Yep - stayed on formula and entertained me anyway.

I figured Kanata would catch up to the two leaders, then stall there, since just catching up from where he started is sufficient amazing driving by itself, and it’s too soon in the story arc for him to win. And right on schedule, his tires are wearing out.

Neat that that gave him an excuse to pass on the inside on a corner by running his inside tires in a gutter - flashback to the five consecutive hairpins of Takumi’s first race.

Joshiraku is about five rakugo-performing girls. The first episode opens with the end of a performance by one of them (to an audience of mostly empty seats), then the OP. Okay - at this point, I don’t really know what to expect, other than likely low-key humor.

Then it moves to them in a dressing room in which most of the series takes place, kneeling around a table. The camera focuses on one of them, then after an awkwardly long silence, she says, “You should just read the manga instead.”

I was sold right then and there.

Haida in the hedge made me laugh harder than it seems it should have.

Yeah - I can see both of those responses to it. It’s an interesting world and relatively engaging characters, but it’s also self-consciously edgy and relentlessly brutal. So it’s one of those series that make a strong initial impact, but then sort of overstay their welcome.

You and I Are Polar Opposites

You just supported a theory I had about this.

I was sort of oddly both pleased and disappointed by this. The problem is that I followed the manga from start to finish and loved it, and the anime is absolutely faithful to the manga. That means that it didn’t really add anything new for me (other than movement). But since I loved the manga, I had about decided that that was a good thing, because it meant that someone who hadn’t read the manga would potentially love the anime just as much. And sure enough…

Based on those three, Silent Witch should work for you.

Current season:

Initially, the only current series I watched was espisode 26 of MF Ghost, which was fine. I don’t expect it to do more than entertain me, and occasionally cynically amuse me with its adherence to the formula, and that’s what it does.

But then midweek, I was browsing back through the thread from last week and noticed that wietach had pointed to Ikoku Nikki as a surprisingly early contender for AOTS, so I gave it a shot. And I agree wholeheartedly. That was easily one of the best first episodes I’ve seen in a long, long time, and it laid the groundwork for much more to come. I loved everything about it - the story, the characters, the art style, the voice acting, the music, the dialogue, the non-linear but seamless timeline, the perfectly placed bits of surrealism… And last week’s episode - the second - was more of the same. It’s just very, very good, and in every respect.

And the first episode of You and I Are Polar Opposites aired, so I got to see that one too. I was sort of both pleased and underwhelmed - I followed the manga from start to finish and this is a faithful adaptation (even the chibified characters are the same), so it doesn’t really add anything for me. But that’s likely a good thing, since the manga was very good, and don’t mess with what works. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read the manga (or who has read it and wants to re-experience it animated) and is interested in a school slice-of-life rom-com (with multiple romances). And I’ll keep watching it for certain - my favorite character (Nishi) hasn’t even appeared yet.

Past seasons:

First up last week was the rest of Hanasaku Iroha, which I started the previous week.

It’s mostly a slice of life, with a bit of romance mixed in, and I was very impressed. The cast is excellent - large and diverse and well fleshed-out. And most of them get at least some development along the way. It’s set at a hot spring inn though, and much of the focus of the series is on the inn itself, which is very old and very traditional and very well-loved, but at this point, not very successful, so the ongoing background is the conflict between the desire to maintain the inn’s beloved traditions at the expense of commercial success or to attempt to update it to hopefully appeal to a broader range of customers, but at the expense of its traditional appeal. Along the way, different characters take different, and sometimes shifting, positions on that. But that’s just the background - the thing that knits everything and everyone together. There’s much more to it too, as the characters interact and grow. And the art and voice work were also very good. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who appreciates SOL.

Then, wanting a change of pace, I watched another episode of Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi - episode 5 of 6 total. It’s a gritty cyberpunk with 45 minute standalone episodes and an overarching plot that’s been slowly playing out (very slowly - the in-universe timespan from episode 1 to episode 5 has been 55 years). Since the episodes are self-contained and long, and tend to be both complex and brutal, I’ve just been watching them one or two at a time for a few weeks now.

Next up I bounced off of Soul Eater. I really wanted to like it, mostly because of the art style, but it’s just so shounen. I made it through the first three prologue episodes hoping it would improve when it got to the story episodes, but I only made it about halfway through the first of them, cringing all the way, and had to give up.

Then I knocked around for a bit, watching a few favorite episodes of favorite series - Apocalypse Hotel 6, Zombieland Saga Revenge 4, Asobi Asobase 4 (I’m laughing just thinking about shogi) - then rewatched Milky Subway for the I-don’t-know-how-manyth time, then finally settled on Jijou wo Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru aka The Clueless Transfer Student is Assertive aka My Clueless First Friend. It was good all in all, though the central gimmick wore a bit thin. And the art style left a bit to be desired. But it was cute and wholesome and amusing, and that’s good enough.

