Winter 2025 Anime Review (Orb, Medalist, Zenshu, Solo Leveling, Honey Lemon Soda, Blue Box, Sakamoto)
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Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Wasteland Anime, I am your host Peter. We are 25% of the way through 2025, you know what that means. It's time for a recession! Sorry, I mean review. A seasonal review. Joining me today, as always, is my reviewer in crime, the lovely and talented Cosette. Cosette, how are we doing this fine evening, and what are your general thoughts on the recently wrapped up fall season?

I'm doing good. This season was okay. There are some standouts. Personally, I think I was a little distracted this season because it's award season. So I was more into movies and Oscars and all that jazz. So I was a little distracted watching a lot of these shows. So yeah.

But it's okay, because spring has a lot of shows. So I'm ready for spring now, but I'm excited to talk about the ones that I actually enjoyed this season. Yeah, you know what? I agree, too. Even though I'm going to be talking a lot about how a bunch of shows that I really enjoyed, I thought this season, for the most part, was kind of just whatever. It was probably one of the weaker seasons I've had in recent memories. A lot of shows that I would normally be okay with and finishing and giving it a 6th,

I just dropped this season. Like I had, I don't know. Just like, I was just kind of interested in doing other things and not really in the mood for like mediocrity. Now that I'm done with like all my con stuff, like,

I had to create like two panels and well that's on me I had like eight months to do it of course just like what I did in college I did it the last week not all that's done and like the cons are done for the foreseeable future I kind of have a little bit more free time to just like sit back and relax and chill and not uh dedicate my time elsewhere but I did think for I have to look but I feel like I dropped like six or seven shows which is normally way more than I'd normally drop I feel like I normally drop like two or three a season so

there's a season that i really didn't like connect with some of the mid shows but man we had some heavy hitters and i think that's what matters is the ones that stuck out some of these are going to be remembered for a while and i can't wait to talk about them so let's talk about them talk about the first one we have orb on the movements of the earth we finally finished up our two core series that was and for a show that i was pretty high on throughout the entire season we're

hoping that it would continue writing its coattails of being like one of the best shows currently airing i feel like it did that the entire way through i was just fat flabbergasted by its storytelling there's people like online saying in comparing this to vinland saga season two and i am one of those people but for a different reason it's not because of the storytelling or it is a lot about the storytelling but it's not about like the redemption or somebody like thorfinn this is just like character storytelling at its finest just

lines and lines and lines, countless lines of dialogue and me just being glued to my TV and just entranced by what these people were talking about discussing the consequences of their action. And just having a story where we had four main characters was awesome. Like I, I,

Fell in love with the story from the beginning. And by the end of it, it's going to make my top 100. It was it's currently my front runner for animated year. Obviously, we have a ton of time. But right now, if anything is going to take its place, it has to get through orb. Because that were your thoughts on orb.

thought it was fantastic I do feel bad because I feel like I didn't give it its justice to pay attention because it's a very dialogue heavy show and because I was so distracted this season I didn't give it the attention that it really deserved um I would love if this was dubbed I think it would have helped me a little bit because there was a lot of reading but I really enjoyed it I respected it a lot and shout out to Jay for hyping it up uh before the season started um

I think the one thing that I did love about the show, sorry, Marnie's drinking water. It might be loud. The one thing I loved about the show is just the basic nature of humanity. We're like, we as humans are curious beings. If we find something that we're curious about or passionate about,

will continue to strive to like push for it seek the knowledge and we're definitely gonna like while we're doing that we're gonna find people who like don't agree with you you're gonna find people who want to take advantage of you um and so i really like that part of the story and the fact that it was like multi-generational we got to see like four different perspectives and like four different people who had different objectives of like figuring out this one truth um

It was really cool. So I really liked the baseline of the show. In terms of like the details, it really went over my head, but I really, really enjoyed it. The finale kind of confused me. I think it confused a lot of people. So I don't think you're the only, cause there's like the theory that it's either a Rothfall never died or it's like a parallel timeline. It's one of the two. I don't know. I I'm assuming there's somewhere there's concrete evidence to say which one it is. I don't know.

But I just thought it was cool with how everything wrapped up at the end. Yeah, I was thinking maybe it was like an MCU Marvel situation. Yeah, a little bit, right? Another alternate universe. I still think it was interesting. And I want to give a shout out to Noak because he was probably the most...

terrifying villain in anime that i've seen in a hot minute i would say like his earlier days he was a lot more terrifying i think at the end when he's older like he still was a badass till the end but um definitely his early days he was definitely so like cunning and devious and absolutely terrified me i compared him to um the the villain in a glorious bastard just same kind of vibe um

He was awesome. And obviously, like, shout out to Kenjiro Suda, who voiced him. Apparently, like, a couple years ago, he gave a shout out to this manga before, and he said he wanted to voice Noak, so I thought that was really cool. Perfect casting.

yeah perfect perfect voice perfect voice but um overall i really enjoyed it i do want to revisit it again at some point if there's a dub i would definitely jump on it i hope netflix does a dub because i think it's a great show to do it so yeah yeah a couple things that like really stood out to me i love the idea of like exploring something like heliocentrism where it's a foreign like i know what it is but like i've never studied it it's like

I don't know, Jack shit about all I know is like the basics and then sort of having like this whole philosophy of discovering it and hiding it from the church was such like a cool way of adding a new level of drama and anime where we don't really have stories about just like historical events or if they are about historical events, we have to like animate it or something like that.

We have to, when we have Yasuke, we have to have a giant robots for some reason. It just can't be a show about Yasuke. So something like this will obviously it's a little over dramaticized with the anime, but it's still cool to explore the,

that topic but like the big thing that carried me throughout the show why i love it so much and we did it in our discord the other day where we had a poll of like who's your favorite character we had like eight options that says something about the show when you have like eight legit options of who the best character is it's oxy by them by the way or ozzy or whatever you pronounce his name i just thought like how he was the glue for the entire story that we didn't even realize it like it's set up where it seems like it's raffle but it's not

Like, I don't think it is like everything revolved around this, like little awkward genius that he was in like him, Yolanda and her, her father's dynamic was so cool. Like no lock sort of, you know, at the end sort of realizing everything that he's been doing his entire life was a lie was like, I don't even know how you deal with that as a person and how it was portrayed in the story was incredible.

The animation was great. Bad House killed it. The OP is iconic. What a wonderful OP. I think there's a lot. This is the type of show that if we ever did our two core, I would love if somebody nominated Orb. I would love to sit and talk with the guys for an hour and a half about the different intricacies that Orb did. And it's just all so much in one story where...

normally you need something to cut the tension with comedy or action. And we got a little bit of that, but it was mostly just like straightforward historical drama. And I was fully entranced the entire time. I love this story. I got to think a little bit. It's not as good as villain saga season two, but I think it's going to be up there in like my top, like, I don't know, 30 ish shows, 40 shows. Like I thought it was,

i don't there's not really like the only negative thing i would say about the show is that the ending was confusing but i don't think it's bad i just think it's confusing and if i got a little bit more context to it i think it could help round out like my final score that's why i'm not rating it yet but i gave the show a 10 like i loved it i thought it was incredible i don't really have anything negative to say it was an incredible weekly watch every saturday at the gym

I would do leg day and I would watch orb. And it was like, one of those two is fantastic. It's like I, by Saturdays for six months were orb and leg day. So I'm going to miss it. Cause how about your final thoughts? Well, you're not going to miss leg day continuing. So sadly, yes, my legs are still intact. So I have to do like day.

