Everyone loves anime, right? No? Well, I do, and I watch a ton of it every season. Something I've wanted to do for a while is to write a big article where I throw together mini-reviews for every anime I watched during a given season. I actually attempted this in the past, but the individual sections ended up too long and I scrapped the whole thing.
This time, I'm challenging myself to stay true to my vision and review each of the anime I watched in fall 2025 in as few words as possible. Let's begin!
A Wild Last Boss Appeared!
AKA: Yasei no Last Boss ga Arawareta!
Last Boss is an isekai litRPG following a man who is transported into the world of his favorite MMORPG in the body of his player character, the black-winged conqueror Lufas Maphaahl. In real life, the game Exgate had a player-driven narrative; the top players, MC included, conquered the entire in-game world and conspired to arrange a climactic final battle where Lufas was betrayed and defeated by the other characters. 200 years after being sealed by the seven heroes, Lufas is unsealed by accident in a hero-summoning ritual with the MC piloting her body.
What begins as a fairly standard romp with typical power fantasy elements soon shows signs of a deeper narrative. The MC's personality mixes with that of Lufas, and, joined by their loyal advisor Dina, they embark on a journey to recruit the 12 heavenly stars—a group of powerful NPC followers they'd put together in the game—and to meet the living members of the hero's party to see if anyone else is a "player" from Earth.
The show's pace takes its time and is interspersed with some stellar animation, though I personally found that the fight choreography often wasn't much to write home about, even in some of the most beautifully-animated moments. Where the show definitely shines most is the unraveling mystery of the truth of the world. Unfortunately, due to the very nature of how a mystery works, I can't exactly tell you much more than that during this review.
In short, Last Boss has charming characters and a plot that only becomes more interesting as the story progresses. The reveals in the last two episodes in particular were incredibly interesting and turned all the standard isekai tropes on their head in a way that I feel entirely justified the more generic start. The ending isn't super "climactic", but it compelled me to immediately pick up and start binging the manga.
Verdict: 8/10
Hero Without a Class: Who Even Needs Skills?!
AKA: Mushoku no Eiyuu: Betsu ni Skill Nanka Iranakatta n da ga
Classless Hero is the perfect show to put on in the background and pay zero attention to while working on something more important. The show has no interesting ideas, it isn't impressive to look at, and nothing that happens throughout its story really matters all that much. It's a painfully-mediocre nothingburger of an anime.
The story takes place in a litRPG world where every person is granted a 'Class' at the age of ten, which allows them to gain 'Skills'—everyone except our protagonist, Arel, who is classless and thus also skilless. You would assume, then, that this would be a classic underdog tale, extolling the virtues of effort and determination over latent talent or privilege; somehow, it isn't. If anything, Arel is the most talented and privileged character in the entire setting, with everyone else being the underdog. This is for two reasons. First, Arel is a huge nepo baby, being the son of the two strongest characters in the setting who wield the strongest martial and magic classes; second, Arel is not inhibited at all by his lack of a class, and has access to basically every skill despite the literal name of the show.
That's right—the anime completely abandons its own main premise by allowing Arel to learn skills. At first this is explained as him just being physically skilled enough to mimic the motions involved in a skill's usage, which works. But then he starts picking up skills that grant him superhuman durability or let him teleport. The show barely even puts effort into pretending that he doesn't have skills—both Arel and other characters refer to his abilities as skills, he shouts the skill names when he uses them, and his skills work exactly the same as everyone else's. Arel barely has to work for everything and solves most problems near effortlessly.
I don't even have much to actually say about the plot, characters, or power system because it's all very bland and forgettable. The story has Arel travel to the City of Swords, join a guild, beat every notable adversary in the area, and abandon the guild; the second half of the season has him do the same thing again but in not-Hogwarts. Oh, yeah, our MC with "zero skills" gets to master every branch of magic, by the way. Most of the characters exist only to gawk at how cool Arel is. Hell, even the opening isn't able to muster up any particularly thoughtful or interesting imagery; it's mostly just shots of Arel looking generically cool without doing anything of substance, which is a pretty perfect microcosm of the show. Even Solo Leveling's opening was able to pretend it was an interesting show!
