It's time.

I'll admit, I used to be the those fans that says that the ongoing anime are usually pretty meh. And for some of the anime, such as dogshit isekais, I still detest them. But we have been in so much good shit lately, and this summer we are being fed on one of the best lineups I've seen ever. Some of the anime I mentioned are from the manga that I read and they are proven to be really good, so I really hope the adaptations are on par as well. If you don't read these mangas, that's totally okay! I encourage you to watch these titles. Watching weekly anime is one of the best pleasures in the world, because not only you can watch it at your own pace, but also you can enjoy the discussions with other people as well. You get to have new friends to enjoy. Uber nice!

Without further ado, let's list out the more niche ones before going to the main event.

Non-seasonals that I am watching!

If I were to pitch this to you, imagine a [[Magical girl]] but combined with start up / capitalism. It's an easy anime to watch, surprisingly comforting, and the worldbuilding is pretty damn cool. You can definitely see the parallels to an IT start-up (they're not being subtle lmao) but in a way, this anime tries to be positive and celebrate the start-up culture, which directly oppose the conversative big companies. In a way, that's pretty progressive? The pacing is also really nice, I like how the fights are, not realistic, but rather they're written very nicely. I'm not even mad or like reduce my expectations, but magiluemere supriringsly lives up. The minus is there are some production issues here and there, but hey, JC staff made this, but there's a certain merit and baseline for production.

Also, season two starts airing next season. Go watch it!!!

This season's (Spring) hyped anime!

Witch Hat Atelier

I think if you have a mutual that's into anime, they will definitely pressure you to watch this. They are right.

I can't forget the first time i've read to WHA's first chapters. It was genuinely magical. The series itself has alot things that are to be praised. One of my favorite joys is the fact the way WHA renders itself is genuinely so nice to see. I think it's the fact that WHA doens't cross-hatch? I need to get back to this. What else can I praise? Excellent magic system that is consistent, incredible cast of characters, amazing queer rep, and so much more. If that still isn't good enough, the anime has been quite amazing as well. The animations are excellent, the voice acting is stacked.

Dorehodoro Season 2

I'm going to intentionally not fill this out. Watch it. The first season atleast. It is so much fun.

Akane Banashi

Passion anime is the reason this heart still beats. You can see when the author is truly passionate about the subjects they bring as theme for the manga. Akane boshi is one of them. I remember reading the manga, and I can feel the passion oozing through the images. AB is about rakugo, which is honestly amazing that the manga can capture it's essence. The anime is especially spectacular, living up to my expectations. It's funny. It's inspiring. It's entertaining. The voice acting is awesome, the visuals are spectacular, and the pacing is nice in the eyes too. I will definitely watch this weekly, and I'll glaze this anime until i die. Highly recommend even if you're not familiar with rakugo itself.

Watched the first two episodes and I cannot say anything but compliments. I love the adaptation, I feel like I'm genuinely watching a rakugo. The voice acting is amped up to the max and it's truly eye-opening. The visuals fit the theme of the show.

NSO

TW: Self-harm

On my watchlist, but I heard that the NSO adaptation isn't technically an adaptation of NSO, but moreso the effect NSO had on other streamers. Sorta a spinoff story. I will say, it felt weird to adapt a game that's basically really hard to translate to an anime, so they had make some few changes. The most popular discussions online is that some regard as an attempt to be an avant garde anime? But some thinks its too fast to judge. Either way, I don't have much expectations for this, but I hope it does end nice. I also heard that the original author had to distance themselves in preparation for the anime, so again, I don't quite trust the anime that much, but we can only see.

After watching the first two episodes, I kinda get what the anime wants to do. It wants to deliver a commentary upon the toxicity around vtuber culture. It wants to dissect each component, such as the idols that reigns supreme on top, the fans at the bottom, the vulnerability of girls in this patriarchal, hikkikomori modern culture. And I'm all for this commentary, but the problem lies on the fact that it doesn't trust the audience enough to understand the commentary. Instead of using the [[Plot ]]and characters to represent an issue, or use symbolism and any other tools, it just....explicitly and bluntly says the commentary onto the dialogue itself. It felt less than a surrealistic show, but more of a animated podcast. I want to give further critique, but I need to breakdown the individual scenes, but I will say that this approach of commentary, I'm not the biggest fan.

Part of this decision, atleast If I were the director, is attributed to the fact that NSO itself isn't quite made for a commentary? It certainly explores themes or obssesion, BPD, self harm, idol culture, and any adjacent theme, but it's more so you play as the producer that takes care of the girl, and it's moreso a management simulator at the end of the day. The game itself isn't long, only 10 hours at most? And to be able to finish all routes, you do need to complete the same gimmick over and over. Not to mention, the game is pretty! Appeals to girls, and this cutesy vibe makes it more popular to younger audiences. I don't want to generalize, but seeing edtwt or shtwt, we know that most of the people there are younger ones. Combining this, the audience of NSO is primarily composed of younger girls, who are..let's say just inclined to be mentally unstable. The problem becomes that most of the audience here don't either consume many shows with a more cognitively-heavy load, or media outside that they like. They're...just little kids. And now, suddenly having this surrealistic show instead of like a normal adaptation of the game alienates the viewers. They aren't used by this format. Of random images popping up, seemingly trying to convey something. They can't differentiate between a subtle message hidden in the symbolism or merely an aesthetic. It's worth noting that NSO uses the vaporwave aesthetic, which got popular in around 2016-2018 (roughly). That's around a decade ago by the way. These girls did not grow up with these aesthetics, so for them, it's a new outlook, which isn't bad, but again, the separation between intentional visuals and aesthetic is hard for the untrained eye.

I will say, it's not entirely bad that you shouldn't watch it. The commentary, albeit surface level, isn't false. It's pretty good on its own. Production quality wise, it's also brilliant. From the controversy, I thought that the quality would be shit, but not really? Visuals are solid, aesthetics are there (although annoying to me if I'm gonna be real), OP and ED slaps. My whole issue is rather the direction, not the quality itself. Another point, making the adaptation onto focusing on the world of NSO rather than p-chant and ame/KAngel herself, I think it's an interesting development. We don't see much of the worldbuilding, so seeing a eeringly similar reality while piquing our interest by introducing our favorite characters, is amazing.

I suggest watching it and forming your opinion on it. Would love to see discussions.

The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a High School Girl with an Inappropriate Skirt Length

If you've never heard of this, the first thought in your head would be "what the fuck is that title???". Have you heard of onani master kurosawa...? popularized by twitter user psycholad? Well, no worries if you've never heard. But either way, this anime is just a good, fun romance. It's those famous stoic male lead and gyaru female lead. The difference is, I trust the author, and I'm glad I did. Yes, they'll be endgame, and the journey there is equally fun too. I love their dynamic, I think I'm just biased, anything that this author puts is really fun. Check out the author's other title, "The world is about to end" (I think that's the title...?), it's romance but also about magic the gathering...yes...the most famous card game in the world arguebly....

Botan Kamiina Fully Blossoms When Drunk

College Yuri. Artstyle of Boochi the rock. Awesome production quality. If you LOVE yuri, this is a good one. Go watch it.

Ongoing anime that I need to watch

Ganbare! Nakamura kun

Niwatori Fighter

Scenes from Awajima

Agents of the Four Seasons Dance of Spring

Next blog, I'll write about the upcoming season and which anime I'm especially hyped!! (I spoiled one already!!!)