This truly massive anime season is a month in, and it’s proving every bit as much of a monstrosity as expected. The sheer volume is still what stands out rather than historical greatness. If I season with this many series in the preview wasn’t at least pretty good, it would be a huge disappointment. And it is. On balance I think expectations have largely been met.

What would have made this a great season is first of all a big overperformance among the wild cards – mostly that massive pool of seinen adaptations that (for me) were all unknowns with potential. That hasn’t happened. Some have been very good, some disappointments, most somewhere in-between. In other words, pretty much the most likely outcome when the season began. The other thing would be one or two truly elite shows at the very top – locked-in AotY (or even more) contenders. We have shows that could still be that, but each has work to be done.

I’ve noticed over the years that most of the very best seasons seem to be really heavy on romance and romcoms – they always seem to do a lot of the heavy lifting. We don’t have that here – in fact it’s the romance genre that’s provided the most flameouts so far. I’m also really missing sports anime (again). I always love having a couple good ones but summer especially seems like their natural habitat. All in all it’s kind of what I expected going in – plenty of good series but falling short of true greatness as a season.

 

Onward, then, to Summer 2025:

The Elite

None

 

Outstanding

Hikaru gs Shinda Natsu
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A
Comments: Hikaru has been anything but a disappointment. Cygames is doing an admirable job capturing the tone and feel of the manga, which largely hinges on Yoshiki’s sense of the oppression nature of his village where everyone knows everyone. I don’t consider the manga to be an absolute masterpiece, so it would have required something really exceptional an anime terms – think Summertime Rendering or Heavenly Delusion – to lift the anime to that level. But it’s only by that highest of metrics that Hikaru may come up short – it’s a great adaptation of an excellent manga and will very much be in the conversation when December rolls around.

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun 2 Part 2
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: Nothing really unusual or surprising going on here. Just Hanako-kun right at its average level, which is extremely high. If we get into the upper echelons of the series’ quality range we’re certainly going to be in AotY territory, and as we’re father along in the manga than I’ve read I certainly consider that a possibility. Even without that we’re still very comfortably “outstanding”.

Gachiakuta 
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: A-
Comments: The Summer Hikaru Died is a better manga than Gachiakuta, and so far a slightly better anime. I do think Gachi has more room for upside movement, though, both because the level of the manga rises from here and because we have Bones starting to really flex. The shock and awe factor and the cool factor could find a synergy and this thing could seriously take off.

Dekin no Mogura
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: A-
Comments: The Earthbound Mole is probably my biggest upside surprise of the summer so far. But that’s mostly on me, I think, as I didn’t give Eguchi-sensei enough credit and relied too much on this series’ seeming lack of fanfare. It’s easy to forget just how great Hoozuki no Reitetsu is, and Dekin no Mogura is a beautifully written piece of work. It’s also getting a sneaky-good adaptation from Brain’s Base, who’re doing a great job capturing Eguchi’s signature visual style and character designs.

 

Very Good

Yofukashi no Uta Season 2 
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: Pretty close to the “Outstanding” cutoff, with a so-so 4th episode nudging it down a category. A perfectly fine start to the sequel to be sure, just nothing so far to rank with the best of the first season’s material. I’m not going to be surprised if this one does level up a bit from here.

Dandadan 2nd Season 
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B+
Comments: Right where it needs to be, even if there was a lot of carping about the production quality of the first two episodes. The Dandadan adaptation still gets it mostly right, overflows with flair, and seems to be saving its sakuga ammunition for the moments that really require it. Business as usual, split cour or no.

Takopii no Genzai
Episodes Watched: 5
Grade: B
Comments: Takopii no Genzai is mostly a very depressing experience. But I can’t really hold that against it – that’s just how Taizan 5 rolls. Takopii at least has the merit of being short enough that Taizan’s hyperactive drama machine doesn’t completely exhaust and grind down the audience, and this adaptation is quietly excelling on every level.

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru (My Dress-up Darling) Season 2
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: Another sequel that’s pretty solidly in line with the quality of the first season. It has stylistically evolved though, with these four episodes presenting a much more whimsical visual style and zany tone. So far I’d say that’s working for me, though I thought the first season was visually quite lovely and certainly would have been fine to see that style carry through. I applaud the courage to try something different. That said Episode 4 was a total snooze, and when S1 whiffed for me it tended to whiff pretty hard.

