Needless to say, I have to approach this check-in post in context of the season it covers. That means I’m astonishingly short on time. A cruel irony – I always have more time to write check-in posts for seasons where they shouldn’t take as long to write.

It was more or less a given that Spring 2023 would be very good by modern anime standards.  The question, really, was whether it would fulfill its seemingly huge potential and establish a place with the great anime seasons of the past.  Fall 2022 looked like it had at least a chance, but while good, it clearly didn’t meet that level.   It’s way too early to make a final call on this season, but so far it’s done nothing to suggest the hype was unwarranted.  There’s certainly as much good anime airing now as there has been at one time for many a year, and Golden Kamuy hasn’t even returned to the airwaves yet.

The bottom line – all the series I expected to be at least “Outstanding” are just that (and that was a lot of them).  The top series are clearly elite, serious contenders for the year-end list, and not just that but the upper reaches of it.  So you have a season that has both depth and greatness, and for me no anime season can be called great unless it has both.  Even at a month in I can say we’re looking at the best anime season in a few years at the very least, and if none of the tentpoles collapse, it’ll be worth looking back when it’s over and seeing how it stacks up against Spring 2012.  That’s probably the last anime season I consider absolutely S-class from a historical perspective.

Patrons will once again be voting on their pick by the time this post goes live, but this is not a season (unlike winter) that has many bubble series.  The candidates for that voting this time around come mainly from shows I would probably cover in a normal season, but are possible victims of the time crunch this go-around.  It’s going to be fascinating to see how that vote plays out.

Onward, then, to Summer 2023:

 

The Elite

Tengoku Daimakyou
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A
Comments: At gunpoint, I’d probably say Tengoku Daimakyou was my third-favorite among this season’s manga being adapted (though after BokuYaba it’s damn close).  But if I’m judging the adaptations strictly on their own merits, this one has to nose the top spot so far.  The manga is great, first of all.  But the adaptation has basically been perfect.  Production I.G. is pulling out all the stops on this one – phenomenal staff, seamless animation, art design beyond superb.  It’s taken Ishiguro-sensei’s weird, brilliant source material and crafted it into a genuine work of art.  Atmospheric, post-apocalyptic world-building and disturbing images from the subconscious – this is like a great anime sci-fi from 20 years ago (except it looks even better).

Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A
Comments: I’d be willing to bet a sizable sum that by the time the book is written on this season, Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu will have climbed into the top spot.  Basically Tengoku Daimakyou has pitched a perfect game up to this point, but with BokuYaba the heavy hitters haven’t even come to the plate yet.  As great as the prologue (which is basically the first three episodes) is, all – and I do mean all – the best material is still to come.  And it just gets better and better.  I knew Akagi-sensei and Shin-Ei were a perfect choice to helm the adaptation, but I’ve been blown away by how faithful they’ve been in every sense.  The temptation to soften the early material – and Ichikawa Kyoutarou – at the beginning in order to make them an easier sell must have been huge.  But Sakurai Norio wrote the intro this way for a reason, and if you look at the interviews Akagi and the key staff have given, it’s clear they get this series on the genetic level.

 

Outstanding

Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A
Comments: I feel very much about the “Outstanding” plateau of this check-in as I did about the “Mid-table” in the season preview.  As amazing as the very top is, this is where the true strength of the season really asserts itself.  Insomniacs After School headlines an amazing group, and honestly I could have kicked it up a tier and not second-guessed myself.  This and Tengoku Daimakyou tussle for my top spot among manga not named BokuYaba being adapted this season, and Lidenfilms’ adaptation so far has been on-point.  No major changes, not a huge amount of stylistic input, but faithful and well-made.  As with BokuYaba – though not quite as dramatically – the best material has yet to see the screen.

Skip to Loafer
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: The calls start getting really tough here, but I’m giving the next spot to Skip and Loafer (the first appearance by a series I don’t follow in manga form).  This is really seinen romance (though not much romance yet) at its most effortless and charming (and fluffy) – a show that’s pretty impossible not to love.  P.A. Works is doing a fine job with the adaptation, and among this season’s stellar romance crop I think Skip to Loafer is the easiest to embrace.  It’s very smart but doesn’t make too many harsh demands of the audience – there’s a cushion of whimsy and kindness that surrounds everything that happens.

