Anime

So I finished watching Akudama Drive, and discovered I was entirely wrong about it.

Partway in, I had written it off as nothing special, and in an awkward middle ground in which it was too over-the-top to be taken seriously but too sincere to work as satire.

But then it turned into something different - by about 2/3 of the way through the series, it all started coming together into something surprisingly serious and dramatic and moving, and very good, and I ended up liking it a lot.

Then I watched the second season of Arcane, which I think only sort of counts as an anime (amusingly enough, as with the first season, aggregators tag it as a dubbed anime, which is sort of oddly accurate in spite of the fact that it's not at all accurate). It was okay all in all. Kudos for tying everything together into a complete story, but it did feel a bit forced and contrived.

And I'm currently watching Katanagatari, which is pure awesome. I've been sort of idly threatening to watch it for years now, and just finally got around to it, and it's everything I could've hoped.

Completed the rest of Attack on Titan: final season, part 2, special 1, special 2

This series is so Gundam-like that I don't think I deserve a pat on the back for my correct predictions.

I didn't expect the start of the final parts to have hints of Saga of Tanya the Evil though. Perhaps Tanya the Evil would turn out to be Gundam-like too... (which won't be surprising since I like it a lot, just like I do of Gundam series)

Also, people have pointed out the good music. I know that it shares the same composer as 86, but I can't help thinking the OSTs during fight scenes sounded more like soundtracks from the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy.

Just like with the earlier seasons - except season 1 - I'm rating the final parts 10 / 10.

In fact, it's so good that it is the first and only exception to my heuristic: that a series must be 10/10 for all of its seasons to enter my top favourites. In other words, it is among my best anime despite season 1 being an 8/10.

Now that I'm done with AoT, I have nearly caught up with almost all the top-rated, most-popular anime that I've been planning to watch.

Now I'm pretty much left with just: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Gurren Lagann and Code Geass. Maybe the Monogatari series too.

Other anime that I'm planning to watch are either too old (i.e. pre-2000), have way too many episodes, or the premise is just not very interesting.

Let This Grieving Soul Retire - Has been fun so far, certainly better than more generic shows. The gimmick with the MC is holding up ok. There are hints of a bigger story, but not enough to tell so far. 3/5

The Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan - At first the lack of likable characters, and deliberately nasty MC were a turn off. But this one grew on me. I especially like the contrast between this one and Grieving Souls. The two MCs are so completely different. 3/5

Nina the Starry Bride - I'm enjoying Nina's optimism and willfulness. Part of this feels like the knock of brand version of Apothecary Diaries (now were near that shows level of course... but something about the setting and having a strong, willful heroine.) I worry that it is going to fall apart with the implied love triangle. 3/5 depending on how it ends.

Shangri-La Frontier S2 - I enjoyed the first bit that wrapped up the leftover arc from the previous season, but have no interest in whatever is going on now that the anime seeming abandoned the titular game for something else. Dropped for now. 3/5

The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party... - Slightly above mediocre now that the current story arc is moving along. Otherwise pretty generic. Almost dropped it a few times. 3/5

Good Bye, Dragon Life - Perfectly mediocre, room temperature, beige... Nothing particularly wrong with it, but nothing noteworthy either. Almost dropped it a few times. 2/5

Acro Trip - One of my favorites this season, that I look forward to each week. The characters are fun, especially the kuma kaijin. The show seems irrelevant on the surface, but everything is actually well connected to a developing meta plot, with reasonable foreshadowing. 4/5

I'll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History - I do enjoy the villainess sub-genera, and this one has been enjoyable. Especially how much the MC enjoys playing up her role. But the last few episodes felt lacking somehow. Seems like it is building toward something that will either make or break the season. 3/5 for now.

Re:ZERO S3 - Wow this hit the ground running. So much going on, so many characters I had forgotten, yet it works. Great to see how much the characters have grown. Looking forward to whenever this comes back. 5/5

Arifureta S3 - J-Novel Club had the light novel on catchup last month, so I caught up on it, and now I understand why the anime was so disliked. I went back to rewatch a scene from season 1 and wow it was horribly disappointing compared to the LN. Looks like they try to squeeze at least three LN's into an anime season, which is very aggressive for stories lacking excessive filler. I really do not get some of the decisions made, even in this season. They will waste time on long scenes of characters just standing around, then quickly skip through other parts (abrupt scene transitions) making them a confusing mess. There is enough there to still enjoy, but should be better. 3/5

You are Ms. Servant - Is there a name for this strange maid/housekeeper subgenera? I've enjoyed this one so far, and it seems well put together. 4/5

DAN DA DAN - I finished the first arc and need to pick it pack up. Once it got going it definitely lived up to the hype. 5/5

The Do-Over Damsel - That age gap... It almost works, since the male lead is fairly innocent and the MC is mentally an adult, but no. I looked up the description for a later light novel, and it looks like the age gap remains a primary plot driver and the main, ongoing "joke" in the series with no hope of the characters aging up to where it is more appropriate. 2/5

Loner Life in Another World - I forgot how much fun the first novels were before it turned into nothing but multiple chapters of magical groping and I dropped it... I'm not sure the adaptation has done a good job of explaining how his skill combinations and development works, and I don't like how obvious they made the dungeon emperor situation, but the source wasn't exactly high art either so it does not hurt it too much. 3/5

Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon S5 - Plan to watch, but have not started yet.

Weekly ranking roundup:

1. Anime Corner - Full Results - Weekly Winner: Bleach: TYBW
2. Reddit Karma - Weekly Winner: Dan Da Dan
3. Anime Trending - Weekly Winner: Dan Da Dan

Credit to /u/Abysswatcherbel for making the chart for reddit karma and /u/Nooble5 for the Anime Trending chart.

Dan Da Dan is absolutely undisputed atop the karma chart with Re:Zero having dropped out for the rest of the season. However, this comes as the total karma seems incredibly low for the week at only 15k.

If you didn't see my post in this thread last week, I was basically off the grid this whole past week. As a result, I was unable to watch literally any episodes of anything. So, I have quite a bit to catch up on this week. Not sure what shows to try to prioritize yet. Too many shows and not enough time!

Have any of the disappointing animes from this season improved over time? Wonder if it's worth watching the likes of blue lock and/or tower of God if there's some kind of payoff