Well it's the end of the year, as everything else in Western media crashes and burns, Anime really is hitting it's stride. There was SO much quality this season that I don't have any to say were awful because I didn't have enough time to watch everything I WANTED to watch.
Quick disclaimer from that, this is only of things I've watched, so if it's not mentioned I haven't caught up or watched it like Jujitsu Kaisen, I'm far behind on it that I only mention it here. Without further ado:
The 'Actually I read the Manga list':
My Daughter left the nest and returned an S-Rank Adventurer: comparing this to what I read, it's a very well done adaptation. A former adventurer who loses his leg to a demon, finds a baby in the woods and raises her as his own. NO usagi drop, completely wholesome daughter/father relationship with lots of positive male role model vibes. Great intro too
Returner's Magic Should be Special: a regression story not an isekai, at the point of losing our MC regresses in time to change events. I'm slightly disappointed with this adaptation, not for the slow story as there's A LOT to cover, 12 episodes not enough but some of the animation and especially CGI is VERY budget.
I'm in love with the Villainess: starts off standard isekai villianess trope, only the mc who's getting picked on has two qualities, she's gay (she says so herself in ep3) and has masochistic tendencies so bullying turns her on! Would recommend as not your average yuri and the intro is a great duet of the two main leads
The standouts for me this season:
Shangri-la Frontier: GOD THIS ANIME IS GOOD! From the op that goes HARD, the comedy, action, all of it. A trash gamer addict decides to play a 'god game' MMO and gets accidentally wrapped up in a hidden quest line. Just watch it especially if you're a gamer!
Eminence in Shadow S2: such a good return to form, comedy and action on point and Delta is my waifu this season, for her personality.....and MASSIVE 'plot'
Frieren Beyond Journey's End: this one is fantastic but heavy, a party finishes their quest against the demon lord and we follow the elf and how fleeting things can be when you naturally live a longer life. Recommend if you have a partner or pet to have them close to cuddle for the first episode alone.
Dr Stone: New World cour 2: They REALLY hit it out of the park this cour, fantastic villain, great character moments, Senku being a mastermind badass and some good terrifying reveals, highly recommend.
100 girlfriends that really (x5) love me: this took the place of Girlfriend, Girlfriend of my dumb comedy for the season, guy who's been rejected 100 times prays to god for love, unfortunately, God's an idiot and he's been soulmated with 100 girls and if any are rejected, they might die early. Funny moments and we even have Oyakodon already!
Goblin Slayer S2: great opening it's NEVER going to be as brutal as the first episode but it's still quite up there, plus Priestess commits her first War Crime!
Death Mount Dead Play cour 2: It's unfortunate but I feel like this dropped off for many watching this wgen we have more reveals and action, recommend it if you've forgotten about it.
Spy Family season 2: it starts slow, more slice of life but kicks up to form with the Ship arc, highly recommend it still
The Faraway Paladin: Lord of Rust Mountain: REALLY good especially if you are into D&D for how their magic system works, highly recommend it just be aware it likes to build suspense a lot so slow paced.
The Rising of the Shield Hero S3: It improved A LOT over season 2 and we now have new reasons to hate Bitch/Slut again
That'll be it for the list, Honorable mention for The Apothecary Diaries as I want to watch it but never got round to it. Feel free to add any Anime I missed below, at least I got plenty of time over Christmas vacation to catch up on a few!
Great recommendations, I'll probably pick some of these up. Two that I'd like to add to the ring:
Dark Gathering: Pokemon meets true Japanese horror. a girl suffers a car crash that kills her parents, only to discover that her mom's soul was stolen by a dark spirit. being gifted with the ability to see ghosts, she sets off on a revenge quest, roping in two students. One who is also gifted but hates scary stuff. The other who is pretty much normal but is addicted to fear.
Helck: not going to lie, this one absolutely did not deliver on what it promises in the first few episodes. It starts off as a funny gag show where essentially Hercules decides to join the villains. However it quickly devolves into edgy suffering porn. Couple this with episode-long exposition dumps, as well as a multi-episode flashback arc that really only needed to be one episode, and I cannot recommend this one. As the icing on the cake, they aren't even finishing the story this season, when they absolutely could have if they just paced the show better.
It's weird because this one has a great premise, great characters, insane plot twists, Misaki's gigantic fat tits, but it's been all gas no brakes the entire time and still somehow feels like the plot isn't really progressing.
