Later than usual but had a busy few days to sit down and do this. Not bad in general as there was a lot of average but some REALLY good stuff too so you got some good shows to pick from.
Honorable mention to Bleach TYBW cour 3 still behind on that so can't honestly rate it till I catch up over Christmas. Might also look into SAO gun gale as heard a lot of people saying that's good too.
I've read the manga shows:
As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll use my appraisal skill to Rise in the world cour 2: this is more focusing on the actual war now and battle tactics but a few good character moments. I know the MC can get annoying for some with his over reaction so I can recommend two other mangas for that which are similar but less annoying 'Shock face mc' trope.
Tsumasho: Off the bat, pedo pajet this is NOT a show for you! Now where was I, a family unfortunately loses their wife/mother and just collapses as she was the emotional pillar for them, the father and daughter live together but withdrawn from the world. Till one day a young girl comes to their door and says she's the reincarnation of their wife/mother. Haven't caught up but if it adapts well from the original it's a VERY well done story dealing with moving on from a loss.
The GOOD shit
Dandadan: yeah this one came in HARD this season, from the great intro from Creepy Nuts, solid outro, the fantastic visuals, soundtrack, comedy, aliens and spirts after your 'banana' and balls, a character making me appreciate the GILF tag and despite ALL of this, its a high school romance. Just give this a try as you'll probably enjoy the madness.
Shangri-la Frontier S2: it's back still as good as ever with one episode just being a boss fight, a mecha game being rge focus of 3 episodes and some comedy gold moments in the most accurate depiction of gamers anywhere.
Re Zero S3 Cour 1: welcome back onto the pain train motherfuckers! Dear god does our boy continue to suffer in this as the deaths in the early episodes were dark as fuck. Still one of the best isekai out there at least in top 5.
Aquired taste:
Dan Machi S5: Bell has been a lot more likable for me since he got his shit rocked by a minotaur in S3, now he deals with the literal goddess of yanderes in this season.
Arifureta S3: it's not bad, but this feels a set up season unless this is two cour season, lots of things being put in place for a final showdown.
The most notorious talker runs the world's greatest clan: the art isn't anything to praise but what pulls me to this show is he is REALLY Machiavellian, two teammates try to ditch him stealing the parties money, sell their ass into slavery. A guy tried to poison you so they didn't have to pay you for a quest? Gouge out his eye and threaten to kill him in front of his family unless he pays up. I enjoy a not taking this bs type of mc.
Demon Lord 2099: this will only be early impressions, but I like the idea of the Demon lord reviving but finding his power now easily matched by a combination of magic and technology.
Average/Mid selection
Seirei Gensouki S2: It didn't improve from S1, not that it's bad it's just, meh. You can easily watch in the background and still guess the story correctly
Let this Grieving Soul retire: I can see what they were going for (and focus with some of the shots of one if the characters) but personal take, this comes off as a less funny copy of Eminence in shadow, just watch that.
The Healer who was Banished from his party is in fact the strongest: It's mid, nothing bad but no real pull behind it.
That's the list, I did watch I'll become a Villainess who goes down in History but can't make my mind up about it, I've just read and watched better versions. I haven't seen Ranma 1/2 so can't comment on it but feel free to comment on what's mentioned or add a bunch I KNOW I missed.
I forgot how much I like shows that just take you for a ride like Dandandan.
It's not even mid, it is objectively bad.
Party members have been robbing you for years and then kick you out only to find out that they are only good because of you. So, they then threaten to kill you AND sell one of the other weaker party members into sex slavery...and you forgive them?
Fuck all that noise.
You sound like someone who would enjoy Notorious talker lol
Puniru is a Cute Slime is everything that Shikanoko, which was boring and retarded despite the OP, should have been. It's charming, earnest, joyful, and funny and much better than the MyAnimeList rating would suggest.
I feel like you missed out on Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, it is set in the 15th century and is about astrology and the church who does not like that very much, don't wanna spoil, it's worth a watch at least the first 3 episodes to get a feel for it.
I knew I forgot something, thanks for reminding me, that was on my to watch pile which is as big as everest right now!
Same, and some on my pile is decades old, fun times honestly..meanwhile if I look @ tv series that pile's shrinking more and more.
One of my favorites this season, The Do-Over Damsel Conquers The Dragon Emperor. It's similar to Tearmoon Empire in theme, where a princess is given a chance to go back in time to correct fatal mistakes. However, instead of dealing with governance issues like Tearmoon, it focuses more on the impacts of arranged marriage. There's also a lot of comedy and (age gap) romance, if that's to your taste.
