I was about to make my own of these, but I left it rattling around in my head for too long.

Fall 2025 only, final impressions. All spoilers! No specific order.

To Your Eternity S3

I enjoyed the story for what it was. I think Fushi’s flailing around and Mizuha’s attempted redemption (while she was trying to manipulate him) was to set us up for yet another tragedy. While it was a disappointing arc, my guess is that the end is to have a resolution between Hayase’s line, nokkers, and Fushi’s understanding of love. This is most likely going to be an echo of Mimori’s plot. I don’t recall love emotion being felt in the past, and this ties into the Man in Black bailing out on the world.

It is interesting to me that the Man in Black lied to Fushi, and I wonder how many lies he told Fushi this season about bailing out and not being able to do anything.

Watari-Kun’s ******** is about to Collapse

I was genuinely happy to see Watari end up with Satsuki.

I was glad that he was able to take a step back from Ishihara. He had put Ishihara up on a pedestal so much that he could never see her as an equal. She, by contrast, had a poor self image. While the show never addressed it, I felt that she was unconsciously picking him because of his similar low self worth. Props to mom for her sixth sense. I think that he would not have been able to tear himself away if they consummated their relationship.

The best character here was Satsuki. She started broken, and had no understanding of her own motivations. Her character growth was off the charts.

Let’s Play

I couldn’t help but see Marshall as DanTDM, which is funny because I only know of him because of my children watching hours of his playthrough videos. His fan’s reactions are not unreasonable.

I really wanted to know more about how Ruminate works. Is there a story path for each item you purchase? Are there multiple win conditions and multiple ways to proceed? It sounds novel, but reminds me of the old-school point-and-click games.

Her boss’s advances bothered me. He needed to transfer her to someone else and put some distance there. While I appreciate his efforts at building her up, there is an obvious power conflict here.

This Monster Wants to Eat Me

I went into this hearing that it had weird yuri vibes. I GUESS, but that wasn’t really the point. I struggled with the first few episodes because of the animation. Episodes 4+ did pick up significantly. This wasn’t supposed to be a feel-good anime, and the moral of the story seemed to be that you can’t only hold out for the best outcome when compromises are available. I’m glad that the answer to her clinical depression was not to stare at the flowers and feel better (Rurouni Kenshin). That girl needs therapy.

The Banished Court Magician Aims to become the Strongest

I watched this with low expectations, and I don’t think I would have been disappointed either way. Friendship is magic, magic is magic, magic is everywhere. I think they opened more plot lines than closed. My one disappointment is how the swordmaster’s whole motivation appeared to be that he was sad.

Gachiakuta

This did not disappoint. So many great beats to this show, and unexpected moments. I appreciated the new takes on the shounen misfit group with powers trope. It appears that a power creep is on the way. Also, Regto was totally in on something about the watchmen series. I’m not sure if Rudo took his name, if Regto took him in because of his name, or if he was actually a raider in hiding. Further examination is necessary.

My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s

I watched this expecting another Eminence in Shadow or Sword Art. Lucky for them they knew that my weakness is white-haired elven princesses with generational powers named Amilia. Or Emilia. Whatever. The coincidence was too close. There’s no way they didn’t know.

For being the quiet kid that nothing happens to, he sure got the best picks in this new world. I’m not even sure what the rest of his class is doing here other than to show HOW AWESOME he really is. I feel like this is like Loner Life in Another world, where they will just move around from continent to continent while he progresses the plot.

Okay, I really did enjoy it, even if the MC didn’t really seem to have to do much more than a couple training sessions before he bulked up.

Finally, who else cringed at the cliffside wedding?

Touring After the Apocalypse

I kept waiting for this to go somewhere about who the main characters really were, how did THEY end up here. Why is she still a young woman? Are all these memories fake? Was the disaster natural, war, or what? Ok, I figured the whole thing was a spot for promoting tourism (and Honda??) at some point, but I wanted a little more exposition. Peeking at comments about the source material, it seems that you will be constantly strung along.

