I haven't read the source manga for this show, but those that have said to expect something completely unhinged (in the best way).

@[email protected] @[email protected] Would one of the mods be able to pin this discussion thread and unpin the old one that is a couple weeks out of date. It would be appreciated!

I have a couple tweaks to the list I posted previously. I plan on watching a handful of shows in the new season:

Definitely watching

• Frieren - continuing from last season. Has been absolutely phenomenal so far.
• Delicious in Dungeon - A very well-received manga being adapted by Studio Trigger. Say no more.
• Villainess Level 99 - I really like the source for this one but thought that it was too niche to ever be adapted to an anime. I don't expect this to be everybody's cup of tea, but I hope it is going to be done well.
• Tsukimichi Season 2 - I really like the source material for this one and the first season was...alright. The story gets better as it goes and it changed studios for the second season (and got 2 cours for season 2), so I am hoping the animation improves alongside the story.
• Apothecary Diaries - This show is continuing from the fall season, but I haven't actually seen any of it yet. I plan on trying to catch up over this coming winter season so that I can end it being caught up. I actually work professionally in medicine, so I am looking forward to it!

Hoping to watch (time permitting)

• The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - The source for this one is decent and the beginning couple bits of this story are the best that I am familiar with. So, time permitting, I am hoping to see the best character Rose in anime form.
• 'Tis Time for Torture Princess - I have read a couple chapters of this manga, but I am curious to see how an anime adaptation will work.

Might pick up depending on reviews

• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! - I have heard good things about the source for this one, but I don't really know anything about it. I am going to wait to see how well it is received as an adaptation. I might just opt to read the manga instead.
• Metallic Rouge - This is an anime original, but it looks awesome. I had to cut it for time, but if it is reviewed super well and another show I am watching is disappointing, I might bump it up into the regularly watching column.

The full results are here. Anime Corner can be incredibly variable week to week. As a point of comparison, the reddit karma rankings are much more stable usually. This is what they looked like for week 12.

I have read/watched a lot of bad isekai. Reincarnated as a Sword is not one of them. The premise might be dumb on the surface, but it is executed extremely well. I think part of what makes it work is how the relationship between Master and Fran is a Father/Daughter one. It just kind of makes the whole thing work. I had dropped the manga at one point because I thought it was kind of losing its way, but then found out that the arc I didn't like was a manga-only filler arc. After I got back onto light novel content, it was the great old Fran/Master journey that I loved.

Really glad they announced a season 2 is on the way.

I really like the manga for Tonikaku Kawaii (and several other fluffy romances like it), but haven't ever really liked any of the anime adaptations of them. I just don't think it usually translates to the medium well. I often end up bored and the studios don't put enough effort into the animation or soundtrack to keep my attention that way either.

Heavenly Delusion was probably my biggest surprise this year. I had never heard of it before, randomly picked it up, and it was outstanding.

tl;dr:

• AOTY - Frieren with honorable mention of Oshi no Ko
• Worst AOTY - Am I Actually the Strongest?
• Most Mid AOTY - Atelier Ryza

If you had asked for my anime of the year prior to the Fall season, it would have unquestionably been Oshi no Ko. However, Frieren's adaptation has been so excellent over this past season that I am hard pressed not to give it my AOTY. I know Frieren is still airing for a second cour, but it has a full cour's worth of episodes to compare to other seasonal shows, so I think it is fair for now. I think that Oshi no Ko has definitely left a strong impression on me though and I will always remember the first episode and episode 6 as extremely impactful. Few anime have ever had me as invested in a character's story as episode 6 of Oshi no Ko did for Akane.

As for my worst anime of the year, this one is tough. I watch my fair share of bad anime so it is tough to pick. I think I will have to award it to "Am I Actually the Strongest?" The show was horribly paced and narratively confused. Large sections of important story were seemingly glossed over almost nothing was explained. Having watched 12 episodes of the anime, I still don't think I can give any kind of explanation for the MC's abilities. Just avoid this one, it isn't so bad it's good, it's just bad.

Finally, in my quest to pretend to still be young, I thought I would also give a mid award. This one goes to a show that was so bland and generic that it wasn't good, it wasn't bad, it just exists. That goes to Atelier Ryza for me. I have heard that the game series this show was based off of is actually quite good. I have a friend that has played a ton of them and was hyping up the show to me because of it. However, watching the show being unfamiliar with the source at all, it was extremely boring. Things happened extremely predictably. I actually felt that watching the show was like being stuck in an unskippable, long tutorial cutscene in a game. Things were overexplained, drawn out, and the game's quest -> reward structure was very obvious. There were never really any stakes it felt like. I don't know if the entire game was adapted or not, but I certainly hope there is more to the game. The show felt like it was adapting just the tutorial levels.

@[email protected] or @[email protected] if you could pin the new/unpin the old discussion posts, that would be greatly appreciated.

I think the Helck flashbacks wouldn't have been as bad if I was bingeing it, but watching week to week, it felt very drawn out. Since the flashbacks have ended, I have gotten more into it again.

As for Girlfriend, Girlfriend and 100GF, I have written before that I think I enjoyed the series more in manga form. I think that Shino is by far the best character in GF, GF though, so you have excellent taste in that department.

Yeah, I was reading the WN for Villainess Level 99 and dropped it shortly after the main arc. It reached a pretty satisfying conclusion and the story after that felt kind of forced, plus I just had too many other things competing for my time.

Rather than writing about what I have watched this past week, I decided to look ahead at the upcoming season of anime and check out shows that looked interesting. My first pass led me to some shows that I am debating watching, but I will likely need to cut this down due to time. I divided it into shows I am familiar with the source and those that I am not.

Familiar with the source:

• Frieren will be continuing. Definitely continuing with this one.
• Tsukimichi Season 2 - I enjoyed the source for this story and am glad to see it continuing. The story only gets better as it goes. If you thought season 1 was a bit generic, I agree with you. However, the story becomes more interesting as it goes. Not quite sure if the animation might be stepped up for season 2 or not though.
• The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - The opening parts of this story are where it is at its best. So I am looking forward to this show and the character Rose in particular.
• Villainess Level 99 - I love the source for this series, but the character is so dense that it turns some off. If they get the humor right in this show, it could be great.

Not familiar with the source:

• Solo Leveling - Source readers have hyped this series from long before there was even an announcement of an anime adaptation. I suspect this one is going to be popular, but it might not really be my type of show.
• Dungeon Meshi - This one has been a really popular manga and it is being made by Studio Trigger. Worth a look for sure.
• Metallic Rouge - I have only seen the poster for this series and I love it. Will check it out more to see if it is worth giving a shot.
• 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess - I have read a couple chapters of this manga, but not enough to really call myself familiar with it. It seems like a fun little series for those times I just want to relax though.

@[email protected] if you would be so kind as to do the pinning/unpinning, it would be appreciated.

I love a good romance as well and this season is pretty sparse. Looking at anichart for Fall 2023, I only see three shows with the romance tag. The only one of those I am watching (100GF) is more comedy-focused than romance-focused. That's pretty light. For comparison, last season there were seven shows with the romance tag.