What Current Anime Are You Watching Version v4.0

[Big s]

5 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

I am so far behind in this series..   its a advertisement for camping equipment with some take away value for camping tips..      If its as you say then I am just bailing on it now. 

 

Am I missing anything this season.. any sleepers?    

I feel like Tronime was big last decade and still lingering too much and even the fans seem to be complaining, but now Instructional anime is getting overly popular 

[Seto Kaiba]

6 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

I am so far behind in this series..   its a advertisement for camping equipment with some take away value for camping tips..      If its as you say then I am just bailing on it now. 

To be fair, that's exactly what Solo Camping for Two advertised itself as... an infotainment-type manga/anime about the camping hobby.  It's sponsored by like thirty different outdoor equipment companies.  There's a literal wall of their logos in the credits. 

It's just a really phenomenally sh*tty ambassador for the hobby it's promoting because it does almost nothing to present camping as a fun or engaging pursuit.  Kind of the opposite, really.  If it weren't for Shizuku being there to be someone for Gen to talk at, it would be the incredibly depressing story of this perpetually unkempt 30-something misanthropic loser with no social ties who goes out into the woods alone every weekend to get drunk and rant to himself about camping gear.

There are other titles that deliver edutainment way more effectively like Ruri Rocks (mineralogy), How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift? (fitness), Let's Make a Mug Too! (ceramics and pottery), or even Iwakakeru - Sport Climbing Girls (rock climbing).

 

6 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

Am I missing anything this season.. any sleepers?    

Not really... it's a pretty mixed bag this season but nothing good that's underreported as far as I've seen.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Mechanical Marie ended. I knew this would happen in the end.  I thought it was a decent show.

[Dangard Ace]

Finished off Solo Camping.  I liked it.  Went further then the live-action version which came out before the anime did.  Basically a rom with a camping backdrop.

Banished Court Magician....cookie cutter I'm stronger then they realize now I'm gonna kick some ass.  Forgettable.

Punching Princess.....funny as hell.   I would love for it to have a S2.  

Tojima wants to be Kamen Rider......it did it's job.  I'm now going to hunt down and catch up on decades of KR.

Mugen Gatcha....pure revenge.   He's still got more people to get revenge on.

 

Coming up:

Frieren S2

Hells Paradise S2

Jujutsu Kaisen - eh....my nephews and nieces watch this so I may as well.

Fire Force .... already read the manga waiting.

My Hero Acadamy Vigilantes S2

Trigun

Mayonaka Heart Tune

MF Ghost S3

Jigoku Sensei S2

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's ended today.  I really liked this one.  I hope it gets a 2nd season.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

On 12/21/2025 at 3:37 PM, Hikaru Ichijo SL said:

Mechanical Marie ended. I knew this would happen in the end.  I thought it was a decent show.

Another one I am way behind on..   is it worth staying with it?

 

Isekai Quartet S3 just wrapped.    Not bad,  not great,  but considering this season..   you get the point.     I don't know much about the Shadow anime that was the addition this season,  but it really felt like the odd duck out in S3.       

[Seto Kaiba]

7 hours ago, Dangard Ace said:

Jujutsu Kaisen - eh....my nephews and nieces watch this so I may as well.

It's OK, as shounen anime titles go.

It feels a lot like Bleach at the start between the art style, tone, and the basic premise.  It loses that sense of fun and adventure after the first few story arcs and starts leaning a lot more heavily on horror.  Especially almost Junji Ito-esque body horror.  Past the Shibuya arc it kind of devolves into audience alienating levels of unstinting darkness and misery.  That's right about where it lost me.  IIRC when the manga ended the fans were pretty upset with the ending too... saying that the main villain kind of goes down like a chump.

(IMO, it's a real shame because when the series was screwing around doing anything BUT advance the main plot, that was when I had the most fun with it.)

 

2 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

Another one I am way behind on..   is it worth staying with it?

I think so.  YMMV, of course.  It's not great or doing anything groundbreaking in its genre, but it's at least pretty good as a romcom goes and I had fun with it to the end.  A lot more so than most of the other titles I watched this season.

