At this point in time, the Summer seasonal shows have either wrapped up or are airing their finale this week. So, I wanted to hear your thoughts on shows you watched this season. Shows you liked, disliked, were surprised by, disappointed by? Let those opinions rip!
Please feel free to use this thread as a normal weekly discussion thread as well! Anything that would normally be in the weekly discussion thread any other week is welcome here.
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While there are several I may go back and binge now the season is over, for some reason I only really ended up watching four seasonal shows to completion. (Kind of fell out of the anime habit for a bit, least I’ve watched in years. To the extent I’m even late commenting here…)
My Dress-Up Darling - Picked up right where the last season left off and continued strong. I know some people are disappointed the relationship did not move quickly, but there is still some character development needed for both to get there. Hopefully this leads into a satisfying third season.
Secrets of the Silent Witch - My favorite new show of the season. The first volume was adapted pretty much perfectly. There was a clear attention to detail and care for the story and characters. Sadly, the second part felt very rushed as if they were fast forwarding through scenes with characters barely introduced then sidelined with no room to breath or really be recognized. But it slowed back down on the moments that mattered, and it ended very strong.
Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra - The show was enjoyable enough to finish, but there is just something dull about it… The dark elves as characters, palette, maybe the lower production values… not sure. But it just seemed “muted” at times like it was almost but not quite what it should be.
Call of the Night - probably my anime of the season. The whole show is just a “vibe” carried by the music, setting, and characters. Like Dress-Up, this picked right up where it left off. We got character development, more background story, a great new character, and well executed plot that seamlessly wove all this together.
I have just a few points regarding last season:
- Secrets of the Silent Witch is what I consider a perfect adaptation. That’s what I wanted the Bookworm adaptation to be.
- Fuji from With You and The Rain is easily the most attractive character I’ve ever seen. It’s absurd how much of “my type” she is. And she is a writer on top of her looks and personality.
- Grand Blue season 2 wasn’t nearly as funny as the first
Summer 2025 wrap up: Super busy IRL, so didn’t watch as much as I’d like. Still some great anime for me. Fall 2025 looks a little light for me, so maybe I’ll catch up some. Tons of Summer 2025 I didn’t have time for!
Watched current season:
- My Dress-Up Darling S2 - I super enjoyed this, although it didn’t quite hit the same peaks as S1. I would have liked a bit more progress though, considering the manga apparently only has like one more season of content maybe? Also, it introduced a lot of new characters without filling them in much, and several situations felt mildly repetitive from previous experiences. Still, around 8/10 for me.
Watched past seasons:
- Apothecary Diaries S2 - Enjoyed this season a lot, although not quite as much as S1. Felt both too slow at times and then super rushed at other points. I got lost several times with all the new characters and their secrets, so the impact of several of them didn’t quite land as much as it could have in each moment. Still great though, with gorgeous animation, great style, excellent voice acting, and great music: 9/10.
- Trigun - Finally finished my very long slow watch of the classic anime. It’s good, but I don’t think it comes together as well as some said it would. I wasn’t a big fan of the early comedy moments, felt like it took way too long to start actually explaining the characters, thought the animation quality was quite dated and rough, and the ending resolutions felt kinda rushed and unsatisfying. It’s good for the era, but not an all time classic (ala Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, etc). Maybe a 6/10 overall for me.
- Kowloon Generic Romance - I liked the style (especially animation, art, music) and slow progress initially, but then got irritated by absolutely nothing happening, and then a bizarre shift most of the way through and nothing ever got adequately explained or resolved. It felt like a mixed bag of neat ideas that weren’t fully thought through. It’s fine: 5/10.
- Lycoris Recoil interlude minisodes - Really cute tasters while waiting for more full episodes, some day. I actually lol’d several times in the tiny episodes: 8/10.
Ongoing:
- Dragonball - Still very slowly watching. I think I’ve watched one season now? It’s *way* edgier than I expected, but does keep surprising me.
- Witch Watch - Loving this one. It’s so bright and colorful and emotive.
- 7th Prince… S2 - Only watched a few episodes. It’s super actiony and over the top, again, and a little much for me right now. Slowly watching an episode here and there when I’m up for it.
