Final(?) Update: 2:35 p.m. 7/12/26

Welcome to my seasonal Guide! The debut schedule can be found here.

I expect to cover every full-episode series that will be debuting this season and is available in streaming form, including many of the sequels/returning series. Sequels/continuations that I will NOT be covering (because I’m not caught up on the franchise) include Hana-Kimi, Bungo Stray Dogs Wan!, Hell Mode, You and I Are Polar Opposites, Grand Blue Dreaming, Yoroi-Shinden Samurai Troopers, Trapped in a Dating Sim,and The Elusive Samurai. The new Bang Dream! title may be covered if it proves to be a stand-alone. Goodbye, Lara will also not be covered here since its first episode was reviewed in its own feature article.

As always, titles are generally presented in debut order by day, with the most recent debuts being on top; some variance to this may occur when titles are not initially licensed for legal streaming.

NOTE: With the debut of the debut of Though I Am an Inept Villainess, this Preview Guide is over unless the series about the dinosaurs (which was slated to debut on 7/12 but hasn’t been licensed by anybody) shows up; the remaining debuts are a sequel I’m not current on (The Elusive Samurai) and a deep sequel that I am caught up on but which is coming two weeks later (Bleach), so neither merits inclusion here.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

The villainess genre is reaching a saturation point, so it’s becoming harder for series of its type to find the right combination of compelling lead and novel twist on the same formula. This adaptation of an award-winning light novel series may have struck gold, however. In a Chinese Imperial-styled setting, Keigetsu Shu is regarded as the “court rat” amongst the candidates to become consort to the crown prince; she’s neither as pretty nor as talented as Reirin Kou, the “butterfly” of the court and apparent favorite of the prince. So Keigetsu arranges to use special clan magic to initiate a body swap at the moment she attempts to shove Reiren off a balcony, and further both places a spell on her original body to prevent Reiren from saying anything about the body swap and manufactures an incident about a stolen diary to explain away why “Keigetsu” would seem to know very personal details about Reiren. With her former body’s execution arranged, Keigetsu believes she’s triumphed. But she’s underestimated two things: exactly how frail Reiren’s constitution really was and how strong-willed and adaptable Reiren actually is.

The scene that definitively won me over was how delighted Reiren seemed to be in a body which lacked the physical limitations of her original one, though she still feels it’s her duty to get her original body back because “it’s the body my parents gave me.” How unflappable she seems to be even in the face of apparent mortal peril is also quite amusing, and it seems likely that she was wishing for a stronger body and just got it in a way she didn’t expect. I’m very curious to see how this plays out as Reiren learns to both roll with and take advantage of her new circumstances, but this having a lighter overall tone seems likely. Though some background shots do lean heavily into CG, the artistry is generally quite pretty and elaborate, though the color scheme is much lighter and paler than something like, say, The Apothecary Diaries. Overall, this is a promising start to a likely keeper.

Hanaori-san Still Wants to Fight in the Next Life

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Ryusei Narukami is a NEET whom even his cute younger sister has given up on, but he wasn’t always that way. In his former life he was an undead Demon Lord who ultimately got defeated by Meteor, the female hero. However, he soon discovers that Meteor exists in this world, too, as a high school girl, and she’s finally found him! But while she pokes fun at him for how pathetic he is now, she also unwittingly motivates him to get his act together and becomes a teacher – and at the girls’ school where Meteor attends, too, which she cannot abide. All sorts of comic misunderstandings ensue from people who see them interacting but don’t know the truth of their relationship.

The first episode of this adaptation of a manga (from the creator of Pani Poni) isn’t entirely without effective humor, which is why I’m not giving it an even lower grade. However, it faces one possibly-insurmountable problem: this concept has been done before, and done much, much better on every front. Granted, the goal here is different; this one looks to be aiming to be a silly comedy, rather than the subversive genre send-up that The Devil is a Part-Timer! was (especially in its first season). Even so, it still could have at least spared a little time to explain how Meteor ended up reincarnating, too; did she die as well in her climactic battle against the Demon Lord? Too many of the jokes are too retread, neither of the lead characters is strikingly different or interesting, and art style is too lightly-colored and plain for my tastes. Perhaps it will develop a decent set of jokes as the cast expands and more characters (including possibly some more from Rysuei and Meteor’s previous world?) get mixed in, but right now I’m expecting little from it.

Mebius Dust

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Ten years ago, a rain of meteorites struck the Earth. In their wake a crystalline object called “Mother” started hovering over one Japanese city, and the particles it emitted, called “Mebius Dust,” affected the bodies of various children, Those so affected are called “Lamscuria” and are restricted to a particular shielded zone, where they can live normally except for the fact that they can’t leave and have limits place on how must dust they can emit (which is a result of using the abilities which come with having affected body parts). This starts to change when a scientist researching Lamscuria comes up with a way to get around those limits, hece allowing the children to more fully use their abilities. But some – especially Araki, who is the most eager to be able to go elsewhere – may be more affected than others.

This is an original anime based on a grand prize winner of the 2019 Project Anima competition, so there must be something more special about it conceptually than what we’re seeing in the first episode. The idea that parts of their bodies have been permanently transformed is a bit interesting, with some (like the girl in the screen shot) being more heavily affected, while others just have a finger or even a purely internal part impacted, but mostly this first episode is just an excuse for empowered kids to play around in low-stakes street team competitions. Not until the episode’s very last scene are we given any hint that much, much more may be going on here, and I’m not sure that I entirely trust the scientist’s motives, either. The visuals and action components, while not bad, also aren’t anything special, and too many characters are introduced here for any to stand out so far. IT will have to show more in its second episode to win its audience.

Thunder 3

Streams: Netflix on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Pyontaro is a middle school boy who’s adored by his toddler little sister but would much rather hang out with his two close friends and ogle boobs. One day he’s leant a CD by his teacher (because the teacher doesn’t have a game system capable of playing it), and it turns out to open a gateway to another world. . . a gateway which his sister and pet dog crawl through. By the time Pyontaro realizes what’s happened, his sister has been seized by aliens who then fly off with her. But the situation may not be hopeless, as the boys seem to have superhuman abilities in this alternate world.

Technically this adapation of a shonen manga is an isekai tale, but it is, visually speaking, one of the least conventional isekai you’ll run across. That’s because traveling to a different world in this case means stepping into an entirely different artistic style. Pyontaro’s native world mostly looks like a crude Western cartoon, and when he and his friends (and sister and dog) all step into a world with vastly sharper graphers, they’re outlined by a manga-style background dot pattern. The OP, which doesn’t dropuntil past the midway point of the episode, suggests that further visual shifts are possible as well, and the alien randomly stand amidst a crowd of normal-looking humans is rather jarring, too. It’s an interesting concept, one where I’m somewhat curious to see where it goes, but this may be too experimental for those looking for more typical, pure anime fare.

My Stepmother and Stepsisters Aren’t Wicked

Streams: YouTube on Wednesdays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Miya is an illegitimate child of a prominent family. She’s been living with her poor, ill mother, which means working so hard she has rarely attended school. When her mother dies and she heads off to her father’s home (he has apparently also died), she fears the worst from her stepmother and stepsisters. To her shock, they aren’t mean at all; in fact, they’re so accommodating that Miya is overwhelmed by it all.

That this series is going to be an inversion of the classic Wicked Stepmother trope is right there in the title, and boy, does the first episode lean into that hard. In fact, mother Teru and sisters Arisa and Marika being so much nicer than Miya expects despite over-dramatized presentation suggesting otherwise gets used so much that it gets annoying rather than funny after the first few times, so seeing how long the series keeps that up could be mildly interesting. The first episode doesn’t give anyhint about why the trio is being so nice and considerate beyond one offhand comment about being disappointed with the father for leaving Miya to such poverty, but even if this is meant to be a gag comedy, an explanation like that would help, especially since Miya seems like she may be the youngest of the sisters and thus almost certainly the result of an affair. Is this an “it’s not her fault because dad was an idiot” kind of situation? Are they looking to dote on someone? They do actually seem to care. Technical and artistic merits (especially in setting design) are respectable, but the way the series seems to be beating one joke to death isn’t attractive. I may give it one more episode to prove itself, but so far it’s not looking like a keeper.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman s2

Streams: Amazon Prime on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Beryl has become much-respected as the special instructor for his kingdom’s order of knights, so it’s no surpris when he gets a new request by way of Lucy: serve as a once-a-week sword trainer for his former student Ficelle’s Magic Swordsman Cclass. Even though he doesn’t have magic, he can still teach fundamentals and perhaps work out the kinks in Ficelle’s less-than-ideal teaching style, too. Though daunted by the prospect, Beryl shows in a spar with Ficelle and the way he naturally slips into training her five students (including Mei!) that’s plenty well up to the challenge.

While this series wasn’t a favorite of mine, I enjoyed its first season well enough to fully rewatch it. I appreciated most how it focused on skill and the fine technical details of swordfighting rather than standard powermongering, and the first episode continues to show that in spades; Beryl’s instruction on how to handle a fight against two opponents is particularly interesting, as it’s an approach you never actually see used in anime fights (probably at least partly because it would be a bit cumbersome to animate) but would make total sense for a real-world fight. As long as the series keeps throwing in tidbits like that, I’ll keep watching, though it would be nice to see Beryl stop using the “old man” claim as an excuse. . . anyway, it’s a solid start for a new season.