The ending is abrupt AF.  It's car crash levels of sudden and out of nowhere.  Not bad, but just very... "that escalated quickly".  

 

2 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

Isekai Quartet S3 just wrapped.    Not bad,  not great,  but considering this season..   you get the point.     I don't know much about the Shadow anime that was the addition this season,  but it really felt like the odd duck out in S3.       

Yeah, I get the feeling they're kind of hitting the limits of the premise at this point.

Right up 'til the end I was convinced they were going to try to announce a fourth season by dropping one of the other successful isekai titles into the mix like Ascendance of a Bookworm.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

21 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

Another one I am way behind on..   is it worth staying with it?

 

Isekai Quartet S3 just wrapped.    Not bad,  not great,  but considering this season..   you get the point.     I don't know much about the Shadow anime that was the addition this season,  but it really felt like the odd duck out in S3.       

Yes. you should stay with it.

 

Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season 2 ended today, I really hope for a season 3.  This show is great.  The gluttons never fail to entertain me.

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

Wrapped up Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill Season 2..   not bad.    I think the premise might be getting abit long in the tooth,  but I would still watch a S3 if they dropped one.

And I finally found a title from this last season,  that as of at least Ep 4 has me happily coming back for more..   May I Ask For One Final Thing?    I am enjoying this series quite abit,  its got more action then No Punch Man S3..  just sayin.   

Hopefully it doesn't crap the bed in the end.. but if it does.. shhhh..  let me enjoy this brief respite from meh..  this Fall 2025 anime season..  😆

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

And I finally found a title from this last season,  that as of at least Ep 4 has me happily coming back for more..   May I Ask For One Final Thing?    I am enjoying this series quite abit,  its got more action then No Punch Man S3..  just sayin.   

Hopefully it doesn't crap the bed in the end.. but if it does.. shhhh..  let me enjoy this brief respite from meh..  this Fall 2025 anime season..  😆

FWIW, I enjoyed it clear through to the end.  Scarlet is so delightfully free of the usual restraint and timidness of so many other female leads in her genre, and I promise the punching does not stop until the very end.

[Dangard Ace]

3 hours ago, Stampeed Valkyrie said:

And I finally found a title from this last season,  that as of at least Ep 4 has me happily coming back for more..   May I Ask For One Final Thing?    I am enjoying this series quite abit,  its got more action then No Punch Man S3..  just sayin.   

Hopefully it doesn't crap the bed in the end.. but if it does.. shhhh..  let me enjoy this brief respite from meh..  this Fall 2025 anime season..  😆

She's One Punch (Wo)Man S1.    

"These fists are Rated-E for Everyone!"

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Tales of Wedding Rings Season 2 ended.  I enjoyed it. It was trash. But Hime made this show tolerable,

[Stampeed Valkyrie]

So going through my list and that is a wrap on Fall 2025 anime season..  

One Punch Man S3..   where to start..  Honestly watch the first episode and the 12th episode and call it a day.    Everything else was a snooze fest... and yes I know it stuck to the source material.. but this was just boring.  

 

I have a bunch more to wrap,  next on my list is finishing May I ask for one last thing,  then probably Marie.    and a few other I can't remember off the top of my head. 

 

[kajnrig]

I know I'm super late to the party, but I finally watched the first ten or so episodes of Demon Slayer. I find it kind of refreshing, being so blunt and straight forward. I think it was someone here who described it as being exactly what it says on the tin, and no truer words have been spoken.

These opening episodes don't drag things out at all. We go from character introductions to inciting incident to training arc in pretty quick succession. I also appreciate that, for the most part, the show seems to eschew the intricate magic/skill systems that other shounen come up with. No super saiyan modes, no Amakakesomething-something from Hiten MitsuThis or That style to master, no chakra and the various elemental affinities, etc. Just... build up your endurance and strength through months and months and years of rigorous repetition. Unexpectedly realistic and unglamorous given the fantastical setting. Even the special breathing, the closest that comes to evoking said magic system, is really just slight window dressing on aforementioned rigorous training.

