What Current Anime Are You Watching Version v4.0

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family! is such a cute show. I am enjoying it.

[Seto Kaiba]

A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace has finally had an episode that supports the idea that it's a comedy, and it ain't bad.  Kinda makes you wonder why they spent the first two depicting the main character in abject misery the entire time.

A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai is still pretty darn generic to the point of being not really worth watching.  It did, however, finally do something reasonably novel.

My Awkward Senpai is finally attempting to do romance, though not well.  The comedy aspect is still missing.

 

[Scyla]

May I ask for one final Thing? had an awkward turn in the latest episode: 

Spoiler

In episode 4 we learn that we are actually in an Isekai story where the antagonist girl who got our heroine’s arranged engagement broken up is a goddess that came from another world.

I don’t know how I feel about it as I was enjoying the show this far without any Isekai elements. I guess all powerful goddesses need to come from somewhere. 

And I wasn’t expecting that.

Edited October 24 by Scyla

[Duke Togo]

Out of the four shows I was watching this summer, I've dumped two. Done with Kaiju No.8 after two seasons. It just wasn't the show I thought it was going to be when I was first watching it. Also, I stopped watching Gachiakatu after 15 episodes. I hated the art style and the story wasn't going anywhere.

I'm still on board with Dan Da Dan and Clevatess. DDD really turned itself around after a slog of a start to the second season.

I think the new season of Ranma 1/2 just dropped on Netflix. So, need to watch that. Not sure what else I'd watch right now. I have trouble finding stuff that appeals to me in modern anime.

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Duke Togo said:

I have trouble finding stuff that appeals to me in modern anime.

Yeah, the modern stuff is mostly trash. I miss being excited for anime, but I’m oddly finding more excitement for American animation these days. Can’t wait for more Invincible and curious if Black Knight gets a full series cause that teaser was awesome.

But I do feel curious about the upcoming Macross show, although I really know nothing about it

[Seto Kaiba]

31 minutes ago, Big s said:

Yeah, the modern stuff is mostly trash. I miss being excited for anime, but I’m oddly finding more excitement for American animation these days. Can’t wait for more Invincible and curious if Black Knight gets a full series cause that teaser was awesome.

To be fair, it was mostly trash back in the day too the same as American animation. 

What changed for Western audiences is simply that we are getting more of it and we are getting it faster. Back in the day, we were getting carefully curated collections of only the most popular and successful shows because they were going direct to video and it took like a year or more for them to come out in the west. Distributors weren't willing to risk it all for mediocre or bad shows with their razor thin margins, which is why so many older shows never got licensed at all.

Nowadays, streaming is giving us so much broader cross-section of what's available in anime and we're getting it within a few days of it coming out in Japan thanks to anime having adopted the simulcast model for streaming. We get a lot more variety, but as an inevitable result of that we get more of the mediocre to awful stuff that that has always been there that licensees of the past would previously have just ignored.

Even back in the '80s, for every Macross or Gundam the Mecha anime trend turned out there were probably half a dozen copycat shows that were borderline unwatchable like Southern Cross.

 

31 minutes ago, Big s said:

But I do feel curious about the upcoming Macross show, although I really know nothing about it

We'll get more information in time.

[Big s]

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Even back in the '80s, for every Macross or Gundam the Mecha anime trend turned out there were probably half a dozen copycat shows that were borderline unwatchable like Southern Cross.

 

I’ll take Southern Cross easily over all this Tronime.

[Duke Togo]

I feel like I've been waiting for 15 years for the next Haruhi or Gurren Lagann, and it just hasn't come.

[Seto Kaiba]

35 minutes ago, Big s said:

I’ll take Southern Cross easily over all this Tronime.

That's just showing your age, bro. 😆 "The slop was so much better when I was a young'un, even if we did have to walk uphill both ways in the snow to school!"

The only thing separating it from the creatively bankrupt copycat isekai slop currently dominating the airwaves is its genre.

 

12 minutes ago, Duke Togo said:

I feel like I've been waiting for 15 years for the next Haruhi or Gurren Lagann, and it just hasn't come.

There's a lot of good stuff out there, it's just a matter of your individual tastes and having the patience to try shows until you find a winner.

There's a lot of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's DNA in Dan Da Dan IMO, though I usually hear the Monogatari series referenced as the closest thing to it in terms of its genre-bending.  I think their most recent title was a bit over a year ago?

[Seto Kaiba]

Had a good time with the latest Pass the Monster Meat, Milady.

Spoiler

It's very cute, but there's also some interesting stuff going on under the surface of the romance comedy when it comes to Marie's hobby being a continuation of her mother's research into processing monster meat for the sake of food security and her bad reputation being something her father cultivated to protect her from religious persecution as eating monster meat is a taboo to some faiths in the kingdom.

