I thought Shikimori-san was pretty dull after watching the first episode and reading the first few chapters. It felt like it had one gimmick and that was it.
But I watched a couple more episodes and ended up really enjoying it. So my opinion has shifted.
I think its a solid 7.5 show. Nothing revolutionary, but I had a good time catching up. And the dynamic between the leads is cute and the friend group is nice enough.
Also started Kongming.
I see why people have been talking it up all season. I watched episodes 1-7 tonight and had a blast with it!
I'm planning on catching up with a bunch of anime this weekend, so after getting up to date with Kongming I have Love Live & Virgin Road left to go on my shortlist.
And here I though the go to was Yu Gi Oh
- Ascendance of a Bookworm S3: So that was pretty good, for the most part. I can't help but feel it got really rushed in episode 9, a ton of things just kept happening and speeding along, and I wonder why they couldn't have had another episode or two to pace things better? That said, the rest of this season didn't feel particularly rushed, so I guess it balanced out. Sylvester sure was obnoxious for no reason at first, and if S4 ever comes, maybe it'll explain why he was even masquerading as priest to begin with. ...Also it was a massive dick move to tell everyone he actually contemplated killing Myne's family because Noble politics. I get that's kind of how they work, but holy shit dude.
- Ya Boy Kongming: So this was a blast pretty much the whole way through. That OP never stopped being great, and Eiko's songs were all pretty damn good. Having Zhuge's strategies redone in the context of publicity stunts is fun, even the rap stuff wasn't too bad, and I have negative interest in that. Would love a season 2, I need to find out how Zhuge adapts the flawless strategy of "send women's clothes to my rival and make him angry lol".
Edited by TropayXion on Jun 16th 2022 at 6:48:07 PM
Apparently, production comitee wanted to shorten S3 to 8 eps as despite LN selling pretty good, the anime itself flopped. So I am not sure if we'll get anoher season.
So, first final reactions also:
Honzuki no Gekokujou: the ending of the second part of Myne's adventures (and here adventures as Myne for the matter) was still good. It is clear that not that many resources was put inthe series, but plot and characters compnesated it. We need more isekais like this. I doubt we'll see mroe inthe future, but I do nto mind to see at least next arc animated.
Paripi Koumei: All in all it was a good music anime with protagonist that actually lives up to being a strategist. I have only two complaints here:
1. The last two arcs could have been easily shortened at leat 1/3.
2. And it looked lke a side job for the studio. I ma not sure what P.A. Works are busy with, but animation-wise this series was below average for them besides some short performance scenes.
Edited by Nachtwandler on Jun 16th 2022 at 2:55:37 AM
Final Reactions: Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road
One of the most notable things I liked here was Menou and Akari's dynamic, which was great shipping fuel! Apart from that, I found the story a bit slow yet action-packed in key places to keep me going. And then, there's Ashuna, who practically stole the spotlight. I look forward to seeing more!
You're right... But oddly, even though I should be over the moon for this, I felt like the wave was a bit lost somewhere, perhaps from the plot which felt more action than yuri
Final Reactions: Dance Dance Danseur
I got what I expected: ballet and drama! My kudos mainly goes to Luou's parts, the cuts to Misaki in parts of the Summer School arc, and the connections between the main trio and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. If there's any more of this to come, I will gladly see it!
- The Executioner and her Way of Life: I quite enjoyed this one. It's rare for a show, especially an isekai, to be dark without just being pointless grimderp, but this has some pretty intriguing stuff going on in the background. I quite liked Menou and Akari together, personally, and Momo ended up not being as... uh, Kuroko as I feared she'd be - I guess it helps that she supplements her Menou boner with actually doing stuff. Though I do agree that, while Ashuna's also a lot of fun, she popped up waaaayyyy too often for someone that's not part of the group. I guess it's kind of a consequence of Momo having to act solo half the time. Having someone to bounce off of during her own sections is nice, but it's weird that she's practically inseparable from the princess knight that just seems to be randomly doing the exact same thing as Team Menou on any given day.
I will agree that Momo and Ashuna are pretty entertaining, and the world does have some nifty aesthetics - mostly the verse-form casting, since I'm not generally fond of techno-magic. Otherwise, though... sadly, the most interesting thing to happen in the second 2/3 of the series is the post-credits stinger in the last episode.
It's been fun.Overall Impressions
- Paripi Koumei: The best part about this show is that it really sold the idea of Zhuge Kongming as a talent manager. His eloquent manner of speaking, the way he quickly adapted to modern Shibuya, his skill at mixing cocktails and brewing medicine and freaking rapping, and of course how he adapts his many famous stratagems for the purpose of turning his chosen master Eiko into a superstar. Always fun to tune in to see what marvelous scheme Kongming is going to pull off next. Eiko isn't nearly as interesting as her advisor but she's a fun and spunky girl in her own right. She did sound a tad flat at first, but she markedly improves by the end of the season. If that was intentional, you have my applause, sound team. Who am I kidding, I was already applauding them from the moment I heard "HEY DJ!" in the groovy OP. I hope Kongming's modern-day Shibuya saga gets the chance to continue
- Shoukei Shojo no Virgin Road: I touched upon this in its thread, but basically, it felt like the author was able to end his light novel on an interesting, twisty note... and then he was asked to continue the story. The show implies that Menou will change her mind about killing Akari and instead become her dear friend, but there doesn't seem to be a solid vision of how to get from point A to point B. Throughout the season I remained utterly unconvinced that Menou would grow to like her target. The second major arc of the show is also riddled with problems; the villains feel like useless filler and the plot developments don't make sense. This is especially aggravating because at a casual glance, a few obvious writing tweaks would have improved the story by leaps and bounds. And as mentioned before, there's a certain headstrong princess who somehow happens to run into the main cast, all the time. On the bright side, the setting has a strong sense of identity. You always learn something about how the otherworlders have affected the world, whether by birthing monsters or reducing an entire continent to salt. The magic system is heavily based on scripture. The lore is genuinely interesting, I only wish the core of the show, which is the relationship between Menou and Akari, lived up to its initial promise.
- The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs: Typical isekai power fantasy stuff, with the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink fantasy setting livening things up. Hey, I'll take mecha where I can get them. I would rag on the story more but it's acknowledged in-universe that the game the MC got transported to was a load of crap, so it's kind of a waste of time.

I ended up binge reading the Ao Ashi manga and I can confirm it is fantastic, especially if you’re jonesing for a more grounded take on football.