I finally see the elemental effects in action, and seeing it just reinforces how funny the controversy is surrounding it. I love it.

[M'Kyuun]

Just finished Leviathan on Netflix. As an alternative Dieselpunk pre-WWI history, I thought it was pretty decent. I liked the main characters, especially Dylan/Deryn Sharp. I thought it a bit odd that only Dylan, a Scottish girl posing as a boy to join the British Navy, and all the Brits speak with the appropriate accents. Neither Alek, an Austrian prince, his two advisors/minders, nor the Germans, nor the Serbians, including Nicola Tesla (who was raised in Austria), mischaracterized a bit, IMHO as a bit of a flamboyant megalomaniac, speak with appropriate affectations, but simply speak with American accents. Anyway, the series spans three novels by Scott Westerfeld, so obviously, from my gleanings on Reddit, there are characters and plotlines that were removed to decant it down to the essentials for the anime adaptation. However, the anime piqued my interest enough that I may seek out the books, as I liked the overarching story. I read Westerfeld's Uglies series years ago and enjoyed those, so I'm keen to give these a read as well.

My wife has a couple of weeks off for the Christmas/New Year holidays, so I'd planned on a long overdue rewatch of GitS: SAC S1 and 2, which we started after Leviathan. I remember it was a good show, but damn, what a good show. I've never read the manga, so I can't speak to it, but of all the incarnations of the Major and Section 9, this series is the pinnacle for me, and I own Arise and have seen SAC 2045, which didn't impress me nearly as much as the first two seasons. We're about halfway through S1 and we're both looking forward to continuing the adventure!

Edited December 29, 2025 by M'Kyuun

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I watched Your name again.  I seem to watch it yearly.  It is still an awesome movie. 

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, kajnrig said:

These opening episodes don't drag things out at all. We go from character introductions to inciting incident to training arc in pretty quick succession. I also appreciate that, for the most part, the show seems to eschew the intricate magic/skill systems that other shounen come up with. No super saiyan modes, no Amakakesomething-something from Hiten MitsuThis or That style to master, no chakra and the various elemental affinities, etc. Just... build up your endurance and strength through months and months and years of rigorous repetition. Unexpectedly realistic and unglamorous given the fantastical setting. Even the special breathing, the closest that comes to evoking said magic system, is really just slight window dressing on aforementioned rigorous training.

I finally see the elemental effects in action, and seeing it just reinforces how funny the controversy is surrounding it. I love it.

"Exactly what it says on the tin" means it's probably me who said that, and I stand by it.

That said, Demon Slayer does eventually veer slightly in the direction of shounen cliches like super modes or secret styles and techniques.  It's handled in a much more grounded fashion than most shounen anime manage and never really detracts from the straightforward feel of the series.  The lost original demon slayer breathing style is rediscovered by accident (more or less) and then spammed gratuitously by its rediscoverer, and there's a "barely there" super mode that nobody can activate consciously because it's basically a form of hysterical strength.

It's all very earnest and grounded and straightforward.  A lot more accessible and enjoyable than a lot of shounen titles that rely on power scaling.

(The realization that its plot bears a very strong resemblance to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Parts 1 and 2 has me in stitches though.  An ageless immortal who is fatally weakened by sunlight travels all over hell's half-acre looking for an ultra-rare red macguffin that is the key ingredient in a technique to remove all his weaknesses and become a perfect lifeform.  He creates legions of nightwalking cannibalistic monsters to serve as his minions, and is opposed by a secretive organization of warrior monks who employ breathing techniques that imbue them with superhuman abilities in order to slay these monsters with attacks imbued with the power of the sun.  I want so very badly to hear Tanjiro's VA shout "Sunlight Yellow Overdrive!" now.)  

[kajnrig]

The humor isn't landing for me. I initially thought it's just because I'm old, but after some more consideration, I think the show is just bad at it. The timing is weak, the dialogue choice is poor... It may have worked better for a younger and/or more Japanese audience, but I'm tuning out those sections.