Clevatess II

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

The first season of Clevatess was in my Top 5 for 2025 (in the #5 position, but still), so this was a highly-anticipated continuation for me even if I had some concerns about it going the Magic School direction. This episode at least lays out the rationale for that: Drel’s magic research was done in an undeground facility whose “front door” is Solsein, the Divine Academy, a school of magic which has only recently opened its doors from other countries. Per a detente agreement among the warring countries, Eslinn and Hierat have two years to investigate the facility and glean what they can from Drell’s research. To this end, Clevatess and Alicia head to the school disguise as students (with Alicia having been de-aged, to her dismay) to infiltrate, while the Boreaz emperor sends Naie, the iron-specializing wizard, undercover as a teacher for the same reason. But there are a number of other interesting and potentially troublesome new students as well, including one young man who particularly piques Clevatess’s interest.

Although the production quality is fully up to par with the first season, I have to knock the rating a bit here because this is simply a fairly typical first episode for a Magic School scenario with just a bit more intrigue than normal behind it. Lots of characters that will be important get introduced, a duel between headstrong students happens (though atypically, the protagonists are observers rather than participants), and an enticing look ahead to future developments is dropped to start things off, but it also looks like Nell is being relegated to the sidelines. I still have some concerns about how this could play out, but the first season was so good that I’m plenty willing to give the series some leeway.

Saga of Tanya the Evil s2

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

I’ll freely admit to being a little (okay, a LOT) biased here, as Saga of Tanya the Evil would at least be in the discussion for my favorite anime franchise of the past 10 years. It was certainly my most-anticipated returning title of the season, and its first episode, despite having a new director, more than lives up to expectations. Looks like we’re in for a fun ride this season with this one!

The first episode clearly expects viewers to have seen the movie; while a brief visual reference is made to the “Operation Pasta” OVA, that’s less crucial. Although the episode does have a brief recap of the war situation to this point, trying to jump into the franchise at this point is not advised. For those who are caught up, the episode begins a few weeks after the movie ended, with Tanya now leading the Salamander Kampfgruppe, with her 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion at its core. The infantry, artillery, and tank units attached to it haven’t seen the rigorous training her own battalion has, though, nor have the new mage recruits, which is a constant source of frustration as she tries to get them to adapt to combat conditions on the eastern front against the Federation and laments the coming winter and the consequences that will have for an army focused on mobility. As Tanya discovers when two Federation infantry brigades try to attack her position, though, the enemy may be even worse off on the training front.

Returning Studio NUT and music director Shuji Katayama knock the production side out of the park, producing one of the best-looking TV episodes to date for the franchise and fully maintaining the series’ signature sound, and Aoi Yuki is in top form again with her rendition of Tanya. (Though I do look forward to hearing Monica Rial’s rendition again, too, when the English dub is made.) Great facial expressionsand some of the best military detail this side of 86 are also features, and the episode delivers on its magical effects, too. We also get a brief look at what other powers are up to and Tanya’s more serious concerns about the direction of the war – and just a little of the series’ signature silly side, too, especially in the episode-ending propaganda poster which harkens back to episode 2 of the first season. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for much more from this episode and will probably episode-review it for the rest of the season.

Red River

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Of all the pre-SAO isekai stories from manga that had never previously been adapted into anime form, this long-running shojo series by prolific manga-ka Chie Shinohara (which began publication in 1995) is arguably the biggest, so this debut is the dream of decades for some fans. It features Yuri Suzuki, a modern Japanese teenager who has just started to date her longtime male friend when she suddenly finds herself dragged through a water puddle to an entirely different, entirely unfamiliar place. Eventually captured by guards, she learns that the local queen seeks to use her as a blood sacrifice to her god, though her true secret intent is to cast a death curse on her son’s rivals for the throne. Yuri is ultimately rescued from certain execution by Prince Kail, the dashing young man who had earlier temporarily saved her from guards by hiding her and somehow gave her the local language by kissing her, and he saves her this time under the claim of having taken her virginity as well (and thus making her an unsuitable sacrifice). Yuri eventually comes to understand that she’s now in the ancient Hittite Empire, 3,400 years before she was born.

Why the queen reached across time and space to snag such an ordinary-seeming girl for this sacrifice is not explained in this episode, but presumably that will come. For now, Yuri gets one of the most harrowing introductions into her new world that you’ll see in the genre, and one where she’s summoned to be a sacrifice rather than a hero. That distinguishes this from most other recent isekai titles, as does her having at least a temporary language barrier. (How Kail was able to solve this issue with a kiss is also not explained yet.) Its shojo origins show in the hunky guy who literally sweeps Yuri off her feet, but that’s fine. Advertising art and the OP shown at the end indicate that Yuri is eventually going to rise from this innocuous beginning to become a heroic figure, and it should be interesting to see how that happens. The technical merits aren’t anything special, but a fair amount of effort was put into plausible setting and clothing designs, and it has a compelling enough hook for this to be a likely keeper.

Victoria of Many Faces

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Chloe was taken from her family at a young age and raised and trained to be a secret agent. By age 27, though, she’s felt betrayed by her organization (the implication being that her family was killed in a fire, perhaps deliberately), so she stages her own death and disappears, seeking to start a new life a couple of countries away under the name Victoria Sellars. She quickly gets involved with a little girl who seems to have been abandoned and with a handsome captain of the local constabulary, who helps her out by serving as her guarantor. Thus does her new life start.

Rather than being a fantasy tale, this adaption of a three-volume light novel series is an entirely conventional story set in countries vaugely equivalent to late 19th century Europe. Presumably Victoria’s exercise of her skills as a secret agent will eventually come more firmly into play, but in this episode they are mostly only shown in some precautions she undertakes and the way she smoothly trips a purse snatcher. This episode is, instead, primarily focused on her establishing herself as Nonna’s new mother; ironically, this would only add to the cover she’s seeking to build, though to her credit she never treats their budding relationship that way. Hence it’s hard to say how active vs. passive this series is going to be at this point. Artistic and especially animation efforts are quite ordinary, so it doesn’t shine in those aspects, either. Overall, the first episode isn’t bad but feels like it’s lacking a stronger hook.

The Ghost in the Shell

Streams: Amazon Prime on Tuesdays

Rating: 4 or 2; see below

The Ghost in the Shell movie is one of the landmark titles not just in anime but in the cyberpunk genre in general, and it’s one of the major gateway titles of the last half of the ’90s and early ’00s, so an attempt to make a radically stylistically different new version is a bold call, even for such a well-respected studio as Science Saru. The goal this time was to stay truer to Masamune Shirow’s source manga (which the movie didn’t really do), which means that this time we get a Motoko Kusanagi who’s more attitude-laden and emotional – if not an outright gremlin – rather than the cooler and more refined lady of the first movie and Stand Alone Complex series. I can easily see this version of her having a lot of appeal, and I think I would like her if she was any heroine but Motoko, but for me this personality clashes too hard with the character who helped elevate my fandom to the otaku level all those year ago.

It also doesn’t help that I absolutely hate this character design aesthetic, which almost feels like a parody of the original and freely slides into looser designs for comedic effect. The vastly bolder color scheme is also a hit-or miss choice. Certainly can’t complain about the animation, and it does deliver on the action front, though some of the transitions between scenes made it a bit hard to follow at times. Not a fan of the more jazzy musical score, either.

The plot partially recycles the iconic opening scenes from the movie, but from a different angle: The Major and her crew are not part of Section 9 to start, instead doing a mission for the previous Prime Minister partly at odds with Aramaki. The latter is seeking to bring Motoko and her crew into Public Security’s fold, which Motoko is resisting, even as they do a mission to check out the orphanage which becomes more involved and violent than expected. Not a bad plot progression overall, so no flaws there.

Basically, this new version is one that I can acknowledged as well-made even though I actively dislike it.

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

At an orphanage where both male and female students are trained to be magical soldiers for some unspecified greater conflict, 14-year-old Sheena is among the weakest. A roommate who goes on to die in battle envies her for that because it means that Sheena’s number isn’t likely to be called (literally; students are called by student number when sent out on missions), but Sheena is also legitimately afraid of being caught up in a bigger struggle. One night, after sorting out her former roommate’s belongings, Sheena encounters Mimi, a seemingly-young girl heavily stained with blood who might be a rumored “secret weapon” of the orphanage. How much Mimi’s cheery, childish behavior is at odds with that blood-drenched appearance on their first encounter unsettles Sheena, but she has to get used to it since Mimi is her new roommate. And Mimi has quickly taken a liking to Sheena because of her smell.

Unlike Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games, which may just be yuribaiting, this manga adaptation is directly and unabashedly yuri, including two different scenes of girl/girl kissing (apparently magic for healing purposes can be transmitted this way, but only if both are “on the same wavelength”) and a strong implication that two of Sheena’s female classmates are a couple. The title certainly suggests that’s the direction the central duo is going as well. For all of that, though, I was actually most fascinated by the detail work in the architectural design, and boy, the series certainly doesn’t play tame about how bloody it wants to be. (It’s one of the most graphic titles so far this season.) This feels like the kind of story which is going to more narrowly focus on the main cast, with the bigger conflicts afoot serving only as background, but that could be fine if the Sheena/Mimi interactions and the setting details (such as the memorial for fallen child soldiers) continue to prove interesting. On the negative side, it does use a few mildly light moments that feel a bit incongruous with the overall tone. It’s borderline for whether I’ll follow it or not, but I will probably give it another episode or two.