Tried, not sure if continuing:
- Umamusume S1 - Fun animation and very bright. I tried it because everybody was talking about the new game, which I have no interest in. It’s decent, but also kinda cloyingly positive.
- Clevatess - Crazy first episode, wow. Bit dark for me at the moment. I’ll at least give a couple more.
- Wind Breaker - Only one episode. I think I’m not vibing with the tone right now. Might shelve and try another time.
Eventually watch from this season:
- Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus - The three movies are finally on CrunchyRoll so I can catch up and watch this season! Although I think I read somewhere that the final season is supposed to come out next year, so maybe I’ll just watch them all together next year.
- Dan da Dan S2 - Loved first season. Def watch when have time.
- Kaiju No 8 S2 - Loved first season. Def watch when have time.
- Anne Shirley - I’d like to watch with my wife, when she has time.
- Baan: The Boundary of Adulthood - Lots of buzz, and it’s very short.
- Summer Pockets - Heard buzz, will try.
- The Summer Hikaru Died - Not sure it’s for me, but enough buzz around it that I’ll try it.
- City the Animation - I kinda fell off Nichijou, but I’ll give this a try at least.
- The Water Magician - Seen it on a few lists. I’ll try.
- The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity - Waiting for it to finish releasing on Netflix.
Plan to watch/try for Fall 2025 season:
- One Punch Man S3 - Yes, S2 was a big drop off from S1, but I still enjoyed it and S3 is a definite watch.
- SpyXFamily S3? - Need to watch movie first to catch up. I’ve kinda cooled on it, since it felt like nothing was progressing in S2.
- Ranma 1/2 S2 - Love OG but thought remake S1 was just okay. I’ll probably keep watching, but have low expectations.
- Campfire Cooking S2 - Heard great things here but never given it a try. Really need to.
- MHA final season? - I’m several seasons behind, but might actually try to catch up if it ever actually finishes.
Umamusume S1
very bright
kinda cloyingly positive
I find that season 1 (+ OVA) of Umamusume has the most cheery, CGDCT tone. The rest of the seasons lean a lot harder into the drama.
This Season
Completed
Top Tier (>= 9 / 10)
The Summer Hikaru Died - This is easily my anime-of-the-season. This is the kind of suspense anime that I’m looking for, where bits and pieces of clues are presented to us so that we can play detective, but enough information is withheld to create the mystery. 10 / 10
There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… - I enjoy entertaining cheap drama like this. The middle was kind of weak, but the start and end left a strong impression. I believe this is the second harem (read: polyamorous) anime that I would consider top-tier in entertainment value, the other one being 100 Girlfriends. I also like how relatable Renako’s thought process can be. 9 / 10
Great (8 / 10)
Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus - The first half was honestly pretty weak; I was on the verge of dropping it. But when the second half starts, that’s when it drew me back in. I am glad I did not abandon it. It is definitely a drop from previous seasons and is not as strong a suspense anime as The Summer Hikaru Died.
Grand Blue Dreaming season 2 - This is good ol’ turn-your-brain-off dumb fun. Just like in season 1, despite acting “dumb” most of the time, the characters are not braindead. There is in fact character development and progress in relationships.
bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood - I enjoyed it quite a bit. I like the concept of cultural exchange with residents of a different world. I think the story / world has the potential be expanded upon and be turned into a full season of anime. I can’t help but think the setting is unrealistic though. If humans discover another world and is able to establish a reliable connection to it, I bet it won’t used for cultural exchange, but for an invasion to seize their resources - like in Avatar (the blue alien one).
Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express - It’s a fun watch. The way the characters speak made them feel so real. Just like bâan, I think it has the potential to be turned into a proper season of anime with full 24-minutes episodes.
Good Enough (7 / 10)
My Dress-Up Darling season 2 - It was pretty good until the very last part of the last episode. There was essentially no progress made in this season. However, I still enjoyed how educational the show was when it comes to cosplaying. Also, I suspect a significant number of the animators cosplay, or can at least relate to this show. I can see that this anime was produced with the utmost love.