Zenitsu is annoying as duuuuuuuck. I'm eagerly awaiting the story getting past this early phase so he can become tolerable.

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

The humor isn't landing for me. I initially thought it's just because I'm old, but after some more consideration, I think the show is just bad at it. The timing is weak, the dialogue choice is poor... It may have worked better for a younger and/or more Japanese audience, but I'm tuning out those sections.

I don't think it's necessarily bad, but it's definitely very Japanese in its sensibilities and relies a lot on silliness and acknowledging absurdity.  

 

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

Zenitsu is annoying as duuuuuuuck. I'm eagerly awaiting the story getting past this early phase so he can become tolerable.

I would not advise holding your breath for that one.

Zenitsu develops rather slowly as a character, since part of his role was to be comic relief and a heroic coward who has the reasonable man's reaction to the insane supernatural BS going on at any given moment.  There are reasons he's this way, but they don't really come up properly until the Hashira training arc (S4) and Infinity Castle movie(s) near the end of the story.

Spoiler

Mainly, he has punishingly low self-esteem because he believes he's a failure as the successor to the Thunder Breathing school, having mastered only one of its six forms.

He's got a lot of other issues like crippling debt from being manipulated by women and a not-at-all-unreasonable fear of imminent death given his chosen vocation, but those are rather superficial in comparison.

Of course, he gets his in the form of being full-on Crouching Moron Hidden Badass.  He may be a one trick pony, but he is very good at that one trick.

[Graham]

Tojima Wants to be a Kamen Rider, definitely gets my vote for best anime series of 2025, Super funny, even if you are not into Kamen Rider . I've never actually watched an episode of any Kamen Rider series, but I'm loving this anime.😅

To be honest I'm kinda burned out on all the Isekai anime, there's just too much of it.

[m0n5t3r]

3 hours ago, kajnrig said:

The humor isn't landing for me. I initially thought it's just because I'm old, but after some more consideration, I think the show is just bad at it. The timing is weak, the dialogue choice is poor... It may have worked better for a younger and/or more Japanese audience, but I'm tuning out those sections.

Zenitsu is annoying as duuuuuuuck. I'm eagerly awaiting the story getting past this early phase so he can become tolerable.

I skip those scenes too. Still haven't opened my SHF Zenitsu, lol, cuz I'm not sure if I like the character enough... but after watching the first movie and his totally serious and badass arc, I can somewhat forgive his buffoonery. Hope you keep watching despite the humor fails...

Edited December 30, 2025 by m0n5t3r

[Dangard Ace]

Binged Akasic Records of something Bastard.  It's okay.  Don't think I'll revisit it since there's no S2 after 8years.

Watched the latest OPM S3 episode.   Better than all the other episodes of this season combined but still not as good as one episode of S1.  

Started Digimon Beatbreak.  Gekkomon annoys me.

[Scyla]

7 hours ago, kajnrig said:

The humor isn't landing for me. I initially thought it's just because I'm old, but after some more consideration, I think the show is just bad at it. The timing is weak, the dialogue choice is poor... It may have worked better for a younger and/or more Japanese audience, but I'm tuning out those sections.

Zenitsu is annoying as duuuuuuuck. I'm eagerly awaiting the story getting past this early phase so he can become tolerable.

Zenitsu was the reason I dropped the show, he was just unbearable for me.

[Big s]

6 hours ago, Graham said:

To be honest I'm kinda burned out on all the Isekai anime, there's just too much of it.

It’s basically the only thing people know of for anime this generation. I miss the days when people just thought it was for giant robots and perverts, now it’s just Tronime and instructional videos

[Dangard Ace]

 

15 hours ago, Graham said:

Tojima Wants to be a Kamen Rider, definitely gets my vote for best anime series of 2025, Super funny, even if you are not into Kamen Rider . I've never actually watched an episode of any Kamen Rider series, but I'm loving this anime.😅

To be honest I'm kinda burned out on all the Isekai anime, there's just too much of it.