And at the moment, I’m rewatching Trigun Stampede, getting myself oriented for Stargaze. It’s kind of risky, since broadly what I remember is that I enjoyed it in spite of its flaws, so this time around, it’s up in the air whether I’ll be more aware of the things I enjoy or the flaws. We’ll see, but so far so good.

What’s the R35 then though?

I was mostly excited but a bit apprehensive looking forward to this, since the first episode drew me in so strongly that I have something of a stake in the series now. And happily, it delivered.

It’s very much slice of life, but it’s just done so well, and littered with neat little moments - happy moments and sad moments and enlightening moments and amusing moments and just… meaningful moments. And it does this fascinating trick in which some of the moments sneak up on me - they’re just going along, not seeming to be much of anything notably, and then suddenly some emotion or some realization smacks me in the face with its full weight, almost as if from out of nowhere.

And the story is continuing to unfold gracefully, with well-placed flashbacks and fantasy sequences, so the pacing is near-perfect, as we gradually learn more about who these people were, are and are going to become.

And the art and music and voice acting all continue to be excellent.

I’m impressed and satisfied, and looking forward to next week.

Mmm… I hadn’t thought about it that way, but I think you’re exactly right. And this author’s skilled enough that that was likely a deliberate decision, so there could be an ongoing focus. Otherwise, it would’ve had to have been “Naruto studies,” which would be boring or 'Naruto doesn’t study," which would be tragic.

Sumire does the whoosh thing now too.

Ikoku Nikki – I think it’s the earliest in the season I get my AOTS contender.

I had to check this out, since that’s such a bold prediction, and… now it’s already an AOTS contender for me too.

That was tremendous, and in so many different ways - the characters, the narration, the art style, the music, the way the story unfolded non-linearly but still somehow seamlessly, the perfectly placed surrealism, the little bits and pieces of buried emotional turmoil (hints of things to come)…

I really didn’t expect something that good. Thanks for the heads up.

Sorry - I must not have been clear enough.

I don’t mean romantic progress as a whole. I mean things like figuring out what the question “Are you interested in anyone?” is actually asking.

Waku’s always in the slow lane, but he always gets there eventually.

I love that when he manages to stammer out all the right things to get her to relax a bit, it’s as if a flood gate opens up.

Mmkay…

They sort of skipped right over the whole “but his car’s so underpowered” thing and didn’t show how Kanata managed to catch up with all of those cars, even on long straightaway sections, so they could focus on the nifty passing moves.

And they’re still doing that thing where he drifts a corner to pass on the outside and the other driver can’t figure out what he’s doing, as if it’s some sort of magic.

And why are Nozomi and Yashio still paired up, and with him in front, when she demonstrated last season that’s she’s far and away the better driver? I was hoping this season would show her up closer to the front, by herself, battling with the supercars. But then that would sort of throw a wrench in the whole “but his car’s so underpowered” thing, since hers has even less power. Which wouldn’t actually make a difference, but we aren’t supposed to know that yet.

And as has been the case since Initial D First Stage, even with all of the things that can be criticized, it still entertains me.

Picked up a wonderful newer series last week, courtesy of Essence_of_Meh - Moriagaranai Date aka Unexciting Date.

As I’ve noted on the threads, it pretty much immediately jumped all the way to being my favorite new manga, and the two leads are vying for the position of my all-time favorite manga couple. It really is that good, with drily witty dialogue and multiple laugh-out-loud moments per chapter, and a slow-burn romance that couldn’t be anything other than slow-burn.

The only new thing I’ve watched so far is the first episode of the third season of MF Ghost, which was pretty much exactly what I expected.

The rest of the things that interest me this season - so far, Frieren season 2, Trigun Stargaze and You and I Are Polar Opposites - have yet to air.

I’m also very much looking forward to the movies of All You Need is Kill and Milky Subway

As far as past season watches go:

I started the week off with a fascinating pair of movies - Boku ga Aishita Subete no Kimi e aka To Every You I’ve Loved Before and Kimi wo Aishita Hitori no Boku e aka To Me the One Who Loved You.

Then I knocked around for a bit and damned if I didn’t end up watching Honey Lemon Soda again. That’s the fifth time now. I had no intention of watching it - I was just browsing, waiting for something to jump out at me, and came across it, and smiled, and went ahead and clicked on episode 1, and that was pretty much that.

Then, refreshed with a dose of comfy, familiar fluff, I dove into a series I’ve been wanting to watch, when the time was right, for years - The Promised Neverland.

And I’m currently in the middle of a very nice series I just stumbled across - Hanasaku Iroha.

Yeah - that’s it. Two days and 15 chapters and this is my new favorite manga, and these two are vying for my all-time favorite couple.

These two might have just leapfrogged all the way up to my all-time favorite couple in one afternoon and 14 chapters.