Campfire Cooking (S1+S2)

I wasn’t going to watch this, but if there is a season two, it can’t be all that bad right? It wasn’t! I enjoyed the byplay of the characters, especially how the MC really didn’t care about the plight of the kingdom and could have probably been the deciding point in the whole thing with his monster buffs. He’s just going to hie off into the distance, escaping both the kingdom and the plot.

You know what you can’t escape? The gods. Too bad, you are now their play toy. I figured he probably should have just made an offering with each meal, but having the gods complain to him was fun.

Pass the Monster Meat Milady

To have an adult conversation about your feelings, and then commit was pretty wholesome. In fact, the whole thing was wholesome! They absolutely telegraphed the magical nuke from 5 episodes away.

Mechanical Marie

I felt that the ending was cheating, but that wasn’t the point. It was a light romcom where the female lead could do no wrong. I typically waited to watch this until I had watched everything else

A Wild Last Boss Appeared

I snoozed on this and then watched the whole thing in a few nights. It had been on my list, but I kept getting distracted by other shiny things.

A Gatherer’s Adventure in Isekai

I could have skipped this and been okay. I felt more like this was a bundle of tropes meant to sell airtime than anything new. It wasn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t recommend it over anything else.

Let this Grieving Soul Retire (Both Cour)

I decided that this main character must have a have a hidden max charisma stat or something. It reminds me of the Sir Bearington story about the bear who bluffed his way into being a human, except less capable. It was funny, but cringe humor is lost on me.

My Hero Acadamia

I loved My Hero, and have been watching it as it came out for years. I appreciated how the story wound down here. I heard a lot of complaints about the ending, but I felt that this was appropriate.

Gnosia

This is a refreshing take on how a game with multiple play-throughs might actually happen. They steadily increased the number of players as well as the rules. NOTHING has been taken for granted, and I appreciate it. The music was fantastic, and the characters each have their own story.

1 Punch Man, S2 + S3

I know a lot of people were upset about the use of AI on season 3, but I didn’t even see it when I was looking for it. I actually started season 3, and then realized I hadn’t watched season 2. I do have to say that Saitama’s strength gets old, but the story is more about the supporting characters.

Side-thought: Saitama and Krai from Let this Grieving Soul Retire are polar opposites, and the stories are polar opposites, but somehow the same.

Dusk Beyond the End of the Earth

As someone else mentioned, this started out as the two of them against this dystopian world, and then morphed into a weird love triangle, and then basically said that the world needs to be this way, sorry!

I think I had a little whiplash watching Akira suddenly change his tune, and I very much understand Yugure’s frustration. I feel that the ending was messy, trying to tie everything up neatly. That being said, I enjoyed the ride, even if I had no idea where we were really going.

Ranma 1/2 Season 2

As someone who watched Ranma 25 years ago, I’m happy to rewatch it. People who never watched it in the past don’t seem to enjoy it like I am, and I think the nostalgia is a huge factor. This means that I can’t give an objective opinion. I do have to say that the cleaned-up animation was pretty good. I feel like they censored much of the nudity, as the original just loved to show the women naked.

I’m stoked to see season 3, as that is when the story starts moving away from being so episodic to having a more clear path.

Sanda

I loved the stark art style and the world building. I’m here for all the weirdness this brings. Bonus points for not having everything work out. I hope to see a season 2.

Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha!

This was revenge porn, but only in the sense that revenge happens. If you went into this looking for real porn, there are other recommendations. I’m not sure if the lack of porn made this better or worse, and the edginess of the main character caused me to roll my eyes so often. Also, the supporting character’s cheerfulness and worship of the MC just bothered me.

I feel like that the racism against humanity was meant to justify that the MC can do whatever he wants. The only way this would make me happy would be if it became a self-fulfilling prophecy where his revenge meant the beginning of a truly evil empire. I think this will disappoint me, and he will be a better person once he killed everyone in his way. Guess I’ll have to find out.

Death March to the Parallel World

I forgot I watched this, and was confused as to how it ended up in my history. It took 5 minutes to remember anything. Truly forgettable.