 

Mechanical Marie's new episode this week is pretty fun too, though in more of a cute-and-harmless sort of way.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Mugen Gacha is actually good. Today's episode was interesting.   Gold and Nemumu are funny.  One thing bothered me is why when Nemumu kissed light's foot it was bare. But in the Light Novel he had a sock on. Why change it.

[Big s]

3 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

The only thing separating it from the creatively bankrupt copycat isekai slop currently dominating the airwaves is its genre.

 

I think it actually looked far better animation wise. The hand drawn look always appears better than the simplified cg almost AI look of the majority of modern anime 

[Seto Kaiba]

Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota is cute, but doesn't really seem to be going anywhere story-wise... which is a bit disappointing.

The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess feels like it's determined to take at least one shot at every overused otome character trope and plot device.  It's a bit predictable in that regard, though it definitely lands (mostly) in affectionate parody territory.  

[Seto Kaiba]

Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Oota remains cute but directionless in its fifth episode.

It has exactly one joke, and that is a deadpan reaction followed by serial escalation.

Spoiler

Given that Oota's attempts to get a reaction out of Kashiwada have already escalated to the point that he seems to almost entirely miss that he not only asked her out but took her on a day-long date I almost want to say the only acceptable ending is him getting at least all the way to the altar at the wedding before realizing he's been had.  

 

My Friend's Little Sister Has It In For Me has hit almost white noise levels of unremarkable.

Spoiler

Honestly, the only thing remarkable about this series is how incredibly convenient the protagonist's life is.  He wants to be a game developer, and his best/only friend who lives next door is a self-taught genius programmer with a younger sister who is a self-taught genius voice actress.  His homeroom teacher conveniently is a highly proficient digital artist, and the girl his future boss wants him to be fake-boyfriend to just transferred to his school and is secretly the award-winning light novel author who also writes all of his game scenarios for him.  They all conveniently live in adjacent apartments on the same floor in the same apartment building.

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

A wild last boss appeared was so funny yesterday. Onsen episode.

[Seto Kaiba]

Let's Play dropped its fourth episode, and honestly this series is still kind of headache inducing to watch.

The story fairly screams that its creator has at-most superficial knowledge of the "gamer culture" that it's supposedly deconstructing, it does demonstrate a very clear understanding of one thing: toxic online fandom.  There's actually a very good moment early in this episode where Marshall Law's YouTuber girlfriend talks him out of attempting to publicly apologize to Sam for his overwhelmingly negative review of her game and shame his fans into deleting their negative reviews.  She practically recites John Gabriel's Greater Internet F*ckwad Theory while explaining to him how his fans, being anonymous and knowing their actions are largely consequence-free, will likely double down instead of doing as he asks and not only make Sam's life worse but turn on him as well.  The first halfway interesting thing this series has done is show Marshall grappling with the desire to make things right and the knowledge the internet simply won't let him undo the damage, and making things worse with the person he's trying to apologize to in the process.

Sadly, that moment of actually-interesting character writing is short-lived and the series quickly pivots to its usual cringeworthy nonsense.

Spoiler

Seriously, it's straight from Marshall trying to make amends in all the wrong ways to a barista asking out of the blue if the protagonist Sam is asexual.

WTF.  Who starts a conversation like that?  It's cringeworthy to watch, and it's used as a setup to have Sam elaborate at length that she is definitely heterosexual as though the author of the webcomic were deathly afraid some reader might think one of her flat, lifeless characters was queer-coded and start shipping them or something.  This is used as the launching point to have the barista explain that the boys think Sam is really very attractive (honest!).  Basically, it's an awful and hackneyed setup to being used to establish that Sam's meant to be "Hollywood homely" like the girls in so many awful romance movies.  That is to say she supposedly has model-tier good looks that are completely hidden by a bad haircut, glasses, a lack of makeup, and frumpy clothes.  

 

[JB0]

20 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

I almost want to say the only acceptable ending is him getting at least all the way to the altar at the wedding before realizing he's been had.  

Having read a whole bunch of the manga... that's how I hope it ends too.

[Seto Kaiba]

Li'l Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right really confuses me.

Despite the title, it's a squeaky clean romcom.  The setting is a modern Japan where various fantasy creatures like vampires are just a part of everyday life.  The protagonist hits it off with a vampire girl in his class who is desperately trying to look cool because she's awful at being a vampire.  But the series never really bothers to explain how she's survived if she's unable to do the one thing vampires need to do to survive, or if there's an alternative why is she always coming to school so hungry that she can barely participate?  

(Not much room for romance either when the female lead's basically reduced to the status of a crying infant two or three times an episode.)

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

My status as an assassin is getting better every week.  Today's episode with Amelia and her sister was good.

[Seto Kaiba]

Let's Play's fifth episode is out.