Young Ladies Don’t Play Fighting Games

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

Play video games at a high level for long enough and hitting a point where keeping up with the game becomes more a chore than fun is practically an inevitability. That’s what happened to Aya Mitsuki with the Street Fighter game series. She lost her passion for it, so she opted to seek out a new passion in an entirely different direction: by earning a scholarship into the prestigious finishing school Kuromi Girls Academy, where they have very strict rules against even mobile gaming. There she encounters Mio Yorue, a petite girl regarded as the school’s “White Lily” for the refined aura she radiated. But as Aya accidentally discovers, Mio has a “Dark Lily” side to her: a fiercely competitive streak which comes out when she secretly plays Street Fighter 6. And upon recognizing that Aya is a (former) gamer girl, too, Mio is adamant about playing Aya. But though Aya reluctantly relents, the passion she’s looking for might be right in front of her.

Based on a well-regarded manga, this series from the director of Domestic Girlfriend and The Saint’s Magic Power id Omnipotent as among the most-anticipated series of the season, and based on the first episode, not without good reason. It’s certainly among the prettiest and best-animated debuted so far this season, with some truly dazzling character design quality, but the first episode has a lot more going for it than that. While it’s tempting to draw comparisons to Rock is a Lady’s Modesty (especially after revealing a heavy metal OP at the end of the episode), the character motivations (at least for Aya) are distinctly different and far less dramatic: she was motivated to change by ordinary burnout rather than trauma. Why Mio is so fiercely passionate has yet to be explored, but the writing doesn’t need to rely on any contrivances to explain why Aya gets drawn in by her, and that leads to one of my favorite individual scenes so far this season: the one where they jump through the window to escape the custodian. I am much less interested in the actual fighting game aspect (apparently a special arrangement has been made with CAPCOM to use actual game footage), but otherwise this one looks like a winner, and hey, some yuri shipping seems easily possible here, too.

Oh Boy, Was I Wrong About Her

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Hayato lost contact with childhood friend Haruki when the latter moved away from the rural area that they grew up in. During his high school years, his family moved to the city (with the implication that his and his younger sister’s mother is hospitalized) and finds himself in the same class as a girl with the same last name as his friend – and it turns out the the girl is the Haruki he knew; he just never knew that she was a girl. She’s basically the class idol, but she explains in private that this version of her is a front she feels she must maintain for Reasons, while the rambunctious, teasing Haruki Hayato remembers is the real her. While they quickly fall back to old habits in private, Haruki does curiously seem to pop up whenver Jayato is giving advice to the gardening club girl. . .

The Childhoood Friend Was Actually a Girl gimmick has been done enough times both in anime and out that it’s now a well-worn trope, and this adaptation of a light series is hardly breaking any new ground with its approach. Still, despite the series having arguably the season’s worst title, it works well enough here feels natural enough to be unrestrained by the gender reveal. The differences Hayato sees in his friend are less about her gender and more about how he’s now taller and faster than her, and Haruki seems happy more because she now has someone she can be genuine around than because of romantic interest (though there is a bit of an implication that she’s always had at least some feelings for him). The writing also drops enough hints about extenuating circumstances on both sides which should be interesting to explore, too. Not sure if it will make my viewing list in such a crowded season, but it has enough potential to be worth at least checking out another episode or two.

The Insipid Prince’s Furtive Grab for The Throne

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

Arnold is the seventh Imperial Prince of the Adrasia Empire, but he plays the fool to instead allow his talented twin brother to take the lead in pursuing the throne, partly because he’d rather have a quieter life with a pretty wife. Unbeknownst to any but his loyal butler Sebas, though, Arnold is also secretly the top-tier adventurer SILVER, a user of lost magic who’s one of the continent’s most powerful figures. In trying to surreptitiously help his brother, Arnold visits a ducal household which has so far remained neutral in the building struggle for the throne. In the process he crosses paths with Fine, the very pretty duke’s daughter, who accidentally learns of Arnold’s secret identity.

There’s actually a bit more to the plot of the first episode of this light novel adaptation, but I can’t be bothered to care. I disliked the character designs on this one from the get-go (Silver’s masked appearance is especially ridiculous), and that never improves; even Fine, who’s supposed to be gorgeous, isn’t defined by much more than her oversized chest, and the outfits worn by a group of adventurers who appear later aren’t much better. Arnold comes off more as an ass than a skilled schemer – it’s not even clear if he’s taking real or fake umbrage over Silver being turned away initially – and why is a duke’s son manning the mansion’s gate? This whole episode is just a mess. Director Yuji Yanase’s previous efforts have been a very mixed bag (good ones have included I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in Histor and Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra, but he’s also done In Another World with My Smartphone), but this is definitely one of his “misses.”

Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

University student Kakeru was raised by a single mother who bounced between various family households, so he learned early on to keep his head down and not cause waves. This behavior isolated him in high school and starts to do the same in college, too, until one night when his much more social roommate drags him to a school get-together. There he encounters Kohaku, a blind girl, and is struck by how she seems to maintain a positive outlook despite her disability, and he becomes annoyed with himself that he can’t do the same even though his difficulties are far lesser. He takes one of his classes with her, and ultimately chooses to help her out when she experiences some minor difficulties. (He was also urged to do so by the girl who had been escorting Kohaku during the party.) He becomes fascinated by how well Kohaku has adjusted to her limitations, to the point that this blind girl might be the one helping him to see for the first time.

The source light novel for this new adaptation also saw a live-action version late last year, and after seeing this version, I’m now curious how the live-action version handled this content by comparison. This version works because it makes a lot of smart calls in how to approach its premise. Like with last year’s The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife, it shows its blind character more matter-of-factly than as pitiable; Kohaku is well-adjusted to being blind, though there are hints dropped here and there that achieving this smooth competence required a lot of effort, which raises the question of how much of her cheery behavior is a defense mechanism. Unlike Invisible Man, the approach here is entirely serious, though not heavy, and that fits better with Kakeru’s own apparent doubts and insecurities. (The opening scene is also suggestive of a possible dire outcome down the road.) By the end of the episode it’s clear that associating with Kohaku is better for him than he cares to admit, so hopefully future episodes will let us see some of her viewpoint, too. Can’t find any fault with the character design effort, either. (Though this screen shot shows Kohaku with her eyes closed, they are open most of the time, unlike Shizuka in Invisible Man.) If you’re looking for a more serious romance this season, this one looks like it should work quite nicely.

A Livid Lady’s Guide to Getting Even

Streams: Crunchyroll on Mondays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Elizabeth Leiston is the daughter of Haldoria’s Chancellor and the fiancée of its first prince. She feels it is her duty to work tirelessly for the people, and indeed, much of the work to manage the kingdom is thrust on her by the prince, who is besotted with a pink-haired Baron’s daughter. This point doesn’t bother Elizabeth so much – it’s not unusual for kings or princes to have second wives or lovers, after all – but she does expect the girl to behave with decorum. That puts her on the girl’s bad side, resulting in Elizabeth soon finding herself thrust into a villainess’s role as she’s subjected to false accusations at a social function attended by foreign dignitaries and subsequently imprisoned. Her loyal maid, Mireille, eventually convinces her that the people Elizabeth had worked so hard to serve are not turning against her due to rumors being spread about her, so there’s no need for her to hold any loyalty to Haldoria any longer. Hence Elizabeth escapes, seeks asylum in another country, and begins plotting her retribution. And given the magical Grimoires she commands, she’s the last person the kingdom ever should have pissed off.

This light novel adaptation was one of the titles that I was most looking forward to, since villainess series featuring the protagonist villainess actually seeking revenge for being wronged are surprisingly rare. (The closest we’ve gotten recently is The Holy Grail of Eris, but that focused more on the mystery aspect than the revenge aspect and it was the secondary protagonist rather than viewpoint character pursuing it.) However, this opening episode suffers from one catastrophic flaw: how abruptly Elizabeth shifts to Revenge Mode just isn’t convincing. If the series was attempting to show that Elizabeth has always been taken advantage of and the maid’s words were just the final straw, the first episode doesn’t do a good job of establishing that. This scenario also depends on the King and Chancellor being morons for not treating this as an internal crisis of the highest magnitude, especially since they apparently haven’t done anything after a whole month. The Prince is also an idiot for still trusting Elizabeth to do paperwork while imprisoned (she could have really screwed him over in that way), and Elizabeth doesn’t need to do anything to exact her revenge; this kingdom will likely fall apart, and people will suffer, just because of her absence.

The main reasons I’m not completely giving up on this one yet are because I’m still a bit curious to see what path this revenge will take (did the kingdom just force Elizabeth to become a true villainess?) and because of a suspicion that more is going on here than what we’re seeing on the surface. Also, the technical and artistic merits aren’t bad. So we’ll see how this plays out.