 

Worthwhile

Nyaight of the Living Cat
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B
Comments: Even with Takashi Miike involved I wasn’t quite expecting Nyaight of the Living Cat to be as out there as it is. It’s doing an admirable job melding the tropes of horror with cat fancy. And the central conceit here is a good one – the survivors love cats so much they don’t really want to fight back. They just want to rub toe beans and play with cat toys. Perhaps the message here is that cats have already taken over the world (at least this corner of it) and we just don’t realize it.

Ame to Kimi to  
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: With You and the Rain was something of a sleeper, and I think it’s proved worthy of that designation. No individual element of the series has blown me away but it just has an overall nice vibe, and seems to address the topic of what it’s like for loners in an extrovert world with a measure of intelligence. I just don’t get why almost everyone keeps calling it a dog when it’s obviously a tanuki.

Karaoke Iko!  
Episodes Watched: 1
Grade: B-
Comments: Honestly the grade should really be an “I” after only one episode. But I don’t do that, so if I have to grade it I’ll say B- for now. A pretty interesting first episode that teased some potentially dodgy themes, as well as a weird but intriguing storyline. This is my introduction to Wayama Yama and I’m not sure what to make of her yet.

Osomatsu-san 4th Season
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: Going in here the real question was whether Matsubara Shuu would still have anything essential to say about the Matsuno sextuplets after all these years. So far it’s kind of a mixed bag – overall relatively low-key in comic approach, with a batting average probably pretty close to the series’ recent norms.

 

 

Still Watching

Fermat no Ryouri
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: B-
Comments: I was pretty close to an insta-drop after what was a relatively weak premiere for Fermat no Ryouri. But while the execution and production remains pretty pedestrian, I am enjoying the series on the whole somewhat more. I do like the premise, and Kobayashi Yuugo has a deft touch with parent-child relationships. I think an interest in cooking is probably pretty essential here (much more than, say, an interest in soccer is needed to enjoy Ao Ashi).

Jigoku Sensei Nube
Episodes Watched: 3
Grade: C+
Comments: In most respects I think this reboot of the agent WSJ chestnut Hell Teacher Nube has been quite solid. Some of the manga’s sharp corners have certainly been smoothed out – it’s very much a product of its time – but the show has enough edge to remain kind of interesting.

CITY The Animation
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: Kyoto Animation is certainly delivering visually with CITY. My issue with it, as with all Awawi Keiichi series, is that I just don’t find them as funny as I’d like as often as I’d like. That said, the fourth episode was clearly the funniest so far and I’ve read far enough in the manga to know there’s some good stuff coming (though the batting average stays about the same).

Hotel Inhumans
Episodes Watched: 4
Grade: C+
Comments: In contrast, the fourth ep of Hotel Inhumans was by far weakest for me. I think this series is treading a pretty fine line tonally – it’s a fanciful conceit but it has to be handled with a certain amount of dignity.

 

Dropped:

Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku, Busu ni Hanataba wo., Futari Solo Camp, Watari-kun no xx ga Houkai Sunzen, Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Haikara!, Mattaku Saikin no Tantei to Kitara, Onmyou Kaiten Re:Birth,  Tougen, Anki, Mikadono Sanshimai wa Angai, Choroi

 

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

Monday:
On the Bubble: Nyaight of the Living Cat, Hotel Inhumans
On the Respirator: CITY the Animation

Tuesday:
On the Bubble: Osomatsu-san 4th Season

Wednesday:
Definitely Blogging: Uchuujin MuuMuu

Thursday:
Definitely Blogging: Dandadan 2nd Season
On the Bubble: Karaoke Iko!

Friday:
Definitely Blogging: Yofukashi no Uta Season 2, Takopii no Genzai

Saturday:
Definitely Blogging: Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu, Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru Season 2
On the Bubble: Kimi to Ame to, Fermat no Ryouri

Sunday:
Definitely Watching: Witch Watch, Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Season 2, Dekin no Mogura, Gachiakuta

Manga: Otoyomegatari, Hunter X Hunter (Hiatus)

Watching For Now: Leviathan

Patron Pick Ballot: CITY the Animation, Hotel Inhumans, Nyaight of the Living Cat, Kimi to Ame to, Osomatsu-san 4th Season, Fermat no Ryouri

 

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