I think you said it perfectly about everyone. I loved when Yolanta came back. I was hoping that it was going to be the case, and it did. And then obviously Draco was really, really cool. I loved that conversation that her and Yolanta had at the end. I think that was so well done. And then shout out to Schmidt and his crew, because they were the swaggiest crew. If we had best crew...

the swaggiest crew at the end of the year would be them. When they popped up with their cool hairstyles, I was like, "Oh, this is different. This is not like the Denny's cut monk hair." It was pretty sweet. So yeah, shout out to Schmidt and the team. But yeah, even though I was distracted, I still objectively was like, "This is actually a really good show." So I definitely give it a 10 out of 10 as well. It reminds me a lot of Pluto where it's under the radar and people just need to just give it a chance.

yeah i really enjoyed it and i recommend it to a lot of people yeah it's getting i feel like it's got a lot a lot more popularity late you know like when you see like the big anti i know like giguk did a video on it it's like that and like that got a little bit more popular and it's insanely high rating is like getting it people it has like an 8.7 on mal right now it's like yeah this show is legit it's one of the best of the year you can't miss out so a

Hopefully it creates some FOMO and people can go out and check it because, man, what an incredible show. And we're not even done with incredible shows from this season. We got another one coming up right now. That's what we call the business, a transition. We got Medalist. We hyped it up during our first impressions. We both, I know I read some of the manga. You read some of the manga as well? Like, a volume. Okay. So, biggest concern coming into this was Studio Engi at the helm of doing this.

medalists where they have done nothing but whatever shows this entire season and the pv looked nice and like okay how's it gonna transition into the actual performances and they were spectacular i um

I know like the Hikaru one in the middle of the season, a lot of people praise. The last one that Inori did blew me away. What just an absolute, the performances were just so good. It felt like I was watching a Disney movie. And it also felt like for the first time since Haikyuu, a character in a sports show that I am actively cheering for, actively wanting them to succeed, actively wanting to see other people around them lose because

Because that's my daughter and she deserves nothing but the world. And having gotten that in a hot minute and I just, I loved what I got. Cozette, what were your initial thoughts on Medalist?

It was like the perfect thing to watch this season, just because of everything that's happening in the world right now. It was just this positive, heartwarming, drama-free for the most part, underdog sports story. And I love an underdog sports story, so it was definitely one that I was so excited for this season. It made me just so happy week to week. And yes, it did remind me a lot of Haikyuu. Haikyuu is still my number one sports anime, though. Twin moment. Medalist doesn't mean it.

Melis doesn't beat it, sorry. But I loved it so much, and I think it's such a nice light on figure skating. Figure skating is a very tough sport, like any sport, but it's also very toxic. There's a lot of negativity around it.

So it's nice to see the positive side. I am curious if the future of the story gets into that nitty gritty dark side of figure skating. I think that would be really cool to see. I don't know if people who just wants to watch happy stuff would be happy about that, but I wouldn't mind like a bit of a darker tone to the story. Or even just like, because you know how they did this stuff earlier with like her mom?

were like yeah that's like a real life thing and it was it was handled in a way where like it had the drama and i was a little anxious and stuff but like it wasn't over the top it wasn't overbearing i think they could definitely do that within this story i i'd like to see a little bit more especially with like i guess what are they at what's their age right now they're like nine or something like that i feel like when they get a little bit older i think they can run into some actual issues which i'd be intrigued to see if that's something that they would handle

Yeah. But even at their next competition, maybe there's some toxicity with the judges or something like, who knows? I just, Oh, you know what? I just, cause you know how like they're like bias and like judges can be biased and stuff like that. We're like, he car who is like the golden girl for figure skating, but like Inori does like a better performance and she gets second anyway or something like that. I'd love to see something like that. I'd love to see something like that. Yeah.

Not too much, but it could be there. Even stuff like her forgetting her skates. Like that's a, I like I've gone to sporting events where I forgot my basketball shoes or I forgot my baseball cleats. Is this like, oh my God, these are triggering all these emotions from when I was 12 and be like, yo dad, we gotta go back home. I know the game starts in five minutes when I forgot all my shit. Cause I'm a dumb kid. It's like, no, this is so good.

That reminded me of the scene of, it reminded me of Haikyuu, just that scene, because that happened in Haikyuu as well. So I just, it just kept bringing me back to Haikyuu, but I really, really enjoyed it. And it's like you said, like it was animated beautifully. I think it really did the manga justice. I mean, the manga has beautiful, beautiful art, but I think what they did with the CGI animation was really well done. Probably better than Yuri on Ice. I actually don't remember what the skating looked like on Yuri on Ice. Yuri on Ice was very good. Okay. It's been a while since I've watched it. So, yeah.

It's felt in a different style, but they're both great. Yeah. I think with Hikaru's, that was one of the first sequences we watched where it was a full performance. That gave us the impression of...

oh, so Studio Engi is here to like play ball. Like they're, they know what they're doing. So then when Inori's performance came, like I think a lot of us teared up a little bit. It was incredible. And then I did love seeing Tsukasa do a little sequence as well. I love him. Best boy, best man of the season. Uh,

He was so good. But I think the one thing I loved about the story is that mentor-mentee relationship with Tsukasa and Inori. That's what I love about most sports shows. And I think what makes this story special is that their storylines are very parallel, where they both...

started late i don't feel like no i didn't start that late to be quite honest but in the world it seemed like she did but like to everybody else who's not in the figure skating world it's like you started when you were like six that seems normal

Yeah, like Tsukasa started a lot later than she was. So I really enjoyed that kind of parallelism with each other and that he was like, he had her back. He was rooting for her. And then that scene where she was like trying to root for Tsukasa being like, he's actually a great coach. Like, don't underestimate him. Like, I love that scene. It was so good. So, yeah, there's just so much positive. It just made me happy every week. It was a very happy show. Yeah. And the dub was actually really good.

The sub was great too. Yeah. The leg day scene. I think that was only in dub. So kudos to that. I loved it, but yeah, I can't wait for season two. I'm glad it was announced and yeah, I was very, very pleasantly surprised. Yeah. You mentioned one of the favorite things that I had and I compared the show to a show called baby steps, which is a tennis show. And that's more like individual focus, which is, and it kind of has the same pattern of somebody who, uh,

super started late but use talents outside of the actual sport to progress and you saw that with Inori and something I love but the addition of Tsukasa and having like not only a coach but like a mentor was something that I think absolutely elevated if you ever played sports you know the difference between having a good coach and a bad coach somebody who's there because they needed volunteers or somebody who's there because they want to be there and Tsukasa just having that role with Inori was fantastic

fantastic. I say the ED was what is I've listened to that ED 40 times. It's so cute. The the jump jump jump in the

step step step i love that stuff that ed was just an absolute blessing matched the tone of the show perfectly just being fun and including the worm in it was just great i give the show a nine um i think it has the possibility of being a 10 with later seasons but i mean it delivered on every front that i was looking for in this show so nine out of ten for medalist

I gave it a 10. I just can't see anything wrong. I mean, besides I didn't like the OP, but everyone loved the OP except me. So that's fine. I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it.

I don't know. It felt too shonen. I just, I don't know. I think we had two like Omega Banger OPs. And then when you compare them to like Metalist, it's just like, yeah, that was fine. Yeah. But yeah, I give it a 10. It was just so perfect. I think the music was really well done. The animation was perfect. The voice acting was great on both friends from sub and dub. Yeah. I just see no wrong with it. We love that. We love to see that.

nine for me, 10 from Cozette moving on to a show is kind of mixed. I feel like in terms of reception and that's Zen shoe. I love this show. I thought it was incredible. I thought from the get go that this was a love letter from animators to our, yeah, to animation from animators falling in love with a property from your childhood that drives you to a passion that you didn't know unless you have seen that movie, that specific item. And with Zen,

um with notsko it was tale of perishing and sort of her admiration for luke and the movie itself to be an animator in life and i it's not something that i can personally connect with myself but like it's sort of the idea of like when you see something you know you want to do it um

it's kind of silly but like still like relating it to anime but like when i fell in love with anime i knew i wanted to express myself some way in some form and in my case it was through just talking to people online and stuff but um doing a podcast and with nots go it was you know legit creating the art that she fell in love with and it's something that i can sort of relate to that character where you find something you gravitate towards to it and then you do it and just

So many different elements with Zenshu, especially it's such a such a small detail. But to me, it's one of the biggest things that made the show great was Tale of Perishing was a bad movie. And she loved it because she was a kid because it was made for kids and it was supposed to have like plot holes. It was supposed to have, you know, the heartthrob.

who may seem a little bland up front. He's a very generic blonde hair character, but like when you're six, none of that matters. And that's what the whole point is, is about falling in love with that. Like as a young, as a young person and just, and just loving what you're doing. And that's what I love about Zenchu. Kozay, what's your thoughts on Zenchu? Ah,

I was really surprised by it. Obviously, I thought it was gonna be something different, but then I ended up really enjoying it. But I will say it's gonna be a little preposterous. I didn't care for the Tales of Perishing storyline at all. I only cared about Natsuko. I only cared about her and like her growth. I think her I related to her a lot in the way that she is with her mannerisms and being passionate about something and just working overtime.