The Forsaken Saintess and Her Foodie Road Trip in Another World

Streams: HIDIVE on Mondays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Rin was the adult “extra” in the summoning of a Saintess to a fantasy world, and since she didn’t have the skills the summoners were looking for (whereas the teenage girl summoned at the same time did), she was dumped off into the wilderness. That was perfectly fine with her, though, since she was a dedicated solo camper and the special skills she did have were practically tailor-made for this situation: she has a potent Survival skill which alerts her to dangers and tells her what is and isn’t safe to eat and the ability to manifest a magical camper, which doesn’t need gas or hookups (it’s entirely mana-powered) and comes both a refrigerator which automatically restocks each morning and built-in optical camouflage. She was just hanging out by a lake until she (literally!) fished a blindingly handsome oni adventurer named Vil out of the lake. After being fed by Rin and amazed by the utility of her skills, Vil makes a proposal: since she needs a way to earn the local currency, she can work for his adventuring party as a cook/porter.

This light novel adaptation is already living up to its name by the end of the first episode, as it efficiently (even rather flippantly) establishes Rin’s situation, starts the road trip, and definitely revels in the foodie side of Rin’s cooking. It’s not clear yet if this one is going to follow fully in the path of The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent (i.e., Rin will turn out to be the actual Saintess), but it’s fine if it doesn’t, and Rin’s powers as is are no joke; Vil wasn’t exaggerating when he said that people probably would kill to obtain what she can do, which does insert a faint hint of underlying danger to the situation. Not clear that the series will go there, though, as this is giving the vibe of a much more light-hearted tale. Rin is certainly the chipper, cheery type who’s easy to like, and I look forward to seeing how the rest of Vil’s adventuring party (amusingly named “Smorgasbord”) interacts with her. Not a series which is likely to wow anyone, as its temperament seems more in line with a Farming Life in Another World or Campfire Cooking in Another World, but it feels like a keeper so far.

Sparks of Tomorrow

Streams: Netflix on Sundays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

In a steam-dominated version of early 20th century Japan – one where electricity never established itself as the wave of the future – two teenagers find their paths crossing over a book called the “Electricity Catalog,” which is meant to predict the rise of electricity. One is Kihachi, a tinkerer who helped create the book four years earlier but lost track of it when his older brother took it with him when the latter went off to war and didn’t return. The other is Inako, second daughter of a sake brewer, who can’t seem to do anything right but still has strong faith, whether it be the gods or people. She is fascinated by Kihachi’s fledgling efforts with electricity even if she doesn’t quite understand them and is unaware that a very pushy young man is maneuvering to get the Electricity Catalog for as-yet-unspecified reasons.

This adaptation of an award-winning 2018 novel comes courtesy of Kyoto Animation, so it not lacking for visual or animation quality is practically a given. While it does have some flashier scene, it’s the more gritty aesthetic with its near-omnipresent steam which drives the show. (In fact, the only complaints about the visuals so far are a handful of places were the character animation descends into an incongruous, almost cartoonish level of parody.) While the central two characters are well-established, what’s actually going on here is far less clear. Why is this Electricity Catalog so important that an almost comically-ruthless rich boy is willing to bankrupt a family business and force a marriage just to get his hands on it? Overall, this is still a well-made production with a very capable English dub, but how hard the parody bits break the flow the project has let me dubious about its long-term success.

Iron Wok Jan!

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Gobancho’s Chinese Restaurant is reputed to be the premier Chinese restaurant in Tokyo, and 16-year-old Kiriko, the granddaughter of the restaurant’s founder, is the talented heir apparent to that legacy. But she may have a new rival in Jan Akiyama, whose grandfather was a long-time rival to Kiriko’s. Jan has come to Gobancho’s with a chip on his shoulder and the intent to pick a fight through cooking. Since he sees cooking as a competition, he cannot tolerate Kiriko’s approach, which focuses on the heart behind the cooking.

As a narrator reminds viewers at the end of the episode, this series adapts one of the most successful of all cooking-focused manga (one which started in 1995), and it does so with every ounce of the bravado and raw enthusiasm that would be expected in a shonen action title. Whether that’s a Good Thing or not is a matter of personal preference. I’m not a fan of applying action-like tension and tactics to cooking, so I bounced hard off this one despite all the interesting fine points about cooking (such as methods for removing the gamey taste from organ meat) and despite this being directed by Ei Aoki, whose work I’ve loved in titles like Fate/Zero, Aldnoah.Zero, and especially Re:CREATORS. Jan’s also a hard character to root for since he comes off as a complete ass. I can at least acknowledge that the first episode is well-paced and well-constructed, which is why I’m not giving it an even lower rating. Hard pass here.

Let’s Go KAIKIGUMI

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Our protagonist is a burly high school guy, but he’s also deathly afraid of ghosts. Since one has never appeared before him, he’s started to believe that ghosts aren’t real. That changes when he meets a strange girl in a school uniform who claims to be the new boss of an organization called Kaikigumi, whose responsibility is to scare people. Only she’s so bad at it that even her attempts to terrify an easy target like the protagonist don’t work. That’s because she doesn’t really understand fear, so she insists that the protagonist becomes her assistant so she can come to understand how to properly scare people. Later, the protagonist has an encounter with the spirit of a muscular man wearing only a fundoshi, who tells the protagonist that his luck will improve if he can touch the loincloth. Oh, and Mechako (as the protagonist starts to call the girl) also starts living in his closet, much to his dismay.

This adaptation of a completed manga is billed as a “comedy/horror” title, though it leans much more into the former than the latter. While it does have some effective humor (especially in scenes where Mechako’s attempts to make spirits scary fail), and Mechako is at least a visually interesting character, too much of the first episode is taken up by the protagonist screaming in alarm/fear and the absurdity in some of the gags leaves a lot to be desired. This looks like a more vignette-driven than plot-driven set-up, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but I can’t see this approach gaining any traction with Western fans.

World’s Strongest Rearguard

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

Salaryman Arihito was on a bus trip with cowokers when they were apparently involved in a fatal accident, as the next thing he know he’s in line in some other place to be reincarnated into Labyrinth Country in another world. He soon learns that Labyrinth Country is the place where all reincarnates get sent to, and where they must choose a class and begin their lives as adventurers. He’s not alone, either, as his female boss and at least one other person from the bus are also present. Since he’s informed that fulfilling a party role is a key factor in getting ahead in this world, he decides to choose the role of a party’s rear guard, since that seems to be in demand. But instead of a class aligned with that role, he’s given “Rearguard” as his actual class, to the confusion of the Guild Girl. With a nonverbal mercenary/slave “lizard girl” rogue to help, he sets out to try his new class in a low-level labyrinth.

The one thing this light novel adaptation has going for it is a rather interesting spin on how demi-humans fit into this world: you get to be a demi-human by being a human who dies in a labyrinth and gets reincarnated. Otherwise this is as lackluster a start as they come for game mechanics-based isekai titles – and yes, I’m aware of how bold a claim that is. The artistic and design elements, while not exactly bad, are just dull, and animation makes little effort beyond one scene where the female boss’s ample bosom jiggles when she does practice swings. Why this world works the way it does is a potential point of interest, but otherwise the set-up offers nothing fresh, and Arihito doesn’t even change out of his business suit before going into a dungeon or give any thought to his living arrangements. Either this is poor execution on the adaptation front or the original writer didn’t think much through here. Either way, I cannot see any reason to recommend this one and doubt I’ll watch anymore.

Mushoku Tensei s3

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays?

Rating: 4 (of 5)

During season 2, Rudeus reunited with Sylphy, Paul Roxy, his younger sisters, and his mother (sort of), but two people were conspicuously absent: Ghislaine and especially Eris. who hasn’t been seen since the last episode of season 1. The first two episodes of this season remedy that by taking a much-needed shift to see what she was doing: being taken by Ghislaine to train with the Sword God. While Eris’s fierce, almost savage determination helps her in some acpects of the training, it actually proves a hindrance in others, especially when Eris begins training in a trio with the Sword God’s daughter and an apprentice of the Water God style.

While Rudeus is the franchise’s main character, the series has proven before that it can manage fine without him, and these two episodes only reinforce that. These episodes also explain who the mysterious brunette girl was who was checking Rudeus out in the season 2 episode involving the beastmen suitors: it was the Sword God’s daughter, who wasn’t convinced that Rudeus was real when Eris bragged about him. This makes for both a neat connection to last season’s events and a good way to align the relative timing of events here and last season. Seeing Eris learn to change her approach to handle troublesome match-ups is a satisfying development, as are the updates to her character design as she gets older. (This is one point that the series’ production does not get enough credit for, I think.) The visual and animation quality established by previous seasons is still here, too. the title of episode 3 suggests that the focus is going to shift back to Rudeus, but this is a welcome diversion.

Magilumiere Co. Ltd. s2

Streams: Amazon Prime on Saturdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

The first season of Magilumiere succeeded in part because it staked out its own territory within the magical girl genre on several fronts: its magical girls were mostly full adults doing magical girl activities as a formal job, magic was very tech-based, and the corporatization of magic was a recurring theme. All of those look to continue to remain firmly in play as season 2 begins with Shigemoto dressing in a proper suit to pitch his ALICE proposal to the CMO, the governing body for magical girls. Unsurprisingly, it’s a hard sell, since it runs counter to the plans of some others by focusing on more efficient use of magic rather than bigger magic (nope, no real-world allusions there. . .) and is more pragmatically seen by others as not based on enough hard evidence. But at least the Research Institute is going to start actively working with Magilumiere on mutation cases. Meanwhile, Koshigaya being the estranged daughter of one of the CMO members finally comes up, and the corporate angle is reinforced by how she’s approached by a shady individual who points out that the success of ALICE could ultimately undermine her father’s position.

