Another season come and gone, and that means it's time once again for a batch of mini-reviews of all the anime I watched this season! There are also a few shows with extra-long seasons this time around that carried over from spring; I gave some preliminary thoughts on those last time, but my full reviews for those will be detailed here, covering both halves of each relevant series.
Now, let's get started.
Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 4
AKA: Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 4th Season
Re:Zero is a work unlike any other, and this season was one of the stars of both the spring and summer. Season 4 adapts arc 6 of the story, which is easily my favorite and, in my opinion, one of the best pieces of literature I've ever read. This arc contains, among other things, what I consider to be the best—and one of very few good—executions of a certain trope, and that alone would earn it very high marks, but everything else here is great as well.
Arc 5/season 3 was a bit of a departure from the format of the series until that point, with a much heavier focus on action and relatively little of the deep mysteries that form the core of Re:Zero's identity. The action in RZ is consistently very good in both the anime and the original text, but I do think arc 5 relied a bit too much on it. Arc 6 has a much better balance of fights, mysteries, and drama, and Subaru's emotional arc in this section is a truly unique and spectacular one to watch unfold. Speaking of the action, goddamn are the last few fights in this season done justice. They've all got some beautiful animation, but I think the one that easily takes the cake is Ram's fight.
I do think this season could have done a little better as an adaptation, which is something I felt about season 3 as well. There's naturally a lot that has to be cut if you're gonna condense an entire novel arc into a single TV season, but there are some regretful losses here. There's been plenty of discussion about some of the biggest omissions, but a smaller one I personally missed was the loop where Subaru accidentally reveals he's from another world and the rest of the gang are oddly chill with that concept, in part because they don't understand what it really means.
In any case, it'd be hard to do such an incredible arc poorly. This was an incredible season, and I can't wait to see what's in store for the more divisive arc 7.
Verdict: 9.5/10
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4
AKA: Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 4th Season
I have a lot of mixed feelings about Tensura. I think the first third or so of this season, where it's focused primarily on smaller problems and the kingdom-building aspect of the series, is pretty good, though it suffers a lot from just how insanely OP Rimuru is. Most series with this problem at least get some hype moments and aura out of it, but Rimuru doesn't even get that most of the time because Raphael solves all his problems for him, and many of the problems he deals with either aren't combat or have such a huge skill gap that he can't even show off.
In general, I think this season largely contained some of the worst action I've seen attached to such a high-profile IP. Tensura is ludicrously good at making powerful characters seem very very weak. A criticism you might've heard about other series such as Dragon Ball is that they struggle to convey strength beyond arbitrary measurements like power levels, in large part because the feats being performed change little over time. By the time Goku defeats King Piccolo, the series shows us characters are strong by having them blow up mountains; later in the Buu saga, we're still blowing up mountains to show how cool and strong new characters are. Tensura takes this problem and dials it up to eleven. Fights between Demon Lords, Heroes, and True Dragons who should all be world-shatteringly powerful play out like sword fights indistinguishable from the sorts of fights regular-ass humans would have. The action portion of the climax doesn't feel grandiose at all, and the other half is just Raphael solving magic riddles for us again.
There are some other problems I have with this section of story, as well. Maribel is built up as this genius-level master manipulator, but she gets taken down because she never bothers to check how strong Rimuru is and just assumes she can deal with it. It feels contrived, almost silly, and she isn't even the only character in this season to pull the exact same stunt. Gran's plan is also a bit contrived, and the half-redemption they try to give him at the very end feels very unearned and half-baked. I also don't understand why Diablo just sorta sits out of the battle after dealing with his little sidequest. Overall there's just a whole lot in this season that feels either contrived, rushed, or downright lazy. The main twist was kinda crazy, but I also feel like they didn't really do as much with it as they really could've. The more I think about it, the more I realize that the entire climax of this season just sorta sucks.