I totally get it. I just connected with her a lot. I think that's why I connected with the show so much. But I really didn't care about the Tales of Perishing storyline at all. I didn't care about anything that was going on. I just cared about her and her growth. So I just love the fact that she started out as this person who was in a little bubble. And she didn't really be outside that bubble. She didn't see the people around her that were supporting her, that adored her, that loved her.

That one episode with her backstory, but all these different people that fell in love with her, I thought that was my favorite episode personally, because it was only about her and not about Tales of Perishing. So that was my favorite episode. But I think she was the reason why I love the show so much. And like seeing her arc and seeing the fact that like, at the end, she learned that there's no I in team and that she...

Learned what love is and what squee is. I love her so much and I want a purple hoodie. I still haven't found the perfect one. But I think it was a perfect show as like a tribute from animators and animation because like all these animators, they're all passionate about the work they do. Like, yes, a lot. We know they all work overtime. Like some of them just love doing what they're doing. And I don't condone overtime, but I think I can see what they're trying to say about people being passionate about their work and trying to get it done well.

And I really liked the, I think we mentioned this in the mid-season check and all the, like, the references to other anime. Yes. Like, Magical Girls and stuff. Gondam, Idols. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's the Idols. Yeah, Mamoru Miyano's cameo.

That was also one of my favorites. It was so good. That was the part where I was like really paying attention. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I mean, I probably sound terrible for the fact that I didn't care about most of the storyline besides her, but I don't know. I enjoyed it. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, which is one of my favorite childhood stories. So, but yeah, I was really surprised and I honestly thought I was going to drop it because I didn't care about the Tales of Perishing thing, but Natsuko kept me in it. So shout out to her.

Yeah, so I'm just trying to think with people who really enjoy this show. Because we had a poll in our Discord, and there were some people that were like, this was their most disappointing show. But then we also had a lot of people that this was their most surprising show. So it's interesting to see the contrast between what people found about it. I love...

just expressing passion regardless of what that passion is inside of my media that i consume and zenshu was that and they did it in a really fun and creative way where it brought me back to a time where i was watching you know lion king in theaters where i was watching um i don't know big hero six i'm trying to throw out disney movies because this reminds me of like a disney movie or something like that you know overcoming the obstacles and

falling in love with the hero it was like all of this was just like a disney movie and but like it's the same time it's like those are the movies that got you into where you were so i loved it i did show a nine i thought like the magical girl sequence with nasco was breathtaking uh mappa absolutely killed it there was some like really fun nods that when they switch it up a little bit like when she went to the hot spring like she wasn't wearing pants in her

in her transformation like that was kind of funny like they didn't reuse the same one over and over and over again and then like the different like

creative ways to defeat the monster of the week whether it was a gundam or an idol or a big bad samurai guy or something like that it's like these little things that like you start drawing it when you're a kid and you start drawing it when you're an animator and you use those tools to overcome the obstacle so stuff like that was great nine out of ten for me yeah i'm like noodling between an 8.5 and a nine i i'll do 8.5 yeah i'll do it okay

yeah i'll do 8.5 okay well i might choose we'll allow it we started using decimals during the episode so freaking look i mean i could maybe what's not what's your rating on mal right now i don't even remember what i put on it it's okay who cares numbers don't matter exactly all this is

be relevant, so. 2.5 from Cosette. What did you... Because the only thing that I kind of was a bit upset about in the ending was that we didn't see...

When she returned to the real world, like I was thinking like it was going to be an Alice in Wonderland moment where she wakes up in a hospital room and she got her stomach pumped. But we didn't. Oh, yeah. We're sort of just like she overcame like she beat the final boss. And then it's like, no, it's back to life. I get what you mean. I kind of felt like that's how it was going to go anyway. Like, I didn't really feel like it was going to be some big scene because I just think that they needed a driver to.

to get to the isekai world to begin with and i think like what they did in the world was more important than like outside of it so like yeah it didn't really matter to me but i could see why people would be like oh i wish she was like given cpr and coughed up the clam food she ate or whatever i don't know something like that

Yeah, other than that, it didn't wreck my score. I was just like, oh, oh well. For sure. So, yeah. 8.5 from Cozette, 9 from me. I'm going to let you talk about Honey Lemon Soda because this is your show. So whenever you're ready, unless you want me to start, but I want to give you your shot because I know how much you love Honey Lemon Soda. I know because it was a very mixed reception from people. Although I do find it funny that it was mostly men that weren't enjoying it.

I've been the same boat. I went from whatever to probably read the manga when it was all said and done. So like I was a day one fan guys. I was a day one fan. Um, I, this is, this was my top favorite this season. So you already know what score I'm giving it. Um, I,

I love a story about a shy girl who's like timid and she just wants to learn how to like find her voice and stand up for herself. And she's learning how to love, learning how to make friendships. Like I love that because I relate to it so much because as a fellow introvert, I understand what that means. So I related to Uko a lot. I connected with her a lot. And the one thing that I love about Honey Lemon Soda is that we actually got to see her progress within the

12 episodes or like shows like this. Sometimes that character makes no progression at all. And it just becomes like a very bland straight line thing where they don't, they make no progression at all. And I think that's the one thing I loved about Uka so much is that like, sure. She's still shy. She's still timid. Like as an introvert, I'm shy no matter what, but at least we got to see some progression with her, with like connecting with her classmates, standing up to her bully, talking to Kai, eventually telling Kai how she feels and,

Telling, asking Kai out on a date, like, oh, she improved so much this season. Most improved this season, honestly. I...

Loved it so much. I really thought the bullying arc wasn't something that was constant in the storyline. We got it, we got the bullying, and then it was done. It reminded me a lot of Kimi ni Tadouke. I don't want to pit them against each other, but I do like this season more than Kimi ni Tadouke season one. And I will say that right now. Wow. Hot take alert! I...

I've said it. I've said it. I do enjoy it more than Kimi ni Jisou. Honestly, I think it's because of Uka and Kai's dynamic. I do like the combo of shy person and person with more confidence, and that's dominant, and then their personalities kind of complement each other, which is why I don't really care about Saoko and Kazuhaya that much, because they're both literally the same person.

So I really liked Kuka and Kai's. Kimi Delgis keeps taking strays. I'm sorry. While you have, you went to like the art exhibit in Japan and stuff. I hope there's one when I go back. Yeah.

But I anyways, I really like their dynamic. I was worried about Kai because he does come off very strong at the beginning of the season. And I was worried that maybe his dominance was going to be a bit too much. But it was actually nice. He gave her his space when it was needed and he gave her time to breathe. So overall, I love the show.

So much. And I'm reading the manga like immediately, like out of every show this season, this is the only one where I'm like, I really want to read it immediately. Whereas Apothecary Diaries is currently airing and I'm not rushing to continue the manga. So that says a lot. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I really love it. Hell yeah. That's what's up. I can. Okay. So my issue being the man, um,

is that in the beginning i just thought uka was the the damsel in distress so she needs to be saved character and that she was nothing she wasn't going to be anything more than that character and that's where i was starting to like lose faith in it because i read volume one of the manga before i'm watching this so i i mean it's very baseline to like what i got and so i was scared that's what the story was going to be and it was

So far away from that. And like, that's why I fell in love with this year is because as I got more and more into it, I realized that wasn't it. I think that's just kind of like, it was setting up for it to be what it was. So it was just me not consuming enough content to like really grasp the picture of Uka's character.