I very much like the increased attention to the corporate side of things, but otherwise this is a sedate set-up episode with no actual magical girl activities outside of flashbacks. Also, both the artistic effort and the English dub feel like they’ve taken at least small steps down since the first season. Still, this remains a distinctively interesting take on the genre, and that’s enough to keep me watching.

Rich Girl Caretaker

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Hinako Konohana, sole heir to one of Japan’s wealthiest conglomerates, can project the image of a perfect girl, but her real nature is so hopeless that she requires near-constant attention from a caretaker, and it’s been tough for her father to find a reliable one. Enter Itsuki, a like-aged boy who’s had to be responsible because his parents are poor scum who stole his tuition money and ran off. Hinako takes a liking to him when he gets swept up, too, when she’s kidnapped while passing him by on the street, and Itsuki does need a new job, so he’s hired not only to be her caretaker at home but to also go to school with her at her elite school and keep an eye on her there, too.

This is one of those completely stupid premises that’s just enough dumb fun to actually work. Hinako has just the right balance of cute and comically pathetic, Itsuki seems suitable responsible, and of course there’s a no-nonsense maid, too. There’s all kinds of potential for antics as Itsuki has to protect Hinako’s image when Hinako’s real nature is her own worst enemy and of course the potential for eventual romance, too. (Although Hinako seems like quite the handful unless she gets her act together.) This one could be a keeper.

The Ogre’s Bride

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

In Yuzu;s version of Earth, the ayakashi (the subtitles say “demons”) came out of the shadows in the wake of a devastating global war (implied to be WW2) to guide Japan’s regrowth. Because demons are beautiful and tend to be obsessively devoted to their brides, becoming the bride of one is every woman’s dream and a point of pride for any family. Yuzu’s younger sister is such a bride (the implication seems to be here that “bride” and “boyfriend” are interchangeable terms when they’re younger), but that’s left her feeling forgotten and overlooked by her family, and she’s now lost a boyfriend who fell in love at first sight with her sister Karin, too. Things come to a head when Karin (who’s been spoiled by both parents and her fox demon) takes interest in a dress their grandparents gave Yuzu as a birthday gift and they get in a tussle. As Yuzu suffers from burns wrought by the overly-protective fox demon and despairs that no one seems to care about her, an oni (“ogre” in the subtitles) finds Yuzu and declares her to be the bride he’s long sought.

Boy, I have all kinds of problems with this light novel adaptation, not the least of which is the translation choices made. Beyond that, one of the biggest is how insufferably irresponsible Yuzu and Karin’s parents are. (At least they have the decency to be shocked when Yuzu gets burned by Fox Demon Boy.) And while I can understand the appeal of an absolutely devoted romantic partner, this relationship also has the air of obsessive possessiveness, which makes me wonder what happens if a bride (are there male equivalents?) wants to break off the relationship; hopefully the series will deal with that at some point. Yuzu isn’t without very protective friends, and her parents, while not fair to her, aren’t being cruel, either, so she’s not as emotionally isolated as she seems to think. I am a bit curious about why the ogre has taken such an interest in Yuzu, but with the series also having very ordinary technical merits, I’m not sure I’m interested enough to bother to find out.

Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia

streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

In the city of Tus (in what is now Iran) in 1213, the wife of a deceased scholar brought a young girl name Sitara into her household as part of a deal to purchase another slave. Though reluctant to cooperate at first, Sitara was eventually convinced by the woman’s son that pursuing a scholarly path would make her knowledgeable enough to be able to adapt to changing circumstances, and she took that to heart. Even that wasn’t enough in the long run, though, as seven years later the Mongols sacked Tus, took a precious book from her mistress’s household, and killed her mistress. While being forced east by the Mongols, Sitara starts to lose hope as everyone she cares about eventually dies in turn, until a boy who serves the Mongols as a translator reminds her that she does still have one thing to live for.

If you didn’t know up front that this adaptation of an acclaimed manga was anime then you probably wouldn’t guess it from the first two episodes, as it looks more like Western animation than anything anime. That could be a plus or minus depending on how you adapt to the extremely stylistic artistic choices made in the artistry. (But since it’s animated by Science Saru, you can at least be assured of a certain degree of technical quality.) I found the narrative and especially the history behind what’s transpiring here far more interesting, however. The sacking of Tus and the slaughter of Nishapur described here are actual historical events (the Mongol commander described as being shot down at Nishapur was a son-in-law of Genghis Khan, so the Mongols were so ruthless that even cats and dogs were beheaded), and watching Sitara’s struggles to endure it all makes for a compelling ground-level account of this period of history. While I’m not a fan of the art style, this is the kind of story that you never normally see told in anime, and I’m eager to see how it progresses.

The Duke’s Son Claims He Won’t Love Me Yet Showers Me with Adoration

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Elsa Eukarainen, the 19-year-old daughter of an impoverished rural noble, is a very hands-on and responsible young woman. Since she’s of marriageable age, she resolves to accept an offer that will help out her family and land, and indeed, one comes from out of the blue from a duke’s son on track to become a future chancellor. Though she doesn’t meet Julius before the wedding day, he’s certainly handsome and seems polite enough, and Elsa isn’t bothered one bit when Julius proclaims after the ceremony that this is just a marriage of convenience, not one for love; in fact, she appreciates understanding the practical terms involved. She’s unaware of the real reason for the marriage, though: she’s actually the descendant of the ruling family of a kingdom that her current kingdom conquered a century before, and so the current king seeks to cut off any attempt to use her for political machinations. Despite that, some seem to already be brewing.

This manga adaptation debut isn’t so much bad as just bland and thoroughly unimpressive. It does nothing special artistically – indeed, having some of the weakest production merits so far this season – and while Elsa is a likable enough heroine, she doesn’t stand out much, with her kindness and practicality being her only distinguishing traits so far. The potential politics of her situation does generate some spark of interest, and I can’t rule out that this one might distinguish itself a bit more if it diligently pursues that angle. So far, though, I’m not expecting much from it.

Grow Up Show

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 of 5

We’ve seen just about every other variation of “cute girls do xxx” scenarios imaginable, so why not “cute girls do circus performances”? That’s exactly what this original production from the director of the Saekano franchise seems to be delivering with its first episode. In mid-20h century Japan, Mizuka is the daughter of Black Lotus, a trapeze artist who’s legendary for his talent but also a rather irresponsible parent. His “training” of young mizuka has deeply traumatized the girl, to the point that she wants to have nothing to do with a circus, and he’s proven unreliable on financial support as well, which is why Mizuka ended up traveling out to a location which turns out, to her dismay, to be training base for the Sunflower Circus, an all-girl circus where all the performers are orphans. Despite her aversion to circus performance, Mizuka is still almost freakishly limber and has a keen eye for what does and doesn’t work in the performances of others. Mizuka reluctantly proves that she knows what she’s talking about when she brings out the best in top talent Ouka during a trapeze test. What she’s not aware was that her father (whom she exclusively refers to as “Paramecium”) sent her out to Sunflower to pay off one of his debts, so Mizuka is stuck with them until she can.

This debut most impresses in the amount of visual detail that went into the portrayal of the circus’s rigging and the animation of the performance pieces; someone studied very thoroughly to make all of this look fluid and convincing. The same could be said for the depiction of Mizuka going through stretches that would make anyone short of an Olympic gymnast wince. A foundation has certainly been laid for some yuri shipping, too, even if the characterizations never actually go in that direction. Overall, the series has just the right balance of cute, characterizations, quality, and detail work to be at least modestly successful.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

On a version of Earth where an alien invasion which started 30 years ago is threatening to overrun the planet, teenager Shiina Kuze lives on the isolated island Mizuho with her adopted younger sister Setsuna, fending off invasive species for pay using an arsenal of guns left behind by her grandfather. But their mostly-peaceful life is shattered when a man who is a monster who calls himself a Diaboli comes calling one day in search of another of his kind to consume . . . and that happens to be Setsuna, who eventually manifests the powers she’d been suppressing as the man and his minions unrelentingly pursue her and Setsuna. When both eventually fall, gravely wounded, Setsuna entrusts her power to Shiina so the two can always be together even if Setsuna is no longer physically around anymore. After finally defeating the man, Shiina moves on with her life, becoming a part-time hunter on the mainland, which eventually leads her to cross paths with a member of the U.N.’s EXCEEDS organization established to combat the invaders: a seemingly-fragile but magically powerful girl named Nanoha.

While this definitely is part of the Nanoha franchise, the only in-episode hint that it is before Nanoha finally appears herself in the last couple of pre-credit minutes is a brief cameo by an adult-looking Hayate in a news broadcast. Otherwise you don’t need to know a thing about the franchise to fully understand and appreciate this lavish, very graphic, double-length action spectacle, as it stands perfectly fine as a very solid actioner. I suspect that’s going to change big-time with the next episode, and it’s my understanding that the manga this series is adapted from directly follows from (or spins off from) the Nanoha movies Reflection and Detonation, which were both led by the same person directing this series. So maybe eventually you’ll need to know who all the major players are, but the first episode on its own makes for an emotionally sound, gripping “shoot up the alien baddies” extravaganza. It doesn’t matter if it’s Shiina using her guns, Setsuna using her flames in her fiery form when she finally manifests mid-episode, or Shiina blasting away with hellfire guns when the two merge; it all looks damn cool, and Shiina is an action star well worthy of rooting for. I am curious to see how Nanoha looks so young when Hayate doesn’t, and how/why they’re even in this world (is this meant to be an alternate timeline?), but those questions can wait for later. This one’s a definite keeper.