I find it amusing that the show's opening is called "Reincarnation". In an industry absolutely flooded with isekai, it is genuinely hilarious that the show to get that song somehow wasn't one of the dozens where the MC is literally reincarnated. That little amusement is also more thought-provoking than anything from the show proper, which should about sum up my thoughts.
Verdict: 4/10
My Hero Academia: Final Season
AKA: Boku no Hero Academia: Final Season
The climactic eighth season of MHA capstones a story I and many others have been following since the first season released back in 2016—over 9 years ago. I feel like I should be more sentimental about the ending to a story that's been with me for almost half of my life, but I've always had mixed feelings on MHA. In particular, the overreliance on flashbacks for emotional effect and exposition, the sexualization of some its female characters, and certain immersion-breaking tropes like the constant clear blue skies always kept me from truly loving the series.
That said, I certainly don't think MHA has ever been a bad show, either. It has no shortage of problems, but it also has a lot of heart. MHA commits completely to its world of superheroes and Quirks, and it dedicates a lot of its time to really addressing and exploring the social issues—both in-universe and out—that its worldbuilding represents. Its takes on certain topics, like "What makes a person evil?" or "How should society treat criminals?" or "Is there a point where someone evil can no longer be redeemed?" are surprisingly nuanced. While Deku seems to have come away form the events of his story believing that anyone can still be redeemed, he also clearly understands that just because they can be redeemed doesn't mean that they will or should. I never felt like the story was trying to force Deku's own conclusion onto me, either; rather, it felt like the narrative had simply invited me to come to my own conclusions based on both sides of the story it presented.
Most of what I've written so far is about the series as a whole more than this season in particular, which I suppose is inevitable when you're ending such a long-running story. To comment on this season, it has a ton of incredibly hype moments and some truly stellar animation. It doesn't escape the previous seasons' issues with mid-battle monologues and tons of flashbacks, but I still enjoyed the action. I did find that a lot of things seemed to be contrived to work out a certain way. Like, I'm meant to believe they really had the tech for All Might's super-suit lying around, but hadn't used it for anything until right now? Did they invent and manufacture it on-the-spot? Lots of small things like that stand out if you think about them too much; I feel that All For One and Shigaraki were simply made too powerful for the heroes to beat them without the help of some contrivances.
Finally, let's talk the ending. I really appreciate that MHA dedicated multiple entire episodes to its falling action. With so many characters and events to cover, it really needed that time; many other shows wouldn't have been willing to take it as slow as they needed to. I enjoyed seeing Deku pass the torch to the next generation, and I especially loved the message of heroes becoming less necessary because anyone, even a regular person, can be someone else's hero when they need it. I also think Deku becoming a teacher felt very appropriate. I remember seeing many memes back when the manga ended of Deku being a minimum-wage worker; I really hope the ending in the manga was completely different, else there's really no hope for the people who chose to perceive it that way.
Verdict: 7/10
A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai
AKA: Sozai Saishuka no Isekai Ryokouki
A Gatherer's Adventure in Isekai, henceforth abbreviated as AGAI, is a simple and generally inoffensive show. It follows many generic tropes, doesn't have much of an overarching plot, and has a pretty stale and uninteresting MC. Takeru is, as the title implies, isekai'd into a fantasy world and decides to take up work gathering rare materials. While the foraging aspect could make for a somewhat unique premise, it isn't really the focus after the first couple episodes; Takeru does all the same monster slaying and bandit fighting and village saving that typical fantasy protagonists do.
As is typical of the genre by now, Takeru is extremely overpowered thanks to a selection of skills and bonuses granted to him by the godly entity that oversaw his reincarnation. Almost nothing that occurs throughout the show poses any real challenge to him, and we mostly only see him use the same few magic spells. There are a couple neat applications of his skills, like when he accidentally casts such a powerful healing spell on Clay that he evolves into some sort of primordial dragonkin, but for the most part it's pretty standard stuff.