Tojima is great.   I really haven't paid KR much attention even though I watched a KR movie a couple of years ago.  Think it was a remake of of the OG.  It was fun but didn't follow it up.   After Tojima though I've hunted down all KR and I'm ready to binge decades worth of this stuff.  I need some japanese superhero stuff since Super Sentai is ending in the next couple of weeks.   Or going on hiatus and replaced with Space Sheriff Galvy.  

And yes, there's is too much garbage isekai out there or "banished from party but I'm the strongest xxxxx".   Lasts one season/12 episodes, gets cancelled but rinse and repeat the next season but with different names but same story.  Basically shovelware.   At least mecha were OVA quality 1-3 episodes and done or 30-40 episodes and lasted the year.

8 hours ago, Big s said:

It’s basically the only thing people know of for anime this generation. I miss the days when people just thought it was for giant robots and perverts, now it’s just Tronime and instructional videos

Agreed.  Used to be able to trust Bandai to crank out a robot show every year but not lately.  Don't they still sell robot model kits and need a anime commercial to sell them?  /s.   At least Gundam Hathaway is coming January 30.   I'm also going through my backlog of mecha shows that I haven't gotten around to.    AMAIMA and Code Geass are next.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

With You, Our Love Will Make It Through ended.  I thought it turned out well.  

[Seto Kaiba]

11 hours ago, Big s said:

It’s basically the only thing people know of for anime this generation. I miss the days when people just thought it was for giant robots and perverts, now it’s just Tronime and instructional videos

Nah, that's not even close to accurate.

The genre that has absolutely dominated public perception of anime for like 20 years now has been shounen anime.  If you turned on Cartoon Network in the late afternoons or early evenings you'd get the Shounen Jump Big Three (One Piece, Bleach, Naruto), reruns of older shounen anime like Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Ruroni Kenshin.  Titles have come and gone, but shounen has basically ruled the airwaves and the conversation that entire time.  So much so that the negative stereotype of anime fans - the weeaboo - is intrinsically associated with the Naruto's ninja headbands and its occasional bouts of untranslated Japanese words like "nakama". 😅

Isekai anime is trendy, but it's nowhere near that level.  It's definitely the most numerous genre after shounen the last several years, but I think it seems more pervasive than it is that we're seeing a lot of isekai tropes leaking into non-isekai fantasy titles.  Like The Banished Court Magician, I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince, New Saga, Scooped Up By An S-Rank Adventurer, Welcome to The Outcast's Restaurant, etc.  Particularly instances of fantasy worlds running on JRPG or MMORPG logic for no clear reason, and stories that start with the protagonist being reincarnated in the same world but in a much different position.  

 

I do think we're entering the dying days of the isekai genre's trendiness, though.  Like any new genre, you get that first couple big hits, a double handful of less-appreciated "cult classics", and then a lot of low-effort copycats.  For mecha anime, Gundam, Macross, and VOTOMS basically defined the genre, you had some successful by less appreciated follow-ups like MOSPEADA, Orguss, and L-Gaim, and then a lot of unsuccessful genre followers that don't do very well like Southern Cross or Dragonar.  We're in that "unsuccessful genre follower" phase right now.  I wonder if it'll just peter out or if it'll die out with a last big deconstruction.  I suspect not, since the actually-successful titles in the genre are mainly ALREADY deconstructions.

 

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

I watched Kaguya-sama: Love Is War -Stairway to Adulthood- .  Boy it did live up to the title,  

[Big s]

On 12/30/2025 at 1:25 PM, Seto Kaiba said:

The genre that has absolutely dominated public perception of anime for like 20 years now has been shounen anime.  If you turned on Cartoon Network in the late afternoons or early evenings you'd get the Shounen Jump Big Three (One Piece, Bleach, Naruto), reruns of older shounen anime like Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Ruroni Kenshin.