Jijou o Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Kuru
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: The Clueless Transfer Student is Assertive is one of those cases where even knowing how good the manga is, I probably sold the series short. It’s so easy to dismiss it as a trifle – an adorable series about adorable 5th-graders doing silly stuff – but Jijou Tenkousei is so much more than that. It strikes a perfect balance – as a romcom with kids as its protagonists, as a comedy with bullying as a central theme. And as with the above romance shows, the main couple here is so lovable it hurts. Studio Pierrot (here through their subsidiary Signpost) has been a regular fixture on my year-end Top 10 lists for a reason. Their visuals are never flashy, but they seem to have an unerring sense of how to capture the essence of a manga on-screen.

Tonikaku Cawaii 2nd Season
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: No big changes here, except perhaps a deepening appreciation of the work for me.  ToniKawa is another series that’s very easy to take for granted, but it does slice of life as well as any romcom we’ve seen in a long time. I love the somewhat mature spin Hata Kenjirou puts on the material, in the sense of seeing though the silliness of both romcom tropes and RL romantic fumblings.  It’s nice to see a series about a married couple deeply in love – you wouldn’t think they’d be as rare as they are, but they are.

 

Very Good

Mix: Meisei Story – Nidome no Natsu, Sora no Mukou e
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: I think Adachi Mitsuru is kind of a “you get him or you don’t” mangaka at this point.  I’d probably have a hard time justifying to a non-believer why I like Mix as much as I do, and it’s certainly not on the level of Cross Game.  But then, not much is – and after a fairly slow start Mix has re-established itself over the past three weeks.  This is anime comfort food for me if anything ever was, and especially in a season with no other sports series really on my radar, I’m heartily glad to have it on the table.

Mahoutsukai no Yome Season 2  
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: There are basically two reasons why I’d currently rank this season a little lower than the first (and a couple of series I ranked behind it in the preview).  First, things have started off at an extremely relaxed pace.  And second, so far I don’t find the magic academy setting suits the material as well as the idyllic but creepy English countryside.  But this is a show I could easily see climbing the board before the season is over.

Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi o Suru
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: The last of the season’s big romcoms, my top sleeper, and so far a very interesting series.  Asaka Morio doing a shoujo romance at Madhouse is the stuff of legend, really, and he certainly has a huge imprint on Yamada-kun’s success.  I didn’t love the premiere but things have been excellent since, with Akane and Yamada-kun a fascinating mismatched pair at the heart of the story.  The only cautionary note is Runa, the annoying goth loli whose arc has the potential to be a major trip-wire.  That’s really the only reason I can’t completely embrace this series yet.

Oshi no Ko
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B
Comments: I’ll go to “very good” on Oshi no Ko based just on what a fascinating enigma the three-episode premiere movie was.  We’ve only had two episodes of the series itself, so it’s hard to predict where it’s going to go from here.  How it ultimately feels about the idol industry will ultimately determine where it takes its characters, and that will determine whether this is a series worth even a fraction of the adulation its received.

 

Worthwhile

Jigokuraku 
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: As expected, Jigokuraku is proving one of the commercial standouts of the season.  It’s a good production, and there are some interesting ideas in the mix here.  For me, this series has a bit of a split personality, with the philosophical side at war with the straight-up battle shounen and gore porn side.  Kaku Yuuji is one of those mangaka whose influences are impossible to miss (less so his old boss Fujimoto than some, surprisingly), sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.  I’d like to be convinced to keep going on this one, and the next couple of weeks are going to tell the tale.

My Home Hero
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: My Home Hero falls into that subset of series I’d probably blog in an average season, but might not have time for this spring.  The production values are deeply uninspired but we’re not in Biscuit Hammer territory or anything – the story is interesting and suspenseful enough to carry the show.  I do have some credibility issues, but I think MHH is best viewed as a modern urban fantasy that a realistic crime thriller.

