Now that we have an actual anime sub-forum I thought I'd post this outside of the Megathread. Here are several shows released this season that I've been enjoying to some degree or another.
Appare-Ranman!
A real "fish out of water" story, in that an eccentric inventor and a serious samurai with a cowardly streak are practically fished out of the sea and taken to Los Angeles in the late-19th Century. With no way to get home to Japan and planes having not been invented yet, the only way for them to earn enough money to return home is to build a car and enter in the Wacky Races across America. Only 3 episodes have been released so far, with the others delayed due to COVID-19, but what has been released is pretty amazing. With character design by Renjou Desperado mangaka Ahndongshik and music composed by Evan Call (from Violet Evergarden and some of Symphogear), this is shaping up to be one of the greats. I hope I don't eat my words when the rest of the season eventually comes out.
Kaguya-sama: Love is War (S2)
More hijinks of our hard-working Student Council President, the rich Vice President, and the crazy cast of characters who surround them as they are too prideful to just kiss already! If you liked the first season, you'll love this one too, as the studio keeps finding ways to go above and beyond the necessary animation for a rom-com with Death Note style games of trying to out-think the other.
Nami yo Kiitekure! ("Wave, Listen to Me!")
Our heroine accidentally vents her drunken thoughts to a guy at a bar who turns out to be a radio producer, sending her on the path of taking the late-night radio world by storm. A story featuring adult issues by the same mangaka who made Blade of the Immortal, and with Studio Sunrise putting a decent amount of work into this one, this could be the best anime that only a handful of people watch.
Gleipnir
A story about a boy who can transform into some weird furry theme-park mascot with a gun, and a girl who keeps coming inside him. Is this story a brutal battle royale kind of story? A cautionary tale about greed transforming us into monsters? A metaphor for horny teens? Maybe all of the above? What I do know is that the animation for the fight scene in the second episode was amazing, especially with the brutal twist at the end for those who haven't read the manga yet. Here's hoping they didn't use all their budget on that one fight.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
I was prepared to make fun of this while watching remotely with some friends, but the first couple episodes actually grew on me. A story about a girl who suddenly remembers she got isekai'd into her favorite Otome Game (a Visual Novel mostly aimed at women), but as the evil girl, which means every story route will result in her character dying or being exiled in some way. With her knowledge of every route in the game and her own life experiences before being transported into the game world, she has to find a way to break the cycle, accidentally gaining a harem of admirers of her own in the process.
BNA
A story about beast-people existing in a world that hates them from Studio TRIGGER, known for making shows with wild animation that start off great and then completely fall flat on their face in the second half. Will this show break the cycle? Will this be a great anime-Zootopia that frames racism in terms of bridging the divide between man and beast? Or should you just watch Beastars again and save yourself the heartbreak for when the quality and story take a nosedive in the end?
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