Verdict: 6.5/10
This score feels overly harsh for such a big and beloved series, and when I sat down to start writing this review I certainly never imagined I'd be going so low. Even so, when I look at what this season accomplished objectively, I realized more and more how much it failed to meet my expectations, and I just don't think I can actually go any higher. So much of this season is just contrivance after contrivance, and the action inbetween is consistently disappointing.
Kaiju Girl Caramelise
AKA: Otome Kaijuu Caraméliser
Otome Kaiju is a romantic dramedy following Kuroe, a high school girl who mutates and transforms into a Gozilla-esque kaiju when she loses control of her emotions. She's an outcast in school and tha target of bullying from her peers, but she ends up catching the eye of ultra-popular hot guy Minami and the two start dating. What follows is a series of hijinx and drama as Kuroe tries to hide her true identity and sort out her feelings, resulting in lots of kaiju-related destruction.
The love story and themes at the center of this are pretty great. We get a very deep look into Kuroe's struggles with self-esteem as things go on, and Minami is also pretty well-written. It's just everything around this that isn't as solid. The rest of the cast is endearing for the most part, but there are some issues with how some of them are portrayed at times. Rairi has a sad backstory about how she was bullied for her appearance and learned to hide it with makeup, but her appearance is also played for laughs. Manatsu's almost suicidal obsession with kaiju is funny, but in the last episode in particular she betrays some of her previous characterization by recklessly endangering her friends in service of a cheap joke. Rinko spends most of the season as a wary, but supportive mother only to nosedive into homicidal maniac right at the end, with her actions directly resulting in the deaths of many people even if the series doesn't explicitly show us that.
Similar handwaving is also a consistent issue throughout the show. Almost every episode has Kuroe go full Godzilla, but she somehow never kills or injures anyone, and all the damage she causes is never mentioned again. It takes a lot of contrivance for nobody to figure out her identity or to notice her mutations in a few situations, and looking closer at any of these inconsistencies paints Kuroe in a pretty poor light. The modeling on her kaiju form also sticks out quite a bit from everything else, and the battle at the end ranges from mediocre to just not very good.
I went through a lot of negatives there, but I do think it was a good show overall. It looks good aside from how much Harugon sticks out, the characters are mostly fun, and it does some decently interesting stuff with its premise, like how Minami becomes a celebrity known as the "prince of kaiju".
Verdict: 7/10
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
AKA: Tenmaku no Jaadugar
Jaadugar is a period piece set in the Islamic golden age, and its positive and faithful depiction of Islamic culture—something rare in any media nowadays—already sets it apart. It follows the tragic story of Sitara, a slave girl whose family is killed during an invasion by the Mongols. Dragged into a new and unfamiliar society with a culture that she views as violent and primitive, she's left unsure of what to do with herself until she gets roped into imperial politics and meets Toregene, a woman with a similar backstory. Together they decide to get their revenge on the Mongols and set a scheme in motion.
The show has a very unique artstyle, and the animation is great throughout. The characters are complex and the politics at play quite gripping. Sitara's story is a very unique one, with much of the season being dedicated to the listlessness she feels after losing everything and, after that, the conflict of whether she should sustain her hatred of the Mongols or just move on with her life. The political intrigue is also quite compelling, and I particularly like how Ogedei is framed as though he's the protagonist of another, mostly unseen story.
This story isn't afraid to lets its characters be morally grey and work through complex feelings. Tolui does some horrific things, but afterwards the show also spends time showing us how he is loyal, earnest, and ever-positive to a fault. Sitara is deeply arrogant, and this ends up allowing her to be manipulated when she thinks she has everyone in the palm of her hands. The characters really are the highlight here.
One thing that left me a bit disappointed was the ending, as the season doesn't really have a climax. Plenty of interesting things happen, but we don't get the payoff to most of it yet. The final scene feels like square one, with everything that preceded it having just been the setup for something greater. Great stories have used similar approaches to this—Vinland Saga comes to mind—but I feel the writers could and should have gone to a bit more effort to make this season's conclusion feel a bit more like, well, a conclusion. Regardless, I'm quite eager to see how the rest of this story progresses, as what we got is very compelling so far.