Ao no Orchestra 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: I quite liked the premiere of Ao no Orchestra, but neither of the last two episodes have impressed me as much.  I’m okay with the generally mediocre production values given that the series seems to be doing a good job with the music (obviously crucial here).  But boy, that CGI orchestral scene in Episode 3 (including the character animation leading up to it) was truly execrable.  I’m also finding Akine to be an extremely grating character.  However, classical music and performing arts anime are two things I often love, Takeda-sensei is a great character (though he may be dropping out of focus now that the kids have graduated), and we have a whole new setting and cast starting with this week’s ep.  I remain cautiously hopeful.

Ousama Ranking: Yuuki no Takarabako
Episodes Watched: 2
Grade: B-
Comments: I have a lot of fondness for Ousama Ranking, despite it seriously losing the plot in the end.  For about a cour it was genuinely great, and that’s nothing to take for granted.  However the anime-original (albeit with mangaka input) Yuuki no Takarabako is pretty lightweight stuff so far.  Pleasant but superficial side stories that really belong on a manga bonus disc rather than as part of the main TV series.

 

Still Watching

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: B-
Comments: This adaptation of a Korean web novel pretty much came out of nowhere for me, but I quite like it.  As I understand it, in manhwa whenever a heroine isekais in a romance series, it’s always into a novel she’s read.  In this case the titular heroine is a rather sharp and resourceful young woman, and the dynamic between her and the titular duke – who she effectively blackmails into pretending to be in love with her in order to escape the fiancee she knew from the book would try to murder her – is quite fun.

Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-Hen
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: For me, it’s been a perfectly fine but not especially interesting start for Kimetsu no Yaiba this season.  A very good cold open with the upper rank demons, almost no Dumb & Dumber – that’s all good.  There were a few too many stabs at humor in the first three eps, though, and that’s never been Kimetsu’s strong point (at least as an anime).  Now that the bad guys have arrived the the swordsmith’s village the real plot can kick in, and this series tends to do better in that mode.

Otonari no Ginga
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: I feel like I should like this seinen more than I should, but so far A Galaxy Next Door isn’t really clicking for me.  The writing is a bit broad and the whole alien (or at least alien-modified) heroine thing feels more like a strange add-on than an organic plot element.  There have been some nice moments though, and I always enjoy a look inside the often messy manga creation process.

Rokudo no Onna-tachi
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: In every sense this comes off as a dumb harem comedy, but I sense just a bit more with Rokudo no Onna-tachi.  It looks cheap but at least in a retro way, and there may just be a smidgen of humanism underneath the rather crass gender politics.  It’s not terrible, anyway, and more entertaining than some of the bottom-feeders on the schedule this season.

 

Dropped:

Mashle, Megami no Cafe Terrace, Opus.COLORS, Dead Mount Death Play

 

Here, then, is this season’s blogging prospectus:

Monday:
Definitely Blogging: Vinland Saga Season 2, Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia, Golden Kamuy 4th Season (from 5/15) 

Tuesday:
Definitely Bloogging: Skip to Loafer
On the Bubble: Kubo-san wa Mob wo Yurusanai (from 5/16)

Wednesday:
Probably Blogging: Oshi no Ko

Thursday:
Definitely Blogging: Mahoutsukai no Yome Season 2
Probably Blogging: Ousama Ranking: Yuuki no Takarabako

Friday:
Definitely Blogging: Tonikaku Cawaii 2nd Season

Saturday:
Definitely Blogging:Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu, Tengoku Daimakyou, Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi o Suru, Mix: Meisei Story – Nidome no Natsu, Sora no Mukou e
On the Bubble: Jigokuraku

Sunday:
Definitely Blogging: Jijou o Shiranai Tenkousei ga Guigui Suru
Probably Blogging: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-Hen
On the Bubble: Ao no Orchestra, My Home Hero

Manga: Otoyomegatari, Hunter X Hunter (hiatus)

Watching For Now: Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion, Rokudo no Onna-tachi

As to that Patron Pick vote, it’s Jigokuraku, Ao no Orchestra, My Home Hero, and Raeliana.

 

One more thing before I wrap. Sincere thanks to everyone who stepped up to support LiA during our last-ditch fall pledge drive!  We managed to hit the minimum target and I’m eternally grateful, but the need for support is as strong as ever – links are in the sidebar as always if you want to help out.  The “LiA Bespoke” commissions program is officially open and off to a flying start, so please check it out!

Please check out the LiA YouTube channel for manga recommendations, from the vault anime, Japan journeys and more!