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Stardust Telepath eps 8 & 9
Prep and competition.

Still got some sequels from Autumn to go, but thought I'd start some of the new [EDIT]Winter titles instead. Looking at MAL and what you guys have said here I'm cutting Chained Soldier, Meiji Gekken: 1874, Metallic Rouge and Tales of Wedding Rings from my initial PTW list. And I watched a couple of episode 1s:

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! ep 1 (dub)
Seems OK, will reserve final judgement until after meeting the other gals.

'Tis Time for "Torture", Princess ep 1
No dub for this one. Again fun enough, although the gag is already a bit old with it happening 3 times in this episode!
 
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Sound! Euphonium Season 2

Another season done in quick succession. A good continuation from season 1 with all its pros and cons. I pretty much enjoy everything about the series with the exception (and this is true of all media) the inability of people to just talk like normal humans. So much of the series could have been solved by just having a chat with someone. I know, then the series would be like 3 episodes long 🤣

That said, I really liked the expanded story with MC and her sister. I felt the drama there was a lot less forced. I did enjoy the expanded cast in this series even if the MC two sidekick friends did take a backseat.

Entirely disappointed by lack of out of context innuendo…


Liz and the Blue Bird Film

I can see why there is so much love for this film. I’m glad I watched the first two series first, although this is billed as a stand alone, I feel that the knowledge of what happened to Nozomi and Mizore in their first year adds more emotional weight to the story.

I cannot work out if Mizore is neurodivergent or “just” has crippling anxiety (that being a massive thing too). I’m glad it’s not spelled out either way.

I wish there was a little more of the fable in the film as I enjoyed that greatly. The story helps illustrate the co-dependancy Nozomi and Mizore have for each other. Also, they looked fantastic and they make me feel nostalgic for something that I can’t put my finger on.

A great film, an afternoon well spent.

IMG_9146.jpeg
 
Sound! Euphonium: Our Promise: A Brand New Day Film

Wow, all the grammar in that title. Another banger, more of the same but with a more condensed story it felt like a lot of the more “silly” drama gets resolved quicker.

I think it’s easy to compare to Liz and Blue Bird. I imagine most people prefer Liz, I would agree it’s a better film. However, as a shot of Sound! Euphonium to the face, Our Promise does the job better. I definitely think in the “no think, more fun” way this film wins out. I’ll be picking this one up in the future for sure. Now… onto the Ensemble Contest!
 
An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride episode 11 Carve a path.

A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics episode 10 Doll.

Dungeon Meshi episode 23 Lock.

Yuru Camp△ Season 3 episode 10 Retro.

Rental Magica (Chronological Order) episodes 6-17
 
Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf (Japanese) - Episode 9

KonoSuba! God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! (Season 3) (Japanese) - Episode 8

Bartender: Glass of God (Japanese) - Episode 9

A Condition Called Love (Japanese) - Episode 9
 
Armored Police Metal Jack - Episodes 28 - 37 [Final]

After that mid series bump Metal Jack's plot became inconsistent and failed to build on the interesting plot developments from the previous run of episodes, at least it wrapped everything up properly. A very average series, it wasn't bad in any sense but hardly a highlight of the genre.

Kaiju No. 8 - Episode 8

Professor Irony said:
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 ep1
Click to expand...

I have the ADV DVDs of BGC 2040 and watched it maybe 15 years ago. I thought it was quite a mediocre series and a pale imitation of the greatness of the original OVA.

Gemsy-chan said:
Eps 1-6 of Gundam Build Fighters
Click to expand...

The original series of GBF was fantastic and I really got into it after a few episodes (I was a bit unsure about it at the very beginning) and none of the sequels have been able to replicate it so far imho.
 
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Stardust Telepath ep 10
Supporting others dreams.

More first episodes from [EDIT]Winter:
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer ep 1
Sub only again. An OK fantasy show where a solo low level adventurer stumbles into a high level area and is killed, but revives as a sentient skeleton. He has kill his way through other monsters to rank himself up the undead monster ranking. Seems he'll get a bevvy of beauties to help him too, at some point.

A Sign of Affection ep 1 (dub)
Deaf girl falls for a guy who helps her out on the train and coincidentally her friend at uni knows him! So they hatch a plan to get his contact details and it works! Seems sweet enough and as they kiss in the OP there's not going to be too much of the "will they, won't they" stuff.
I am confused about her deafness though, she wears hearing aids, but didn't seem to hear anything when on the train, but next day seems to hear her friend? Also she knows sign language, but her friend and even her mother don't! Unless in the one scene with her mother she thought writing on a board would be quicker?

