In no particular order.

Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto

Previous series have taught us that the office work culture in anime Japan is bad enough that getting hit by truck-kun to reincarnate in a fantasy world is preferable and that the best you can hope for is a kindly kitsune taking pity on you. For poor Akira, a three year veteran of working for the blackest of companies, it’s the zombie apocalypse that finally liberates him. Now he can finally run through his bucket list of things he wanted to do before he was forced to work nearly 24/7. A fun concept, but what makes it really worth watching is the execution by new studio Bug Films. See Sakugablog for what makes this production so special. Best looking anime this season.

Bang Dream! It’s Mygo!!!!!

I already raved about this series; if you like idol-adjecent anime this is a great entry point in the world of Bang Dream. I really love Tomori, who seems very much to be neuroatypical, and her relationship with Anon, the transfer student who wants her to join her band. Anon as well as their classmates respect Tomori’s bounderies even as she gently pushes her to take a step out of her comfort zone. The way Tomori herself also seeks friendship by sharing her latest obsessions, like her penguin bandaids is adorable and slightly sad. What sets it apart from other Bang Dream series is its darker tone: it starts with the implosion of Tomori’s previous band and it has scarred her. Anon herself also has a bit of a dark past while the ex-members of Tomori’s band are equally scarred by its breakup. Anon here is the outsider who can see through the group’s dynamics, the catalyst who can get them to change and grow again.

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon

Long abused and neglected Saimori Miyo is forced by her family into an engagement with Kudou Kiyoka, who has scared off all his previous marriage partners and has therefore the reputation of being a monster. Three episodes in and it’s clear how much the neglect and abuse of her family after her mother died has stunted Miyo’s personality. Nothing more than a servant in her family home, she’s meek, quiet and terrified of making a mistake that will see her sent back there. She’s wary of kindness and confused when her fiancé asks about her preferences. Her abuse has not been magically fixed by escaping her family or the love of a good man; she’s still damaged by her experiences. There’s also a tension in the way others, like Kiyoka’s elderly housekeeper see her meek personality as that of the perfect yamato nadeshiko. Even more so than MyGo this is a melancholy, sombre anime that’s occasionally hard to watch.

Horimiya: Piece

Horimiya got an adaptation two years ago that took thirteen episodes to cover the entire manga and the romance between Hori and Miyamura. To do so however it skipped a lot of chapters less relevant to the central romance. This new season adapts those. I actually like this, even if it could be argued that a two cour season would’ve been a better way to adapt it. There’s a mellow vibe to this season as it goes for comedy rather than romance. Episodes have been grouped thematically: the first one was about the class truip to Kyoto e.g. It does have the same weakness as the manga, as every now and then I have to remember who this character actually is. Having the hair colours actually visible helped a lot there.

Genjitsu no Yohane: Sunshine in the Mirror

A brilliant idea to make a fantasy anime starring Yohane, the chuuni one from Love Live Sunshine who pretended to be a fallen angel. Having failed to become an idol in fantasy-Tokyo she returns to Numazu, her hometown, where she gets “summer homework” from her mother: she has to find out the one thing she really wants to do. Also, there’s a sinister noise plaguing the town that only children and failed idols can hear, while something is corrupting the animals of the nearby forests. So far this plot has been mostly confined to the background while Yohane meets up with the rest of the Love Live Sunshine cast. Most of them have similar personalities to the original, but most noticably Mari is very different. As are the relationships between the characters, especially their relationship to Yohane herself. Yohane/Hanamaru shippers eat good here. One minor dislike I had was how much the first two episodes made Yohane out to be a lazy failure; that could’ve been dialed back a bit. I’m also a bit wary of Lialapse, the huge dog that’s supposedly Yohane’s sister and which only she can hear speaking.

Last season ended on a high for me because it had half a dozen romance anime that were as good as or even better than their source manga. Skip to Loafer, Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia, Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigoto Desu!, Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu, Jijou o Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru, Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi o Suru were all excellent as were the slightly more formulaic Otonari ni Ginga and delayed from the previous season Kubo-san wa Mob o Yurusanai. It has been a long time since a non-isekai genre so dominated a season. Nor should we forget there was both Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo and Birdie Wing: Golf Girls Story both sticking the landing in their respective romances.

In contrast, this season has regressed to the mean, with isekai and related shows dominating again with no real outstanding shows in it unlike you can tolerate Mushoku Tensei. Which I can’t. There aren’t that many series I’m at all enthusiastic about or looking forward to seeing each week, except for the ones above. Lots of shows I wouldn’t mind watching, but little interest to actually start watching. But maybe there are shows that I’ve missed that you like?

I can so understand the frustration Richard Eisenbeis has with the wasted potential of generic isekai series #1,098, Level 1 Dakedo Unique Skill de Saikyou Desu:

The setting is likewise a mess of wasted potential. The idea of a world where literally everything comes from dungeons is insane. People with high drop rates for plants replace farmers. Those with high drop rates for weapons replace weapon smiths. Basically, all jobs outside the dungeon would be the infrastructure for those going into it.

Fully exploring this thought experiment would honestly make for an interesting fantasy story. What kind of government would arise in such a world—what kind of art, music, and religion. And since everything comes from the dungeon, how would technology advance—or would it at all? Then, on the isekai front, you could look at what would happen if someone from our world taught people how to farm—breaking the dungeon-industrial complex’s strangle hold on the agricultural economy in the process. It’s a playground for stories. It’s just unfortunate its used in this anime as little more than a one-off line to explain why slimes drop bean-sprouts.

Honestly the economics never make sense in any isekai series. Where is the money coming from to pay adventurers to kill monsters in the first place? How can a medievaloid society sustain an elaborate, country or even worldwide guild system filled iwth what are objectively deadbeats when in reality most of those would be needed to either farm or do craft work? How come there’s enough gold available to mint millions of coins to pay the protagonist their absurd monster bounties and not crash the economy? Foolish to worry about of course; that’s not what isekai stories are written for. It’s power fantasies all the way down and that includes the fantasy of finding treasure.

And this is a typical example. A guy dies of overwork in Japan and discovers while he’s only level 1, his ability to pull from gacha is S-tiered. So he goes hunting slimes to make enough money to afford a home with the cheerful small blonde girl who fed him soup when he first awoke in the dungeon. There are going to be more girls later on, if the opening is to be trusted. The animation and character design is not something to watch this series for, so it all depends on how you like the usual isekai formula.

Jidou Hanbaiki Ni Umarekawatta Ore Wa Meikyuu Wo Samayou: dude gets reincarnated as a vending machine, hooks up with a muscular woman who takes him all over the Labyrinth they live in.

This was fun if a bit slow in setting up the premise. Having the main character remain a vending machine will be even more limiting than having him be a sword. Curious to see how they’ll deal with it. Lammis, his muscular partner seems good fun and hopefully there will be a good cast to balance the series out. The original light novel apparently ran for only three volumes, so can be fully adapted in one season. Product quality is decent but not spectacular. A decent time waster, but you’ll miss nothing much skipping this.

Japanese vending machines are awesome by the way. If you can believe anime, they’re everywhere, always fully stocked and with a range of products varying from whale meat to used panties. It’s no wonder that our protagonist was such a fan of them he ended up dying trying to save one. Quite a contrast with the ones found over here, usually stocking overpriced colas and candy bars…