brother crab's parting thoughts: goumon baito-kun no nichijou
IT CAN'T BE OVER ALREADY. TORTURE SUNDAYS MY BELOVED.........
while i can't say this is anime of the season because there's ikoku nikki, i can say it was far and away the thing i looked forward to the most every week. it was exactly what it said on the tin (cute boys doing cute things and the cute thing is torture) and it executed its premise wonderfully
characters, delightful. team dynamics, wonderful. voice cast, superb. tokishun has really cemented himself as a new favorite for me and the mr granrodeo op and terashii ed were both so good. really looking forward to hearing the character songs soon
manifesting 1-3 ovas and/or like a live reading/concert event
brother crab's fall 2025 parting thoughts: basically everything
ok i'm not taking this into the new year with me so quick thoughts dump on pretty much everything i watched
sanda: anime of the season obviously. beaten out for anime of the year only by apocalypse hotel for me
gnosia: shockingly. shocking! number 2 of my top 2 of the season. among us anime i love you so so so much. ok but in all seriousness. best visual novel anime adaptation i have ever seen (though i speak as an anime only)
saihito: ohhhhh my god so so so much fun. loved this so much. number 3 of my top 3 of the season. i love everyone here
last boss: a super close runner-up for top 3 like. i could go either way on it and saihito tbh. really fun ride and i'm looking forward to s2 already
watatabe: OHHHHHH MERMAID CANNIBALISM YURI MY BELOVED this was great as its own thing but the best part of the experience for me was definitely watching it with an incredibly based mutual and screaming each week about the hitoramujakuness of it all
shabake: really strong start and stayed good but lost me a lil bit along the way. like i never stopped liking it but it was just hmmmmmm actually no i don't think it ever got worse it's just other things got better and more gripping. anyway it's almost natsume yuujinchou flavored so that was nice
ginpachi-sensei: i'm still ??? at the sudden canonization of takesugi/zura like wh
one punch man 3 & tougen anki: not without their uhhhhhh let's say shortcomings. however the voice cast hard carries for me. sorry i'm weak
spy x family s3: adorable as usual
ranma s2: wonderful as usual
fumetsu 3: stressful as usual
snv s3: FUCKS HARD AS USUAL SORRY TO THE HATERS BUT I LOVE THIS SHIT YES EVEN THE ANIME ADAPTATION YES EVEN IF IT'S BAD SORRY!! IT'S MY JAM!!! brocon hades was a nice surprise. still does not outdo gyaru buddha however
toujima rider: unhinged in the same way as ninja to gokudou which i deeply enjoyed. i'm enjoying this too! though i would say that like. if one of these got 2 cour i kind of wish it was. ninja and not. toujima. but anyway. i'm not mad about it, it's a ridiculous and fun series
debulove: ok jesus christ sorry but what the fuck even happened in this. GOD. i'm not completely mad at it bc like it was kind of fun and i really enjoyed the workplace shenanigans parts but like HAS IT FORGOTTEN THAT IT'S A MURDER MYSTERY BASICALLY. i just. a whole cour. and there was barely any movement on the plot. and i'm not invested enough to follow the story in the manga so i guess. whatever. the developing friendships are imo way stronger than the romance. anyway
imouza: "i will punch you in the womb tattoo to shut you up" is going to be staying with me for a while
tondemo skill s2: still fun and adorable!! this man and his giant dog dog husband and their adorable slime child will have my attention forever and ever!!!
