What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)

I watched the first episode of The Ghost in the Shell. It's not for me. I probably won't bother with the second. That doesn't mean there's anything objectively wrong with it or the studio, but the style and pacing were too close to the manga for me to enjoy it, unfortunately.

Instead, I started a different Science SARU series that had been on my back burner for some time: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Holy cow! Same popping colors, but the music, the pacing, and the character introductions all made for a great first impression!

Started a few more of this season's shows and keeping up with a few others.

Ongoing

Sparks of Tomorrow still feels like it could almost just be an audio drama, that's how little time is left for silence. At least we got some actual electricity stuff going on finally but all these personalities are just suffocating.

Yani Neko has introduced more catgirls living in the same building and all of them are degenerates in one way or another. Funny to watch but I would absolutely despise needing to put up with any of these people in real life, which is kinda the point I guess.

I do like how Youjo Senki S2 makes use of the character's knowledge of politics and history from their past life to their advantage. Still jarring to see the lieutenant whenever she shows up, I can't get used to her eyes being the size of dinner plates.

Yomi no Tsugai continues to be a fine shonen anime. They did have clips from that one episode in FMA playing on the TV, which is a fun easter egg.

Didn't think I'd be learning this much about Mongolian ceremonial traditions from Tenmaku no Jaadugar but it's pretty interesting. Seems like we've also gotten to the point where the plot's about to get a lot more interesting, so I'm committed.

Just started

Saw the first episode of the new Ghost in the Shell adaptation. I love it, I love it a lot. There's so much more personality to all the members of section 9 compared to all the other shows and movies, especially the major. It's funny and so colorful while still maintaining the dystopian cyberpunk undertones, which is kind of incredible. Between this, Jaadugar, and Dandadan, Science SARU has been absolutely cooking lately.

First episode impressions for the new season by order in which I watched them:

• A Livid Lady's Guide to Getting Even: How I Crushed My Homeland with My Mighty Grimoires — One of the few things I've read the novels for though it's been a while since the start, first episode is mostly a typical villainess setup but she's actually interested in revenge for once.

• Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life — This is is silly, fun so far though. Was thinking of Devil is a Part-timer, Aho Girl, and Murai in Love throughout. Best girl is a shipper on deck too.

• Though I Am an Inept Villainess — Interesting premise with the difference in the two women (and I'll take another imperial court setting over fantasy Europe) but had some moments of comedy that didn't feel quite right.

• Please Excuse My Younger Brothers — Days with My Stepbrothers it is not, but I like the dynamic so far. On the other hand it has a romance tag and I have no idea how this particular series is going to handle it in the long term with how it's establishing things now. On the third hand it's apparently a shoujo series so there's a decent chance I'll enjoy it anyway.

• Perfect Addiction — Oh no, a BL gets the light anime treatment.

• The Duke's Son Claims He Won't Love Me Yet Showers Me with Adoration — That's a lot of exposition to establish Elsa's home life at the start that didn't need verbalized and could have been worked in more naturally later. A lot of the scenes feel like minimum viable product otome story beats rather than invoking a lot of creativity in its writing and direction but it's still my kind of otome bullshit so I'm not dropping it.

• Oh Boy, Was I Wrong About Her — I should have kept track of how many series start with "childhood friend that male lead thought was another boy turns out to be a girl" because that's the jumping off point of this one. Nothing stellar but nice to see that they actually pick up as friends again rather than being more of an "Oh no, how do I interact with girls?" situation that I see all too often.

• Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky — Well the initial impression is similar to a couple of shows I liked from the past couple of years with its female lead but I'm curious how it'll compare, also not sure about Hayamin on this one.

• The Forsaken Saintess and her Foodie Roadtrip in Another World — Time to finally watch Camper Cooking in Another World.

• Sayonara Lara — Starts as a speedrun of The Little Mermaid but I'm curious to see where it goes from here. More importantly it has a classic look to it which I love, thank you Kinema Citrus.

• Rich Girl Caretaker: I'm Secretly the Caregiver of the Most Popular Girl in This Rich Kid School — Shomin Sample without the ecchi parts? Not expecting much but could certainly be worse. Toward the end of the OP I recognized it's the same artist behind the Hamefura OPs, kinda fun. Also hi Koyasu, are you gonna have more than a bit part in this?

• The Oblivious Saint Can't Contain Her Power — Otome bullshit part 2, go! A bit of a twist compared to how that usually goes but not by much.

• Saved by the Ice Cold Prince's Embrace — Is it only the series I'm interested in that get the light anime treatment?

• Kaiju Girl Caramelise — Yes I would still love her if she was Godzilla. Immediately endearing, looking forward to more.

• The Ogre's Bride — The family seems cartoonishly abusive toward her but I don't doubt some people have to deal with that in real life. Prologue done but dunno much about the male lead yet so will have to see where it goes from there, while it does seem like it's leaning more toward the drama side it could be another "abused girl whisked away to a life of happiness" kind of series. I generally don't vibe with "human girl enters world of yokai" series but so far this seems like it won't have much of a hidden world aspect.

• Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You — Opening scene made me think Kowloon Generic Romance, not a bad thing. Don't really like the idea of smoking as a central theme but not going to let that get in my way so far, I like the dynamic they have.

• Red River — Now I regret not watching Fushigi Yuugi last year. Love the Dezaki-style shots, the music has my attention, the setting's interesting too, though I only know of it from the Civilization games. The OP at the end has me pumped for more, reminds me of The Twelve Kingdoms and Yona.

• Victoria of Many Faces — This is nice. Not tagged as romance but still has potential for at least some mutual interest there.

• Grow Up Show: Sunflower Circus — CGDCircusT? Eh, still has my interest as an original series and I like Rie Kugimiya's role here along with the dark-haired girl doing dark-haired girl things (though not quite living up to the likes of Reina and Hikari).

• Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games — Mad Catz hardware in this day and age? Rock is a Lady's Modesty didn't really work for me, I'm not yet convinced this one will either so maybe the series that that are based around subverting Class S tropes with more crude hidden personalities and hobbies aren't for me.

• Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia — I had no doubt a project lead by Naoko Yamada would deliver and it's off to a great start. Interesting setting, love the character designs. Yes I still need to get around to Heike Monogatari.

• I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day — I am not sure I'm in the mood for this, but it did remind me that I still have a volume of The Executioner and Her Way of Life still pending.

I had four new shows remaining on my plan to watch list but I think two of them I'm not going to bother with (The World is Dancing and The Cat and the Dragon), one is in a niche I historically have an okay time with but don't love (Draw This, Then Die), and Sparks of Tomorrow I might just put off until after it's done.

Interestingly there's pretty much nothing in the typical male wish fulfillment bucket to me in contrast to the glut last season but instead we get the gender-flipped equivalent which I'm perfectly fine with.