AGAI does stand out among its contemporaries by generally having a pretty lighthearted tone. There's no revenge or betrayal or what have you here; Takeru's just on a pleasant, mostly low-stakes adventure. The show is very episodic, given the lack of any real overarching plot or any real ambitions from Takeru, and the individual adventures fare from pretty standard fare you've seen a thousand times before to some more unique ideas.
Of all the ideas the show provides, the stand-out to me was the final arc with the High Elves. We learn that their bloodline is cursed and the elves are at risk of extinction, but that they're guided by an ancient prophecy telling them they must bring new blood into the village. At first this seems like it's going to be a generic case of the MC being the prophesized hero, and the High Elves themselves even suspect as much, but it turns out that the "curse" afflicting the elves is really just genetic defects from generations of incest; to save their bloodline, they literally need to bring in new blood.
I used words like "standard" and "generic" a lot in this review, and that's a pretty good summary of AGAI. It's a very standard experience. The animation won't blow you away, and there isn't too much of interest going, but nothing about it is bad either. The characters are pleasant and it does throw in an interesting idea here and there. It's a perfectly fine, inoffensive experience, but not much beyond that.
Verdict: 6/10
My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I'm Out for Revenge!
AKA: Shinjiteita Nakama-tachi ni Dungeon Okuchi de Korosarekaketa ga Gift "Mugen Gacha" de Level 9999 no Nakama-tachi wo Te ni Irete Moto Party Member to Sekai ni Fukushuu & "Zamaa!" Shimasu!
I'm not even sure which part of that title I should use for a shortened version; I'm gonna go with Unlimited Gacha. UG is the seven-millionth variation of "character gets betrayed by their fantasy party, then awakens an OP power and vows revenge". It follows Light, a human in a world where humans are oppressed by the other races. After he's betrayed, he awakens the full potential of his unique gift, an in-universe gacha pull that he can use for free to obtain spells, weapons, and even characters that are summoned into reality as his loyal followers. Using this, he builds an absurdly powerful empire in the depths of the world's highest-level dungeon, and he achieves level 9999 alongside several of his summoned servants.
To give it credit where credit is due, Unlimited Gacha is the first revenge story I've watched in a while that actually committed to the revenge bit. Most of the ones I've seen these past few years had MCs who end up either forgiving their assaulters or never really dealing with them again; it's a bit refreshing to see a story that commits 100% to its premise. The season follows Light's plans to build a presence on the surface world and exact his revenge on the first two members of his old party. Along the way, he also seeks out info about Maestros. At first he intends to destroy the world if he finds its true colors ugly, but he is influenced by the kindness and grit displayed by his fellow humans and decides instead to build a peaceful utopia—after he's done with his vengeance, of course. That bit of character development is appreciated.
Beyond that and one particularly well-executed scene—Elio's last stand against Kyto—there isn't much of an emotional core to this series. Most of the characters are pretty one-note, and with the sheer number of them and the fact that they're introduced in such large batches, most of them get barely any time to truly develop or leave a lasting impression. It doesn't help that the show makes some questionable uses of its time; the second episode is spent primarily with four maid characters who're never really relevant again, and a significant portion of time is allotted to introducing all of the White Knights that get defeated off-screen. Speaking of the antagonists, they all feel rather similar, especially in how they react to Light's victories against them—they start out proud to a comical degree, absolutely refuse to admit defeat or wrongdoing until the lat moment, and then pathetically beg for mercy once it's too late. It gets a bit repetitive.
Unlimited Gacha also suffers from the inherent edginess that comes inherently with revenge plots. I praised it earlier for committing to its premise, but that doesn't make me enjoy watching people get tortured any more. Light's morals are generally pretty consistent—he loves and protects other humans, but exacts obscene violence on those who wrong him or those he cares about—but there are some lapses that feel more edgy just for edginess's sake, like when Ellie slaughters a bunch of innocent guardsmen in the final episode.
