Spring 2023 anime

So, what genre is Oshi no Ko? My general impression is that it's some kind of thriller.

Depends on the arc. It's always fairly dramatic though.

one last show premiere:

• Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts: It is basically Beauty and the Beast. Every year, a sacrifice is given to the Beast Kingdom to be devoured as part of a treaty between the Beats People and the Human Kingdom — Most likely the Humans lost this war. The 99th Sacrifice is young Sariphi (who looks to be maybe 10-12, and her name is literally a corruption of sacrifice) as Beauty, and the Lion-like Beast King as the Beast (Sarifi names him Leonhart). And Like the Beast, he's really human (or at least a Half-Human Hybrid), only showing his human side under a full moon when the miasma clears. She is fearless and friendly to the King, who has secretly not been killing the sacrifices since he took the throne a few years ago, releasing them back to their homes. Sariphi has no home to return to, however, so he takes her as his Queen instead. It looks fun so far, though there's a minor qualm about the King taking Sariphi as his Queen, given he's clearly a grown adult, and she is clearly a child, though it may be a case of calling her queen for her own protection, rather than any lustful intentions.

Dr. Stone Thursday. The dub starts today too, though that isn't up yet.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY

Edited by diddyknux on Apr 20th 2023 at 11:49:37 AM

X2 I don't think the manga itself ever actually gives Sari and the king actual ages. You're pretty much just meant to roll with it

Decided to limit myself to four shows this season to have more free time.

• Birdie Wing: Golf Girls Story: Season 2: They made us wait nine (9!) months, but golf has finally returned to us, complete with a truckload of plot twists right off the bat. Glad they the main ship is confirmed to NOT be incest.. I also respect BW's writer Kuroda for continuing to work in references to his previous show Madlax despite it mostly having been forgotten by time.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Season 2: Gundam is also back and in top form. Can't really talk about most of the stuff I find great about the new season without massive spoilered text, but I'm having a great time.
• Oshi no Ko: I was worried about the 80-minute premiere, but it went by really fast. Second episode wasn't as good, but I'm enjoying it a lot even if it is tonally all over the place.
• Skip and Loafer: Just a really relaxing time, especially since the other 3 shows I'm watching are so intense.

Edited by lrrose on Apr 22nd 2023 at 5:38:35 AM

First Impressions

• Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts: The fearsome king of beasts unsurprisingly doesn't really want anyone sacrificed, but he ends up liking Sarifi enough to make her his queen. Decent for what it is. However, I'll be shelving the anime, maybe pick up the manga later on.

