So, the 1st season of the remake covers books 1-4. Both seasons of the original covers 1-3 and 5. So, no, skipping the 1st season is not recommended imo. That also means the 2nd season of the remake starts with the final arc of the original. However, the remake is really close to the original. Here and there it’s a little more faithful to the books and Holo is a little more playful. So, if you watch the final arc of the 1st season, I think you should be fine, but then the 1st arc of the next season is a repeat again. I’d still recommend watching the remake in full, just to get used to the new artstyle and music.

If you’ve watched neither, then I guess the safer bet is to just watch the new one. I personally prefer the original though (for personal reasons like preferring the music and style).

This season will mark the moment they’re going beyond the original anime after the 1st arc. Very excited.

Awesome

This one’s getting an official translation isn’t it?

Dungeon People

I see a decent amount of funny out of context screenshots about it. May check it out.

Edit: RIP, only on HIDIVE, so no legal service for me.

I watched a fair amount of shows this season. Despite not really having big names, it was a pretty solid season.

I loved:

• Makeine: the synopsis made it sound like it’d be a generic romcom with a slight twist, but so far it’s not generic at all and I’m not even sure it’s a romcom. The characters are great to watch, the animation is awesome and the setting feels lived in and unique, despite it being a school setting. The OP is great.
• NieR:Automata ver1.1a part 2: this blew me away. A massive improvement over the 1st part and a great adaptation, while adding interesting small twists to the original story to keep it interesting for people who played the games too. I adore the ED as well.

I liked:

• SHOSHIMIN: starts out like it’s going to be a very mundane version of Hyouka, until it’s not. Very interesting and curious to see how it continues in the 2nd season.
• Vtuber Legend: it got the vtuber vibes right and felt like it was made by people who liked vtubers themselves.
• 2.5D Seduction: whereas My Dressup Darling focuses more on the process of creating cosplay, this one focuses more on what cosplay means to people or on the community. It does it pretty well imo. Toning down the ecchi from the manga was a good idea imo, though I do like the manga more.
• Alya: decently fun. Masachika and Yuki are fun characters, but the Russian thing has not become more than a gimmick.
• Mayonaka Punch: a good ol’ PA Works anime.
• Senpai is an Otokonoko: did very well in dealing with sensitive subjects. Devolves a little bit into the simpler chibi artstyle too much, making it feel cheaper.

I moderately liked:

• Wistoria: good action and OST, but story, world and characters leave a lot to be desired. Also had a tendency to overexplain things and slow things down to a crawl at the wrong moments.
• QA In Another World: interesting take on the whole stuck in a game thing with it being the testers being stuck while testing. As a software tester though, I take slight issue to this anime calling them debuggers.
• Elusive Samurai: cool premise, with fun main characters. Sometimes gets overshadowed/undermined by strange and weirdly timed humor and way too wacky villains to take the gravity of things seriously.

Disliked:

• Dahlia in Bloom: just not very good. And again, what the fuck is going on with those shadows. Dropped it.
• My Deer Friend Nokotan: got old really fast. Dropped it.
• Suicide Squad Isekai: just not very good either. Nearly forgot about it already. Anime Harley Quinn kept me watching though.
• Plus-Sized Elf: just read the manga. They exaggerated everything and added scenes just to get more T&A, while not providing good visuals. Dropped.

Still need to catch up:

• Spice and Wolf
• Monogatari series

I think that was everything

I… Don’t think I understand the goal here. They talked smack about her horns so she removes her horns to spite them? I don’t understand, wouldn’t that accommodate them?

This was a good final episode. A bit of a shame that the 3D models are not much like actual vtuber 3D models, but oh well. That homage to vtubers at the end was not fair and made me tear up. Vtubers were an important part of my life after uni graduation and struggling to figure out what to do with my life, all while COVID was raging about.

This anime was fun. It wasn’t the best, but it captured the vtubing vibe really well. It felt like it was made by people that love vtubers.

@rikka@ani.social

Continuing from last season:

• 2.5D Seduction.

Still need to watch from last season:

• Monogatari: wanted to do a rewatch first… I’m now at Zoku Owarimonogatari, so almost time for the new one.
• Spice & Wolf: I’d paused this one at the start of Summer so I could binge through what I’ve already seen in the original. I meant to pick it up again when the 4th arc started but I haven’t yet.

Definitely watch:

• Re:Zero S3: took a while, but finally a new season. I’ll probably want to rewatch the old stuff first though.
• Dandadan: let’s see if it lives up to the manga.
• SAO Alternative GGO II: the good SAO

Likely watch:

• 365 Days To The Wedding: looks like a fun romance with adults with an interesting premise.
• I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History: manga is good. Villainess stuff is fun
• Nina the Starry Bride: looks fun
• Magilumiere: manga is good.
• The Do-Over Damsel Conquers The Dragon Emperor

Maybe watch:

• NegaPosi Angler
• Touhai: not big on gambling anime, but this sounds interesting enough
• Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
• Demon Lord 2099
• Yakuza Fiancé

This is a pretty lame arc. It’s just not fun. Saotome clearly doesn’t want this, but was sort of pressured into this, so this is pretty mean-spirited of Kujaku. However, despite having the guts to turn down a confession, also not saying no is so unbelievably pathetic , so it’s hard to feel bad. Similarly, it feels like the mangaka doesn’t want this either, since so little effort is put into this.

Yeah, you’d think they’d at least foreshadow something like that

This was fine to pass time with. The Russian thing wasn’t more than a gimmick. Got old pretty quick actually.

Where did that steep slope come from?

Final episode already.

This entire anime didn’t go the way I thought it would at all. It’s wild to look back at the 1st few eps to see where it started with really mundane stuff. It was really interesting to see it progress the way it did. Kobato’s past is more or less clear, but Osanai is still a mystery to me, though it’s clear that despite her timid appearance, she’s quite ruthless.

Now that they’ve gone their separate ways, I’m very curious where this’ll go. Thankfully, a 2nd season is already announced. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until Spring 2025 for it.

Even though the vast majority of anime take place in a school of sorts, the setting for Makeine still feels pretty unique and this episode solidified that feeling for me. The school feels much more alive. Previously I felt this way because it’s not a pristine looking school, it actually kinda looks rundown at times, like it’s been there for a long time in a small town and the student body that’s not the main cast seems to have a lot of personality. This episode added a school festival that is not the bog standard festival. From what we’ve seen, there’s so many actually creative ideas. Not just a simple haunted house and a maid café for example, but a really cool literary exhibition about food with activities for children, and short plays at various locations throughout the school. It feels much more intentionally crafted instead of just the cliché ‘school festival’ because it’s a school setting.

That looks fun

Damn only took 2 years. Glad to see it being finished now

Lame. Go make your own then that’s actually worthwhile. Instead of the cheap 3D garbage you churn out.

Some also fear that the studio will now use Hakusensha’s cease-and-desist as an excuse to halt production

An ‘excuse’? They phrase it like it’s not a valid reason, but it totally is. Sadly, if they get brought to court over it, they most likely will not win. Even many pirate sites stop due to cease and desists. Supporters (as did the studio) knew fully well that it wasn’t an official project and that this was likely to happen. I’m not saying I agree with it, hence my first sentence, but anyone could’ve seen this coming.

Oh wow, an isekai that is not set in medieval Europe. That’s neat

Yeah, it’s the same with Kobo