Overall, Unlimited Gacha is a decent show, but I think it tries to do a bit too much at once and has a bit too large of a cast. Viewers who enjoyed power fantasies and revenge plots will probably enjoy it much more than I did, but I found it a bit lacking in its ability to deliver an interesting story beyond those elements.
Verdict: 6.5/10
Sanda
Sanda is without a doubt the most fascinating anime I've watched this season. Taking place in a future, dystopian Japan where the birth rate is so critically low that children are revered, placed above the law, and forced to never sleep so they remain in a prepubescent state until the age of 18, our protagonist Sanda discovers that he is the descendant of Santa Claus, and can transform into the legendary figure when he wears the color red.
Sanda tackles fascinating themes regarding what it truly means to be "youthful" or "old" and about the relationships adults do and should have with children, as well as stinging commentaries on how all of those concepts can be perverted into something vile. The topics it touches on can be uncomfortable, but I feel they're generally handled respectfully and artfully. It's clear that the show has a lot to say, and it breaches the taboos it does with intent rather than for mere shock value.
While it's clear the show has clear intent regarding its messages and themes, it seems to be less sure of how to actually string those ideas together into a plot. The show is very unfocused, jumping between plot points and themes erratically without much of a clear forward drive. The MC's main motivation is achieved halfway through the show's run, leaving him mostly reactionary for the remainder. There's always something interesting going on in every episode, but the show definitely gets a bit too caught up in posing philosophical questions and forgets it needs to also be an action shounen with a cohesive plot.
The show looks amazing, with great art, distinctive character designs, and plenty of stellar animation. Overall, while I think it is a bit of a confused story, it's definitely still a good one. It isn't the best show to come out of the season, but I think it is the one that I'd most highly recommend others to watch just because of how intriguing and unique it is.
Verdict: 8/10
Ranma ½ (2024) Season 2
Ranma is a great show, short and simple. That's a bit too short of a review, though, so I'll give you a bit more. This show looks great, has great animation, and presents some consistently great comedy. The story is a fairly simple rom-com with an action-focused twist—not to forget its core gimmick, which is that Ranma is transformed into a girl when he's splashed with cold water.
Takahashi Rumiko is considered a legendary writer, and Ranma is responsible for establishing many of the tropes seen in romance manga and anime to this day. It's easy to see why; the show really does just have the perfect formula to keep you coming back every episode. Between the ridiculous fights, the constant scheming and double-crossing between all the characters, and the many, many misunderstandings that come as a result of the whole gender-swapping thing, there's always some hijinx going on that's simply fun to watch.
That isn't to say I have no complaints regarding the show. There's Happosai, the classic anime pervert character; his presence is obviously a detriment, though the issue is at least softened relative to many other pervert characters thanks simply to the fact that all of the other characters treat him like the POS he is. The show also suffers from some dated views of women that are very obviously products of the original work's time, though none of it is a major issue.
Overall, Ranma is just a super fun watch. I enjoy it immensely and hope we continue to get more seasons of this remake.
Verdict: 8.5/10
The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest
AKA: Mikata ga Yowasugite Hojo Mahou ni Tesshiteita Kyuutei Mahoushi, Tsuihou sarete Saikyou wo Mezasu
Banished Court Magician, henceforth BCM, is a fairly standard betrayed MC power fantasy. The story follows Alec and his party of three other prodigies; after Alec is betrayed and fired by the prince of a foreign kingdom, he rejoins his party, and the quartet go on various adventures together primarily in dungeons.
Alec is a fairly generic MC who goes through all the same steps that most others in this subgenre go through. He lacks self-esteem despite being absurdly strong and is kind of a wet blanket who lacks strong motivations for the first half of the season. The lore and story definitely pick up in the latter half, and the characters other than Alec are all pretty enjoyable, but not much about the series really helps it stand out from the crowd.