That was like fifteen years ago or so. Most kids these days probably don’t even know what Cartoon Network was or even any cable channel. They’re mostly checking out the newest things from crunchy roll or some other streaming services and the Tronime is the majority of what pops up. Sure there’s gonna be shows they will like more that fit other genres like the anime superhero things or even classics, but the majority of what they’ve been exposed to is the stuck in a video game or reincarnated in a video game or the reincarnated from a video game or how to cook or how to camp anime or stuck in a video game and have to learn how to coook or camp. And the ones that don’t even like anime seem to blame those types of shows 

[Seto Kaiba]

8 minutes ago, Big s said:

That was like fifteen years ago or so. Most kids these days probably don’t even know what Cartoon Network was or even any cable channel. They’re mostly checking out the newest things from crunchy roll or some other streaming services and the Tronime is the majority of what pops up.

The point is that shounen's dominance of the anime conversation and public perception of anime goes all the way back to when the current crop of child-raising parents (Gen X-ers and Millennials) were exposed to the stuff via cable.

Yeah, most anime is streaming these days but the reality is that if you go to most streaming services that carry anime most of what they're advertising prominently is not isekai... it's those big-ticket shounen titles like One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, and My Hero Academia and a handful of dramas and non-isekai titles like Frieren, Spy x Family, and Oshi no Ko.
 

Spoiler

Seriously.  I visit their site fairly regularly since I tend to watch anime over lunch.  Using a different device than usual and visiting without logging in...

Their automatic recommendations in the page margin are pushing Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, One Piece, and Spy x Family.

Their Year in Review article citing their favorite titles from 2025 has a grand total of one nominal isekai title in it (May I Ask For One Final Thing?) but SIX different shounen titles including TWO My Hero Academia titles, Dr. Stone, Gachiakuta, and Dan Da Dan.  Their favorite news moments are predominantly dramas but there's also My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball DAIMA, and Dr. Stone on there, with Fire Force and One Piece in the honorable mentions.  Just one isekai title (Shangri-La Frontier).

The front page of their Featured Articles section has ONE article about isekai (it's a List), but six different articles gushing about shounen anime (three of which are My Hero Academia).  

The six Staff Picks for the Winter 2026 simulcast season include zero isekai titles, but three shounen titles: Fire Force, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Hell's Paradise.  In the previous season, two of the six were shounen (My Hero Academia and Gachiakuta) with just one isekai.  

Their "What anime OP was your favorite?" poll has two of the top five being shounen (My Hero Academia and Gachiakuta) and only one isekai (Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess).  

The top five articles on the Guides page are pushing Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece.

Their 2025 Holiday gift guide is almost exclusively pushing shounen anime.  It's pushing One Piece figures, Dan Da Dan collectibles, Chainsaw Man apparel, Bleach and Dragon Ball Z funko pops, etc.  The only category that isn't all shounen is home video, where it's recommending Frieren, Nier: Automata, and Attack on Titan.

 

Look to their viewer-voted Anime Awards for 2025... isekai is practically absent, but shounen anime has two to four of the six nominations in practically every category with Dan Da Dan, One Piece, Demon Slayer, and Bleach pretty much running away with the show.

The only category where any isekai title was even NOMINATED outside of the genre-specific "Best Isekai Anime of 2025" category was Best comedy, where KonoSuba was nominated but lost to MASHLE.

Even the frigging DUBBING awards, the only mention of isekai is that the Overlord movie was nominated for Best Italian Dub but lost to Look Back.

 

 

8 minutes ago, Big s said:

Sure there’s gonna be shows they will like more that fit other genres like the anime superhero things or even classics, but the majority of what they’ve been exposed to is the stuck in a video game or reincarnated in a video game or the reincarnated from a video game or how to cook or how to camp anime or stuck in a video game and have to learn how to coook or camp. And the ones that don’t even like anime seem to blame those types of shows 

Demonstrably false, I'm afraid.  Most of what viewers are tuning in for when it comes to anime on streaming is shounen anime.  It dominates the awards, it dominates the news, and it's also the stereotype of anime fans that's been dominant since the 2000s.  

[kajnrig]

What is "Tronime"?

[Dynaman]

13 minutes ago, kajnrig said:

What is "Tronime"?

