Seasonals of the Abyss - Winter 2026

 Seasonals of the Abyss

* Winter 2026 *

Happy new year. The winds of change are blowing. Yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same - such as my continued insistence on watching seasonal anime. Even after hauling the combined weight of all my personal belongings hundreds of miles away to my new place of residence and then having to go back to painstakingly trash the rest of it, I've been using the last of my energy to drag my busted old body back to the television every week. To get out of bed every day in a world like this, you need to have some pride in something. Even if that pride lies with the ability to watch what the Japanese media conglomerates are putting on the air and then writing about it.

Winter is traditionally a lull for airing anime, but traditions are being shattered as the battle for time slots rages on. The heavy hitters can't all be on stage in the middle of the year anymore; they're simply making too much of it. Too many shows with not enough real estate to go around. Perhaps that's why even the esteemed Sousou no Frieren had to settle for its second season return at the dawn of 2026. I suppose when you're operating with the swagger of Big Dick Is Back In Town, the time of year is a pretty trivial setback. If you air it, they will come to watch.

I value my backlog digging too much to take on a heavy load every season - and frankly, it's not like most seasonal anime appeals to me. I'm too much of a freak for that. I'm weighing the potential benefits of watching Sky Girls over the concept of taste-testing even a fifth of what Kadokawa has on the docket for the next three months. That's just how I'm built! That's not to say there weren't a handful of intriguing picks this time around, but I wisely narrowed it down to four shows on the table - two returning champions and two fresh faces to split the schedule evenly. We'll talk about the sequels first this time around and leave the underdogs for later. It'll be more interesting that way.

Seasonals of the Abyss is an exercise in restraint to continue loving a medium one would never wish to hate. Thanks for reading.

 

Sousou no Frieren S2

Produced by Madhouse

Let's just rip this band-aid off. Picture this: an unsolicited YouTube thumbnail. A tall, pasty white boy with black rimmed glasses makes an expression of faux-shock and disappointment. The title? "Frieren S2 Is The MOST Overrated Anime Of Winter 2026???". A haunted byline. The detritus of rage baiting scatters across the barren earth. The banner of a MyAnimeList aggregated rating score hovers overhead like the Sword of Damocles to sever the carotid artery of discourse. The comment section floods in advance to biblical proportions as the binary factions wage a forever war with no victor. These are truly the last days. You open up the webpage and it's full of blood.

That's not what this post is going to be, but it feels like the optimal time to get ahead of the game. Do I think Frieren is overrated? Sure. However, when one considers the context, that's about as much of a profound statement as "water is wet". We're talking about one of the most visible and highly praised anime adaptations of our current era. There's really no meaning in establishing a talking point of "this is overrated" because it doesn't impart any qualitative substance. To some people, calling a piece of media overrated is an inherent negative statement to get their foot in the door; a cheap justification for the poor man's hatred. Out here in my hermit's peak, I know what's overrated and underrated simply boils down to a matter of personal perspective. A show that has rave reviews and massive acclaim will be underrated to anyone who doesn't think it's the hottest piece of ass in the universe, but does that make it bad? Of course not!

Sousou no Frieren is a fantasy tale concerning the titular Frieren - a long lived elf who has spent much of her time emotionally aloof and disinterested in the machinations of the world around her. Long after serving as a mage in the legendary hero's party that slayed the demon king, she comes to the realization that she has taken her lifespan for granted. Elves far outlive the many species of this world and her former comrades are no exception. After the death of the Himmel the Hero, Frieren's remorse turns to action as she agrees to mentor Fern, a magically attuned war orphan, and recruit a young warrior named Stark on a long journey to the northern lands to properly say goodbye to Himmel's spirit. Along the way she indulges in her hobby of acquiring esoteric grimoires that teach her lost spells - many of which consist of glorified party tricks that she finds endlessly amusing.