BCM has a pretty standard magic system, and while its fights do include some decent strategies, the choreography involved isn't anything to write home about. Similarly, the series consistently looks good, but I can't think of any real stand-out moments of animation. Its strongest point is definitely the emotional moments near the end.
Overall, BCM is not a bad show by any means, but it doesn't particularly excel at much either. It's a pretty standard but enjoyable experience. I'll probably watch season 2 if/when it comes out, but I don't feel compelled to pick up the light novel.
Verdict: 7/10
Gachiakuta
Gachiakuta is so goddamn good. Holy shit, I love this show so much. There are others this season like Last Boss that I scored similarly, but nothing else really came close in terms of sheer enjoyment. The anime technically started airing last season, but I'm reviewing the entire thing here.
Gachiakuta has a striking artstyle and character designs, stellar animation, great music, and tons of style. I struggle to think of any other show in recent memory that had even a fraction of the sheer love and aura and artistic intent and style that's oozing out of every bit of Gachiakuta. It's a battle shounen at its core, but it clearly takes a lot of influence from the seinen genre that makes it stand out a ton. This fact is also reflected in the MC, Rudo, who starts out as a grumpy, brooding, violent, revenge-obsessed character but gradually shifts to be kinder and more thoughtful—we get to watch a deeply-flawed, broken person evolve into a shounen protagonist in real time.
The fights in Gachiakuta are all great. They look amazing, there's a good mix of punchy action and interesting strategy, and there are some really unique and interesting powers thrown in to boot. The power system itself is also very unique, focusing on Vital Instruments—everyday objects granted magical abilities thanks to their owner's care for them.
Now, much as I love it, it certainly isn't a perfect show. It takes a couple episodes to get into its groove and reach the action, there are some moments of comedy that felt a bit jarring or misplaced, and the conclusion to the final battle felt a tad anticlimactic to me. Even so, those problems really do seem small compared to everything else the show has going for it.
I could go on and on gushing about how much I love this show and all the incredible moments that stuck out to me, but these reviews are meant to be short, and I don't want to spoil too much. Just go watch Gachiakuta.
Verdict: 9.5/10
Dad is a Hero, Mom is a Spirit, I'm a Reincarnator
AKA: Chichi wa Eiyuu, Haha wa Seirei, Musume no Watashi wa Tenseisha.
Reincarnator follows Ellen, a girl whose family situation is described by the name of the show. This political drama tells the tale of a human kingdom with a rocky history with the world's spirits. Our MC has lived a sheltered life due to her father fleeing his arranged marriage with his despised fiancee, but she finally visits the human realm and meets her human relatives, the Vankreift family, as the story kicks off.
The story starts off promising. The MC has an interesting power and there's plenty of interesting political drama. Towards the beginning there are some concerningly puritanical morals, particularly regarding Aria, but those take a backseat as the politics really shift into gear. We learn of ancient history where the human kingdom forcefully enslaved spirits to defend against an event called the Monster Tempest, and that this is why the spirits resent humans and have cursed the royal family to this day; it seems like the story is building towards a theme of unity and forgiving sins of the father, where our MC, who can see both sides of the conflict objectively, will mediate between the two.
Instead, we get the actual ending of the season. Basically all of the goodwill I had towards the series was obliterated by the final episode, which was genuinely unpleasant to sit through. A plague is tearing through the kingdom and, as revenge for how the king wrong the MC in the previous episodes, our "heroes" go out of their way to deny the entire kingdom access to the medicine and treatment that only they can provide. They spend the entire episode being haughty and arrogant and talking about how they "had to do this" to stick it to the king, without ever addressing the gravity of what they're actually doing.
The whole thing with the royal family's curse is never properly addressed, either. The series seems to maintain the opinion that the current royal family, and by extension the entire kingdom, is still at fault for the actions of their descendants hundreds of years back. It should be noted that the details of the Monster Tempest and the enslavement of the spirits isn't even known in modern history; the royal family don't even know they're cursed until over halfway through the season.