Verdict: 8.5/10
The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects
AKA: Ryoumin 0-nin Start no Henkyou Ryoushu-sama
Frontier Lord follows the story of Dias, a legendary war hero who was rewarded with a domain to rule over as a gift for his service. The scheming of a corrupt noble results in him being dumped into this barren domain without any supplies or settlers, however. He instead ends up befriending the local Onikin, a race that is generally oppressed by his kingdom and forced into hiding. With the help of his new partner, Alna, he starts to build a proper village and recruit additional residents.
This anime has some really strong points. I love its more mature and nuanced take on issues of oppression, slavery, war, and politics, which stand in large contrast to many other anime in the kingdom-building genre. Dias is a really great character, and while he does fit into the classic trope of an absurdly OP powerhouse, his success comes just as much from his strength of character as from his, well, strength. Problems in this story are complex, and they're treated with the proper respect for what they are. There's even some nice trans rep in the form of Ellie, and I appreciate that Dias, well-intentioned though he may be, doesn't quite get with the program immediately; it's a realistic representation of the "old guy who's supportive even though he doesn't really understand this whole trans thing", which is something that's quite common in real life but almost never shown in media.
There are a few stumbling points. The animation in action scenes isn't anything to write home about, and the reliance on Dias's strength to solve physical problems gets a bit repetitive. Most episodes also tend to start the exact same way, with Alna's magic detecting someone before she and Dias go to meet them, which can also feel a bit repetitive.
Overall, I quite enjoyed my time with this show. It's got a nice, chill, mature tone to it, and it takes a real stand on some issues that most anime aren't willing to. It's nothing spectacular, but it does what it wants to decently well.
Verdict: 8/10
Saga of Tanya the Evil II
AKA: Youjo Senki II
It's been long enough since the previous season of Tanya that I honestly remember very little, and only upon writing this review did I realize I apparently also missed a movie that goes between the seasons. Foolishly, I decided not to rewatch the first season before diving into this one, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Once things got started, I was able to follow along pretty easily even without the full prior context.
This season is focused almost entirely on the military and political movements of the empire, though near the middle we do get some interesting introspection on Tanya and her "inhuman" worldview. The start has her struggling to wrangle a new legion of poorly trained soldiers, which is an interesting problem for her to solve; the rest details the empire's repeated desperate efforts to find a way out of this ever-expanding war, as it becomes more and more clear that they stand little chance of actually winning, especially as they only keep making more enemies.
The political side of this is actually quite fascinating and a really good study of how a fascist empire like the one Tanya serves can get itself caught in a death loop. We also get a whole lot of characterization for the two generals, Zettour and Rudersdorf, throughout the season, and their personalities and decisions play just as important a role in the developing situation as the broader political context. The action's consistently good, and the main sequence in the final episode in particular was stunning.
For all my praise, I do have some problems with how the show's progressed. Despite being told over and over that the empire is in dire straits and needs an exit, we don't actually see it lose much ground. Aside from Tanya and the generals, we also get very little time with or characterization from anyone else in this season. The loop of "the empire makes a terrible decision -> Tanya barely managed to solve the problem -> the empire needs a way out -> the empire makes a terrible decision" is also one I could see getting old, though I'd say it hasn't quite hit that point yet, and the plot point that leads into this season's conclusion is actually a pretty good subversion of the apparent pattern. I won't spoil that for you.
I had a pretty good time with it overall. My biggest takeaway is honestly that I should probably go rewatch season 1 and the movie.
Verdict: 8/10
Heroine? Saint? No, I'm an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!
AKA: Heroine? Seijo? Iie, All Works Maid desu (Hokori)!
All-Works Maid, henceforth AWM, is an isekai story following Melody Wave, a girl who is absolutely obsessed with maids and who vowed to her dead mother to become the world's greatest maid. In the pursuit of this, she ends up working for Luciana, the daughter of a family of impoverished nobles (whatever that means) who is soon to attend a noble university.
