• Slime-san - somewhere in S2?
• Ancient Magus’ Bride

Finally got some time to watch a bit:

• The Attack on Titan finale was great, imo. I think that pretty much secured it as my all time #1 for a completed series that’s more than 1 season. It’s not perfect, for sure, but it got so much right considering the weight of its story. Really liked it.
• Almost done with Castlevania Nocturne. I know many don’t really consider it anime, but it’s close enough I throw it in. I like it, but the stakes are harder to care about compared to the very engaging first season premise, and the characters aren’t quite as charming. Still a fun story and worth watching.
• Still keeping up with Frieren (phenomenal), and a bit behind in Helck, Eminence S2, Girlfriend Girlfriend, 100 Girlfriends, SpyXFamily. Enjoying them all.
• Tried first episode of Pluto and was imptessed. Throwing it on the to-watch mountain.
• Still need to get to Apothecary Diaries, Blue Eyed Samurai, and new Scott Pilgrim. This season has truly been ridiculous.

Oh and got a good lol from those examples of spicy takes. Almost spit out my coffee. Whew.

As others have said, I’d probably not post at all if there’s no automated post. I like them and lurk frequently, but also agree there’s too many with zero participation. Either a cutoff of 5-10 shows that are the highest popularity or simply cutting a show after 1-2 weeks of zero comments would simplify it well.

I’d also add another recommendation here that might help with participation. I’m frequently watching older shows or stuff that’s a few weeks behind. Would anybody be interested in a weekly general “what did you watch this week and what did you think of it” thread?

I’m not even 100% sure if this is a joke… that’s how dumb the naming has been.

Most surprising to me is the overall karma totals. Seems really low this season. This mirrors my feelings for this season though. I’m really enjoying Mushoku Tensei S2 and that’s pretty much it.

I had hopes for Horimiya Pieces, but I lost interest halfway through. My Happy Marriage and Helck haven’t quite captured my attention either. I’m still in Jujutsu Kaisen S1, not sure when I’ll get to S2. No big new surprises. Oh well.

Didn’t continue anything at all I was playing last week! On a whim, I decided to give a little try to Dave the Diver. Like 12+ hours invested now (which is relatively large amount for me in a week…) and it’s all I’m playing. I love so much about the game. There are quirks, and things that could be improved (why on earth can’t I sort my diving pick ups while on a dive to pick the heaviest stuff to drop quickly??), but it feels very much like a “greater than the sum of its parts” game. Which is saying something, since there are a lot of parts in this game! There is enough tedious parts that are detracting enough that I doubt this will be on my top 10 of the year list, but it’s not far from it anyways. Definitely planning on finishing the story and definitely recommended!

Ooo I love these summaries. Thanks for posting! It helps a lot to keep up with the new series releases and how they’re all doing.

I’ve only really been keeping up with Mushoku Tensei this season and it has been excellent.

Seriously. I’m never upset about a game delay these days because there are already so many games to play that I literally will not be able to get to in my lifetime. I’m still mostly catching up on games from the last few years and can’t imagine when I’ll even get to most 2023 games!

Tried Atomic Heart for an hour or two and I think I’m done with it. I found the loot collecting tedious, the upgrades felt excessive and padded, the characters overbearing, and combat was just okay. I think this could’ve been massively improved by cutting 30-50% of the play length by streamlining loot and progression and cutting weaker content. But I’m almost always the one saying games are too long and could be dramatically improved by cutting.

Finished another storyline in Octopath Traveler (1). I’ve finished 4 of the 8 main stories now. I still enjoy it, but just a little bit at a time.

Put a bit of time into Jedi Fallen Order. I’ve enjoyed it a lot more after dropping difficulty to baby mode and just blasting through story. Something about the movement or progression or exploration feels tiring to me. Especially backtracking through worlds I’ve already visited once or twice. I’m maybe halfway through and debating just watching a YouTube video for the remainder of the story…

Still making progress in Tears of the Kingdom. Maybe 25-30 hours in. I’ve started using the official guide’s “companion” for sections I’ve personally completed already. I really like how they wrote it as spoiler free as possible, with suggestions of landmarks or quests to get to that make sense for each section you’ve done. I had completely missed a couple armor sets that will be very handy!

Obviously most have heard of the big games here.

But I want to highlight one that many will scoff at: My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure. This game was great for my little kiddos. We’ve been very into ponies lately (for those who know, it’s following the cast from “the new generation”), and they loved the very basic story and gameplay it provided, with at least a modest budget for animation. Surprisingly decent for a very young game.

Current season definitely watching:

• Mushoku Tensei S2
• Horimiya - Pieces

Current season trying out:

• Vending Machine
• Helck

Trying to catch up to possibly watch this season:

• Jujutsu Kaisen

Finishing up from last season:

• The Dangers in my Heart
• Loving Yamada at Level 999
• Skip & Loafer