Threadless Talk

• Ao no Orchestra: Seems to have latched on to its rhythm in the second episode, and it is music to the ears. Our two main protagonists got to air out their thoughts, and with their respective personal burdens getting lighter, they can finally take a step forward into making the violin sing, like it was meant to. Now I'm curious if we're getting a time skip to high school, since we know these two are joining an orchestra, and they sure ain't got one at their current school. It'll also be nice for Akine to get away from those two-faced pricks. Continuing.
• Dangers In My Heart: We're finally seeing Yamada and Ichikawa interact with each other, instead of the weird kinda stalking thing. They're both cute, but I still need their chemistry to pop more and be a bonafide danger to my heart. I do like the subtle signs of attraction/interest between Ichikawa and Yamada. Or I could be reading too much into it. Ah well. Continuing.
• Insomniacs After School: So cute it actually does keep me up awake from squeeing all night. I'm not joking. Nakami and Isaki were so cute building their secret base in the observatory, and my heart did drop like an anvil when the nurse discovered them. Good thing she let them establish an astronomy club, and since they're insomniacs, stargazing is about as good a hobby as any. Would be very cool if they delve a bit into astronomy and space and stuff. The more grounded art style also helps in selling the relaxing vibes of the show. My personal favorite of the romance anime this season. Likely finishing.
• Jigokuraku: When it comes to adapting action shonen, MAPPA is the master class. Incredible animation for the fights and the gore, and the soundtrack pushes all the right buttons. I think if I'm gonna drop this anime, it'll be more because of my declining interest in the content of the source material rather than any particular fault on the anime's part. But as of now, continuing.
• KamiKatsu: It constantly feels like it's on fast forward, and the CGI is hilariously bad. That said, MC playing Cultist Simulator is a whole lot more interesting than the usual isekai crap. At least he has a concrete goal, you know? He's introducing modern tech to amasss followers, and not just because it would be "neat", or because they really really wanted to taste mayonnaise again. Continuing.
• Kawaisugi Crisis: The joke is still the same, three episodes in. Pet animals are cripplingly cute, stay away if you value your sanity. I was amused for a bit, but my schedule is its in own state of crisis, so unfortunately this is dropped.
• Loving Yamada at Lv 999: The titular Yamada himself is a work in progress as far as social interactions go, and while I have no problem with him being the standard aloof, dark-haired pretty boy, Akane is just so much more fun to watch. She gets more relatable by the minute, fiddling with her smartphone during classes, finding online games more comforting than mixers, and generally struggling with the mundane trials of life and heartbreak. And I must reiterate how pleasingly clean the direction of this show is. It's easy to get immersed in the gentle ebb and flow of the story. Likely finishing.
• Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers: I'm not quite sure I'm getting all of the satire about otaku culture. Magical Destroyers revels in chaos and insanity, and whatever meaning I'm seeing from the shambles might very well only exist in my head. Actually, stuff like otaku Hero being the subject of bondage play kind of convinces me I'm overthinking it. But hey, I do like it when the compass goes haywire and the story does whatever it wants. I'm definitely digging the 90s vibes of the animation, too. Likely finishing.
• Majutsushi Orphen Hagure Tabi - Doom of Dragon's Sanctuary: The plot for this season seems like it'll be more interesting on account of the antagonist not being exasperatingly cryptic and meandering. Though their ultimate goal still remains inscrutable. Continuing.
• My Home Hero: Feels like a few things went missing in translation (such as the wife being weirdly understanding about the whole murder thing) but it's as intriguing as any thriller ought to be. The Tosu couple has it rough, though admittedly I'm more curious about the survival chances of the writing itself. Continuing.
• Otaku Elf: Elda is precious, so no wonder all the townsfolk are coddling her. It's interesting to hear from her perspective as an immortal being, and also amusing to see how she's hardly changed from centuries ago. Finally, I'm happy to be watching a wholesome slice-of-life that isn't yet another group of four or five girls in some sort of club. Likely finishing.
• Otonari no Ginga: Solid adaptation, though I'm mostly waiting for the latter parts, when Goshiki's wishes get more clearly defined. Continuing.
• Rokudou no Onna-tachi: So somehow the plot has pivoted to Rokudou using his curse to rehabilitate the "bad girls", thereby legitimately earning their affection (I know Osanada said she's giving up on him, but she's still gonna be part of the sorta harem I reckon). I can see this becoming like The World God Only Knows where Rokudou helps a bunch of girls resolve their insecurities and whatnot. I think the way Osanada's issues were resolved was a little too clean and convenient, but the idea is sound. Overall this is an interesting direction for the story to take. Continuing.
• Smartphone Isekai: My seasonal junk food. Continuing.
• Second Time Isekai: Could be junk food too. Waiting to see how hard the MC will flex his OP-ness. Trying one or two more episodes.
• Skip and Loafer: That OP is a bop, holy hell. The good vibes don't stop there. This is a show that never fails to put a smile on my face. And it's not like it's relentlessly cheery either; rather, it does tackle a few of the less ideal facets of high school life, which gives it a respectable amount of depth. Mitsumi and Shima are, as others in-universe point out, and odd pairing, but they bounce off each other with gusto, and the supporting characters thus far have all almost been as likable. One of the top contenders of the romance genre this season. Likely finishing.
• The Clueless Transfer Student is Assertive: Even more puppy love than the standard rom com on account of the characters literally being in elementary school. The main pairing is cute enough but they're too young for me to enjoy shipping them. I was thinking maybe it'll be funny enough to make up for that, but no, the comedy is merely adequate. Shelving to free up more time for myself.
• The Marginal Service: This anime does not understand the appeal of tokusatsu vs aliens, which is a big miss because that's the core idea of the story. Animation is rather cheap, too. Dropped.
• The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion: This honestly seems like your run-of-the-mill reverse otome isekai at this point. Dropped.
• Tousochuu Great Mission: Okay, so the characters are in a televised, high-stakes survival game where they have to run away from robotic taggers. Then they combine that with a weird kaiju disaster plotline happening in-game for some reason. They get themed missions but as far as I can tell completing those missions doesn't really help anyone out? Or sometimes helps all the players regardless of thir participation, in which case why even bother finishing the missions yourself? Seems a bit confused on what kind of game show it wants to be, but the parkour is enjoyable. Continuing.