Well, there is a youtube channel by the name - but a quick look at it seems like it is simply every anime they could get their hands on.

 

 

[Seto Kaiba]

1 hour ago, kajnrig said:

What is "Tronime"?

An uninspired attempt to coin a derisive nickname for isekai anime.

It doesn't make sense if you think about it even a little, because TRON's "Grid" is just the software inside of a computer not an alternate reality and doesn't fit the definition of isekai even a little.

 

3 hours ago, Big s said:

They’re mostly checking out the newest things from crunchy roll or some other streaming services and the Tronime is the majority of what pops up. 

Incidentally, I did a little more checking after supper.  Of Crunchyroll's current Top 10 most-streamed titles on their service, the 5th and 9th places are isekai titles (Campfire Cooking in Another World and Tales of Wedding Rings).  The top four spots on the top 10 are all shounen, being held by My Hero Academia, Gachiakuta, One Piece, and Tougen Anki.  

Top-selling manga is also predominantly shounen too... with My Hero Academia, One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Dan Da Dan topping charts in the west.

Netflix's viewership metrics have shounen anime absolutely dominating their service's anime offerings too.  The top-ranked anime title for I think three years running now on Netflix is Naruto.  One Piece, Seven Deadly Sins, and Demon Slayer are all on that list too.  Not a single isekai title broke the top 10 on Netflix.

I'm not able to find any data for Hulu, but given the pattern established thus far... well... their website has a list of 22 strongly recommended anime titles based on their platform's streaming performance data.  0 are isekai.  The titles that DID make the cut include Bleach, My Hero Academia, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Jujutsu Kaisen, Ishura, Mob Psycho 100, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and Demon Slayer.  That's 9 of 22.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

There's No Freaking Way I'll be Your Lover! Unless... Episode 13-17 came out today.  I do not know why I like this show,  But it is enjoyable.

[Seto Kaiba]

New season is go!

Winter 2026's first few titles are dropping on streaming now.  I have no use for My Hero Academia or its spinoff, so I chose to start my Winter 2026 with MF Ghost Season 3.

Picks up right where the previous season left off, mid-race with an injured Kanata slowly losing ground due to an arm injury preventing him from shifting into 2nd gear.  Not a hugely remarkable first episode, but clearly building to a big comeback.  Honestly, the one thing that really stood out...

Spoiler

... is that the series for some reason cuts away from the race to talk about how one of the background MFG race queens is putting on weight and how one of the race execs is totally into that.  It was in "that's a bit odd, but OK" territory until the episode's ED.  In that, she's being a bit of a nuisance while cameras are filming one of her colleagues and then she's struck in the face with a ham.  As in, a whole-ass spiral-sliced ham in a plastic bag someone threw at her.  It's the size of her head.  

Why was THAT necessary?

 

My second pick for the season is Tamon's B-Side, a romcom about a typical-ish teenage girl who loves her favorite idol singer and works a part time job as a housekeeper.  When a coworker falls ill, she takes over their shifts and finds she is now the housekeeper to her favorite idol singer and is stunned by the gap between his perfect stage-managed public image and the deeply insecure, chronically depressed mess he actually is.

Spoiler

Right from the start, it feels like they're setting up to make this a story about how toxic the idol industry is and how awful conditions in it are for the idols themselves.  Utage's family clearly Do Not Approve of her idol fascination, though she at least got a job (seemingly of her own volition) to fund her hobby which is pretty respectable IMO.  They do spend a couple minutes essentially joking about how unrealistic it would be for her to ever meet him, and even she dismisses the possibility that her new client with the same name could be the same guy.

What she finds is a depressed, seemingly inconsolable mess curled up in the corner unable to move and fantasizing about his own premature demise.  The series plays it largely for comedy, but nevertheless makes it pretty clear that the idol industry is slowly killing the titular Tamon with stress, lack of sleep, and malnutrition.  So he's now got this highly militant and incredibly discreet fangirl cleaning his apartment and cooking for him because she is appalled by how he's living and is determined to improve his life through RELENTLESS POSITIVITY.