Eminence in Shadow 2 has really opened my eyes to how much of a dumbass Cid really is. It's incredible. I'm more of an Epsilon guy myself, she really knows how to manipulate slime material the best.
Helck (second cour) has been alright, though half of it was a flashback to Helck's past, finally giving us the details that set everything about the "Human Kingdom" in motion. Now we're back in full war mode. Last episode of the season is next Tuesday.
I respect your choice, just for me that fight between her and 'John Smith' where she's going all out and he's not breaking a sweat only for her to sniff him and immediately go "BOSS!" for a hug got her the top spot for me.
Believe me, I get it, she's adorable, hunting the Black Juggajugga, repeating the same phrases over and over again, clinging to his shoulders like the clingy pet she is; she's just not my favorite.
Based Epsilon enjoyer! She's the only one who while still conscious of her flat chest never shows any cleave when she could with the slime to make it look like her real skin. She's just too classy for cleavage.
There are a lot of great girls in that show but Epsilon is truly top tier. She is free to ditch the slime at any time though.
Why? Between what she does with it, and the entire concept of slime manipulation magic (in that world), that's the most interesting thing about her.
Eh, ignore me. I'm biased because the whole "slime suit" thing is one step away from my biggest fetish.
Flat is justice. Simple as that. That being said, I do enjoy her form as is in that skin tight suit.
It's hard to focus on fiction when reality has become so interesting. Didn't even know Goblin Slayer Season 2 and Shield Hero 3 were airing. Might tear my eyes away from the world's slow motion descent into WW3 to watch some comforting Bread and Circus.
This series lost my interest (read the webtoon ages ago) during the arc where they end up in a simulation world where they were working for a territory that was struggling to keep everyone fed and crime down due to rampant unchecked immigration, and they treated the one person saying they should get rid of the immigrants before they all starve from lack of food as if she was a crazy racist.
Wasn't that arc, the villain was actually the tried and true go to for Japan, the Church and pope creating that issue on purpose.
Japan really hates a lot of organised religions, LOVES nuns though if you go onto the 'cultured' side, anyway it is a long series and unfortunately it takes a long time for the payoffs but with this animated quality, I doubt it'll reach that far..
I'm pretty sure this series is actually from a Korean novel, so it wouldn't have the usual Japanese hateboner for the Church.
That said, I don't recall if it was the church or just the noble next door being a piece of shit, as I read it a number of years ago now. However I do distinctly remember they were pushing what sounded like the absolute worst of leftist talking points about how they HAD to have an open border to take everyone they could and couldn't turn anyone away even if they all starved from their own stupidity. The one character against this absolutely retarded policy was portrayed as being close minded and bigoted even by the MC who is supposed to be the voice of logic and reason (lol). The solution was equally retarded as they simply decided "we don't have enough to feed everyone, but we somehow have enough to feed a marching army strong enough to invade the territory next door and take it over for ourselves, which will somehow solve all the issues despite everyone running away from there because they don't have food either and we just increased the amount of people we have to feed. Oops".
Priestess committed a war crime?
Perhaps I am just too jaded, but what did she do that was a war crime? Everything seemed pretty on the up and up to me!
Spoiler
Turning your enemies blood into water is pretty much up there, the Goddess even told her off afterwards to not do that again.
Oh, that! I thought that was pretty cool! Showed us some great character growth for her, that she's able to size up that situation and come up with a unique way to solve it, under pressure.
I wouldn't consider it a war crime, though. How can one commit war crimes against goblins? They're goblins. That's like saying you can commit a war crime against termites, or wasps, or something.
It helps to think of Goblins as a stand in for some ugly human race, that revels in violence and impregnation and then more violence.
Hmm. UN declaring my statement a war crime in 3...
Shangri la frontier is good so far I'm enjoying it. This season has so many bangers
Next season is going to be hard too, finally getting Solo Levelling I think in January.
With frieren, dr stone, spy x family, goblin slayer finally coming back, and shield hero 3 I don't know how its gonna top this one though
The Apothecary Diaries is just... dumb. Like, she's the only person in all of ancient China who knows about folk medicine? Okay then. Also, everyone but the MC and the head eunuch are MORONS. Watch this peasant chick completely pwn everyone in the Imperical City 100% of the time. Super dumb show, IMHO.
Thanks for the post, it's always nice to have these!