...Holy crap, how do you even manage to watch all that? My constantly distracted ass can't never manage that.

It's obvious that Oshi no Ko is the hottest anime of this season and it looks pretty darn good, all things considered.

With that said, I'm still very hesitant to touch that, because I feel like I will get far too invested. I also fear that after enjoying the anime, the manga will end in a disappointing note. XP

Nah, they won't adapt the best (IMHO) arcs this season. So unless they announce S2 immediatelly, reading the manga is worth it.

In my opinion, what will be the mid-season of Oshi no Ko is certainly a highlight of the manga and for this season.

Haha, that’s not even all I’m watching!

But seriously, anime episodes are pretty short, they’re actually easier to keep up to date with compared to live action TV. I’m pickier when it comes to those.

And regarding Oshi no Ko, I’d say the anime is well worth a watch. Give in. Manga hasn’t ended yet either, so technically there’s no ending to disappoint you yet.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 25th 2023 at 3:24:11 AM

Likewise, in my experience it is quite easy to follow several anime series in parallel. Including ones that I think are not good.

While I can only watch one live action series at a time, and I often drop them.

Edited by gropcbf on Apr 25th 2023 at 3:55:54 PM

Also, watching like 2-4 of them a day is not that taxing.

(unless you end up here in Japan and you have to watch this predominantly without subs on TV, but I guess that's mainly for a portion of people...)

Edited by thuse on Apr 25th 2023 at 7:16:26 PM

New Dr. Stone is up.

The Kingdom of Science builds up its infrastructure even further, upgrading from iron sand to iron ore and setting up distribution to get materials all around their settlements and work stations much more efficiently.

Moved pretty fast this episode, next time it'll be completing the ship, and probably setting off too. About 5 episodes was what I was expecting it to take based on the manga, so I'd say we're right on schedule.

Dangers in my Heart Episode 5: After I praised the subtlety of Yamada's attraction to Ichikawa last episode, this one then decided to lay it on thick. Kinda wished it stayed subtle, but then I also enjoyed Yamada's stealth advances. Now if only we could ditch that one kid whose entire personality is "I'm a pervert".

Loving Yamada at Lv 999 Episode 5: That was scary. Good on Akane for still being kind to Runa after that very dangerous prank she pulled, but man, I'd have been mad at her. I am angry at her. At least we saw Eita scolding her.

Adachi has his good points deep, deep, DEEP inside but I don't think the anime will even brush against them in its 12 episodes and also even when he he shows them he's still really annoying

This week's episode of Edens Zero was heavy.

You bet it was!! You could say it shot all the lights and left us to die...

Started Cheat Skill

I actually like it a lot. it helps that i actually really like the MC here, he's still very humble despite his strength and his transormation into a Bishounen. Gives me Lookism vibes but with an Isekai bent.

I am utterly in love with Insomniacs After School. The more-than-friends limbo Nakami and Magari are in feels so authentic, especially as they bond over their shared desire to get a good night’s sleep. It is the cutest thing that the best sleeping aid they’ve discovered is each other. The supporting cast has also been providing some damn good support (“third wheels should just roll out”).

Episode 5 in particular really showed how vulnerable Nakami was. You could feel the slowly building frustration from tiny inconveniences and roadblocks, and how it was getting to him. It’s hard not to root for him after that.

Once the anime ends I’m definitely gonna pick the manga up and read it from the beginning.

Episode 5? Are you from future

But on the serious note, it is a great coming of age+romance show so far. And I presume we could get to the firts big development by the end of the season if manga spoilers are true.

Edited by Nachtwandler on May 2nd 2023 at 6:23:37 AM

There are a lot of coming of age stories with varying levels of romance in it this season in hindsight.

Insomniacs After School is very nice indeed! I wouldn't know where to watch it legally, so I went through other means and watched the frist two episodes.

Edited by gropcbf on May 2nd 2023 at 10:15:28 AM

It is on Hi Dive, so no official means for us outside US and a few more countries.