The Dangers In My Blog

I was pretty happy with the amount of shows that I watched in Fall, gave me some time to finally start playing Ghost of Yotei, which had been on my back log, and also finally started The Sopranos. Combine that with Winter and thanksgiving breaks and I had a decent amount of time to get as deep as I could into both before the year ended. Because I knew winter was coming. Evidently I haven’t actually touched either of those since the year began as personal life and my massive current season watch list has been gigantic. Watching 13 currently airing anime. This  although sounds like an inordinate amount of series, it’s immensely exciting and has been a joy to experience. This is the most series I have watched simultaneously since I was in high school and was making the puerile decision to try and watch every release per season. Now we land on a season with a plethora of high profile sequels, which almost all interest me. Frieren, JJK, Hell’s Paradise, Fate/Strange Fake, Fire Force, Medalist and Trigun Stargaze are all the sequels I am watching. I still need to watch Oshi no Ko season 2, so season 3 airing doesn’t factor in thankfully, which allows for a little breathing room. As for new series, I have chosen to watch Ikkoku Nikki, Playing Death Games to Put Food on The Table aka ShibouYugi, The Darwin Incident, You and I are Polar Opposites, Tamon’s B-side. Actually typing this out I didn’t realize the large majority of the shows were sequels. The 13th Show is actually a show that got fully released on Netflix, Prism Rondo, that I watch when I have no weekly releases to watch. As of this writing we are currently in the middle of the season, and what is exciting as I was mentioning early, is that every single one of these shows is a joy to watch every week. Obviously there are some shows I am enjoying more but every single series is pretty solid, nothing is a slog to watch and so despite the limited time I have for other activities right now and the fear I have of falling behind, it really is exciting to be watching this many good series at once. It renews my seasonal hope for the medium to continue to be a place of creativity and inspiration. In a time of growing AI integration and uninspired derivative Hollywood slop, anime continues to pump out exciting new works. Funny enough my two favorite shows this season ended up being the ones I took up at the last minute and hadn’t planned to watch at all, ShibouYugi and Ikkoku Nikki. Souta Ueno, ShibouYugi’s director, had generated a lot of buzz with his previous series, Days with My Stepsister. As his directorial debut I had heard he had an avant-garde approach to his direction, which was really surprising to me given the name of the series he directed. I have yet to see Days with My Stepsister but ShiboYugi has shown me exactly why he garnished the attention.

I won’t go too much into detail cause I don’t want to spoil anything but you can take the name literally, it revolves around death games. Ueno’s visual and audio presentation is both shocking and beautiful and evokes strong emotions of tension and anxiety. The series implements a stunning visual style that plays around with line work, aspect ratios and visual clutter to amplify the series story telling. Every episode has displayed amazing shot composition and audio design that really has the viewer locked into the tension of the games and characters. The other surprise release that I picked up literally the day it aired was Ikkoku Nikki. A very touching story about loss and the weight of the posthumous day to day that accompanies those left behind. A beautifully constructed narrative that carefully and, in my opinion, properly conveys the isolating confusion and psychological battles faced by people who survive their loved ones.The narrative follows a young girl named Asa who is taken in by her estranged aunt Makio after her parents are killed in a car accident. Makio’s solitary lifestyle and way of life is disturbed and put to the test as she cohabits her small condo with her grieving Niece. Pushing Makio up against her avoidance tendencies, stemming from her own trauma. While having to learn to try to be a parental figure and navigate a deeply confused grieving child. Leaving the space they inhabit feeling lonely, awkward and at the same time having a scintillating sense of warmth. If there is one word I would use to describe this series, it would be sincere.

  Everything about the adaptation I adore, the directing, writing, characters, even the soundtrack is done by my GOAT Kensuke Ushio. Well done attentive drawing, both with the character models and background designs. So far every episode has had me sobbing. As someone who has dealt with loss personally, this series felt extremely genuine to those who have lived these life experiences . I feel a shockwave through my body every episode, both as a reminiscent echo of my experience being conveyed on screen, and as a small relief of the shared experiences being presented to me in such a magnificent way relieving my loneliness. This as of now is my favorite show of the season and would venture to say would be hard to even beat for the year.

Other than those two, Tamon’s B-side has been a very fun and cute rom com. Half of the appeal to me is hearing Saori Hayami act out a crazy obsessed idol otaku, and it has been a delight.

You and I are Polar Opposites has been an adorable rom com series which probably boasts my favorite OP of the season. Being directed by Kyouhei Ishiguro, who also directed the Shoushimin season 2 OP, which was definitely my favorite OP of last season. Polar Opposites is not a slow burn romance series whatsoever, and I would say leans way heavy into the comedy aspect of its genre.

The series’ high points come when the titular polar opposite couples have some extremely heart warming and tender moments of mutual understanding and relationship depth growth. Feeling both sweet and fluffy and can get you giggling and kicking your feet when you watch it.

The series color design and aesthetic is very reminiscent of  90s and 2000s popular media. To be honest when I think about the color design, with the pastel pinks, blues and greens it really reminds me of the way Taco Bells used to look in the 2000s if you can imagine. But also older popular television like Saved By the Bell, Rugrats, Doug or  All That.

Lively, fun and full of youthful energy. Worth checking out if you like those shows that are so sweet they give you cavities. 

Darwin Incident is probably my least favorite show this season. I find it very edgy and it takes itself way too seriously given the philosophical questions it’s asking. However, this series is crazy lol, every episode it keeps one upping itself in the wild stunts these vegan terrorists are pulling. The series begins with them bombing a steak house, I have been seated since. 

I really don’t want to talk much about the sequels, since they are sequels to shows I already like, they’re all good and worth watching! Frieren I haven’t liked it as much as Keiichiro Saito’s first season but it is solid as always. Hell’s Paradise has a notable quality jump. I wish Medalist was getting more than 9 episodes! The one sequel that can probably be watched without watching the previous series is Fate/Strange Fake and wow this series might be the best sequel this season. This is the only non-Ufotable Fate series I have ever seen but it is not failing to live up to those productions in the slightest. If it keeps up this pace it most likely will be my favorite and I adore Fate/Zero. This is the series I fully heartedly would recommend to anyone, you don’t really need any background to the previous series, and it is cool as hell.

An amazing ensemble cast that is fun, entertaining and engrossing. Diverse personalities and motives that make every moment with what is a large cast, still enjoyable no matter who is being given screen time. The action sequences are grand and animated fantastically, both creative and easy to follow layouts and cuts.

This series is awesome and I am really glad I picked it up. I got sick recently, started it, and caught up in one day while sick in bed. Ironic that probably is my favorite 3 series this season that I hadn’t planned to watch at all.

Anyway this is tracking to be potentially the best season of anime of all time??? I would need to compare some seasons. Winter 2024 was highkey a heater with Apothecary, The Dangers in My Heart and Frieren, but it is up there for sure. Part of me wishes next season was a bit lighter but Spring is looking to be filled with a full schedule as well…