I've watched and enjoyed plenty of these, and you're reminding me to go back and watch some of the others. I should catch up on Eminence, as well as Shield Hero. And I've been curious about Faraway Paladin, but never got around to it.
As for my own additions:
I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness: I made a post about this a day or two ago. Fun comedy, although I enjoyed the first episodes more than the latter. As I said in the post, it's quite wholesome, especially considering the name. A sorcerer who just wants to be left alone lives out in a mansion in the woods (the dream), and is nicknamed the Demon Lord by the nearby town. He rescues a lady, and tries to make her happy by corrupting her into such obscene "naughtiness" as...cakes and petting zoos. It's quite funny in places, can be annoying in others, but overall I'd recommend.
Helck: Already mentioned, so I'll keep this brief. Still good, and very different from the earlier episodes.
The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess: Haven't watched too much, but fun so far. A rather unconfident shut in is put in charge of an army and has to pretend to be strong and brutal or else risk getting deposed by her own people. Funny situations, fun rapid-fire dialogue at times, and can be somewhat absurd. Fun, and I should catch up on it.
Undead Unluck: Another one I have only watched part of, so can't speak too much to it, but seems interesting. One of the main characters is undead, and gives zero fucks. Can use his own blood and body parts as weapons, including ridiculous stuff like propelling himself with his own blood. His attitude actually reminds me a bit of Helck.
A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life: Nothing special, but fun enough. Another relatively low stakes 'just a dude playing a video game' anime. He just wanted to play and chill, but keeps accidentally finding strong skill combinations and drawing attention, or accidentally breaking the economy in his favor, or whatever, so becomes famous in game.
Seconded on Delta being waifu of the season thus far(I'm still getting caught up, just finished the hot springs episode).
Frieren is God tier. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is also stellar. I didn't expect Eminence in Shadow to live up to the first season but it did. Goblin Slayer has been good; definitely moving a little fast and I wasn't a big fan of the first couple episodes but it has been good.
Definitely gonna have to check out Shangri-La frontier it seems.
Thanks!!! Adding to my ever growing list
Make sure to have two lists:
One for free time if you can get through it in a day
One listed 'retirement viewing', that's where One Piece is for me lol
Good point.
Frieren and Apothecary Diaries for me. Both stellar anime and manga.
Kimizero - https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/our-dating-story-the-experienced-you-and-the-inexperienced-me
I feel like this one definitely deserves an honourable mention even though it's clearly a small drama-esque anime it's nice for a short watch. Lonely nerd gets dared to ask hot girl out and gets lucky with her by accident. As a result he also inadvertently gets her off the infamous cock carousel because people were spreading rumours about her and she was clearly being pulled along by guys taking advantage of her without her even realising and it ends up being a surprisingly wholesome story.
Bb is sadly fucking boring for me.
Check out Under Ninja if you didn't already. Amazingly weird but interesting about ninjas in the current time. The more I say the more I take away from the whackyness so check it out yourself.
Also Apothecary Diaries which you do mention is about a girl being sold to the palace taking place in China I guess (wasn't specified but looks like it). Very much one of those must watch for me so catch up on it is highly recommended.
shangri-la, frieren, eminence, dr stone, villainess, The Apothecary Diaries were all decent the others became quite boring compared to their earlier seasons like goblinslayer and shield hero. But you forgot animes like 16bit sensation another layer, berserk of gluttony, I Shall Survive Using Potions! Those were also quite entertaining. Nothing on the scale like Demon Slayer or Attack on Titan sadly but still overall a good season.
Is the best show running this season.
How did you like 16bit? I'm a huge fan of visual novels and really have a soft spot for that 1995-2011 era when the medium was booming. I heard the show has a lot to do with that.
It started really good but then went a little too much into the creating aspect of these bishoujo games and the last episode was probably the weakest yet and how it played out. Without spoilering too much. But surely liked the first few episodes but I would have rather seen the maincharacter visit the studio of the Ghost in the Shell movies.
Holy fuck the intro to that was funny. That's definitely going on the list.
Oh my, I missed several of those.
I watched alot cartoons recently ( old and new stuff ), including a few on that list, will come back later to share when I catch up with more of it.
Always appreciate those lists.
What did you think of 16bit Sensation?
I would 100% recommend anyone (including OP because he failed to mention it) to go watch the apothecary
i don't watch anime much but this one is favorites of this year