And then by when it was all said and done, it's like, wow, like this is imagine where we are now from since episode one. And like her growth was incredible. My favorite line of hers was like where she said, like, you never forget the faces or the names of your bullies. I was like, damn, like right to their face. It's like, you know what you did. I know who you are. I'm never going to forget you. I was like, yeah, like say that with your chest girl. Like that's what's up. I definitely as much as I like

um their relationship i think kai is like okay i'm not like a super high on kai i'm just like super high on uka so like that's where i'm like i i really enjoy this i don't like love it love it but i think it's also one of those things where i think i can like kai more with more content and i think that's why i'm really interested in reading the manga because this is only their first year and the manga goes into their second and third year and i

And I can't wait to see how that progresses. Shout out to like best girl. I UMI. Like I know everyone was talking about how great Serena was. Nah, I UMI. What an incredible support character. Loves her. I thought she was just super cute and fun. Like the entire show, her outfits were so cool. Um, she made rocking suspenders. Dope. Uh, the cast was great. I was, I really enjoyed the show. The OPDs were both great. I'm continuing the manga, uh,

pretty soon here now that i'm done wrapped up with a lot of stuff and we have a little break in between seasonals when they start but yeah i really enjoyed i gave this an eight i thought this was a good time i obviously i gave it a 10 come on guys 10 of the star come on trent i haven't done that in a while i haven't done another hot minute i will say though uka and kai versus ryu and chizuru no obviously the goats the goats still win so

There we go. Yeah, I just, I'm so, I just, I really hope we get a season two. Like, just give it, please. Please. But I will read the manga. I think it's still going. It's not even ended yet, so. Still going. Shout out to episode 11. That was probably the best episode. Oh my god, that episode was insane. With the baton. That's one of the best episodes this year. That episode was so good.

It was so good. And it just kept going because I thought the pass was already enough. And then all of a sudden we got the kiss. Yep. And I was like, that was just... The kiss was a cherry on top. I think the baton pass was the most beautiful scene. And then the kiss was just a cherry on top. It was beautiful. And then the finale...

Best finale of the season, I have to say. I was really worried because I thought at the end when they got to that discussion of like, oh, like we said we liked each other, but I don't think we're dating yet. And I was worried the show was going to end right there. And there was going to be confusion of like, are we dating? Are we not dating? And then they pulled the gymnasium scene and I was like, this is cinema. Absolutely.

It was so good. So yeah, 10 out of 10 with the star. Shout out to the OP and ED. They're my favorites this season. I love the show so much. That's what's up. 10 from Cosette, 8 from me.

Moving on to our next show, my romance of the season, my romance probably for the year. I've actually been not to see this or fragrant flower blues with dignity. That is I have a crush at work. This is everything I wanted in a romance. Everything I loved every second of the show. There was no bad point in the show. Adults doing adult things other than hooking up at work. Don't date your coworkers. It's not a good idea.

But outside of that, I don't even know where to start. I love the fact that they hooked up in the first episode. I love that. Like they're not like dancing around the idea of being an adult and,

I don't know, being scared to hold hands, whatever, afraid to make out or something like that. They didn't do that. They're just like, yeah, we're adults and we like each other. Let's I'm going to take my shirt off now. It's like, all right, cool. Fuck it. Let's do it. OK, I like to like the little drama that they had at work. It wasn't too much, but it was enough to like, I think, keep it fun and a little bit of spicy. And then what really set it all together and combined all the things I love with it was the side couple.

with with kaisuke and the director or whatever her name was that little addition at the end made the show everything i wanted it was it was awesome i love like the the fact that it's like an adult age gap by like i don't know what it's like eight years but it's like they're both consenting adults it's like yes

Finally, in anime, we get all the things Pete wants in an adult cast show. The only thing that's bad about it is I went to read the manga and not enough chapters are translated. So patiently waiting. I'm also a million percent of reading this one. Cosette, your thoughts on I Have a Crush at Work? It was so nice to get another adult romance because we had one last season. Mixer was last season, right? Yeah.

Wait, what? Was Mixer last season? Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we got another adult romance with emotionally mature people.

Which is rare. So I really like they were not shy to talk about their emotion. Obviously, they were shy about it at work. But I mean, that's fair. I realized you called it by its other name and not Can You Keep a Secret, by the way. Oh, I'm looking at the Mal and Mal changed it from Can You Keep a Secret to I Have a Crush at Work. So monkey see, monkey do.

I'm still a secret. Can you keep a secret? It's a much better name. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, like you said, I do like the fact that we got a, obviously a still new, but progressing relationship. And then we got a new one and we got to see the progression of that new one with Somae and Hayakawa. I do like their confession scene. It's just so sweet. And,

And I understand why Hayakawa was hesitant about it because she's already been through some trauma with an office romance before. So I really like that because that's very realistic. I think a lot of people have gone through that. Oh, for sure. But their convention scene was so sweet. And he was just like, yeah, I like you. Like, just whatever, you know, and take her out on a date. It was sweet. So I really enjoyed it. It was a very healthy romance story. There was no interpersonal drama. I mean, I wouldn't have mind if there was some drama at the office. Like, I wouldn't have...

I still wouldn't be doing it. Yeah, I know what you mean for sure. A little bit more would be too bad. Yeah, I totally thought that older guy in a different department was going to try to hit on her or something. Yes, yes. I thought that too. I still see that happening. And I honestly thought that was going to happen at the end when he emailed her about her new Prankapub water promotion. I thought he was going to slide something in. So yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think it was really nice. Is it my favorite romance this season? No, because I just talked about my favorite romance this season. True.

And it's not even my second favorite romance this season. What? I wonder what that could be. I can't believe we're about to get into it after this one. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think it was nice. It doesn't need a season two. I don't think so.

I think it's fine the way that it is. I mean, sure, we can get a proposal scene. That'd be nice. I see the manga spoilers. It's so peak coded. It's insane. Like, I need the chapters translated because what happens next is like everything I want more. Okay. Okay, cool. Well, if it does get a second season, obviously I'm going to be there. But I really liked it. It was great. And I wish, hopefully maybe a streaming service will pick it up now that it's, you know, it's

I mean, it happened to a girl's band cry. So you never know. Yeah, no, for sure. I gave the show a nine. I loved it. Can't wait to read it once the chapters gets translated. But this is exactly what I wanted in a romance. It was light drama, like really light drama, pretty funny, great cast. It was nice to cheer for like every couple. And it was just sort of the things that I was looking for in a romance, especially when you're adults, like

after work getting done both stressed as shit hey let's crack a beer and chill with each other or whatever like yeah that's what i want like that's dope so nine out of ten for me makes i really enjoyed it it's not perfect but i had a great time so it's a nine nine all right wow okay well you've given a 10 and a 9 and apparently that was your third favorite romance of the season so i am two

Two shows can be rated the same, but one will be higher than the other. That's true. The romance was good this season. We got Blue Box as next. And we both read Blue Box. And I think we both dropped Blue Box. And I think we both agreed that the anime did a better job than the manga.

My issue is it's still blue box. I, I still think it's like fine. I think the biggest issue with my rewatch is that like, I don't care about, she needs to at all. Like, I just think Hana, I just like her or Hita. I like her so much where I'm just like, yeah, the girl loses whatever. I think Taiki does like a good job of like portraying his feelings to her. But it's like, I just like the personality of Hita so much more. I just think the dynamic with her, uh,

Like, obviously that's the whole point of show. Like, I'm not, I like, I get that. But like, when you have a character where like the, when somebody wins in a relationship, I at least want that person, somebody that I like. And I just don't like, she needs to do it. Like she shoots a basketball, like Julius Randall. Like, I'm sorry. She, her form is so bad. Like she shoots with two hands like this.

That's not how you shoot a basketball. She's supposed to be like an elite. Like, it's crazy that the lolly basketball show that I watch has better form than blue box. And that pisses me off.

But like, you know, for like coming of age romance where something like this, I would compare it to maybe something like, like dangers in my heart where I think that there is a romance theme to it. But I do think it's more of coming of age of yourself than it is of like building a relationship with somebody else. And I think you see that with Taiki, with his drive and his passion with badminton. And I think he uses that as a factor to try to impress. She needs to,

And then she too has just always been that person. She's always been Kobe Bryant at that school. So like she has the mama mentality where Tyke is lacking. And I like that aspect more than like the actual romance in the show. So I kind of view the show, at least this first season, more as like coming of age than I would of romance. Cozette, you're higher on this. Bring the positivity. Blue box. Go.