The twist? This is the world of a dating sim, and our protagonist was reincarnated as the MC, the saint who will banish the Dark One. Inheriting her maid obsession from her past life has put the world's story out of wack, forcing Luciana to take up the mantle of the world's "protagonist", and various other characters also have their roles swapped around as the world struggles to adapt to these circumstances and keep the story moving. Melody has no clue that she's in a dating sim or that she's the saint or that the saint is the protagonist, but two other major characters, prince Christopher and villainess Anne Marie, are also reincarnators, and they are obsessed with the game this world is based on and using their encyclopedic knowledge of it to try and figure out what the hell is going on, locate the saint, and prevent the Dark One form destroying the world.
That's... a lot, isn't it? The first few episodes are a string of huge shocks as more and more of this is revealed—every time you think you've settled in and understand what the show's core premise is, it hits you with yet another complication. This pacing is a bit hectic, but I quite enjoyed it. The progression of the game and the confusion that stems from Melody's actions are the primary focus of the series after this initial string of reveals, which leaves the show with a lot of ground to cover, but I think it does a decent job at fairly allocating screentime to each of its plot threads and characters. There are quite a few sections where a narrator interrupts to explain things to you, which could get tiring, but I appreciated it given how complex the plot is; if that's the only compromise needed to fit everything into 12 episodes, I think it's a perfectly fine one.
The characters are fun, and while I'm not usually a huge fan of stories that center on an overpowered protagonist, that's a lesser aspect of this show and something mostly used only for comedy and drama as opposed to hype moments and aura. The way the world bends itself to try and continue following the game's story, and the resulting drama and mysteries form that fact, is all very interesting and compelling. It's a truly unique show and, while not perfect, one I'm glad I watched and would recommend.
Verdict: 8/10
Hell Mode: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing Season 2
AKA: Hell Mode: Yarikomizuki no Gamer wa Hai Settei no Isekai de Musou suru 2nd Season
Hell Mode continues after what feels like a very short wait from the last season, and you can sorta tell. The budget was clearly already pretty low in season 1, and it feels like they had even less to work with this time around. The plot's also a lot more straightforward this time around, mostly centered on the war in Rohzenheim.
The CGI used for the summons and monsters is still really bad, and there are a few cases where even 2D-animated segments suffered from the lack of budget this time around, relying on freeze-frames for what should have been large moments of spectacle. The show does a decent job at working within its budget even so. The fights are mostly focused on strategy, and in particular the larger-scale strategy of taking on entire armies as opposed to individual opponents. These are done well enough, though I feel they get a bit repetitive compared to the previous season's action which was much more varied and generally a lot more difficult for Allen and the gang. Most of his plans this time go off without a hitch, and on one hand it's satisfying to see how much the group have grown and their efforts are paying off, but on the other it does feel like the stakes are a bit lower when they should be much higher than before.
This show still does a really good job at making you feel the "progression" part of "progression fantasy", even though there's much less of it in this season than the last. The cast gets expanded a lot, and while it doesn't really take much time to develop its characters and most are pretty simple, I enjoy them all well enough. The final episode felt like an entirely different show with how animated everyone was; they clearly put some extra budget there, though its rare I see "they saved all the budget for this episode" situations where the extra effort is put into the character moments as opposed to the action.
Overall I think this is a significantly weaker season than the previous, but I'm still enjoying the show quite a bit. Allen is a great protagonist, and Hell Mode handles progression better than most of the genre. I'm looking forward to season 3, and just hope it'll get the budget it deserves.
Verdict: 7/10
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 3
AKA: Mushoku Tensei III: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu
You thought I wasn't reviewing this one because it wasn't at the top of the article, didn't you? This is what we in the business call subverting expectations. Also, this is a really difficult show to review, so I didn't really want it to be the first thing you see when you click on the page.