Recommendations from Iwamoto-senpai

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In early 1900s Japan, Seiho Middle School is an army-aligned school focused on exploring military applications for supernatural phenomena. Kodo Iwamoto, one of the school’s officers, is sent out to investigate such phenomena and potentially recruit individuals who are causing them. That leads him to a village where black snow is said to fall. He eventually discovers that the phenomenon is both real and partially supernatural in nature, and one individual – a boy who has secluded himself far underground – seems to be responsible for it. Though the boy regards the effect which causes it as a contagious illness (his parents died as a result), Iwamoto recognizes it for what it really is: a potent ability which could be very useful if brought under control. Thus he recommends the boy for his school.

I was a bit surprised to discover that this series adapts a manga (one from the creator of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan) rather than a mobile game, as it feels exactly like a “collect the supernaturally-gifted bishonen” scenario. Indeed, the gorgeous male character designs (some in military uniforms!) are the biggest selling point of the first episode. The writing does also get credit for playing the whole scenario completely seriously and not making the grandfather out to be a profiteering villain, and while the set-up doesn’t actively suggest ulterior motives behind gathering such boys (but why only boys?), it doesn’t discourage speculation or the possibility that the school may not have the students’ best interests at heart, either. The structure suggests this is (at least initially) going to be more a recruitment story than a “magic school” one, but that doesn’t hold any particular interest for me. I can see this one finding an audience, but I won’t be part of it.

Black Torch

Streams: Crunchyroll on Sundays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Jiro has always had the ability to speak to animals, which got him bullied when he was a little kid. But he’s also been trained to be a ninja, training which he uses to beat down street punks. Both of those become important when he’s led to a gravely-wounded cat who turns out to be Rago, a mononoke who’s taken animal form. Rago ended up that way when he wouldn’t cooperate with a group seeking to use his power, and predictably, one of that group – a mononoke in an ogre-like form – shows up on Jiro’s doorstep. In the ensuing fight, Jiro gets gravely injured himself, so Rago returns the favor by fusing with him, giving Jiro a devastating supernatural punch which manifests like black flames (presumably the source of the series’ name). But whichever group the ogre represents isn’t the only group that was looking for Rago, as a government espionage task force takes him in after knocking Jiro unconscious.

Every bit of this manga adaptation’s debut screams that this title wants to be the next big shonen action series, and indeed, it doesn’t do badly at that. Jiro has the kind of crass cockiness practically tailor-made to appeal to teen boys, he get a supernatural partner in Rago, and he gets a special ability handy in a fight. The staging of the major action scene against the ogre isn’t bad, either, and of course there’s the sexy female agent in the picture. (And the camera certainly doesn’t let you forget her sex appeal.) The episode is also well-paced. Even so, hardly anything is fresh about the premise, and what the episode does right isn’t enough to offset how ordinary a concept it feels like. I might give this one another episode or two but it doesn’t look promising to stick with long-term.

Skeleton Knight from Another World 2

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

The first season of Skeleton Knight certainly wasn’t an animation or action masterpiece, but it still succeeded because it approached the absurdities of its scenario with great verve and delivered an engaging set of core cast members. Nothing about that is going to change based on the first episode of the second season, which brings Arc, Arianne, Ponta, and Chiyome back together after they went their separate ways for a while at the end of season 1. This time a pair of lookalikes for Arc and Arianne are causing trouble by engaging in the slave trade, and they must be dealt with swiftly. But what they discover in the slavers’ lair shows connection to the slaver cases they were dealing with in the first season and suggests that a new player – one with the ability to lead or control goblins – may also be afoot.

Like with the first season, the OP leans into an ’80s hair band vibe, which still fits the content just fine, and the visuals of the OP are at least as absurd. The penchant for light doses of fan service also remains, as does one observation I made during the first season: it’s at its best when all of Arc, Arianne, and Chiyome are involved. The quality English dub is also back, this time being simuldubbed. No one’s going to mistake this for being one of the season’s best series, but this first episode does its main job – to encourage those who liked the first season to keep watching – just fine. It’s a definite keeper.

KAMUI —He’s behind you

Streams: OceanVeil on Fridays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

Kamui is a pyschic with an unusual way of exorcising ghosts: he floods them with spiritual power while engaging in erotic acts with them. While that can mean regular sex, in the case of one ghosts whose lower half is missing, he nibbles on her earlobe until she experiences phantom pleasure. Reluctantly helping him his his big-chested assistant Shizuka, who has an uncanny ability to attract the attention of ghosts and thus is commonly used as bait by Kamui.

This manga adaptation would hardly be the first title to connect sex and exorcisms (it’s a fairly common thing to see in doujinshi), but this is one of the most flippant takes you’ll ever see on the concept. It’s on OceanVeil because one of the two exorcism segments does use full-on (if also light-censored) sex, but it’s also not a full episode of regular animation. The entire back half of the episode is broken into two comedy skits, one with Shizuka hosting a upernatural snack bar visited by the first ghost (who whines about her screen time) and the other feature both ghosts facing off in a room where they can’t leave until one wins. It’s all pretty stupid and not as funny as it was probably intended to be, but whether that’s going to be the regular structure or just for this episode is unclear. Honestly, there’s not much to this one even on the erotic front, and it’s certainly one of the bottom-of-the-barrel titles of the season on technical and artistic merits. Pass here.

Please Excuse My Younger Brothers

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

Apparently it’s standard practice in Japan for parents who are remarrying to not bother to tell their kids from previous relationships that they’re going to to have new step-siblings before the day they move in. Not only does that happen to 16-year-old Ito when her mother remarries, but she’s suddenly getting four new younger brothers (albeit one is only younger by a day), the three of whom don’t hide in their rooms all being hotties, too. Though the 15 year old (in glasses above) and the youngest seem nice, the eldest is prickly at first, and there’s initial friction between Ito and him as they feel each other out and sort out limits and responsibilities. Eventually they come to an important understanding: Gen, the eldest, doesn’t want or need someone who’s going to take charge or to look up to. He wants a sister than he can just hang out with.

Of all the common anime gimmicks, the “surprise new stepsiblings” one is possibly my least favorite. There are all sorts of practical reasons why this shouldn’t happen (or at least shouldn’t be allowed to happen), though this series does at least address one of them by pointing out that the parents didn’t have an actual wedding ceremony. The other problem I have here is that this feels more like a reverse harem set-up than a true blended family scenario, but we’ll see how things play out. Ito also doesn’t yet project the image expected of an older sister, which could be the point, but it also strains the set-up’s credibility. This could end up being a perfectly fine series, but it feels a bit too generic to spark much interest from me.

Draw This, Then Die!

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Ai, a resident of the remote Japanese island Izu Oshima, was always a bit of a loner and dreamer as a kid, but her world expanded greatly when she discovered a manga rental place and fell in love with one particular one-shot manga. Years later, when she had entered high school, she discovered that the manga-ka for that manga was suddenly active again after having shut down for many years and release a new volume at a Comiket-equivalent event in Tokyo, so she secretly traveled to Tokyo to attend the event. Seeing all of the girls and women there who had created their own works inspired her to think she might be able to create something herself, but the biggest shock came when she saw who the creator of her favorite actually was.

I have to wonder if the source manga for this series is at least semi-autobiographical, as this feels like a very personal story about the discovery of a lifelong passion. I also have to wonder if the mang-ka’s situation, and her apparent reasons for having gone on hiatus and the probably-not-coincidental timing of resuming her work, are also at least partly based on a real story. The first episode has a good sense of pacing in setting up the main characters and overall premise, and seeing the manga-ka explain herself to Ai next episode should be interesting, so I can acknowledge that this one is pretty well-made. However, the premise isn’t grabbing me enough that it’s likely to make my viewing list in such a packed season.

I Became a Legend After My 10 Year-Long Last Stand

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 2 (of 5)

When the three-man Hero’s party forced the Demon King to retreat, their sorcerer, Luck, opted to remain behind as rear guard because – unlike his companions – he had no wife or kids to return home to. Thanks to him learning the spell Drain Life and using a spell that could keep him fighting on automatic even while asleep, he was able to stand his ground for years until the Demon King revived, only for the Demon King to fall to his Drain Life, too (with a side effect being that Luck got de-aged to a teenager.) When he return to civilization, he discovered that 10 years had passed, he’d been idolized as a saint, the Hero had become the king, and the warrior in the party had become the Guild Master for the Adventurer’s Guild. Since Luck wasn’t much interested in being a noble and knew his returning after being declared dead 10 years ago would cause problems, he opted (with his former companions’ help) to restart his adventuring career under the guise of a fledgling swordfighter named Lock. His first mission pairs him up with a brother/sister duo to hunt goblins, a task which eventually become more than the original quest intended. But just as he did with his former companions, Lock resolves to keep his new ones alive while subtly coaching them.