Dropped
A few hot takes in here. (i.e. popular series dropped) Don’t read it if you don’t want to see your favourite anime get dissed.
dropped anime
Uglymug, Epicfighter - It has a fun premise, but it looks like the plot would just be the main cast adventuring around, like in many other fantasy adventures. Nothing significant happened enough to get me hooked, so I got bored. 7 / 10
Dan Da Dan season 2 - It was alright. Just a bunch of fights against supernatural beings, but nothing else going on. I got bored so I dropped it. 7 / 10
The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity - A few episodes in, it looks like it is going to follow the same formula as 90% of romance series - which I have already gotten bored of. 6 / 10
Bad Girl - Got bored in the first episode; nothing much to say. 5 / 10
City The Animation - I don’t find it funny, and with the comedy not hitting, the slice-of-life has got nothing going for it. 4 / 10
Turkey! Time to Strike - I dislike the mental gymnastics used to justify the existence / usage of bowling in that anime’s context. 3 / 10
Lord of Mysteries - This is one of the most chuunibyou bullshit I have seen in a while. I gave it a few episodes since I have heard high praises of it, but the plot is just too dumb for me. I think edgy teenage boys would enjoy it though. 2 / 10
Past Seasons
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works
I heard that UBW is one of the better entries in the Fate series so I chose it as my gateway into the series.
I enjoyed the first 6 episodes sufficiently. The show was slowly revealing information about the death game, building up the world in the process.
I can see myself rooting for the protagonist, Emiya Shiro, who seemed like a good-hearted, albeit naive young man.
Episode 7 was when the cracks started to appear, when Shiro started saying stupid shit. Perhaps there’s a deeper thought process in his head, but the anime was certainly not showing it. I was chalking up the dumb things he said earlier to naivety, but it was getting hard to ignore.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was the start of episode 8,
Fate UBW spoiler
when Rin came looking for Shiro. Shiro started behaving like one of those dense, wimpy protagonist. Like, of course Rin is there to look for you!!
This is clearly some form of wish-fulfillment, where one gets their ego stoked when a hot partner comes looking for them and in the process give them the attention they crave.
It was getting too stupid that I dropped it right then and there.
Mushishi
I am about two-thirds of the way through season 1 of Mushishi at the moment.
It is certainly an intriguing world, enough to keep me hooked.
I do have some criticisms of it though:
1 - The pace is kind of slow. Granted, this is an episodic, slice-of-life anime, but I’d rather it be faster or show some form of progress
2 - I feel like some of the problems could have been avoided had Ginko have some common sense or communicated more clearly. Like, he never seemed to tell his patients / clients clearly about the mushi or the situation they are in, leading the bad outcomes later on.
3 - The people in Mushishi’s world are too good-natured and peaceful, which is unrealistic. Like, there is no evidence of thuggery / robbery / rape, let alone warfare. People are so trusting that they can just go following random strangers.
People don’t even seem wary of scammers. I’d expect at least some people make use of mushi to cheat others of their money.
Again, this isn’t really a valid criticism since this is set in fantasy world. If I want a more realistic setting, I should watch more anime like Vinland Saga.
4 - Ginko kept saying that the mushi are just living their lives, so they are neutral: neither malevolent nor benevolent. Guess what: so are the rest of the organisms around. That doesn’t mean humans can’t / shouldn’t take preventive action against some of them.
For example, we have vaccines to help us combat certain germs, or carry out eradication of certain species of mosquitoes that carry deadly diseases.
I’m pretty sure the same concept can be applied to some mushi. Ginko’s line of thinking here feels too naive to me.
Otherwise, I have been enjoying it a lot. I wish there are some pure happy-ending episodes though. Pretty much all episodes that I have watched so far have bittersweet endings.
Yeah, you can definitely tell Shiro’s an early 2000s VN protagonist. Unfortunate to see it be a dealbreaker for you in the end, but fair. I think ufotable did what they could if you compare it to the Deen adaptation. If the world interested you, maybe Fate/Zero is a good one for you. That was my gateway into Fate.
About Mushishi - I will preface this by saying that I love the heck out of the show. I actually agree with your point #2. I think Gingko feels like the average person wouldn’t understand mushi or would just be frightened of something they couldn’t see, even if they understood it better. However, I agree with you that he could have at least tried more.