Let's discuss why this is a hard review: MT is, at its core, a story about a deeply flawed main character coming to terms with himself and trying to improve as a person and live a happy life; however, this theme is hindered by the fact that he never improves what is very obviously his worst trait, and is in fact rewarded for it, repeatedly, by both the people around him and the narrative itself. This irreconcilable trait is, of course, the fact that he is a massive sleazebag pervert and, arguably, a pedophile. If you're averse to sexual topics, skip this section.
Let's start with the allegations. Rudeus Greyrat has sex with Eris when both of them are minors. Considering this is a medieval fantasy world with different standards from real life, they're of similar age, and they did this with mutual consent, that on its own isn't an issue. The problem is that Rudeus is the reincarnation of a man who is in his 40's. This man comes from modern real life Earth, and thus had modern real life Earth's moral standards drilled into him. Throughout all of the sleazy things he did, he was fully aware that he, with his adult mind, was doing this with children/as a child. Even if a 40+ year old man hitching with a child would be considered acceptable in this setting, that doesn't make it less morally perverse, and that goes double when the character doing the crime shares the same moral values as the viewers and is doing what he's doing with the full knowledge that it's wrong. Hopefully that covers all of the half-assed excuses MT fans use to try and justify Rudy's actions—yes, a large part of the fanbase genuinely does think Rudy's behavior is morally acceptable, believe it or not. The show itself never even grapples with this issue, either; its solution is to conveniently never address it ever.
MT is a story of self-improvement, and in some ways it's a pretty dang good one. The plot twist that this season ends on, with Rudeus being visited by a future version of himself that managed to ruin his entire life and get everyone he loves killed, is incredibly compelling. It ties in with the general arc of self-improvement really well and serves as a great ultimate test for Rudeus. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, it's often hard to take this seriously when Rudy makes absolutely no effort to fix his worst trait. We see a lot of his sleazy behavior in the bad future timeline, where it's used to help highlight how far he's fallen, but that falls pretty flat when I'm pretty sure he'd already do most of those things in the present, anyways. Similarly, it's hard to root for him as a protagonist when it's clear he isn't going to improve on what I see as his worst trait.
Then comes the next part of this tangled mess of an issue, which is that the narrative actively rewards Rudy's behavior. Does he get punished for cheating on Sylphie with Roxy? In the short term, sure, some people yell at him, but none of his relationships fundamentally change and he gets to have two wives without any real consequences. The season wraps up with him preparing to get a third wife, even. There's also the running joke of the holy object, which I don't think I have to explain. He's a sleazebag through and through, but he's never really punished for it, and instead gets to earn the love of multiple women and live a peaceful life surrounded by friends and family. It feels unearned. It feels like the author is trying to promote his sleazy behavior. It taints the entire rest of the series.
And that's a shame, because the rest of the series is actually pretty damn good? MT consistently has stellar action and animation. The characters who don't get reduced to Rudy's obedient housewives are complex and interesting. The worldbuilding is deep and quite unique. The opening few episodes of this season, which focus on Eris instead of Rudy, are honestly stellar, and they manage to accomplish something I'm not sure I've ever seen another show do—it made three different styles of swordsmanship actually feel like different combat styles through the action alone, without needing there to be special named skills to make that distinction for us. It was genuinely impressive.
MT could be so, so great, but it's just really, really hard to get past the whole "the MC is a sleazebag pedophile" thing. I'll keep watching, but I don't think I can recommend this show to anyone in good conscience. It's honestly really disappointing that this one aspect so deeply taints the rest of the series, but it's not like it's something I can just ignore. I honestly don't even know how to score this review, because the good parts are really good, but. The bad. Oh boy the bad. I don't want to endorse it, but I can't just ignore the genuinely incredibly skill that went into this production, either. The only real solution I can see is to go right down the middle and say these extremes balance out, but that's not a solution I particularly like, either.