Overall, Reincarnator is a story with some decent elements that is entirely soured by its devious morals. The main characters all come off as total villains after the events of the final episode, and it makes it supremely difficult to maintain any investment in them.
Verdict: 5.5/10
Let This Grieving Soul Retire
AKA: Nageki no Bourei wa Intai shitai
The fall season technically hosted the second cour of Grieving Soul, but as with Gachiakuta before, I'm reviewing the whole season here since this is the first time I'm doing these seasonal reviews. Grieving Soul follows Krai, an adventurer and the leader of the feared and unbeatable party Grieving Souls. While all of his fellow party members are absurdly powerful monsters, Krai is a normal guy with no impressive abilities whatsoever, and he desperately wants to retire from heroing; unfortunately for him, everyone has given him the persona of a nigh-omnipotent strategist and schemer, known by the alias Thousand Tricks.
Krai simultaneously has the worst and best luck imaginable. He constantly gets himself and those around him dragged into dangerous and absurd situations, and he fakes his way out of every single one while things just happen to play out perfectly around him. This seems like something that would get old very quickly, but the execution and sheer absurdity of everything that happens, and the fact that the story actually commits to Krai being a helpless faker, makes it a surprisingly good formula. I expect that watching it weekly was a much better experience than binging it would be.
The show definitely has its share of problems. Towards the end of its first cour, it briefly starts trying to take itself seriously as an actual action thriller, which doesn't work quite as well as when it's fully committed to its own hijinx. It also suffers from some uncomfortable choices with one of its main characters, Tino—namely how much it sexualizes her and the cruel treatment she receives from another main character, Liz. Liz is incredibly vulgar and violent, and there were some scenes in the first cour of her interactions with Tino that were genuinely uncomfortable and unpleasant to watch despite the show trying to pass them off as comedy. Those are thankfully toned down a lot in the second half, and I'd say the second cour is much better overall.
Grieving Soul is definitely an acquired taste. I remember stepping away from the first cour with a bad taste in my mouth, but I picked up the second half on a whim and enjoyed it a lot more. If they make a season 2, I'll definitely watch it. The weekly injections of utter absurdity this show provided ended up becoming a great part of my week; if that's something you enjoy, this show may be for you.
Verdict: 7/10
Isekai Quartet Season 3
Isekai Quarter has always been one of those "this has no right to work as well as it does" shows for me. It's a simple, chibi-styled comedy crossover of several popular isekai fantasy stories, namely KoNoSuBa, Re:Zero, Overlord, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil. It started out as such, at least; the second season made it a quintet with the introduction of characters from The Rising of the Shield Hero, and this season now makes it a sextet with the addition of Eminence in Shadow.
The show has the main casts of each of the participating shows isekai'd to a generic Japanese high school where they're forced to live as classmates; the clashing personalities and powers result in plenty of hijinx. Such hijinx was the main draw of the first season, which was full of interesting and memorable moments like when Tanya suspected Aqua was Being X or when Ainz stopped time only to discover several other characters were still able to move. This season has fewer such moments, though it's still full of good comedic bits and does a pretty great job of maintaining the characterization of its huge cast.
This season introduces some genuinely interesting lore to the series—namely that the characters can undergo drastic changes in personality and relationships based on the events of their series's most recent season; this is displayed most prominently by Beatrice's newfound devotion to Subaru after season 3 of Re:Zero. This season also tries to tackle an overarching plot with a rivalry between the Eminence in Shadow characters and everyone else, though that ultimately doesn't amount to much.
With how huge the cast has gotten at this point and the attempt at an overarching plot, I feel the show simply had too much on its plate for just eleven short episodes. I think it would have been better off dedicating more of the time spent on the plot to interesting comedic situations or to making deep cuts into the lore and light novels of its member stories, as the previous seasons were known to do. I also feel like a large part of the comedy being less potent this time around is that the cast as a whole are too comfortable with each other's eccentricities by now; there aren't really any genuine conflicts between them this season.