I know the original author's from Kansas City, but could she at least have done a little location research before setting a series in LA.  I can tell I'm getting old and cynical because this has the sitcom apartment problem and my first reaction was "There is no way in hell a barista can afford an apartment that big or that nice in downtown."  Sadly, the character drama was flat enough to calibrate laser levels. 🙃

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Dusk Beyond the End of the World was an onsen episode today.  Yuugure is so cute.

[Seto Kaiba]

The Banished Court Magician is still drunkenly stumbling through all the usual "Kicked out of my party but it's OK because I'm godly powerful" story beats. 

I have to wonder where it's going, because it's already doing the "humbling the jerk who kicked the protagonist out" part and it's not even halfway into the season.  Normally that's for the end of the first major multi-volume story arc.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family! was so cute today,  The craziness that Alma and Makina get into is epic.

[Big s]

On 10/29/2025 at 11:17 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

Let's Play's fifth episode is out.

I know the original author's from Kansas City, but could she at least have done a little location research before setting a series in LA.  I can tell I'm getting old and cynical because this has the sitcom apartment problem and my first reaction was "There is no way in hell a barista can afford an apartment that big or that nice in downtown."  Sadly, the character drama was flat enough to calibrate laser levels. 🙃

 

I probably won’t ever watch the show and I don’t know the specifics on the apartment, but I do know a barista in L.A. might actually pull in a good chunk of change. Minimum wage there is $20 and there’s a possibility she may make more than that hourly. Downtown L.A. it’s probably getting her close to handling 10 customers an hour while it’s slow and people at coffee shops are usually more generous than for pizza delivery, so that might be at least another $20 bucks an hour and possibly quite a bit more when it’s busy and although you’re supposed to report tips on the taxes, nobody really does or at least nowhere near the proper amount. She might be pulling in $40 to $60 an hour on average and it’s possible that she’s pulling in $80 an hour depending on how busy the place really is and how many other workers she’s splitting customers with.

It definitely would be more realistic if she’s sharing the rent though, but if she’s not spending her money on stupidity, she may be able to put a big chunk of change to the rent if she’s a full timer.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Big s said:

I probably won’t ever watch the show and I don’t know the specifics on the apartment, but I do know a barista in L.A. might actually pull in a good chunk of change. Minimum wage there is $20 and there’s a possibility she may make more than that hourly.

$20 an hour sounds like a lot, but we're talking about downtown Los Angeles where cost of living is sky high.

Spoiler

Even if the guy's getting $20 an hour, it's unlikely he's getting 40 hours a week since coffee shops, fast food places, etc. tend to avoid giving employees enough hours to count as full time so they won't have to give full-time employee benefits.  If we assume tips make up the difference that's $41,600 per year, about $34,000 after taxes.  About $2,850 per month.

Dude's got a posh 2 bedroom penthouse apartment in the city.  His bedroom alone looks to be 300-400 square feet.  That's a 1,500+ square foot apartment easy.  The low end for that size and area is $4,500.  His place is visibly not low-end.  Realistically, he's got like a $6,000/mo+ apartment.  If he were splitting the rent 50-50 with his roommate, he isn't even going to be able to cover rent never mind utilities, food, and other living expenses.

The coffee shop he works in never seems to have customers besides the protagonist and her two girlfriends 90% of the time, so I doubt he's making bank on tips unless he's Magic Mike-ing his way though life after hours... which he absolutely has the looks to do, but you'd think they'd mention it.

[Big s]

5 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

$20 an hour sounds like a lot, but we're talking about downtown Los Angeles where cost of living is sky high.

  Hide contents

Even if the guy's getting $20 an hour, it's unlikely he's getting 40 hours a week since coffee shops, fast food places, etc. tend to avoid giving employees enough hours to count as full time so they won't have to give full-time employee benefits.  If we assume tips make up the difference that's $41,600 per year, about $34,000 after taxes.  About $2,850 per month.

Dude's got a posh 2 bedroom penthouse apartment in the city.  His bedroom alone looks to be 300-400 square feet.  That's a 1,500+ square foot apartment easy.  The low end for that size and area is $4,500.  His place is visibly not low-end.  Realistically, he's got like a $6,000/mo+ apartment.  If he were splitting the rent 50-50 with his roommate, he isn't even going to be able to cover rent never mind utilities, food, and other living expenses.

The coffee shop he works in never seems to have customers besides the protagonist and her two girlfriends 90% of the time, so I doubt he's making bank on tips unless he's Magic Mike-ing his way though life after hours... which he absolutely has the looks to do, but you'd think they'd mention it.

I was just running on basic assumptions since I’ll never watch the show, but if he went for one of those high end apartments, I doubt he’d be able to afford it without the only fans side money. Although as a stretch of reality, he may have somehow scored one of those pandemic era rent controlled rarities when the previous tenant kicked the bucket, but beyond that, he’d most likely just be stuck in a studio size box