Verdict: 5/10
A Livid Lady's Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires
AKA: Buchigire Reijou wa Houfuku wo Chikaimashita. Madousho no Chikara de Sokoku wo Tatakitsubushimasu
Livid Lady is a fantasy revenge story following Elizabeth Leiston, the fiance of the crown prince and the linchpin of the kingdom's politics and economy. Despite basically carrying the kingdom on her shoulders, she becomes the target of an insidious conspiracy by Prince Friede, who dumps her for the new girl on the block, Sylvia Lockit, and has her falsely accused of treason. Spurred on by her loyal maid, Mireille, Elizabeth decides to stop taking the abuse lying down and escapes to the empire, where she begins to plot her revenge against the entire kingdom.
Let's start with the good. The scheming and political intrigue is handled well, as are the couple of action scenes we get. This story is meant to be a power fantasy, and it achieves that in both Elizabeth's physical and political prowess. The show goes into detail on the economics at play behind her decisions, and those are genuinely interesting. It also consistently looks good.
No, the bad. This show's morals are really, really dubious, and that makes it a bit hard to enjoy what should be a fun revenge romp. First off, this joins many of its fellow anime in the attempt to design a "justified" system of slavery, which is just deeply off-putting. Ellie also takes her revenge way too far, killing Robert even after he's repented for his actions and, in the process, involving innocents and getting dozens of people killed. It's impossible to root for her when she's far more evil than the people she wants revenge on.
The final episode seems to try and address this by having some of her companions discuss how she's going too far, but I think it's too little too late. Her rival from the kingdom, Rosaria, has a line about how she's "too kind to be evil". A nuanced story which recognized that its protagonist was in the wrong could actually be quite interesting, but Livid Lady instead seems to be gearing up for a redemption arc for Elizabeth which she absolutely doesn't deserve. It acts as though she hasn't crossed the line of no return yet, with the characters wondering what may happen to her if she steps any further, but she very explicitly has already crossed the line.
Verdict: 6/10
Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games
AKA: Tai-Ari deshita. Ojousama wa Kakutou Game nante Shinai
When I picked up an anime about fighting games, I was expecting an animated representation of a fictional game. What I did not expect was that half of the show's footage would just be recordings of real-world fighting games, though in retrospect maybe I should've.
This story follows Aya, a girl who attends a girls' academy with the goal of becoming more ladylike. After a chance encounter with the most graceful girl at school, Mio, she realizes that both of them play fighting games, and together they get roped into increasing hijinx. After additionally recruiting Yuu and Tamaki to their illicit gaming sessions, they eventually attend the EVO Japan tournament, which occupies the majority of the season.
Adapting real gameplay into a twenty-minute episode is a tall task, but I think Taiari does a decent job at it. There's a lot of pauses to display the characters' thoughts and strategies or for bystanders to react to what's going on, but I think those aspects feel a lot more fitting here than in your typical action series, given the complex and technical nature of playing a video game at a high level. There's some inconsistency in which lingo is or isn't explained—the show definitely seems to assume you're already part of the FGC if you're watching this—but it explained enough that I was able to follow the action decently well. The characters are also great, and I particularly enjoyed Arisa's development at the end of the season; she's one of the main antagonists. With some slight yuri thrown into the mix, this is a pretty enjoyable watch, though perhaps not everyone's cup of tea.
Verdict: 7/10
Skeleton Knight in Another World II
AKA: Gaikotsu Kishi-sama, Tadaima Isekai e Odekakechuu II
Skeleton Knight is an anime I remember watching years ago, and I've been keeping up with its manga since. My memory of the first season isn't great, but I think I enjoyed it quite a bit. This season, on the other hand, was a much more mixed experience.
The story follows Arc, a man who's been isekai'd into a fantasy world as his OP skeletal knight avatar. He travels the world alongside Ariane, an elf, and Chiyome, a beastfolk, helping people along the way. This season starts with the gang searching for a fountain to treat Arc's skeletal curse, then develops into a more interesting plot focusing on Chiyome's brother, Sasuke, and the conspiracy of the Hilk Church in the second half.