Related to that, I think your fourth point is related to something that I found interesting in that the preventative measures in the setting of Mushishi often took the form of superstition or local myth. Things like don’t cross this mountain after dark or don’t store food in this building that are just common knowledge among the locals, but they don’t really understand why. Well, it turns out that the actual why is often because otherwise you will interact with mushi in a bad way. It reminds me of how religions basically created supernatural origins and explanations for physical phenomena that were not understood at the time.
I think your points 1 and 3 are intentional elements of the setting. I think the author just wanted to slowly wander around through this world and take it in. To a large degree, that is all that Gingko is doing through the story. There are some episodes where he is traveling to a place for a stated purpose, but more often than not, he just happens to be passing through for no particular reason that we know of.
the preventative measures in the setting of Mushishi often took the form of superstition or local myth. Things like don’t cross this mountain after dark or don’t store food in this building that are just common knowledge among the locals, but they don’t really understand why. Well, it turns out that the actual why is often because otherwise you will interact with mushi in a bad way. It reminds me of how religions basically created supernatural origins and explanations for physical phenomena that were not understood at the time.
Exactly my thoughts, though I forgot to mention it in my original comment. Thanks for pointing it out / reminding me.
I am behind on some series, but here is what I am up to date on:
- CITY - Fantastic series. It was a feat of animation, even for KyoAni. This one lived up to the Nichijou legacy for me. I just wish that we had a longer runtime like Nichijou had because I really felt like the cast was so large and so interesting that it could have easily been a 26 episode run.
- Silent Witch - This has been a great adaptation. The series made it farther than I have read in the manga, but it has turned out way better than I had thought it would be.
- 7th Prince - A fine season, but a bit of a letdown compared to the first. It was around this point that I dropped reading the manga, and I think it is because the story really took a backseat to just lots of lengthy fight scenes. Which, given that the manga artist basically used the series as a means to flex, that’s fine. However, in anime form, it just slowed everything down.
- Dan Da Dan - Another good season, but I do think it wasn’t quite as compelling as the first season. I do appreciate that it didn’t end the season on as frustrating a cliffhanger as the first season.
Silly awards time!
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Most pointless character introduction: Lord of Mysteries. Added a named character, after some build-up, at the end of an episode (was it 9 or 10?) and then never mentioned him again. I guess that was when they decided to drop anything that they didn’t absolutely need to reach the stopping point they’d intended. Well, it wasn’t like they were going to adapt all 1400+ chapters of the webnovel anyway.
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Most over-the-top cat care advice: Nyaight of the Living Cat. No, your cat will not develop a complex if you laugh at them after a pratfall. Really.
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Best Dragon Award: Water Magician . . . but the only competition was Clevatess, which didn’t include much dragon screen-time.
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Scatology award: Gachiakuta. If you’ve seen that “fight” scene, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I would have been happier if they’d left that out, to be honest. Runner up would be Dr. Stone, but it had a much better reason for it.
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Cognitive dissonance award: Clevatess. This may just be a me thing, but I seem to expect fantasy grimdark to use more realistic character designs than this does. Took me a little while to adapt.
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Most unexpectedly entertaining: Probably Onmyo Kaiten Re-birth Verse. It wasn’t spectacularly good, but I went into it expecting utter clichéd shounen schlock, and it actually managed to surprise me by flipping everything on its head for a second time near the end. Plot held together, setting was a bit silly but overall consistent, characters were unoriginal but, again, consistent. So it went from an expected D to a C.
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Most disappointing returning series: the vending machine. It wasn’t horrible, but while the first season was better than it should have been given the premise, the second was not.
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Worst translation device: Nyaight of the Living Cat again. I honestly don’t know how the human characters were able to make any sense out of that mishmash of action movie quotes a lot of the time. Poor Jones would have been better off pointing to letters on a ouija board.
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Most in need of another season ASAP: Kaijuu 8-gou. C’mon, guys, you can’t just leave us hanging in the early phases of the boss fight!
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Most not in need of another season: Tate no Yuusha. Which, of course, means we’re going to have one.
Most disappointing returning series: the vending machine
I completely forgot about this series as I was writing up my post. Completely agreed. The second season was lacking the originality and the charm of the first.
