The winter season has basically drawn to a close. Let’s talk about it! Anything surprise you? Disappoint you? Disgust you? I’m looking for some hot takes.
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.
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
Edit:
As requested in the post body, here’s my hot take:
there’s no need to be particularly on guard for recency bias.
On the other end of the time-based bias spectrum, we have rosy retrospection (a.k.a. nolstagia).
By discounting recency bias so strongly, we end up being biased towards older shows.
Just leave things be and the biases would cancel out.
So if a recent anime is good, there’s no need to hold back - just acknowledge that it is good.
Edit 2:
Parking thoughts here for next week
Beastar season 2 episode 4 spoiler
Legosi bit a huge chunk out of his attacker. It should be very obvious who the attacker is because of his injury, or because he skipped school to hide his injury. Why didn’t Legosi stayed in school to find out?? Or at least tell a teacher!!
Wtf. I hate it when serious characters lose their brains.
Past Seasons
Peak is back on the menu with Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song-
It is yet another anime that is good in multiple aspects - animation, story, etc.
It felt like a crossover of Violet Evergarden and Terminator 0,
Vivy spoiler
with more of Violet Evergarden at the start and more of Terminator 0 towards the end
It is not without its flaws though.
For example, in episode 2:
Vivy spoiler
If the terrorists are going to demolish the building, why bother going after that politician with guns first?! Just set off the bombs while he’s still inside!
Also, if the teddy bear is so good at controlling electronics, there was no need for them to actually set off the bombs to create an escape route at the end. All it has to do is to show a fake timer, then Vivy and gang can use the chance to flee!
I also don’t vibe with the songs despite this being a music-focused anime.
Honestly, these are minor flaws. Plus, the other aspects of the anime are so good that they made up for the flaws.
On a side note, this anime felt especially relevant with all the discussions around AI (even though they are simply narrow intelligence at the moment). For example, we had this recent post in our community. I sense that some people can fit in with Toak - and I don’t mean the moderate faction.
One last point before I wrap things up: I have watched enough anime that Tanezaki Atsumi voice-acted in that I can recognise her by voice.
In a nutshell, this anime is top tier. 10/10
This Season
In the end, I only watch 4 anime to completion this season (Apothecary Diaries is still ongoing).
Apothecary Diaries season 2
I kinda ruined it for myself by reading ahead with the manga, which means that I’m watching a suspense show without the suspense. I should be more patient next time.
Otherwise, the production value is still up there, so it’s still top tier in my book.
Re:Zero season 3
This season of Re:Zero is just not it for me.
I realised that I enjoyed the previous seasons so much because of:
Re:Zero spoiler
e.g. with Subaru’s parents
Re:Zero spoiler
He basically started with nothing - no allies, no powers - except his one time manipulation power, so he was really just a normal dude. It was so exciting seeing him use all his wits to achieve the optimal outcome despite how grim the initial situation was. I would have difficulty figuring the best way forward.
Now that he has powerful allies, the plot becomes so predictable. I already know that his allies are going to win the fights against their respective challengers.
With how predictable things get, it gets boring.
I don’t think I will be continuing with the next season of Re:Zero.
Zenshu
It had a very slow start, such that I almost got bored enough to drop it. Thankfully, one of the later episodes turned it around.
IMO the last part of the show was good, but not great. It’s entertaining, but I could have explored anime from past seasons instead.
Medalist
I have gushed over this anime before, but that’s because it’s just that good. It’s quality is on par with other top anime and it has so many touching moments.
I gave the top contender for my anime of the season a good run for its money, but in the end I still went with the other anime for AOTS.
To use Tsukasa’s analogy: Medalist is like a taiyaki with consistently high production value, always looking good but with fewer standout moments. The other one is like a strawberry shortcake with clear peaks.
For me, the memorability of a series at its best wins out. And unfortunately for Medalist, its last episode was essentially just setting up for a sequel.
Regardless, it’s still so good that it’s joining my 10s, making it the first sport anime to do so.
100 Girlfriends season 2
This right here is my anime of the season.
This adaptation doesn’t just follow the source material - it elevates it.
A couple of episodes look somewhat rough, likely because the anime staff is stretched real thin, but the standout moments / episodes more than make up for it. My favourite has got to be episode 6, which has everything - top tier comedy, emotional moment, character development and fantastic animation.
I can only hope that the studio announces a sequel.