I tried to find the hidden microtonal harmony, but no, it seems to be properly off key. Let’s hope they change it after 6 episodes and it turns out to be the vocals for a completely different song. (Now I got myself hyped for a 4d move that’s probably not even real.)

Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku
I didn’t really have high expectations of this, but the first episode did a good job with the animation supporting the poems, so I kept watching. Sadly, the entire series was setting up for a championship arch that didn’t actually appear. Instead, the climax/resolution of the last episodes introduced a bunch of new characters and some family drama that would have needed 5 episodes to properly explore, so it just fell flat. They introduced plenty of interesting characters for a cool qualifier event or something, I just wanted Hana to read more poems. That’s what hooked your viewers, it’s what sets you apart, so use it.

Medalist
Really solid, punchy animation. Well choreographed action. Wormies.

Blue Box
Love how it combines a sports story with a romance story without compromising on either. All likeable characters getting into believable drama and it never feels like the writing is stalling, every episode develops the characters and story in an interesting way. And outside of the romance, I love to see Taiki train hard, play good badminton and beat strong rivals.

Blue Box is dropping but it’s still so good though! Best romance I’ve watched in years and it’s also a really good sports anime.

The inspiration for the thread: I’m rewatching Tatami Galaxy and I remembered that I accidentally watched it in reverse order the last time. It worked surprisingly well, but I did watch episode 11 again at the end, after I realized what had gone wrong. There’s some time shenanigans anyway, and every episode contains about as many callbacks as callbacks-to-future-episodes and that doesn’t change in reverse order.

One anime that really is built differently, in structure, art style and themes:

Tatami Galaxy

Every episode is the main character making a different choice to try and fulfill his dream. It’s like Groundhog Day, but where Mr Groundhog eventually manages a perfect day, Mr Tatami learns to accept the imperfection of life.

Scene from Tatami Galaxy ep 9

Shuumatsu Train isn’t difficult to watch! It is the most classic of classic plots: a band of heroes sets off to save their village and faces all kinds of trials along the way, making them stronger as individuals and as a group, before defeating the Great Evil and saving the princess. It also has trains.

Seconding Penguindrum as “built different”. It’s a classic imo, but it isn’t discussed enough, probably because everyone (like me) is convinced it isn’t a real anime but a fever dream they had after watching too much anime.

You didn’t like season 2? I honestly thought it was a great addition. S1 is a definite 11/10 and S2 is a 9 on its own, but watching S1 and S2 together is still a 10/10. I think the climax of S1 hits even harder when the seasons are combined.