This Season

Now that all the first episodes of the seasonal anime that I am following have aired, I can sort-of compare them.

Umamusume: Cinderella Gray - part 2 - I heard that the upcoming arcs would be peak, and I can see it. They are certainly cooking with the first couple of episodes, setting up for the big races.

Gnosia - This is an anomaly but I found an early rival to Cinderella Gray as the anime-of-the-season. Out of the seasonal anime that I am following, it has the strongest first episode. We got trusted into the thick of things immediately, making it exciting from the get-go. I hope the rest of it continues to be as good.

Spy x Family - season 3 - Just like Cinderella Gray, the first two episodes are just intermissions to set-up for the best parts. I am confident it won’t disappoint.

Digimon Beatbreak - It is still retaining my interest at the moment. I hope it follows its current direction and delve deeper into the underlying conspiracy. If it ends up focusing on a bunch of pointless battles that do not progress the story, that’s when I am going to drop it.

Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill - season 2 - This is my first drop of the season. Season 1 was a chill, slice-of-life isekai. Season 2 is more of the same. I think those who enjoyed season 1 greatly would continue to do so. In my case, I get bored of repetitive slice-of-life events eventually (like with I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level), so I am out.

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Past Season

I completed the remainder of Mushishi. I find it to be a unique anime. I think it may be the first anime I’ve watched that blends supernatural and episodic slice-of-life. Emphasis on slice-of-life, because even though Rascal Does Not Dream Of… and …monogatari exist, those felt more like drama.

Overall, it’s a pretty great series. I would rate it an 8 / 10.

Edit:

I resumed Steins;Gate after dropping it a year (or more) ago.

I think this is the anime with the worst pacing (read: took the longest to get going) for me. The first 11 episodes that I watched before dropping were ass.

Thank goodness there are many people pointing out it gets good in the second half, so much so that I pick it up again. And got good it did. It’s the usual time travel series with twists that is right up my alley. Once the time traveling started proper, I was hooked on each episode and left wanting for more.

It’s such a shame that it started off so poorly, taking 12 (out of a total of 24) episodes to get to the exciting parts. I’d imagine there is a significant number of people who dropped it like I did.

If I were the director of this anime, I would condense the first half into 2 or 3 episodes. If there are any crucial contextual information that failed to fit in the introductory episodes, I would show them via storytelling devices at the right moment (e.g. flashbacks).

This could have easily been a 10 / 10 if not for the lackluster first half. Final score: 9 / 10