Well, first off, I think you like Hina because it was a very Hina-centric arc. Yes. So that's kind of unfair for Chinatsu. It's true, but you can still see the personality shining through on somebody. And Hina, in the manga, I think it's chapter 75, or episode 24 of the anime, I think it's incredible how...

talking about their feelings and expressing it but at the same time being respectful when getting rejected and everything like that and like the heartbreak that comes with it like incredible stuff i love that aspect of like the romance but that stems through hina again and it's it's not she needs to and it's like her i don't know as she's the senpai and i kind of feel like when you were a little bit older you lead a little bit more and i don't like that she doesn't lead as much as i would like it so

Little nitpicky, but that's why I also feel it's more coming of age than it is of romance. Okay, let me spit. Yeah, go for it, girl. First core, this is when I dropped them. I only read a few chapters, but the first core is literally just introducing the characters, giving us the lay of the land. So I was like, okay on it because we didn't get to talk about it in the last season.

review because it was continuing. The second core is definitely where it hit for me because I think we got to see, and this is something that we don't get to see in romance, and I think this is why I liked it so much. We got to see some real yearning. We got to see people actually open up about emotions that actually are not just saying, I like you, but they're actually going in depth with it. We see people that are trying to get out of the friend zone, which I guess we see in anime. But the one thing that I really want to see in anime is

was to get a real heartbreak and a real rejection. And then seeing that pain and see it communicated in anime, and then seeing someone who I assume will see her recover from it later. But that's something I just wanted to see in an anime. It's just a real heartbreak because a lot of romances, they get together.

Who cares? And if there is a rejection, it's quick. But this is like impactful. And with Hina, we got to see a lot of the episodes and her perspective. So we got to learn about her internal monologue. We got to see her internal thoughts about it. It wasn't from Taiki's perspective. It was all from her perspective. And as a woman, I enjoyed that. I really, really liked that because I related to it so much where you get into that first crush scenario and you really like this person. You're trying to get out of the friend zone.

And you can tell how much she really likes Taiki, whereas like some romances, the girl's like, oh, I like him, I guess. But there's some real yearning on the screen. And I think that the anime portrayed that really well. Obviously, we don't see that much yearning with Hinatsu, but with Hina, I loved her confidence.

just saying how she feels and like her confession was one of the best confessions I've seen in anime because she goes in depth with it she even says that one line like don't see me as a friend see me as a girl that likes you but I think the rejection scene which we recently got was really well done because Taiki's like I don't want to string you along I know you don't want your answer but I also don't want to string you along and I think she's going to hopefully respect that and realize that he's not good enough for her so because he's not good

not good enough for her. I think she is a wonderful person and I think she deserves better. So I really like their rejection scene. I think it's something that really stuck out to me. I think I was okay on the show until the second core and I saw Hina and everything. I still think I'm team Taiki and Shinatsu and I think

With Chinook, so I understand. She's not the most interesting character, but I'm curious if we see her blossom more now that she knows that she really likes Taiki. Maybe she'll blossom and open up a bit more in the next few episodes.

Because the thing with Hina is that she is a rhythmic dancer. She has that confidence already. She has that personality, that bubbly personality. She has that. Whereas Chinatsu, she just plays for the game. She plays ball. She doesn't have to perform for people. So I can see why people don't like her, but I relate to Chinatsu a lot. So I kind of get it. I mean, I'm a baller, so I relate to her all the time. Don't get me wrong. Perform, though. What is this?

That's the animator's problem, not her. It's like doggy paddling when you swim. Look, okay. She didn't even bend her knees when she shot. I blame the animation studio. But she looked cute doing it. So overall, I really like the show. It had a nice balance, like you said, with coming-of-age, slice-of-life-y-ness. And there was sports. There was enough sports, I think. And there was a nice balance of...

But yeah, I really like the characters and all the characters are so fun. I do want to see more of Karen because she is a character I really liked, but we only saw her for like a few episodes. Her younger sister is hilarious. But yeah, I really like the show. Obviously, it's not top like Honey Lemon Soda, but it is my second favorite romance of the season. That's what's up.

okay i gave it a seven i liked it uh i'm we're getting a second season i will probably enjoy the second season probably a little bit more um once it's more focused on their relationship and maybe i'll change my mind but i i thought this was on par with what i gave dangers in my heart i'm feeling like a seven gave it a nine same as uh can you keep a secret but i do like it a bit more

So the only thing I wish is that in the second season, Japan doesn't release episodes ahead. Cause I feel like I couldn't, I hate that. That's so dumb. I couldn't participate in any blue box conversations and discord or Twitter because I was worried about getting spoiled. Cause I got spoiled earlier in the season. Cause I didn't realize Japan was ahead. Um, so I hope that doesn't happen again. Cause like, yes, I could sail the seas, but I really didn't want to for this show. So I just, it was hard to like talk to anybody about blue box because half the people were ahead and half of the people were like,

in the same timeline as I was. So I hope for season two, it doesn't happen again. Yep. Okay. So nine from Cosette seven from me, uh, moving on to a show that only I watch. I'm shocked that Cosette didn't watch solo leveling shocked. I I'm watching it technically as dub when I'm on the,

Treadmill, but I listen to music on the treadmill, so I'm only on episode two or something. Okay. This is just self, not your show. But we wrapped up season two of Soul Leveling, aka the Chimera Ant arc from Hunter x Hunter. And it's crazy that...

The main villain of this arc is a giant ant on an island and everyone's like, oh, this is the Chimera Ant arc. It's like, no, it's not. I'm like, how is it not? How is it not anywhere near the Chimera Ant arc? Not as good as the Chimera Ant arc. However, I thought the season was really fun.

I think they stepped it up in terms of soundtrack. I think the music added a lot to the fights this season where season one, I think heavily focused on the animation. I like the story a lot more. We got a little bit more of the S ranked hunters, especially the dancer hunter. I high in, I believe that's how you pronounce her name. He's the S rank dancer fighter that she was great.

and the priest dude i'm not gonna spoiler for you but there's some characters that i'll forget don't worry okay cool the the addition of adding the extra cast was a huge benefit to this season i thought that was like the biggest standout from season one to season two yes it's called soul leveling but you can only soul level for so long before you have to start interacting with people jinwu wow he's like so

He's a very, he's a, he's like a paradox of a character because I think he's super cool and super lame at the same time. Like, like he has like substantial drip and like he's super overpowered, but sometimes I just, I can't not picture him or people just self it's like inserting him or themselves into this character. And I do wish he had a little bit more, I don't know.

charisma in the show like he's like really cool when it comes to fighting but like some social interactions i feel like it was a little awkward and yeah maybe that's who he is as a person but come on man you're the most overpowered person in the freaking world like whatever but like i'm here for the fights like i'm watching the show to watch people get blown up it does that great um i either show at eight i can i do not see how people write this imdb has like one of the episodes is

One of the highest rate anime episodes ever. No idea why. No idea. I'm like, the fight was really cool. That was it. The story is very basic. I think the character interactions are very basic, but

The fights are insane. The fights are just mind-blowingly good. So 8 out of 10 because it gives me that shonen hit I'm itching for from my local plug. So every now and then I just need it, and I got it from solo leveling. Kozay, I'm going to pass it to you for something very similar to solo leveling.

well i think the one thing i'll say about solo leveling because i've seen people talk about people who don't watch anime regularly have been talking about solo leveling so i think that's why you know i think it's because what oh because crunchyroll has a marketing budget of like whatever 10 million dollars to advertise all their shows like all right we're gonna give 9.9 million dollars to solo leveling and everything else gets the scraps because

I don't remember the last time a show has been shoved down my throat as much as solo up. Like, like these kind of number eight was huge as well. Like, yeah, the debut on Twitter and everything like that. But it's just like,

They're just force-feeding me, so lovely, like, here, have more, here, have more. I'm like, alright, that's enough, so lovely. They're like, you will eat more. Okay, well, a show that technically wasn't force-fed to me, I decided to keep going. And I thought I would talk about this one, because in the mid-season check-in, I said it was my hate watch of the season. And it technically

Technically was. So I'm going to talk about Any Way I'm Falling Love With You, which is the second shoujo of the season and not the best shoujo of the season. What I will say, because a lot of people were shocked that I was still watching it. And I totally understand. I trashed it. I think the thing that made me like it, because it's literally about friendship, it's about love, and it's about adolescence. And the thing that made the show trash was the adolescence, because a lot of these teen boys are trash. Yeah.