Most not in need of another season: Tate no Yuusha
Already confirmed! 🤣
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Summer season:
- The Summer Hikaru Died - My AOTS. I read a couple of volumes and knew I was going to enjoy it, but the direction exceeded my expectations. Phenomenal voice acting and OST.
- Call of the Night Season 2 - A step up from season 1. Miyuki Sawashiro as Anko was majestic to witness.
- Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 2 - Loved this season, almost as interesting and exciting as the first one.
- City The Animation - Charming and fun.
- See You Tomorrow at the Food Court - The female friendship dynamic was on point, both girls were too damn relatable.
Where do I find my own Yamamoto? - Milky Subway - So much life and character in such a short running time. It was a delight to watch.
- Dekin no Mogura - Found it more enjoyable than Hozuki’s Coolheadedness.
- Fermat Kitchen - I guess I can call this one my surprise of the season. The story was catchy and intense. It’s like watching a sports anime but the sport is cooking, and I love sports anime.
- Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex - The story was simple and full of tropes, but we rarely get a fantasy romance with decent production values. An affectionate male lead and a cool maid added some points to my enjoyment of this show.
- Osomatsu-san Season 4 - A mixed bag, could have been an OVA or something. Some episodes were fun, others – not so much. Luckily, the summer season wasn’t overwhelming for me and I was in the mood for more Osomatsu.
- Ruri Rocks - This show was pretty and educational, but didn’t grab me in the way I had anticipated it to.
Still watching:
- Dan Da Dan - I haven’t finished this yet because I’m watching with a friend. Anyways, 10/10 anime. They took what might be my least favorite fight in the manga (the music room) and turned it into something spectacular. The manga was already great, but I cannot imagine a better adaptation.
- Witch Watch - It’s fine. The comedy? Average. The fights? Average. The characters? Average. This one gets a 7.5/10 C grade from me.
- The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity - What I’ve heard is that this story is generic but well-executed. I’m down for that. What I’ve seen so far seems to match up, though it’s just a tiny bit too “sweet” for my taste. Maybe bordering on saccharine, but I’ve only watched 3 episodes so I’ll give it a chance to further impress me before giving it a score.
Completed:
- City the Animation - Maybe Dan Da Dan will do something to change my mind, but this was the anime of the season for me. 10/10 perfect show. I was really happy to have something cheery and well-executed to turn towards with all the darkness in the world these days.
- Takopi’s Original Sin - This was another great adaptation of a great story. It wasn’t entirely without its flaws though, and it was kind of a hard watch. Still, 9/10 great anime.
- The Summer Hikaru Died - Not every day we get a horror anime that doesn’t suck, but this one was a lot of fun! Nothing like some doomed yaoi to spice things up! 9/10
- Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express - A neat piece of indie animation. Fun dialogue, was almost always able to make me laugh. 8/10
- Clevatess - It’s rare that we get a cool fantasy thing that has actual effort put into its worldbuilding. I enjoyed this one; 8/10.
- bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood - When Gigguk announced he was making this, all I could say was “of course it’s a fucking isekai”. TBF, it was better than at least 95% of isekai which makes it a slightly above average anime. 8/10
Dropped:
- Turkey! Time to Strike - The characters and story were all kinda boring. I didn’t find myself looking forward to watching it, so I stopped watching it. 7/10
- Nyaight of the Living Cat - I only watched 1 episode of this. The jokes were mostly funny and the voice acting seemed decent but it was barely animated. 6/10
Overall I had a good time. Looks like next season will be a bit more relaxed, so I look forward to catching up on some older stuff instead.
I was really happy to have something cheery and well-executed to turn towards with all the darkness in the world these days.
This is exactly what I wanted out of City and it delivered completely. I often will turn on an episode or two of Nichijou when I feel like shutting off the world a bit. I foresee myself doing the same with City in the future now as well. This was also my AOTS.
The last episode of The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity aired Thusday, and it was every bit as wonderful as I’d hoped it’d be. I’d already read it in the manga, so it wasn’t a surprise, but it was still worth seeing. And the series as a whole is now at or near the top of my list for awkward, sincere romances.
Aside from that I watched two surprisingly great older series last week.