The author of this series’ source light novels has done several other works in a similar fantasy vein, but this is the first one to see an anime adaptation. I have to wonder if this was the right choice to be the first, though. I was dubious about the premise from the start, fully expecting some kind of time dilation to be involved since the Hero’s party was fighting in a dimensional corridor. But nope, the premise was meant to be taken literally. Between that and other factors, the whole set-up is basically just an excuse that doesn’t involve reincarnation for a top-tier adventurer to go around masquerading as a beginner, hence giving the “secretly OP” vibe. Frankly, that’s a yawner of a basic premise, and mediocre animation compared with a lack of anything interesting in action scene design deny the series a fallback appeal. If I have to jettison just one of this series and Frontier Lord from making my seasonal viewing list, it will be this one.

The Frontier Lord Begins With Zero Subjects

Streams: Crunchyroll on Fridays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

After 20 years as a soldier, Dias distinguish himself in wars to be granted title and land by the king of his country. Because he was an uneducated orphan by origin, he was given a plain grassland on the fringe of the country which has no subjects. While debating whether to stay or try to find some other way to make a living, he encounters horned young woman by the name of Alna, whom he eventually learns is from the nomadic Onikin people who live nearby under the cover of magical concealment. Though the Onikin have long been at odds with the kingdom, their magic also allows them to determine the sincerity of Dias’s claims that he will protect his subjects and allies, so they agree to help him. When Dias shows his manliness in hunts and a fight against a turtle-like earth dragon, though, he may just win Alna’s heart, too, for Onikin women respect only manliness in their mates.

This light novel adaptationfalls squarely in the fantasy subcategory about studly middle-aged or near-middle-aged men who attract the attention of younger women as they step into a new stage in their lives. While it’s hard not to regard this set-up cynically, it’s also not hard to understand why Alna’s attitude towards Dias would pivot so quickly; after all, both she and her chieftain have what they would regard as incontrovertible magical evidence of the purity of his intentions and Dias certainly proves through his deeds that he has the traits Onikin women admire most. The closer clearly shows the two together with twin girls, so the series apparently won’t piddle around on the romantic front, and I did like the scene where some Onikin men give Dias dirty looks for attracting the attention of a woman they no doubt regarded as a prize catch. (And for viewers of a certain age, this will undoubtedly give a Dances With Wolves vibe, with the Lakota replaced by Mongolian stand-ins.) This looks like it’s going to be more of a development series with occasional bouts of action, and the tension over how Dias will manage loyalty to his king against being a good ally to his neighbors will undoubtedly come up, too. Between that and generally likable lead characters, I am cautiously optimistic enough about this series that it may have a chance to make my seasonal viewing list.

Chainsmoker Cat

Streams: OceanVeil and Netflix on Thursdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5), but see below

In a world where catpeople are apparently not unusual, Yani is an absolute mess of a catigrl – and that should be taken in both figurative and literal senses. She is not only a hard-core chain smoker but also a complete slob, one who can’t hold a job, do basic cleaning, or even take a bath without a smoke. (Plus, she’s also likely an idiot.) She does have a caring younger sister, but there’s only so much that sister can do, and she’s at least smart enough to wear a hazmat suit to visit Yani’s apartment.

This adaptation of what I’m going to guess is a 4-koma manga series is likely to be the grossest title you’ll come across all season; before the opening credits roll, you have smoking, partial nudity, heavily implied masturbation and not-so-implied diarrhea. Replace the diarrhea with poop in general and you’ll see more of each before the episode ends, too – a lot more in the case of the smoking. Essentially, this is a comedy series grounded on the absolute worst habits of dedicated smokers, and as disgusting as it can be, it is also quite funny at times. There’s also a sad sincerity to it, which makes me strongly suspect that the original manga-ka either is or was a hard-core smoker themselves. It’s surprisingly well-animated, too. It’s too depressing for me to want to follow it, but I have to respect how well-executed the concept and production are.

Kaiju Girl Caramelise

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 5 (of 5)

Kuroe suffers from an incurable illness which causes parts of her body to undergo monstrous transformation when she’s in a heightened emotional state, such as when she confessed to her first crush in elementary school. (Or is she really even human to begin with? Her mother does have a cracked egg shell. . .) Because of this, she’s learned to keep her distance from everyone and uses heavy metal music and pics of her favorite foods to help regulate her emotions. To her dismay, the way she bluntly tries keeps her distance actually earns her the attention of Arata, her high school class’s popular boy, who was once an outsider himself and doesn’t feel fully comfortable with the attention he gets from his groupies. A date he cons Kuroe into – and especially the way he stands up for her when his groupies see them together and try to make a scene out of it – proves to be Kuroe’s undoing, as the unrestrained emotion that wells up in her causes her to undergo a full kaiju transformation for the first time.

This manga adaptation was widely-regarded as one of the most anticipated new titles of the season, and the first episode clearly shows why; I’m giving it a maximum rating because I honestly can’t see how the concept could be executed any better. It takes metaphors for how ugly teens can feel, and how out of control their emotions can seem, and beautifully manifests them in a literal sense in this unique take on the “monster girl” concept. Some of this has to do with how well the episode sells Kuroe as the loner protagonist, giving her a feel somewhat akin to Tomoko from WATAMOTE, but I also loved how the animation effort by LIDEN FILMS visually portrayed Tomoko’s partial transformations and the irony in how she uses music that would normally rile people up to center herself. Most importantly, the episode hits exactly the right emotional beats at exactly the right times, and the pacing is flawless. I wasn’t expecting this series to be a keeper, but I honestly don’t see at this point how I can skip watching it.

Dara-san of Reiwa

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Hinata and her old brother Kaoru, who live in a remote rural town, have always been counseled by the grandfather they live with not to venture into the fenced off area of the nearby mountain because it’s sacred land. When a landslide one stormy night destroys the fence and the shrine beyond, the two find out why: Yamatagi-Madara, a god who appears as a six-armed woman with the lower body of a giant snake (if you know Dungeons & Dragons, think the demon type “marilith”) is real. Rather than being frightened of her, though, the two are (to the entity’s shock) completely unfazed (their family has long been caretakers of the mountain actually probably has little to do with this) and even start bringing her regular offerings. Turns out that she’s no longer the vengeful spirit she started out as; in fact, she’s not sure if she’s even truly Yamatagi-Madara anymore and she doesn’t remember the name of the human she started out as, so the siblings decide to start calling her “Dara-san.” Meanwhile, their grandfather, who knows nothing about their encounters, is panicked over the situation with the mountain.

Conceptually speaking, this manga adaptation promises to be one of the season’s odder entries. In some senses it’s a fairly standard take on the classic concept of youths forming a relationship with a supernatural entity whom they should fear but don’t, but the curious thing about this one is that uncertainty about identity seems to be a core theme. “Dara-san” isn’t the only one whose identity is ambiguous; both siblings, as it turns out, are cross-dressers who very much present as the opposite gender, though neither seems to actively reject their actual genders. I’m curious to see how much the series intends to run with that as a theme versus just leaving it as a background gimmick. The first episode is also noteworthy for its unexpected level of nudity; Dara’s breasts are casually but openly exposed and uncensored – nipples and all! – at first, to the point that Kaoru offers her one of his mother’s bras. I’m leaving the grade neutral at this point because the series seems to still be feeling out how it wants to balance its more and less serious elements, but it’s clear from the first episode that it wants to be taken at least partly seriously despite the more light-hearted interactions between Dara the siblings. Not sure yet I’ll be following it regularly, but I may watch more.

The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 1.5 (of 5)

In a world defined by game statistics, Elymas is disinherited by his father in favor of a distant female relative after his granted class, upon achieving majority, proves to be Heavy Knight. That’s a problem for his father because conventional wisdom says it’s a useless class due to its too-limited offense, but Elymas knows differently because he can remember a VR game he played in his previous life which has striking resemblance to his current one, and he recalls Heavy Knight as a class that’s difficult to master but broken if you can do it. After being sent packing when his father won’t listen to his attempts to explain, he sets out to prove his father wrong.

Whatever else you might think about Studio GoHands’ visual style, it’s never boring. This light novel adaptation from the author who also created Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling certainly uses their trademark 3D CG style, full of too many sweeping angle changes and tendency to emphasize fancy gimmicks over actually crafting visually interesting scenes. I don’t actually have issue with the visual aesthetic used here, but man, the absurdly exaggerated expressions get old fast. The bigger problem, though, is that none of the characters formally introduced so far at all interesting (Jester Girl looks neat, but even though she’s shown in the episode, it’s not clear how she fits in) and there’s nothing even slightly fresh about the story set-up, mechanics, or plot elements so far. Besides, I’m always irritated by concepts which depend on illogically eschewing sensible mechanics in order to make someone look brilliant or different for choosing an obvious build. Pass here, though more for the story content than the visuals.

The Villager of Level 999

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 2 ( of 5)

In a world where everyone has a class that they are born with, Koji Kagami is a just a Villager, not a Hero or a Sage or a Monk. However, he is level 999, which means he can utterly dominate any monster he runs across. (To put this into perspective, the next-highest-level person introduced in these two episodes is level 125, and supposedly no known monster is over level 500.) How he’s that disproportionately high a level is not explained, with only a vague hint provided that he knows something about the “truth of the world” that’s not common knowledge even to royals. Being so high level doesn’t give him any special magical abilities, and Villager is apparently a weak class on a per-level basis, so his strength is pure level advantage. But that makes him strong enough to rescue the demon girl Alice from a party led by a hero, who believes she was contributing to an uptick in monsters locally. (It’s widely-known that demon horns encourage the spawning of monsters.) Though Koji tries to distance himself from the girl afterwards, he eventually is convinced to help her procure a potion that will revive her ill father, who just happens to be the Demon Lord. But first a subordinate of the Demon Lord who has decided to go attack a human city by bombarding it with monsters has to be dealt with.