But it reminded me of like a teenage soap opera, kind of like the OC. You're like, the writing's not good. The people suck. But like, you just keep wanting to watch more of it. And that's the vibe that I got. And also, it was such a simple storyline that it wasn't a show like Orb where I had to put like all my...

mind mental energy in it it was just a simple show for me to like tune in see the drama judge it and it was enough for me to like keep going because i guess they kept switching from like forward to like flashback so you kind of see what's going on in the future and you're kind of curious like which boy makes it because there was a theory that one of the guys died from covid because the story takes place during 2020 oh that's right yeah

And we didn't see one of the guys in the future until like the very last like five minutes of the final episode. So that's probably why the next season was announced. Was the show good? No, but there was two of the friends that I liked. All the other boys were trash. And only two of the guys actually confessed to her. The one of them took too long. I think he waited till like the 10th episode or something, but he's the one that I actually liked.

Shin, the one that becomes a doctor, he's the one that I liked. He became a doctor because of her because she lost her mother and he wanted to be a doctor to be able to prevent that. Anyways.

Mizuko is the reason why, I think it's because I connected with her. I connected with a lot of female characters this season and I connected with her a lot because she just wanted to become a mangaka. Like she didn't, like love wasn't really in her agenda. She just wanted to become a mangaka. She wanted her friendship to be status quo. And then when things start to change, she's like, I don't know what I'm going to do.

And which was a little annoying because she never like stopped Kizuki from like advance, like with his advances. Neither was Shin. Like she didn't stop any of them. She just kind of kept going as if nothing happened. She was a lot like Natsuko in some ways and Zenshu, but I liked it. And I am definitely watching season two. I know that there was a lot of hate for the fact that this got announced. Oh, yeah.

right away however i'm gonna go on my soapbox and say how often does a shoujo get a season two announced right away very very rarely i'm trying to think of the last time it happened yeah so i'm gonna say you know what good job because we're getting somewhere there's progress is it the right show to get a season two this season no but with the way it ended yeah i want to know what happens next because i'm not going to read the manga

So yeah, I enjoyed it. It's still like a 6 out of 10. So I enjoyed it. It's my high speed of 12. Like with Kat, it's like I hate it, but I like it. It's my high speed of 12. So yeah, that's it. That's all I'm going to say about it. I'm still going to keep watching it. If I convinced anyone to watch it,

Let me know. This show sucks next episode. This show still sucks next episode. I get it. I get the hate watch. I totally get it. Yeah. So. All right. Moving on. Moving back to. I mean, I dropped the show. So.

I hated that guy for the first episode. I could not stand him. I hate characters like that. We're talking Amiku, MD, Doctor Detective, aka Anime Doctor House. This is going to be very interesting because it got to a point where in Episode 7 and 8, I couldn't watch the show. So I stopped at Episode 6.

Yeah, I had a feeling that was good. Yeah. Yeah. What I heard about, I'm like, nope. So like I might just skip seven and eight and watch nine, 10, 11, 12 or whatever. But I wanted to hear if I could do that unless that plays into like the storyline or if it was more like episodic, like Dr. House was where I can sort of just like skip an episode and I'd be fine type of thing.

you can okay cool okay because i think this show is great like i i was initially kind of scared when i watched the first episode like okay this is very house like it's very out of control like did a dinosaur actually eat a person and they broke it down and then it's like okay that was kind of fun and then start getting a little bit more batshit crazy which is that's what i was looking for with like

oh there's a spirit or something like that killing somebody it's like no it's actually a fungus it's like oh okay uh that's why i started gravitating to the show a lot so me not finishing it does have has nothing to do with the quality of show because i think what's trying to do is really fun i think it's awesome that the magica is a doctor like i watched a doctor you know who dr mike is the youtuber

he's like some big like youtube guy and he'll break down like he did like cells at work he did like house and he'll go through like the legitimacy of like are these actual like scenarios and he praised how great even though it's outlandish it's like all feasibly possible and realistic and at least in episode one like it was fun like watching a doctor like

also try to put the pieces together and like he guessed it he guessed it correctly which is crazy so it's like it's fun to see like not everything that they're telling us is like absolute bullshit even if it might seem like it so i gotta give props for props dude this show is so much fun minus episode seven and eight uh koza your thoughts on uh amiku md doctor detective

I said this in the midseason review, but I think for a mystery show, it's nice to see a mystery show that's actually realistic because we've gotten a lot of mystery shows that are more fantasy based or like kind of out there. So I really enjoyed the show, especially because I loved Sherlock. I loved...

house for the most part. And I loved, you know, Grey's Anatomy and all that jazz. So I really enjoyed the show. I am behind myself. I think in the last arc, I kind of didn't lose interest. I was just like, I just want the last episode to come out for me to like see this whole mystery together. So I haven't watched that the last three episodes. Well, I guess

The next episode comes out, what, tomorrow or something? So I haven't watched the last arc, basically. But the arc that, Pete, you didn't watch, it was really well done, but I totally understand why you didn't watch it. It was one of my favorite arcs of the season. I do like the mix of, like, the mystery was not just in the hospital, but also outside, and they're doing some, like, crime stuff with the police and everything. So I really enjoyed it. There was even one story arc with a Munchausen that I actually knew because it's in every medical show there is. Yeah.

So I was like, oh, Munchausen. Easy. I felt smart. I felt smart for once. So, yeah, I really enjoyed it. I really like Amakou. I think we get to see more of her vulnerability. So I guess the one thing you won't see in the episodes you didn't watch is that we get to see more of her vulnerability. Oh, okay.

Yeah, so she is a bit more vulnerable. She's not just a robot. We get to see her vulnerable side. But then we get to the next arc, it's kind of like done. She's kind of like, okay, she has another problem to deal with. Yeah, so but yeah, I'm glad we got to see more vulnerable side to her. Will this get a season two? I don't know. But I wouldn't mind if it did. Because like, it's a show that like, you can just keep on going. So yeah, I enjoyed it. I think it was fun for the most part. And I'm excited to see how it actually ends.

Yeah, if I were to rate it, I would say this is probably like a high seven for me. Like I there were some episodes that were I think were much better than others, but it was enjoyable throughout. So yeah, I give it a seven. I'm with the points. I'm 7.5. It's not an eight yet. So 7.5. Okay, that's good. All right. And the last show that we're going to talk about is Sakamoto days. During our midseason review, there was a episode with the like paintball scene where I felt it was very lazy and

and i was kind of falling off of it so i ended up actually dropping the show and then i said screw it i might as well just finish it so i had like three episodes left so i did finish sakamoto days but i was i was really disappointed in the show like i knew coming into it my all my expectations were this show was just going to be mid to average that's what all my friends were going to say i came into it knowing that and as a

I don't know. Like, I think it was just with all the, it's so crazy with like all the action and all the hijinks that were going on in the show. I thought the show was boring. Like I had a really hard time having fun with any character that wasn't Sakamoto. Like, um, like the drunk girl was fine in the beginning, but I also didn't really connect with her or have fun with her later. Shin, um,

was very hit and miss for me i like some aspects of him like the fight at the theme park was incredible i love that but then there's some other moments where i don't know there's something about sakamoto that i just can't vibe with and i don't know what it is because it's not like any like it's very like

shonen-esque crime like secret agent stuff that i've seen before like i've seen spy family do something like this i've seen not just anime but just like in tv shows as well do something like this with like um like way the house husband or something like that has some elements like this or gto or something along the lines of like having some tied to criminal activity where i can at least have fun with it

I didn't have fun with Sakamoto Days. I was kind of disappointed. Koza, what's your thoughts on Sakamoto Days? Like people know where this is going. It was fun, but it wasn't for me. And honestly, I was hesitant even starting it at the beginning of the season because like I, I don't know. I'm weird with shounen action. I think the only thing is that it just made me want to watch John Wick again, which I totally did. Yeah, right?