The first was Akebi-chan no Sailor Fuku. It’s not so much that I didn’t expect it to be good as that I expected it to be disappointing compared to the manga, which is easily among my top five all-time favorites. And after seeing the character designs when the season was announced, I was sure that would be the case, since they didn’t even manage to look right. The facial proportions are all wrong, and it throws everything off. And I expected the rest of the series to be equally inferior.
But I kept seeing positive mentions of the anime, so finally decided to give it a chance. And it was really very good, even though the character designs never stopped being distractingly wrong. The rest though - the rest of what I appreciate about the manga - they nailed. The backgrounds are lush and beautiful, the tightly focused action sequences - things like Komichi tying her hair back - are just as graceful as Hiro’s originals, and the character interactions and growth and especially the emotional content are all spot-on - just as rich and satisfying as in the manga. It was still inferior to the manga all in all (it really couldn’t help but be), but it was damned good anyway.
Then, on something of a whim, I watched both seasons of Zombieland Saga. Then I watched them both again.
I still can’t quite get over just how awesome that series is. It came out during a period when I wasn’t paying much attention to anime, so I vaguely knew it existed, but that was it And I really didn’t expect a lot of it because I don’t hear a lot about it. But it just swept me away.
The characters are uniformly terrific. Every one of them gets their moment in the spotlight and every one of them shines when they do. The humor is great, and so well-placed. Even in the middle of the darkest drama, they’ll just suddenly drop in a perfectly timed laugh out loud moment. The overall plot is brilliant - hell, just the fact that it exists is brilliant, because that’s something in itself that’s only slowly revealed. Kotaro says he’s forming an idol group to save Saga, and it seems at first that he means to “save” it from being a generally disregarded cultural backwater, but no - he means it literally. And as the plot keeps expanding through the series you find out that he’s right - that Saga really is under threat (and not for the first time) and really does need to be saved.
And then there are the performances, which are easily among the most awesome of any music anime ever. Every one of them has a creative hook that makes it stand out, and the later ones in particular are just astonishing (and in fact I’d say that the show opening for Iron Frill - season 2 episode 4 - is the single greatest anime music performance I’ve seen - everything from Tae on the drums to Junko’s amazing voice to Junko destroying the guitar and pointing across the arena at Ai with the splintered neck (and Kotaro’s laugh out loud reaction) to the epic rendition of Mezame Returner, hearkening all the way back to their first guerilla parking lot show.
And their fans. Starting with the two metalhead guys (“Those guys are seriously awesome”), they just expand, as if the world is just divided into people who haven’t seen Franchouchou yet, and fans. So by the time of their stadium show, every notable character from every episode is there. And if I was in their world, I would be too.
I can’t wait for the movie.
I can’t wait for the movie.
Same!
I was also surprised at how much I liked the show. I had somehow managed to avoid spoiling the cold open to episode 1 for myself and found myself cracking up during the first OP. I am never not impressed by Kotaro and the voice acting performance by Mamoru Miyano. His lectures at the chalkboard totally give off the feeling that the director basically just told him to let it rip and the rest of the show just tries to keep up.
That opening was what initially sold me on the series. I just followed a link from somewhere - probably a MAL stack - and read the synopsis and thought it looked promising, so I tracked it down and clicked play on episode 1 to find out what it was all about, and was immediately hooked.
Kotaro was one of the many big surprises for me. Those loudly emotional characters generally grate on my nerves (in fact, I dropped How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend in large part because the MMC’s constant shouting irritated me so much), so I was worried at first, but somehow it just works for him. And having Saki punch him early on helped, as did the fact that so much of what he yells is foolishness, and they all know it.
And somehow, in the middle of all the yelling and all the foolishness, he tells each one of them exactly what they need to hear when they need to hear it.
On that note too, one of my favorite parts of unexpected humor is when Sakura stops him on the stairs of the mall/shelter to sincerely thank him for all he’s done for them, and she’s talking about how important he’s been - “And you never gave up! Well… except for that one time, but other than that…”
Akebi-chan no Sailor Fuku
Glad you liked it! It was the other way around for me. My interest in The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity began because (1) people were hyping up on how good the manga is and (2) the Akebi staff is working on it.