The Witch and the Beast ep 1 (dub)
Supernatural action. A couple of Witch hunters track down their quarry, but it's more personal for one of them.
 
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Sound! Euphonium: Ensemble Contest Ova

I’m gonna say it, best one yet. Great performances by the main cast with some newbies thrown in and some of the third years showing up for good measure. I loved the concise story, sure I’d have loved for it to be 90 mins rather than 55 mins but it got in, did what it needed to do and got out again.

I can see why people are annoyed there is no release for this one. Definitely something I’d import given the chance. Fun times…

I’m tempted to jump into season 3 but also I want to session the whole thing, so I might wait until close to the end of the season and take a Sound breather… who knows.
 
Astro Note Episode 10

HIGHSPEED Étoile Episode 10

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3 Episode 58

The Irregular at Magic High School Season 3 Episode 10

The Misfit at Demon King Academy II Part 2 Episode 33
 
Astro Note episode 10 Welcoming.

Nijiyon Animation 2 episode 10 Pressure.

That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime Season 3 episode 58 Tact.

The Misfit of Demon King Academy II Part 2 episode 47 Pact.

The iDOLM@STER Shiny Colors episode 10 Wing spread.

The Irregular at Magic High School Season 3 episode 49 Pressure to protect.

Rental Magica (Chronological Order) episodes 18-24 (Complete. This was quite good overall, may well double-up for the ATA sets at some point.) 3.5/5

RobiHachi episodes 1-12 (Complete. A nonsensical and fun but uneven sci-fi series that doesn’t quite reach the height of contemporaries like Space Dandy but was a decent one-time watch.) 3/5

Rozen Maiden episodes 1-5
 
Stardust Telepath eps 11 & 12 (complete)
Rematch and plans for the future.
The headline is CGDCT with rockets, but there seems to be more yuri bait than other shows. One character is, or pretends to be, an alien who can communicate through placing her forehead on others. Cue lots of scenes, especially with the MC, where this happens and they're almost kissing.
The other aspect which I found different was the attitude of one of the girls, she's a loner who's two states were being abrasive or angrily lashing out! Now couple this with the MC's demeanor of being shy and awkward, a bit like Bocchi, but on steroids (or should that be downers!) and it lead to some of the most depressing scenes I've witnessed in this genre, for example they're building their rocket for the competition and the abrasive girl, who is the expert, tells her she's in the way and to go away and then after the competition doesn't go the way they want, she throws another fit and storms of. This depresses the MC even more because her dream seems in tatters, although her dream was depressing enough to begin with because her reason to want to build a rocket was leave earth and try to find alien friends because she felt she didn't belong on Earth! At least with Bocchi she had an achievable goal and one that would force herself out of her situation. Bocchi the Rock! was published in the sister magazine to the magazine this was published in and it's almost like they were trying to repeat the formula even down to the perfectly well adjusted imouto, but wasn't executed in quite the right way.
The payoff in the end was pretty good, but I felt it didn't have to go that hard to accomplish the same outcome.
The art and animation were quite nice.
7/10

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable eps 2-12 (dub) (complete)
A bit of a palette cleanser after the drama. It was an easy watch, especially with no subs, although I'm sure they were trying to have them have a Canadian accent, but the closest they got was have the characters finish the odd sentence with an 'eh?'
It was your usual high school rom-com/mini-harem with all the usual tropes with the attraction coming down to him being kind and the girls being hot in different ways, the busty gyaru, the classic beauty and the hafu with European looks. The first girl got the vast majority of the screen time, so it wasn't particularly even in that sense (the third didn't even appear till episode 6!). There were some fun scenes, the best being full of innuendo!
Art and animation were pretty average really.
6/10
 
Black Butler: Public School Arc episode 9 Charade.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night episode 10 Wail.

Kaiju No. 8 episode 9 No fun.

My Hero Academia 7th Season episode 144 Children.

Ooi! Tonbo episode 10 Break.

Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included episode 11 Sea and soak.

The Fable episode 10 Help.

Tonari no Youkai-San episode 10 Lost soul.

Yatagarasu: The Raven Does not Choose its Master episode 10 Support.

Rozen Maiden episodes 6-12 & short (Complete. The best way to summarise my feelings on this series so far is that the fantastical elements of the story are fascinating but the slice of life content leaves me cold. With that said, I’m curious to see what the other seasons have to offer.) 3/5

Rozen Maiden: Träumend episodes 1-12 (Complete. This season mostly improved upon my issues with the slice of life aspects and continued with the solid fantasy elements.) 3.5/5
 
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