towa no yuugure: hm. hmm. i mean. hmmmmmm. ultimately kind of ridiculous and not in the best of ways but i do like the poly that's baked into the world setting. ending doesn't feel fully earned imo like we could have used a more time in the final bit i think. overall still kinda fun tho
egatae: really fun and cute! imo the first episode and last episode were the strongest and most memorable, middle was all fun and enjoyable but i think will not stick with me much
si-vis: y'all i straight up forgot to keep watching this one after the first like three weeks. idk if i'll finish it. in theory the premise sounds like it would be right up my alley but in execution it was somehow just...... incredibly boring to me
akujiki reijou: really cute and fun but forgettable. like forgettable to the extent that i almost forgot i watched it this season. thus it being last on this list lol anyway i still think ban taito is about to break out
brother crab's summer 2025 parting thoughts: tougen anki 1st cour
it's really bad. i love it ;KLASDJFL;KASJD
like if you had to put a picture of one (1) show next to the dictionary definition of generic shounen slop it would be this show. fortunately(?) for me i'm into that shit so the fact that i'm being held hostage by this show that's cast all my favorite voice actors is like. it's ok. i'll survive
i do appreciate its utter shamelessness. like it is not at all embarrassed to be itself. should it be? well. the point is that it isn't, which is kind of nice! it's like a 13yo who's never heard of a kudos-hit ratio writing fanfiction on ffn and you know what. that's a nostalgic sort of energy that i can appreciate
that said it is not good. it's really not. i'm enjoying it
brother crab's fall 2025 parting thoughts: shuumatsu touring
verdict: liked it but a bit less than i thought i would
yet another post-apocalyptic cute girls doing cute things show and i'm a sucker for those so of course i picked this up, and i wasn't disappointed! it was cute, it had its episodes that moved me, and it delivered on its premise well enough
but it had the misfortune of coming out on the heels of apocalypse hotel which imo delivers on a lot of similar themes and outclasses it by far
so altogether pretty good, but perhaps not the most memorable thing (with exceptions for notable episodes like the ghost cars one)
brother crab's spring 2025 parting thoughts: kowloon generic romance
i'd say overall a captivating story with captivating characters, but one which to me suffers from the same imbalance your forma did. specifically, i found some elements (the mystery) far far far more compelling than others (the romance)
though a lot of the shortcomings here feel like they could be intentional given the title of the series (which doesn't necessarily make them better, to me, but could be an interesting creative choice)
the mystery of the city, of generic terra, of the hebinuma group, and of kujirai b... all very compelling to me! the theme of finding and living as your absolute self... loved it. the characters, interesting in the best of ways
the actual romance between reiko and kudou? bland. boring. generic
(which is why i say well maybe that was intentional, it is in the title and all)
the history between kudou and kujirai b was deeply fascinating to me, and i think we saw it unfold in the story in a very effective way. but the thread of the actual 'present day' romance, so to speak, was so incredibly dull to me compared to everything else that was going on. it did feel like a necessary component of the story, like a catalyst or even foundation for the rest, but every other dynamic in the series was imo stronger than this one
maybe seeing it unfold in the manga would have been a different and better experience, i'm sure a ton was cut seeing as i hear 11 volumes were packed into 13 episodes and given an anime original ending (impressive, by the way, that the anime managed to not feel super rushed to me despite all that it covered)
but as is, to me as an anime-only, the romance between reiko and kudou is far and away the weakest part of the series. nothing about their chemistry felt real or appealing, i feel we were told about the romance without actually being given a reason to be invested in it or to even find it especially believable
i did enjoy pretty much every other aspect of the show though lol
brother crab's summer 2025 parting thoughts: uhhhhh a bunch of stuff
ok putting a bunch of the stuff that i have very few thoughts on together here lol
nyaight of the living cat: imo a really solid parody of the zombie genre, the fact that every character persistently loves cats despite everything really made the series for me
ame to kimi to: very nice soothing pretty iyashikei but probably wouldn't be my go-to pick if i were looking for something in this genre to rewatch
fermat no ryouri: holy fucking toxic yaoi this would be the next big thing if its production value was higher lmao
dekin no mogura: SIGH i'm sorry i can't judge this one fairly because i am inevitably comparing to hoozuki which is peak. and honestly this was fine, i enjoyed it and was entertained, but it's no hoozuki. not even close
tbhk season whatever it was this time: still good! still compelled! still probably going to forget everything i learned before the next season arrives! (my information retention on this one is especially shit idk why orz)
hikaru + karaoke: if i had a nickel for every very good very queer anime that aired this season where a major plot point involved ditching a choir recital to do something very gay...... anyway these were both very good but much has been said about them and i don't think there's more i need to say
kaiju no8 s2: still good! still compelled! i'm surprised this of all things didn't get an s3 or movie announcement right away though.........
mattaku saikin no tantei to kitara: this was a perfectly serviceable slapstick gag comedy. its stocks probably would've been higher if it weren't airing in the same season as the long-awaited s2 of grand blue which is like basically peak slapstick gag comedy
grand blue s2: and speaking of GOD it's still so fucking good. thrilled to see we got s3 announced already
city the animation: on the subject of slapstick, this was of course also very good. like same tier as nichijou easily. though similarly to nichijou it wasn't always captivating to me
mizu zokusei no mahou tsukai: it's so solidly mid... but emphasis on solid like. perhaps not terribly memorable but definitely very watchable. cute ayu voice is cute
dandadan s2: feel like i'm saying the same thing about all sequels but yeah still good still compelled lol the hayashi performance was SICK, very cool that they got mr granrodeo for this, and also the black and white composers fight was like. cinematic as hell
sakamoto days part 2: I DO HAVE SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO SAY ABOUT THIS ONE ACTUALLY AND IT'S NOT GOOD ngl the first half nearly lost me, it was jut nottt compelling, however the jaa exam arc did pull it around. once that 14yo showed up it was game on again
clevatess: can't... remember... if i already made it its own post but. good. good fantasy. very solid
jihanki s2: ONCE AGAIN I AM BEYOND SURPRISED THIS IMMEDIATELY GOT A NEW SEASON ANNOUNCED. THIS OF ALL THINGS??? i say this but i will for sure be here for s3 because like. honestly this is deeply entertaining and fun lol