The first half of this season feels like filler. Not the modern "episode that doesn't advance the plot" definition of filler that people toss around nowadays, but the actual "anime-original content designed purely to fill time" definition. I'm genuinely not sure if it actually is or not, but I was bored out of my mind watching it and nearly dropped the series. The action is made up largely of canned animations and still shots, the fight choreography is exceedingly simple and uninteresting, and the mature topics and darker themes of the story are toned down in a way that just feels kinda lame.
These issues don't really improve much in the second half of the season, but it at least picks up some actually interesting plot threads. The story between Chiyome and Sasuke is touching, and we're also introduced to Tsubone, who's a fun character. The last few episodes also bring in the main villains of the overall story, the Hilk Church, and are a marked step up from the rest of the season.
This season was overall a pretty huge disappointment for me, and it didn't live up at all to the potential of its source material. If you watched the first season, I recommend reading the manga over watching the anime.
Verdict: 6/10
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman Season 2
AKA: Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru II
The first season of Country Bumpkin came out just a bit too early for me to have done a seasonal review on it, but I thought it was a mostly unremarkable show with some surprisingly great action but held back by a few glaring issues. This second season actually improves on quite a few of those issues.
One of the main annoyances of the first season is how our protagonist, Beryl, is a passive, oblivious character who doesn't understand how strong he is and is constantly self-deprecating despite being quite obviously one of the strongest characters in the setting. There was also a running bit of most of the female characters, many of whom are his former students, constantly lusting after him. The second season redeems these issues by actually making them the focuses of Beryl's character arc. He comes to terms with his own strength, makes the conscious decision to try and pursue even greater heights despite his age, and even starts to seriously consider the prospect of settling down for marriage. The frustrating romance bit from the girls is also toned down a lot, and notably isolated to just Allucia and a new character, Shueste, who I think they executed a lot better as a potential love interest.
This season is divided into a few distinct parts, and I appreciate how this is illustrated through subtle changes to the opening. We get to see a lot more of Beryl's incredibly wholesome relationship with his adopted daughter, Mewi, as well as her struggles at the magic school she's started attending. This is followed by a plot taking place back in Beryl's hometown and finally a large conspiracy to cap off the political subplots that have been developing since early season 1.
I think the first two plots are done quite well, but the last, which should be the greatest, has one pretty glaring issue for me, which is that the villain barely gets any time to be villainous. Their identity is only revealed at the last minute, and we get a single fight before they're defeated in somewhat anticlimactic fashion.
The action in this season is also consistently pretty good. There's a lot of usage of 3D models, which can look jarring and obvious at times, but when the 3D characters are actually in motion they look incredible. The series does a great job at mixing fantasy combat with realistic techniques, making for some very satisfying fights. Overall, it's a pretty dang good season and a vast improvement over a lot of season 1's issues.
Also, it turned out to be really annoying to find key art in the right orientation and decent quality to use for this section. My sincerest "fuck you" to NBC Universal, who apparently had access to a version of the artwork available nowhere on the internet and only ever released it in the following quality:
Verdict: 7.5
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun Season 4
AKA: Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 4th Season
I said this in the previous seasonal review, but Iruma-kun has gotta be one of the most consistently slept-on series out there, and that's including by the industry itself. I can't imagine how something popular enough to get four seasons has yet to get a bigger budget, but the series still does a very good job at doing a whole lot with what it has. There isn't a ton of flashy animation in this season, but it's made up for with consistently good characters and storytelling.
Iruma-kun follows the adventures of the titular Iruma, who is adopted by a demon and lives an eventful life in the underworld. Alongside the rest of the Misfits Class, he faces various challenges in his greedy pursuit of greater heights. This series is honestly just incredible, and I've been following its manga for years ever since the first season aired. The characters are great, the writing is great, the overarching plot is great, the comedy is great, the action is, surprisingly, also pretty dang good. This season focuses primarily on the music festival and, after that, the Dem-Dol games, which are both pretty great arcs with some stellar moments, though I struggle to think of any arc in this story that I dislike.