I picked up a recent manga that has the whole respawn hook, the name escapes me right now. Some peasant gets framed for the rape and murder of the girl he likes, and is exiled into a dungeon where he's garunteed a quick death. A God-like being, who is also trapped in the dungeon, heard his despair and bestows to him the power to basically set save points as he progresses. It's a full reset, so he doesn't keep the skills he acquires after each death. But through trail and error (hundreds of errors) he makes it through. He eventually makes it through the dungeon, and the first thing he does is starts slaughtering the village who banished him. He's not a hero, lol. It's going to be interesting where it does from here, it's only like a dozen or so chapters in and he's already conquered the dungeon, leaving behind the God-like being because when he freed her the first time, she ended up being a psycho.
Let me know what that manga is. It sounds like it's worth a look.
Dungeon Ni Hisomu Yandere Na Kanojo Ni Ore Wa Nando Mo Korosareru (Yandere Girlfriend Lurks in the Dungeon and Kills Me Over and Over Again)
It's... a lot better than that janky title would suggest.
The princess in Do-Over Damsel is also competent instead of being a lovable retard like Mia Luna Tearmoon.
Bruh what about demon slayer haishra training arc? That was awesome.
Wasn't that last season? I'm behind on Demon Slayer unfortunately.
Oh was it? I thought it was fall, I only just finished watching it yesterday.
All the one I liked, were already mentioned, except: Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière
It's a shonen magical girl anime. The setting is that magical girl is a normal occupation, like policeman would be, and there's large and small companies for them. The magic system is pretty fun, spells are treated like computer programs. Looks to be a longer series, as plot was still very much in set up phase (have only seen it till ep 10, so take that with a grain of salt). But what they've shown so far was very enjoyable.
I would kill for a proper season 2 of Ranking of Kings.
We all would, same as if we got the animators for One Punch man season 1 to do season 3
One Punch Man is a perfect example for why there's only a short window to make a good sequel. Season 2 was made too long after season 1. By then the creative vision of season 1 was gone. Season 2 became the exact thing they mocked in the first.
Also the animation studio they got to do the second season was far inferior to the ones who did season 1.
You mentioned you know you missed a bunch and I can fill in a couple of holes, since you missed 4 of my favorites this season (all of them are not as good as Dandadan or Shangri-la Frontier, but better than Demon Lord 2099 imo).
Going from best to worst:
Tower of God S2 cour 2: It definitely isn't as gripping as S1 still, but it's setting up some pretty interesting and exciting developments. It's a difficult show to explain or sell without spoiling a lot of stuff, but I definitely do recommend it.
Mecha Ude: A solid sci-fi show where people can combine with sentient mechanical arms to battle. It gives me similar vibes to a more family friendly Kill la Kill or the DragonBack book series. Hiroyuki Sawano was involved with the OST, and the animation and characters are decent. My only gripe is that some of the plot points felt a little contrived, but it doesn't feel like the kind of show where you should be terribly concerned with that to me.
Acro Trip: A comedic spin on the magical girl genre, a middle school girl gets tricked into joining her local evil mastermind to battle against the local magical girl who she admires. It's one of the most family friendly shows I have ever watched and still snuck in some hilarious/ridiculous jokes that would go right over most kid's heads.
Blue Box: pretty standard anime romcom, but also has some solid anime sports going on at the same time. Overall, it's just two genres that you wouldn't normally expect going together being blended together very well.
As far as some others that I didn't enjoy quite as much goes:
Kinonoinu: Author who is depressed because his childhood dog died finds a mushroom dog. It's not bad, it's just really slow, which I'm usually not in the mood for.
Hitoribocchi no isekai: Self proclaimed loner gets isekai'd with his entire class and nobody will let him be alone. Standard garbage isekai.
Goodby dragon life, hello human life: Dragon gets reincarnated as a human. He meets a lamia and a descendant of the hero who killed him. There is a weird running "joke" in the show of how much everyone loves the milk from the cow girl. Honestly, nothing else interesting enough to be worth mentioning happens.
Negaposi angler: A college student who is depressed because of debt and failing health picks up fishing. It's not bad, it's just really slow. I'm not much of a fisher myself, but from reading the comments on the episodes, some of the fishing tips sound pretty legit.
What is this?
It basically signifies when a season of an anime is 24 episodes or more and is split into parts, with cour meaning part 1, 2 etc.
I gathered that much, but where the hell does that word come from? I've never heard the term prior to this thread.
Apparently, French, just the Japanese use it this way.
Its almost shot for shot ripped from the manga a lot of the time, sans the nipples. Its got a lot more color and vibrancy to it in contrast to the original anime's subdued 80s coloring, which is a preference thing really.
Its in a weird place where its probably objectively better than the original, but not enough so to be worth watching or even making until like 8 seasons from now when it adapts new material the original didn't. And then we get to repeat the fucking awful endings Takahashi wrote for a bunch of characters that will literally create flame wars of shippers all over again.
But Ukyo is one of my original waifus, so I'll be there for her.
Also you missed the biggest name, Dragon Ball Daima, which is currently just shitting on the lore of Dragon Ball again and retconning stuff from both Z and Super.