Overall, Isekai Quartet is still a fun, pleasant watch, especially for fans of the series it features. This season didn't feel quite as memorable to me as the previous two, but it was still a good watch.
Verdict: 7.5/10
My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's
AKA: Ansatsusha de Aru Ore no Status ga Yuusha yori mo Akiraka ni Tsuyoi no da ga
Ansatsusha begins with the standard isekai cliche of a high school class being transmigrated together and assigned fantasy classes. Where it immediately divulges from that cliche is with the reveal that the students are pawns in a political game, summoned to serve as brainwashed slaves to the king. Protagonist Akira evades this fate thanks to his natural lack of presence and his newfound assassin-class skills. He splits off from the rest of the students for an adventure of his own, where he quickly discovers that his stats are way higher than his classmates'.
This show is an interesting example in the modern deluge of isekai series. Whereas many come off as lazy attempts to cash in on established tropes, Ansatsusha has some genuinely thoughtful worldbuilding and interesting ideas of its own to present. It's written with clear intent, which is becoming something of a rare characteristic among its peers.
With that said, intending to write something good doesn't guarantee it will be. Most of the events of the show's first half progress at a slightly rushed pace, with the story jumping rapidly form place to place and subplot to subplot. It relies heavily on deus ex machina in several fights. The show seems to want to give its deuteragonist, Amelia, some real agency, but it doesn't seem to understand how to actually do that, instead often reducing her to a damsel in distress. Due to the rapid pace of the earlier episodes, her budding romance with Akira also doesn't feel entirely earned—especially given how she seems to have fallen for him at first sight.
Those problems aside, there are some really great aspects of the writing, too. The scene between Akira and Amelia at the cliffside is genuinely amazing, and I really enjoyed how the show quite shockingly treated the concepts of killing and the sanctity of life with real gravitas. Death is usually brushed aside in fantasy stories like this, but Ansatsusha dedicates multiple episodes to letting Akira grapple with the decision of whether or not to kill a certain villain.
I'd also like to bring up the show's opening. I absolutely adore the song, "Issen", and the show also did a neat thing I really liked where it swapped the opening to use the second half of the song in the second half of the season. I've only seen one or two other shows do that, but I hope it becomes more common; it's always really cool. Overall, the show is a mix of good and not-so-good elements, but I think the good far outweighs the bad. It was an enjoyable watch, and I'd certainly watch a second season.
Verdict: 7/10
Spy x Family Season 3
Spy x Family is the family comedy / spy action thriller / slowburn romance that took the world by storm back in 2022. Its third season covers an... interesting set of episodes. The first several consist of Loid's backstory and some side stories focusing on the supporting cast. The rest of the season is largely split between the busjacking arc and the conflict with capturing Winston Wheeler.
I call this selection of episodes "interesting" for a few reasons. First, Loid's backstory is incredibly dark with little to no comedy; the series is certainly no stranger to darker topics, but it felt odd to begin the season by diving headfirst into that story when the show is primarily a comedy. In a similar vein, Loid's backstory coupled with the stories focusing on Fiona and Franky mean we barely see the core trio at all for the first third of the season.
This season is also very Loid- and Anya-centric, giving Yor very little to do. She gets to start building her relationship with Melinda and get super drunk with her coworkers, but beyond that she takes a back seat this time around. That isn't a terrible thing, given she got a lot of focus in the previous season, but I feel this set of episodes simply did a much worse job of balancing everyone's screentime than the previous seasons did.
Overall, Spy x Family's third season still carries a lot of the same wit and charm as it always has—with some great action mixed in to boot. I have some issues with its pacing, as described above, but the core content here is still very good. I stepped away with some vague feeling that the season was "off", but I've tried not to factor that into my review since I simply can't put my finger on what feels so wrong. There's plenty of fun hijinx and I was always enjoying myself while actually watching the show, and I can think of no reason not to recommend it.