It just made me want to watch John Wick again, because John Wick is my shit. Like, if this show was less goofy and more darker, more gritty, more, I don't know, more seinen, I think I would probably like it more. Like, if it was just darker, I might have liked it a bit more. I just like John Wick more, which is a totally different show and movie, but... Maybe that's it.

Yeah, I just... And I think there might be a John McAnime or something happening in the works, but I mean, I don't think I'll still like it more than the movie, but there's just something about... I think it was too goofy. The catchphrases was a bit cheesy. Like, I just...

It was fine, but I'm definitely not watching season two. I think I've had enough. I was kind of losing interest at the end. So I can see why the shounen community do love it so much because the characters are objectively fun. The fights are cool. I can see there's some sort of world building going on. So I can see why people who like Sakamoto Days would probably like solo leveling and all that jazz. So it was fine. I just...

I'm not continuing. Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Like one season was enough. I don't think it's like objectively bad. I think it does a lot of things really well. I think some of the anime like people were shitting on the animation. I thought it was perfectly fine. Like it wasn't groundbreaking, but.

or like a property like this i had no issues with it the comedy was there like in some spots it was pretty hit and miss but i think i like what you said i think i'm either looking for i'm either looking for john wick or i'm looking for spy family like i feel like this might be a little bit in the middle and that's not what i want i want it to be one of the other sides so i give this a five like i i i don't think it's like objectively bad but i was bored by it

I gave it a seven because I still watched it till the end. I think switching the dub really helped me. I did like the dub a lot. So yeah, I gave it a seven. It was still like fun. Like I know my sister probably loves it because she's more shounen-y than I am. So yeah, a nice seven. Okay. Before we wrap up, we're going to go through the shows that Cosette watched that I didn't and then vice versa or shows that we dropped.

whatever Kozak wants to talk about, this is her time to shine. So take it away whenever you're ready. - So what I'll talk about is one that I would, I think I would recommend to, 'cause a lot of people didn't watch the show and I would recommend it 'cause it's short, it's sweet, it wrapped up really nicely. And that is Tasokare Hotel. That's the anime that was on Prime, unfortunately. So it wasn't,

easily accessible for everybody. But I really enjoyed its concept of the fact that like it's a hotel living between like the living and the afterlife. And it was a mystery show. And I think that's what was really cool about it. And then as the show progressed, like since the mid season check in, the story like definitely progressed. It got it's like got slightly a bit more darker. A serial killer came into the mix. And oh my god, and the things got tied up and wrapped up so nicely at the end.

It was a very pleasant surprise. Like, I feel like it would be a show that I would recommend to like even like Secret Santa later in the year. I just really enjoyed it. It really surprised me. If you give me that show.

Okay, sweet, because it was fun. And it's not that dark where you will get sad about it. There's just murder and... Oh, just murder. Murder and hell and opening the gates of hell. It was really cool. I think the characters were really fun, and it really surprised me. So I think I gave it an 8. It was a lot of fun. I really liked the characters. So yeah, that's the one I would definitely recommend. The one that I...

Wasn't sure about and I still finished it was Flower and Asura. I called it Audible the anime because it's literally just about voice work and broadcasting. I think I said this in the last like the midseason check in, but I think the reason why I couldn't connect with is because I don't speak Japanese. And a lot of the things that were said in the anime was like you need like it's hard to understand the nuances of why they would change their tone or pitch of what they were saying.

So it was really hard for me to connect with it. But it was like a typical school club anime. It was like, join the club, school festival, training camp, competition. And we didn't even get to see the competition, which pissed me off. Ooh!

And what pissed me off at the end was that they decided to throw in some family drama in the last two episodes. And it just came out of nowhere. And I'm like, why? Like, it just didn't make sense to me. And we didn't even get to see the final competition. So it's no sound euphonium at all. I can see why people liked it. I think the characters were a lot of fun. I just was like, I couldn't connect with it. So I gave it a seven out of 10.

I'm sorry, Stoney. I know you really loved it. Because I dropped it. I loved everything outside of the club, but the club, I'm just like, I can't get into this. I don't know what's going on. And I like stuff like that where they are passionate about it, but I couldn't understand it. I had a really hard time with it.

I think the best bit was like when they were in the training camp because they got to talk with other students and stuff. Like training camp arcs are always the best, I think, in most shows. So I really enjoyed that part. But yeah, it was fine. I'll give a shout out to Beastars, but it's not done. So I'm actually not going to rate Beastars because it's the first half of the arc. And I don't think it's fair for me to rate it right now because it ended off on such a cliffhanger that I don't feel right yet. But I really enjoyed it. I know you're going to watch it eventually. Damn right, I love Beastars.

Yeah, I think that where the story went in depth about Legoshi and his family was really, really cool. There was one episode that made me cry in a good way. It was nice, though. I really enjoyed it. I don't think this arc is as good as the other, or like this season was as good as the other two seasons, but I think it's because it hasn't finished yet. So that's why I can't compare it yet. But I do like the addition of Yaya and Gosha, who you will find out who they are eventually. Okay.

really cool but yeah and i like that the show was outside of the schools we got to see more of like the their world outside the school so that was really cool but i'm not reading it yet because i'm waiting for the second half which i think is this summer or something so i think i could be wrong are we talking about my happy marriage see we still it hasn't finished so if you want to talk about like i think this season's incredible but i still have to wait to the final episode before i rate it since it got delayed yeah

So, I mean, it's probably like a nine right now. Yeah, that's why I have it. I'll just say, I'll just say, like, it got delayed a lot. So what I'll say is that I love the progression of Mio and Kyoka's relationship this season. I think that was so much progression compared to the first season. And then Mio, like, like, just like Uka, just like,

Most valuable player. Like she, her confidence just skyrocketed and I was just so proud of her this season. So it's been fantastic. She's like, you fucked up my husband. Now you die. Yeah. That the recent episode, which not as not well, cause it's not released yet, I think, but the recent episode that we've watched was so good. Yeah. So I'm really excited to see how it ends, but I definitely think it's going to be around the nine, 10. Agreed. I think the season is, I love season one. I think season two is just, it stepped up.

Yeah. And that's it. I guess we're dropped. I did drop Guild Receptionist. I just, the bit about her working overtime got a bit old.

It just got old and I just couldn't connect with the story. What I wanted was what was in the OP, which like showed her like riding a dragon and like training and stuff. That's what I wanted. And that's not what I got. So unfortunately I dropped it. I just couldn't continue. Like I tried to force myself to watch it. I'm like, I'm not enjoying it. I'm just going to let it go. So I've let it go. But shout out to Ray Takahashi. She was great as a VA. So good. Yeah. She goes through so much.

I also dropped Momentary Lily and I only dropped it because I had too many shows to watch. It was the Gohan's anime. I honestly, I probably would have continued if I didn't have a lot on my watch list. I just, yes, it was very Gohan-y. The story was like nonsense. It didn't make any sense. I don't know. The battle scenes were kind of cool. So it was more like a flashy anime than anything. Yeah.

But yeah, I dropped it. I think Rifle was the only one that actually continued. So shout out to him. I wonder why you watched that. And one last final shout out is to Preston for Unnamed Memory because I kind of watched it, but not really. Shout out to Preston for all the episode summaries each week. And it just proved to show that I still hate the show and I still hate Oscar. So shout out to Preston because I didn't get to shout him out last episode. So yeah.

Child Depressive, you know he hates on me 24-7, but he's still my biggest fan. I'm going to let you pick. Should I start with the worst or the best? I ended off with the worst, so you should end off with the best. I'll end with the best. So start with the worst. Okay, this is where I'm going to lose half the fan base, but I'm going to talk about The 100 Girlfriends Season 2. And I was trying to articulate in my brain how...