My first reaction on seeing the poster is “the female MC [Kaoruko] looks like a grown-up Akebi Kao”. There are some stylistic similarities. I could also say that KaoruHana has the Akebi art style without the Akebi mangaka’s weird facial proportions.
9/10
- My Dress-Up Darling S2
- I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so 1 Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability S2
8/10
- Dr. Stone: Science Future P2
- The Water Magician
- Private Tutor to The Duke’s Daughter
- Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze
- Clevatess
7/10
- Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin
- Kaiju No. 8 S2
- Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus
- A Couple of Cuckoos Season 2
- There’s No Freaking Way I’ll be Your Lover! Unless…
- Call of the night S2
- New Saga
- Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex
6/10
- Scooped Up by an S-Rank Adventurer!
- Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon S2
5/10
- Rent-A-Girlfriend S4
Dropped
This season I watched:
- Dr. Stone: ended up being disappointed in this. It built further on an already shaky foundation and didn’t really deliver on it. Felt more like filler in the end.
- Dandadan: up until the Evil Eye arc it was great, but the episodes after were kinda boring and introduced a character I really didn’t like. Still fun though.
- Silent Witch: this was a fun one. Nothing special, but I liked it a lot.
- Sakamoto Days: same as last season. Pretty fun, though I’m not so much into the supernatural aspects, which I feel got upped this season.
- Gachiakuta: like it a lot, particularly the setting. Banger OP.
- With You And The Rain: delightfully relaxing. Loved every episode. Amazing OP.
- My Dress-Up Darling: good stuff, just like last season.
- Betrothed to my Sister’s Ex: nice comfort watch. Was a bit rushed near the end though.
- Clevatess: good fantasy anime. It’s building an interesting world that I’d like to see more of. It’s more than just a default fantasy rpg setting. Banger OP
Not anime but two Chinese animation really stood out for me this season.
- To Be Hero X got my attention with X introduction video and waiting for the full series. I like how they introduced heroes and the story itself. Really waiting for new season as this season is more of character introductions and lore.
- Lord Of Mysteries found this series getting a lot of hype in AUM and got me to watch it. The mystery buildup, power system and world building in this series are really good and now I know why it was getting hyped. Definitely recommend to check out if you are interested in dark-fantasy setting mystery anime.
- Betrothed To My Sister’s Ex is definitely one of my favorite shows this season. Judging from name alone, pretty much can guess this is another otome anime, and yes it is. What this series stands out from other otome series is how the female MC overcomes her past and starts to fall in love with the duke. The story is not that amazing with somewhat interesting plot. There are a few shortcomings especially in support characters development. The animation is good and soundtracks are also amazing. Check this out if you are searching for Josei romance.
- Dandadan season 2 is still chaos and fun to watch. We get Kinta and with him a new genre tag is getting added to Dandadan. Not too much tear-jacking scenes in this season maybe they are saving for season 3. That ending kiss though, I can’t imagine how anime only are feeling right now.
- The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity A popular shoujo anime I am waiting for. Kaoruko and the mellowly romance between Rintarou is really cute and the confession scene at the end is beautiful. Slice of life moments with their friends are nice and can see a new pair blooming.
- My Dress Up Darling new season is entertaining and animation is really really good for this one. We get to see more cosplay but not much progress in romance department.
- Dr.Stone continues and series name drops in final episodes. Has a weak start but the final three episodes are stars of the whole series.
- Takopii is enjoyable 6 episode anime. Really like how they directed and animated the whole series.
- Call Of The Night returns and we get to see more backstory and the vibe with the series is really something.
- Panty And Stocking returns after 15 years and it is still chaos.
- Grand Blue returns and it is still funny and enjoyable as season one.
- City The Animation, from KyoAni, impressive animation and crazy moments but I didn’t get all the jokes featured. Still enjoyed the show and my favorite opening this season.
- Witch Watch really funny show and laughed to tear in some episodes.
- Secrets Of The Silent Witch, solid fantasy series with interesting plot happening behind. Nothing much to say more about this except really like the fact Monica chose non-magical elective classes.
- Clevatess has interesting world setting and definitely will be checking out new season.