With this light novel adaptation, it’s a little hard at this point to determine how much of the shaky world-building elements are deliberately fishy versus just being incompetently-constructed. Me not rating the first two episodes even lower is an acknowledged that the possibility of the former case exists. But that still leaves a lot of unanswered questions, like how Japan ended up looking like it’s based on an utterly generic European-influenced fantasy world or lost any sense of cultural identity beyond Koji’s name (which is distinctly different from that of every other named character) or how the introduction of monsters either caused or coincided with the implementation of the game-like system. While Alice is cute enough, neither she, Koji, or any other character introduced in the first two episodes is at all interesting in a positive fashion. (I say that because one character who looks trans and is male-voiced but is apparently just a muscular woman strongly suggests a negative stereotype.) Technical merits are also mediocre, and action scenes mostly just consist of Koji either punching or otherwise manhandling monsters in simple fashion, so there’s nothing flashy here, either. This one looks like a pass unless it starts showing a more creative twist.

The Oblivious Saint Can’t Contain Her Power

Streams: Crunchyroll on Tuesdays

Rating: 3 (of 5)

In this light novel adaptation, Carolina Sanchez is the younger daughter of the ducal house of her kingdom. She perpetually stands in the shadow of her elder sister Fiora, a candidate to become the country’s next Saint and an all-around-admired young woman, and sees herself as unexceptional and talentless. That’s something Fiora never lets her forget, either; though Fiora doesn’t publicly display her scorn for Carolina, she still blames her for their mother’s death, which was at least contributed to by complications from Carolina’s birth. So for Carolina it’s almost an escape when she’s secretly asked by the king to marry the second prince of a neighboring empire to smooth over a diplomatic ruffle. The prince in question has a reputation for cruelty, but at least this is something she can do, and a visit to her mother’s grave with her father gives her the confidence to carry through with it. But what kind of man will the prince really be?

Not every series needs a double-length or two-episode debut, but this is one that could have really benefited from it; the first episode ends with Carolina meeting Prince Edward among his troops and thus doesn’t more than hint at the premise stated in the title in the vaguest of senses. Thus the first episodes doesn’t get to any content which could make it stand out as special. It does at least capably set a firm foundation for Carolina’s circumstances and her relationship with her family, and it hints that Fiora’s disdain for Carolina isn’t just because she blames Carolina for their mother’s death; her behavior is more in line with seeing Carolina as a threat. (Though I will acknowledge that it’s possible I’m just reading more into things here than what’s intended.) Still, with the series’ main hook not evident yet and only average artistic and technical merits, this one’s going to need to show more with episode 2 to make the viewing cut for the season.

The World is Dancing

Streams: HIDIVE on Mondays

Rating: 4.5 (of 5)

Calling Japanese actor and playwright Zeami the foundational figure in Noh theater probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration, as he had a major hand in evolving it from earlier performance forms and many plays which can definitively be attributed to him are still performed to this day. In 1374, though, he was still a boy named Oniyasha who was getting fed up with the strict tutelage of his father and had trouble understanding the point of dancing, since it didn’t seem to be something that (in his view) humans were built for. That starts to change when, while wandering home one night after becoming lost, he came across a woman dancing in her ramshackle house and had his mind utterly blown by the wild expressiveness of her movements.

If this title wasn’t on your radar coming into this season, it should be, as director Toshimasa Kuroyanagi (Say “I love you,” The Great Passage, Backflip!) has successfully brought to the screen a fantastic and surprisingly fascinating imagination of the source manga. Rather than introduce supernatural elements (at least so far), it is a hard-core period piece, once which emphasizes the bleakness of the civil wars which marred the early stages of the Muromachi period (ruined buildings and damaged human skulls are occasional visual motifs) but also shows how boys will be boys even as the land recovers from such bleak times. There’s a natural feel to Oniyasha’s questioning, behavior, and interactions both with a friend his age and with a slightly older attendant, and the way he chafes at his perception that his father is more judging him than training him is easily relatable because of that. But it’s the artistic effort which will catch the most attention. Much of the episode is well-animated in a conventional style, with an emphasis on the movements of Oniyasha’s father in performances, but it takes a wildly abstract turn in depicting the dancing woman to impress on viewers how overwhelmed he is by her movements; this is a clip which should make seasonal highlight reels. 1374 is the year that Zeami won the favor of the shogun as a mere 11-year-old, which started the ball rolling on the development of Noh theater, and I’m now fascinated to see how this plays out. The one minor knock is that the episode has some bits of humor that are less than perfectly-timed, which is the main reason I’m not giving it a top grade.

The Cat and the Dragon

Streams: Crunchyroll on Saturdays

Rating: 4 (of 5)

A dragon egg left behind when its mother is slain by adventurers is unwittingly hatched by a Cait Sith who chooses its hiding place to birth her kittens. She isn’t fazed by this addition to her litter and raises the little dragon as one of her own. As time passes and the dragon (who for a long time thinks he’s just a cat with wings) get bigger, he becomes a trusted uncle and protector to the Cait Sith, even to the point of terrorizing a nearby kingdom when he catches its citizens killing Cait Sith just for their furs. (He would have overlooked it if they were hunting for meat.) When a Cait Sith befriends the young prince of the kingdom, the dragon reluctantly agrees to sanction it and comes to an accord with the king. For generations thereafter he is known as the Cat Dragon and both Cait Sith (who teach young royals about magic) and the dragon become venerated by the kingdom.

The first episode of this light novel adaptation feels very much likely a prologue rather than the main story, but that doesn’t matter when it comes to the appeal it delivers. Nor does its far from stellar animation effort. The first episode is just that cloyingly adorable, and it does so without going over-the-top about it. (Many other cutesy anime series could learn a lesson from this one about how to do cute with balance.) The concept is refreshingly neat, and even if there are some hints of a game-like system afoot (there’s a reference to a “starter field”), the content keeps that at a distance, instead focusing primarily on the dragon and his Cait Sith family. Given how this plays out like a story set-up, I am very curious to see where this one goes next and will be absolutely on board for it wherever it goes.

From Overshadowed to Overpowered

Streams: Crunchyroll on Thursdays

Rating: 3 of 5

For assisting the Hero in bringing down the Demon King, Eftal was awarded the title of being one of the land’s four Emperors, which designated him as one of the premier mages of the land even though he knew he wasn’t one of the most powerful. Decades later, while training new mages, he finally found out why: he actually had no affinity for any of the four basic magic types. (A test for this had only recently developed.) Crushed by this revelation, his health failed him as he fell into despair and then died. But a Skill he had picked up decades earlier allows him to reincarnate a second time (what he was before reincarnating as Eftal isn’t made clear), and so he finds himself as a four-year-old boy. Though he still seems to have no affinity for the basic magic types, he discovers on accident that he still has access to his most powerful spell from his past life.

Original novelist Arata Shiraishi has penned several other isekai titles, but this is the first one to get adapted into anime form. That’s probably because this one looks like a safe bet, as it certainly isn’t doing anything to innovate. It does earn points for some nice action animation (though it’s more limited outside of action scenes) and fairly sharp artistry so far, and Eftal’s self-doubts and despair are effectively conveyed. Based on the opener and advertising are, it also looks like the demon girl who’s his star pupil is going to be appearing in more adult form after his reincarnation, so I am very curious to see how that plays out. The first episode only barely edges into his post-reincarnation life, so we’ll have to wait and see if that offers anything different or if this will just be a retread of previous “born into a later era with less magic” series which have come before it. I’ll probably end up following it, though.

Heroine? Saint? No, I’m an All-Works Maid (And Proud of It)!

Streams: Crunchyroll on Wednesdays

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Celesty McMarden had admired maids from a young age, so her resolve to become the ultimate maid upon her mother’s death triggered the awakening of her immense magical powers. That did not, however, change her all-consuming desire to become a maid, to the point that she actively avoided her other possibility: to seek out the count who was the father she never knew. She changed her distinctive hair color and started going by Melody Wave (thus unwittingly dodging the count’s men who were seeking her out) and traveled to the capital, where she jumped at a chance to be an “all-works” maid for the downtrodden but still noble Rudelberg estate. Both the estate and its mistress, teenage Luciana, were in desperate need of help with the retirement of the estate’s one other servant, so Melody stepped in to right the ship. It was, after all, the perfect task for a girl who had been an incomparable genius in her previous life but only found color in her passion for maids.

I may be a bit biased on this one, as I’ve read the first five novels and first volume of manga for this series and thus considered this one of my most-anticipated new series of the season. Despite some odd choices (like waiting until near the episode’s end to reveal the title’s isekai status, which is hugely integral to the story as a whole), this is a largely satisfying debut for the series, one which delivers vibrant colors and generally inviting visuals. Most importantly, it retains the novel’s narration, which is nearly as important character in the story as any of the characters actually depicted (the first hints of its biting snarkiness appear in this episode) and provides the first evidence of the absurdities it traffics in (Melody’s offhand comment about how her maid uniform is more protective than armor). This episode does not even suggest that the series is largely about Melody unwittingly turning an otome game scenario completely sideways, but that’s coming. This should be a fun, lighter-side view for this season.