Out of town and busy for a few weeks, so fell behind during the winter finish and spring start. This’ll be a catch up post for all of these. Would it be better to post in the respective threads, even though they’ve kinda passed on to obscurity? I dunno.

Winter anime roundup: really great season. I had low expectations going in, and it ended up being so much better.

Finished:

• Frieren - Excellent. This cour dragged a little in the first half, as it introduced so, so many new characters that each needed time to develop. But it finished strong and was super high quality throughout. May not be my AOTY, like the first cour was for 2023, but still phenomenal.
• Delicious in Dungeon - Excellent. Wow this show is really going somewhere. I love the characters, the animation, and the story is intriguing. This is my top recommendation lately for recent great anime. Must watch for Spring.
• Apothecary Diaries - Excellent. Not quite as engaging as cour 1, but still great. I felt like some of the reveals later on felt too much like a twist for the sake of it, and that we were mislead earlier on. Still very worth watching though.
• The Dangers in my Heart - Very good. I didn’t engage quite as much as the first season, mostly because the MC lost a lot of his personality and became more generic. But it’s still one of the best depictions of high school romance, for me. For anybody curious, yes, this show gets dramatically better than the first two episodes of season 1. MC is mostly an unlikeable edgelord at the very beginning, but becomes much more interesting quickly.
• Solo Leveling - Very good. I’m an easy sell for these types of shows, and this one is particularly good. Good characters, high stakes, great action, satisfying progression. Just wish more were out so I could binge more quickly. Feels like too little happens with one episode (or less…) per week.

Trying out based on end of season rankings and recommendations:

• Villainess Level 99 - A few episodes in and this is so, so much better than I would’ve expected. Genuinely funny yet heartfelt. Definitely finishing.
• 7th Time Loop - Couple episodes in and really like MC, the premise, and curious about where it’s going. Give it a couple more for sure. That first episode covered a ton of ground!
• A Sign of Affection - One episode in and probably give a couple more.
• Sasaki and Peeps - Pending.
• The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - Pending.

Spring look forward: a few I’m interested in, but not many stand outs. A lot that I’d need to catch up on.

• Delicious in Dungeon S1C2 - Must watch. No idea where it’s going from here. Super good.
• Mushoku Tensei S2C2 - A mildly guilty pleasure, but we’re finally getting to the point that it’s a lot less difficult to defend. Rudy has grown a ton, we’re seeing a lot of payoff for years of toil, and I really like a lot of the characters. I’m hoping the adaptation keeps at the super high quality of the previous seasons.
• Spice and Wolf - Remake. I actually watched the first episode of the original recently and didn’t know this was coming. I’ll probably try this out instead.
• That Time I Reincarnated As A Slime S3 - I’m pretty behind, somewhere in S2. Might try to catch up.
• Konosuba S3 - I’m way back in S1. Not totally in, but probably give it another try to see if it clicks, since it’s apparently popular and they keep making it.
• Demon Slayer S? - Also behind. Might catch up, but already feeling too stacked.
• My Hero Academia S7 - Several seasons behind. Unlikely to catch up. It just felt so padded and unnecessary.
• X-men ‘97 - Yea, I know, not anime. But I’m still really excited about it. This is my childhood coming back, and the first 5 episodes have gone so hard. Very curious where it’s going.