Verdict: 8/10
One Punch Man Season 3
This production is without a doubt the biggest embarrassment of the season. The original season of One Punch Man was genuinely amazing, and the second season, while a large and noticeable step down in quality from the first, was still pretty decent at the very least. I feel nothing but remorse for whatever conditions the artists behind this season were put through for this to be the final product.
Whereas its insane animation quality was one of the defining features of OPM season 1, there are only one or two moments in this season that approach that level of quality. A lot of scenes are given the bare minimum, and if you've been involved with the online anime community at all this season I'm sure you've seen all the "One Frame Man" memes. Animation aside, this season also makes baffling choices with its pacing. The first third of the season is spent primarily with Garou only for him to disappear for the remainder of the season. It also takes way too long to get to the actual meat of this story arc—the invasion of the Monster Association headquarters—and thus doesn't have enough time to let each of the fights breathe. Saitama himself also barely appears this season, and the ending feels incredibly rushed and awkward, with the season stopping halfway through the arc without much rhyme or reason. The team literally ran out of time to make this season and just announced a "Season 3, Part 2" to adapt the rest of the arc.
So far, the lowest review I gave a show this season was a 4/10 for Classless Hero. In a vacuum, I think that is still probably the worse show; it meets a baseline of consistent quality that OPM season 3 doesn't, but it doesn't excel at anything whereas OPM at least has a couple good fights. However, I have still decided to rate OPM with a lower score. Classless Hero's problems were mostly inherent to the source material—it was working with a story without any interesting ideas or decent writing, so it couldn't be expected to reach a high bar of quality. OPM, on the other hand, is a series full of great ideas and interesting choices, and it's a very successful IP that can and should be held to high standards. What's most disappointing about this season is that the poor animation and abysmal pacing spoil what could have been an incredible arc of anime—one that will now likely never receive a superior adaptation. The arc being split in half into two parts only exacerbates this problem.
Just the other day, I watched Overanalyzing Avatar's video on OPM season 1—one he made without knowledge of the subsequent seasons' quality, funnily enough. He made a point near the end of that video that he'd been shocked to learn that OPM's story continued beyond what was adapted in season 1; he felt that the story had adequately explored its themes within just that first season, and that there was not much value to be found in continuing the story beyond that point. Animation quality in the newer seasons aside, I'm led to agree; the story of OPM has become less and less about Saitama, and simultaneously it's become more and more the exact story it was originally parodying. That isn't inherently a bad thing, mind you; I really enjoyed reading the manga adaptation of the same story arc that season 3 adapted, for example. But I think the story has reached a point where it's outgrown its own themes and is now basically just a huge spectacle, and the anime is sure to continue to fail if it isn't able to present that spectacle as well as the first season managed to.
Verdict: 3/10
Conclusion
And, miraculously, I actually managed to finish this article this time around. As I mentioned at the beginning, I've tried to make something with this concept before, but I never got very far with it. It's been fun writing these mini-reviews over the past two weeks as everything wrapped up, and I think it was good practice for my ability to get my thoughts across on things in a more concise and digestible manner.
Enough about me, though. I think this was a pretty decent season of anime overall. Most of the anime I watched fit into the category of "pretty decent". There were a few big disappointments—namely OPM season 3 and the ending to Hero/Spirit/Reincarnator—but an equal number of real gems, like Gachiakuta and Last Boss. I'm definitely planning to continue making articles in this format, and I'm excited to get to talk about Frieren next season.
What were your thoughts on this season's anime? Do you disagree with any of my ratings? What was your favorite show this season? What are you most excited for next season? Answer these and other engagement-baiting questions in the comments!
Finally, here's a tier list I threw together in about 3 minutes based on the above reviews. I didn't write about Watanare in this article because I swear I watched it last season, but I included it because it was on the tier list and it's peak. Goodnight tri-state area.
Comments
Post a Comment