- There Is No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover See yuri, instant watch. This definitely is the spiciest yuri anime I have ever watched. And this is yuri harem. Definitely will be checking out upcoming 5 episodes.
- Bad Girl Yuri bait comedy show. Enjoyed the show, nothing amazing.
- Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra different game genres in isekai world. Interesting concept, wish the production quality is a little higher than this.
- Sword Of The Demon Hunter also one of the show I enjoyed even the show has a lot of production issues.
- Gachiakuta has uncommon character designs and they look good. The story is somewhat interesting but not really hooked on this.
- Kaijuu No.8 returns and finished the series. But also lost the hype around this.
- Nukitashi The Animation is borderline hentai and it knows. There is story and they didn’t shy away from their borderline hentai make the series somewhat good.
- Turkey expected CGDCT show focusing on bowling. Instead got a time travel anime.
- Private Tutor To Duke Daughter MuseAsia thumbnails got me to check this series out. Your average harem show.
- A Couple Of Cuckoos, Togen Anki, Shield Hero nothing noteworthy happen in these.
I know the name might make you think otherwise, but The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity is actually shounen!
Also, “enjoyable” sure is a way to describe Takopi. It was great, but I feel like my heart was in my stomach the whole way through. Maybe I’d enjoy it more on rewatch.
Thanks for the correction about Fragrant Flower.
As for Takopi, I don’t know, maybe anime has domestic violence overused and that made me think Takopi as ‘another one’.
Live molave reaction to Summer 2025
Summer 2025 is the strongest since Winter 2018 (with #2 best Violet Evergarden, #4 best A Place Further Than The Universe, and Yuru Camp), and the strongest since I started serially watching anime (Winter 2022). It’s got:
Takopi’s Original Sin - my new best anime. I never thought anything could upstage Violet. Cried hard in five out of six episodes.
My Dress Up Darling S2, The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity, and Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus - Cloverworks trifecta, all highly-regarded and some of the studio’s best output yet!
Baan - It’s… really good, given it’s an indie production that Gigguk bankrolled
Dan Da Dan S2
The Summer Hikaru Died
Call of the Night S2
Grand Blue S2
Silent Witch
Again, can I glaze some more on KaoruHana and MDUD?
While I had to ground my expectations on KaoruHana, they knock it out of the park with episode after episode. My gut tells me Cloverworks was cooking something the moment I saw its poster, simply because it’s got the same artistic quality as Akebi’s Sailor Uniform. I can’t glaze that one enough either as it’s one of the best-looking works in all anime. Unfortunately, the studio had to cut corners in KaoruHana, but they didn’t where it mattered. And in those scenes, they matched and exceeded anything the staff put out in Akebi, multiple times, in each episode. I’m as happy as Kaoruko there. Yay also for the romance iyashikei story it tells.
Bocchified MDUD is not in my bingo. It has OP of the season no doubt, and I think it’s the perfect way to adapt the series.
Other nonseasonal highlights I watched during Summer 2025:
Lost in Starlight - Insterstellar-esque mature romance story with nigh-flawless execution with the Shinkai art style I’m biased in favor of. 10/10
Redline and Promare - acid trips of watches there. Would recommend. Both 9/10
The Dangers in My Heart - the chemistry between the MCs is off the charts. Part of the reason why the story of KaoruHana felt more mundane to me, lol. 10/10. Best romance strictly because of the romance. I have higher-ranked romances but it’s because of other things. BokuYaba, for instance, is just below Your Lie in April because the latter’s drama is so good and it impacted me in a personal way.
I really should give Dangers in My Heart another shot. I have tried reading the manga and watching the show before, but always just can’t really make it through the beginning. However, I only ever see great things said about it.
I only have limited time, so I only picked three shows, Dr Stone and Call of the Night were great (as expected), but Dan da Dan S2 was boring as hell. I really liked the first one, but man, did they focus on all the wrong things…
Just a quick meta update that I added and enabled all the shows mentioned in last week’s thread in the bot. So, discussion threads should be made as they premiere.
Please have a bit of patience as there are always some inaccuracies in the AniList api that the bot uses at the beginning of each season. So, expect some threads to get made early or missed. Just pm me and I will get right on it.
Happy viewing everybody!
