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As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World
S1

All finished, such an easy watch. I'm not sure why Ars needed to be a reincarnated character but hey ho.
Charlotte really changed in a short time!
Lecia reminded me of the Princess in Overlord but truly nice. Hope they get married.
Roll on S2 next week.
 
Once Upon a Witch's Death ep1: I appreciate that this series actually bothered with a concept of its own; I'd started getting out of the habit of actually paying attention to what was going on in the standard copy-paste introductory scenes. Our heroine is an apprentice witch who has just turned 17 - and learned that she has just one year left to live. To avert her fate she has to gather happy tears shed by people she's helped, so there's a clear formula for what's coming next in the young woman's coming-of-age quest to save her own life. The lead alternates between chaotically avoiding questioning anything that she's told and being a bit of a know-it-all, neither of which is especially endearing to me even though her heart is in the right place. The details in the artwork are really strange, portraying London buses and modern(ish) UK scenery amidst the romanticised English suburban stuff and fantasy 'school' uniforms, like a version of the Ancient Magus' Bride which skipped doing any actual research. I also feel as though the series' depiction of Carbuncle, the witch's pet/familiar, owes an awful lot to Final Fantasy specifically. And it was difficult to believe that an English person would genuinely fail to realise that sakura petals weren't mythical 'pink snow'. It's far from terrible but it's not strong enough to get me excited.

Catch me at the Ballpark! ep1: The strongest debut so far (which isn't saying much). This is a simple comedy about a tired guy who relaxes after work with a beer at his local baseball park. As a non-drinker who knows nothing about baseball it's not terrifically relatable but the lead's awkward banter with his usual trendy young beer seller is cute, without any of the awkward casual misogyny which usually creeps into such scenarios. We also get to meet some more employees at the venue over the course of the episode (with a lot more to come, by the look of the credits). It's simply animated with a fun ending sequence and while there's no so of an overarching plot, the lighthearted observational humour makes it a nice 'chill out' series in its own right. My partner is going to keep watching so I might continue if I'm not blown away by the rest of what this season has to offer.

R
 
Hinamatsuri (English dubbed) (REWATCH) - With Friend A, who hadn't seen this before and hugely enjoyed it, this is one of the best anime comedies I've seen, with some fantastic reaction faces and a well judged balance between it's wholesomely heartwarming and more edgy and dark humored sides, I hope I get the opportunity to read the entire manga at some point as well :)

El Hazard: The Alternative World (English dubbed) - A fun early isekai, I watched this after seeing OVA series 1 & 2 (thanks again @Otomo!), and it was a good time and made me curious to see the remaining parts of the franchise that I haven't yet seen. The male mc is of his era (aka perhaps a little lacking in personality), but at least he's not a mean cynical edgelord :)

Angelic Layer (English dubbed) (REWATCH) - One of my favourite anime, I think this must be rewatch 4 or smth like that? Misaki is so cute and determined and while I don't think this show has the best disability rep, at least they tried. Hatoko is probably my favourite secondary character in the show, but the whole ensemble is great... may Ogata graduate from his butt monkey status, poor guy (yes he was also one of my faves!) :)

Memories (English subbed) - Didn't much care for the dub, so ended up rewatching this subbed, it had been years since I'd last seen it, and I was fascinated by the Koji Morimoto-helmed animation in Magnetic Rose as a teenager, in all honestly I'd now say that I prefer the other two segments, as MR feels a bit like an overly long version of the sort of story done better in Cowboy Bebop, but I still got something out of rewatching it I'd say, as for the other two segments, I adore the clever screwball comedy satire of Stink Bomb (I think that's my favourite of the three!), and Cannon Fodder feels almost like the work of a particularly talented newspaper cartoonist, the sort of thing that someone who didn't really have much interest in anime might still appreciate :)

Various other stuff as well, I am still watching A Cheeky Angel, have now made my way through Episodes 1-39 so not that many left to go! Still a great series :)
 
Please Put Them On, Takamine-san! ep1: A colossal narcissist enlists a dull schoolboy as her personal slave because he accidentally sees her breasts (which seems pretty easy to do given how she behaves) and gained the ability to see through her magical ability to redo every mistake she makes in order to lead the perfect life. The cost of that ability is that she sacrifices her underwear to activate it, which means that she needs to constantly replenish her bras and pants in order to keep being perfect (weirdly, she seems to favour expensive-looking fancy lingerie even though she lost a ton of it in just the first episode - immersion breaking or what?)

Outside of the fan service, the artwork is pretty rubbish - people's faces distort regularly and the magical sequences which play whenever someone is taking about Takamine's powers are ugly and repetitive. And the climax of the episode is a fake sexual assault masterminded by the female lead, which is regressive, lazy writing even in a genre where everything is a means to a (horny) end. The female lead is a poor man's Senjougahara Hitagi (with an exaggerated bullying fetish and worse writing) and the male lead is barely present intellectually; everything felt stupid without being fun. I'll pass.

R
 
Ameku M.D: Doctor Detective Episode 12 (Complete. A solid and informative series that unravels various medical-related mysteries.) 3.5/5

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun Episode 10-12 & shorts (Complete. A hilarious outing from a series I skipped during its initial airing and has been in my backlog pile until now.) 3.5/5

Please Put Them On, Takamine-san (Uncensored) Episode 1 Coerced.
 
D1tchd1gger said:
Sounds like another one to just keep reading the manga (whenever I get round to it) rather than watch the anime.
Click to expand...

Sounds wise; while I doubt I'd personally enjoy it much more, I'm guessing that it has much better visuals (which is most of the appeal) instead of having multiple scenes per chapter where nobody is even shown on screen!

R
 
Ameku M.D: Doctor Detective (English Dub) Episode 1-10

Plus-Sized Elf (English Dub) Episode 4

The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows Episode 1 Healing hands.

The Daily Life of a Middle-Aged Online Shopper in Another World Episode 13 Duel and demand. (Complete. A fantasy series with a likeable cast that shares a few similarities to another anime of similar story concept.) 3/5
 
Arifureta S3
Episodes 1-6
Busty rabbits, Ninja rabbits and flying severed heads (no pics)

As someone dissed Master of Martial Hearts, I rewatched all 5 episodes.
I love the opening song, great fights, clothes falling off during said fighting and one of my favourite endings.
Long live my DVD.
Nearly forgot to mention the white panties.

I'm giving up on I'm Standing on a Million Lives.
Just not getting the love.
 
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