Kawagoe Boys Sing ep1: A competent 'school club' show about a bunch of reluctant boys' choir singers and their domineering advisor (who has his own reasons to push the boys and is somehow the least mature person in the show). The episode was fine, but with me having picked out quite a few titles to give a second chance I'm having to be picky now - and I can't stand the music in this one. The piano accompaniments remind me of my own much-hated time at school and the singing, which is probably technically fine (I have no idea) just doesn't move me at all. I could overlook that if the show's main hook (so far, one of the boys is afraid to sing in front of people) had grabbed me but I think this will be a slower show. It doesn't make the cut.
Spy x Family s2 ep1: A safe show because it's always enjoyable, even if the 'adult' episodes are generally more fun than the 'school' episodes (sorry, Anya). The first episode of the new season was another dose of the same silliness with the same high quality delivery so of course I'll continue watching this.
The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons ep1: This was decent. The character artwork is very pretty and it's unusual to see domestic tales of a bunch of boys who all genuinely love and value one another. The kids act like (slightly idealised) kids and the eldest, who is being forced to raise his younger brothers, has a separate arc as well, with understandable adult worries. Unfortunately it's going to be another casualty of my lack of free time because I don't really believe that much will happen later on; the slice of life genre is always the easiest for me to lose interest in. Still, it's the kind of show that's a good time-filler if I'm ever at a loose end.
OVERTAKE! ep1: I thought this was going to be terrible based on the cheap-looking splash artwork on Crunchyroll but it was quite surprising for several reasons. Firstly, the character animation was fine, and secondly, for the first episode at least the viewpoint character was a middle aged photographer rather than one of the young F4 drivers. The CG cars looked rubbish but having already watched MF Ghost I was already prepared for that, and the majority of this first episode was about the characters rather than the on-track action. F1 is one of only two sports I am even slightly knowledgeable about (thanks, dad) so OVERTAKE! provided an unusual experience of watching a sports series where I already kind of understood the setting, and it wasn't offensively stupid like that horse racing idol nonsense a few seasons ago (CG cars are also way less grotesque than CG horses). It might be a keeper.
In other news, HIDIVE remembered that the world outside the US exists so my list of new shows to catch up on has increased in size once again. And I dropped both Shy and BULLBUSTER after reasonable second episodes which didn't quite keep me hooked. I also dropped Frieren which I think means I'm in a weird minority of people soulless enough not to like the sad elf girl show. It sounded better on paper and didn't click with me at all (my partner is continuing with it so I'll probably keep up with it passively even if I felt too emotionally detached to watch it myself).
R