Cause I liked season one. Why didn't I like season two? And so I think I figured out the reason why. So you are familiar with the concept of a fart joke. So the, the punchline is something adolescent and stupid and silly and whatever. It's maybe not necessarily smart, but it's supposed to be like dumb hundred girlfriends. It's like a fart joke, but I'm gonna call it like an underwear joke or a panty joke. So the whole setup for their comedy is somehow to like,

put these girls into a situation where i feel like it's like really overly sexualized so if the if the payoff for that over sexualized joke is funny i think it's great and it's it can land it can it can be like actual comedy but i think this season fell too much into it where like it's not that funny but at least we saw the girls huge titties right it's like ha ha ha it's like

Not really. So we had like an episode where they played water tag in like maid outfits. I'm like, this isn't funny at all. They had a scene where or an episode where the mom's hair grew like to the size of like she was like Cthulhu. It was like taking over the world because her hair was so long and they turned it into a tentacle porn episode. Wasn't funny. Like it just it's.

It's kind of lazy to me. It's like every episode is the setup where, oh, hey, the girl who is a masochist. I bet we're going to get a joke where she's a masochist and there it is. And it's like there's no other part of her character that is funny. It's just she's the masochist character. We're going to do something masochistic. Ha ha ha ha ha. Hikari, the girl who's always horny.

I bet we're going to do a joke where she's really horny. There it is. It's just like every episode. It's it's it's layered the same where these characters are tropes and they can never expand past that character because the joke needs to be. Well, they're this trope. So then the joke needs to be their trope.

And I think I like season one because we were still developing the cast and figuring out who they were as a character where the joke the first time was funny. Now that we're in season two, it's the 14th time the show is telling me that Akari is really horny. It's like, I know she is.

Because you've told me every episode that is what she is. And it never expands past that. So there were times in some episodes where it was funny, where I thought it was witty and it was like actually structured as a joke. It's one of those things where sometimes jokes can be, you Google a hundred jokes to tell at a party and it will be like a knock knock joke. And you can go through a hundred jokes in 10 minutes.

Or do you like it where you build up the joke and there's one big punchline, like a stand up and it's like, that was great. That was hilarious.

I felt like this season was more of the party joke where it's joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke all the time. And those jokes were nano's quiet. She's a kid uses her phone to talk. Our car is horny. Kroomy is always hungry. Kusari is the mad scientist and she's going to drink a potion. It's like every joke.

is that it's their character it's never going to go past that and so how they supplemented is that they add a new girl so it's like oh this is fresh but it's like she's still playing her role she's playing her character so while it's a new character the same structure of the joke is there because if the new girl is trying to think the the new the newest girl was like comey

So the punchline is always going to be, she shy and she always hides. It's always going to be that joke. It's never not going to be that. She's not shy. So I think that's where I fell off with the comedy. So I gave it a six. I still think that there was moments where funny. I don't think the show was bad. I just think how the jokes are structured is boring. It's formulaic. I feel like sometimes where I can see the, when I can see the punchlines coming, I fall off of it because it's,

I just, I like jokes that are structured and funny and it's why I'm

If Preston or one of the hundred girlfriend fans are here, it was like, well, you like Kona Suba. Yeah, I do. But Kona Suba is a fart joke and not a panty joke. So that's the difference. I'm an adolescent. I am a 12 year old man and fart jokes are funny to me. So like whatever. Okay. Moving on to other shows that I really enjoyed the Okinawa that I fell in love with an Okinawa girl as somebody who has been to Japan twice and would love to go a third time and visit Okinawa. I thought the show was such a breath of fresh air.

Because in my ignorant mind, I just assumed Okinawa was Japan and how this show pre like showcase it was like, it's like a completely different country. They just happened to speak Japanese. So it was really cool to sort of like get a better understanding of what that culture is, at least that they're showcasing.

in a show uh the girls were super fun and adorable this was more it's labeled a romance it's not he's just like one of the dudes thinks the girl is cute one of the girls think he's cute there's like no romantic like progression it's all just like slice of life having fun in okinawa i thought it was a great show i gave it an eight oh this one the big one ave musica so i finally figured out why i'm not super high on ave musica

And I think it's the character's obsession with trying to reform their band that they were in for like a month or something like that. I'm sure there's a concrete amount of time that they were in it that I'm missing. It's irrelevant to my point where, uh,

They have it feels like they're trying to like go back to the old days and relive their nostalgia when their nostalgia was just fine. Like every time we have like a flashback of when they were like in their olden days as cry chic, their old band, it was like they were just doing normal stuff like they were just like having practice.

We got a little bit into the characters to understand their dynamics a little bit more and understand why they're doing the things that they do, which makes it a little bit more sense why they would want to do stuff with Cry Chic. But I still didn't get that connection. And it would just benefit everybody if you just moved on. Like, bands break up all the time. Like, just move on. But this season was... I mean, like, the...

Moots me the character who's sort of like broke where she has like this split personality. I thought that was awesome. This was more about a this was more of a drama where the girls happen to be in a band than a band girl show. So it was I liked it significantly more than my go. I thought the cast of Ave Musico had a lot more spice and a better dynamic between the group to add to the drama that I was looking for. I get this show at eight and then the last show I'm gonna talk about

blew me away i'm still debating if i'm going to give it a 10 or not and that's re-zero season three like all right i like re-zero i like re-zero i think it's a perfectly fine show no no issues with re-zero season three was fucking great it was so unlike the other seasons where i felt like they suffered for like suffered they suffer all the time in re-zero

They didn't suffer in the season. They were just whooping ass. I was like, this is such a refreshing change of pace where someone's not an eternal agony for six episodes. It's just like, no, we have a problem on our hand. Let's deal with it. And then they do that through the entire arc. Amelia MVP, one of the hardest lines in anime history where the

She became like the 46 wife to this evil person. And when she was getting rid of him, she says, here are the divorce papers for you or for me. And you're like 46 other wives and threw an iceberg at him and then punched him in the face 50 times. That was so cold. Like Amelia was the goat this season. I loved it. Subaru, his speech in part one with, uh,

uh the the intercom system and like telling the people like to not be scared like we're here to help and try to like boost up the people's morale while you're in a situation i thought was fantastic uh my girl mimi came back at the end that's my girl uh beatrice coming the same day towards the end that's my girl just just great uh season four is announced we don't have to wait 14 years for season four i'm really getting invested in free zero like say what you want i get it i get it

generic isekai bullshit i get it i think subaru is a great character i think he actually has a personality i think he has drive i think he has remorse i think he learns from his mistakes unlike some other isekai male protagonist i'm a big fan of subaru he is a shiviled knight i respect that and amelia just just incredible speaking of re takahashi i'm

killing it as as amelia loved her um this is like a very high nine possible 10 i'm gonna think on it a little bit more when i do my ratings if this deserves a 10 or not i think it does but for right now trent you can put in bold letters really high nine though with a star with a star nine with a star

and i think that's it i think that is all for fall we can close the books once my happy marriage is all said and done winter what did i say i said fall did i say fall in the intro too shit i don't remember i bet i said fall in the preview and i'm gonna go back and i'll be like oh i'm an idiot because i can't read that's the end of the winter season

And that being said, we can now move into spring. Yay. Cosette, thank you for joining me. Do you have any last words to your adoring fans?

Go watch Honey Lemon Soda and then go watch all the slice of life in the spring season. Yes. Spring is looking great. A few weeks we'll be doing our like first impressions. So looking forward to talking about that. But if you have made this far and you want to support us, best way to do so. Just wire me a bunch of money. Just send me all of your money.

otherwise you can like comment subscribe leave a review on whatever platform you are watching or listening to us on next week speaking of shojos we will be reviewing sugar apple fairy tale for watch club uh season one it's officially fucking jonah's season now so i look forward to that otherwise in two weeks i will doing something i think it might be first impressions not sure probably talking about the spring season in some way so on behalf of me and behalf of because i want to thank everyone out there have a great night we'll talk to you later

Peace! Bye-bye!