Honestly, it's hard for me to say much about this series. It's just really good. I highly recommend giving the whole thing a watch and especially giving the manga a try. I'm looking to the movie that just got announced, as well.
Verdict: 8/10
The Villager of Level 999
AKA: Lv999 no Murabito
This series is one of pretty drastic contrasts in quality. It has a lot of the mainstays of generic, low-effort fantasy anime—a drab-looking MC, unimpressive animation, a lot of cliche tropes and half-baked litRPG concepts—and yet also has a strange amount of impressive things going for it. The plot's a lot more interesting than it at first appears, and that goes double for the MC. His ideology, and the overarching theme of how positive change can't be achieved while adhering to a broken system, are genuinely very compelling. It's a topic I haven't really seen explored in anything else I've watched or read, and I genuinely have to give this show some respect for tackling it.
There's just a very strange mix of really good and unique elements and really generic and bad elements in this show. It has a surprisingly nuanced take on racism and the cycle of violence; an otherwise likeable character has a few lines that designate him as the creepy anime pervert. The MC's beliefs, and the conflict he faces with the very world around him, are very unique and compelling; he looks exactly like every isekai self-insert MC from the past 10 years. It prominently features a gender-nonconforming character; the female lead is a child and has an awkward (though to the show's credit, unrequited) romantic interest in the MC.
All in all, it seems like this author had a lot of really good ideas regarding the themes of this story and ways to subvert some common litRPG tropes, but those ideas got bogged down by mixed execution, a need to pander to the OPMC market despite the show clearly not being that interested in this element of its own story, and a generally low production value from the anime itself. On an objective level, I don't think I can really rate it very high, but it definitely turned out to be very memorable. This story's gonna stick with me, and I think I find myself feeling more interesting in picking up its manga than I am for quite a few of the shows that I rated higher than it.
Verdict: 7/10
Ascendance of a Bookworm: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke
AKA: Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen - Ryoushu no Youjo
Bookworm is a show I remember trying to get into once quite a few years ago. I bounced off of the first episode back then; I think the slow pace and the disjointed feeling of the cold open turned me off of it. I tried it out again this season, and I don't think any other show has ever had so drastically negative an effect on my productivity. I simply couldn't put it down. Over just a few days I binged the first three seasons and caught up with the fourth (this one).
As a series overall, Bookworm is pretty stellar. Myne is a fun and interesting character, and the cast has plenty of other complex personalities to bite into. The worldbuilding is great, the magic is pretty unique, and it's part of the surprisingly small category of "isekai stories that actually do something cool with the MC being from another world". The storytelling is deeply compelling, and watching Myne make her way in this world, learn to understand its culture, and work bit by bit towards her goal of creating books is incredibly entertaining.
That said, I think this season might be the least gripping of them. A large part of that is that Myne is thrust into a new setting where most of the existing characters and relationships are pretty much irrelevant, and she's already invented printing. The way things develop is still interesting, and they give her plenty of new things to do in this season, but she certainly feels like she has less agency, and I don't find the political intrigue quite as interesting as I did the plots of the previous seasons. Of course, everything here is still pretty dang good, it just doesn't match up to the incredibly high standards set by the previous seasons.
Verdict: 8/10
Conclusion
Another season come and gone, and a bunch of anime with it. This season's showings were actually pretty great on average, though of course it helps that a few stars like Re:Zero were in the mix. The fall season's looking somewhat promising, with a few series I love getting continuations or new adaptations, though it seems a bit less stacked than the summer was. Also, there's one show form the summer season that's continuing into fall; I'll review it in the next article when it's finished.
Thanks for reading this season's review. I hope it was enjoyable, and I'd love to hear what other's thought about the selection this time around.
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