Had my first group anime viewings in quite a while - I started showing The Saga of Tanya the Evil to both a friend and the next-door neighbor couple during the month of August. My friend and I watched eps 1-9 on the big screen in my basement theater over two evenings near the beginning of the month, and then my neighbors came over a couple of evenings the following week, and we watched episodes 1-7 while sitting outside at the patio table on my back deck. I have an All-in-One PC with a 24" 1080p monitor, a Blu-ray drive, and spacial stereo audio, so I can use it as a convenient portable Blu-ray player/monitor, even outside for a nice change of viewing venue. Late in the evening we heard a screech owl's eerie warbling like a ghost somewhere up the hill in the wooded area behind my yard. I've never heard one here in town before, so it was nice to hear the wildlife while watching anime outdoors.
This past Friday night both the next-door neighbor couple and my friend came to visit, and the four of us finished off the last five episodes 8-12, again watching on the PC out on the back porch. My friend had to re-watch eps 8 and 9 so the neighbors could catch up, but he didn't mind at all. My neighbors are both military, so they were totally into the series, and were very excited they got to see it.
Yesterday I asked my neighbors what anime they wanted to see next, and they decided on another military-themed anime - GATE. I broke the seal on my MVM CE set, and the three of us watched the first four episodes on the deck again last night. I've only seen GATE through about episode 15, so the remainder will be totally new to me as well. My neighbors are really liking this one too, so it should be a fun ride to watch the series outside with friends over the next few weeks, especially now that the 90+ degree summer heat and extreme humidity we've had for 7 weeks straight is finally subsiding. We even heard the screech owl again, a little closer this time, so hopefully it's put up permanent residence here in the neighborhood.