This anime is yet another feather in the cap of the acclaimed studio Madhouse who burst straight out the gate back in late 2023 with the first season premiere being a three episode package. It's clear they were eager to keep the flame lit after a staggering two cour effort, but keeping the quality standard for a highly visible show like this takes time. That's why it surprised me very little when the production team confirmed that this second season offering would be just a mere ten episodes. One may wonder if a leisurely paced fantasy epic such as this has the room to express much of worth in the bare minimum episode count to constitute a single cour. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be much of a problem as Frieren was already leveraging episodic storytelling plenty in its first season between major arcs.

Frieren season two marks the directorial debut of storyboard artist Tomoya Kitagawa who also flexed some episode direction in the first season. They weren't able to get Bocchi the Rock director Keiichirou Saitou back for a full schedule so he's running assistant duty to keep things on track. The rest of the staff is generally the same as before - old and new blood at Madhouse, a lot of leveraged talent from Cloverworks, and an assortment of freelancers who have worked with known names like MAPPA and SHAFT. The end result certainly reflects a commitment to stylistic consistency as the episodes thus far have been highly reminiscent of the slower paced, self-contained stories from the previous season. 

It's a good thing that a more streamlined fantasy story without isekai or tensei gimmickry has captivated a large audience. I'm personally a picky eater in this regard but it's a welcome trend considering the oversaturation of fish-out-of-water scenarios in the genre. Mass produced escapism has hit the melting point of banality, but I'll spare you the rant for another time. Frieren goes to great lengths to establish a proper scale to its journey by including plenty of visible travel, establishing landmarks, and dotting the timeline with quaint self-contained scenarios to color its world before the next action packed event. The story knows how to use pacing and contrast to its advantage, leaning on whimsical bemusement and reflection in the downtime to better highlight the greater story beats where far more is taking place in a shorter span of time.

This season has been divided cleanly between its episodic tales and the next major arc, but only the first half has aired at the time of writing this. I'm left somewhat conflicted on what to say in regards to this particular set of episodes because it's basically more of the same fantasy slice of life fare that the first season had in spades. It's a sensible decision considering that this is following up a climactic mage exam arc that involved a life-or-death dungeon and a huge ensemble cast to wrangle around from scene to scene. As a slice of life enthusiast, I'd never use the term "filler" here, but it's true that the episodes presented have been something of a connective tissue to keep the viewers attached as it strolls along to the next point of intrigue. The most compelling story up to this point has been Fern and Stark going on an awkward yet heartwarming date together.

I fear the downtime has hit the point of spinning its wheels a little too much. It's almost a meme how much the episodic storytelling has rigidly adhered to the template. This was partially true of the first season as well, but it avoided stagnating on the slice of life bits since there were more establishing set pieces necessary to build the world and solidify the journey's purpose. Here the elements have been boiled down to their leanest forms. The crew stumbles into a new town that Frieren wandered through in the distant past which leads to them accepting a side quest of sorts. The episode is punctuated with comedic moments and non-sequiturs before the major goal is addressed which often involves slaying a monster or demon so that the animators can actually show off a little bit in the brief action. At some point in all of this, Frieren will have her contextually sound flashback involving her old party and Himmel's words of wisdom will echo across the annals of time.

Sentimentality is certainly a major theme of this story, but it tends to drown itself in the thick syrup-y pathos when it isn't being driven by action and flashing lights. It's not an unbearable taste, but I'm starting to see the uniform patterns in the modes of storytelling which has knocked me out of the immersion state more times than I'd like. It doesn't help that Frieren's characters are a bit dry in the grand scheme of things. They have personalities that come off as characteristically "real" but are lacking in expression. It makes sense for Frieren herself being the emotionally stunted baba elf that she is, but even the moody purple-haired Fern and the fiery red-haired Stark are lacking in the emphasis department.

Look, I'm still enjoying it, so don't whip out the pitchforks just yet. The reality is that this isn't my particular cup of tea in the first place. I like my fantasy tales weird and off-putting with strong personalities steering the ship. This is a fine looking anime with plenty of color and whimsy with great bursts of animation and plenty of passion to go around. I typically dodge a fair share of the popular anime titles because they present no intrigue or appeal to my warped tastes, so Frieren having me back in the hole for a second round is an endorsement in of itself. The fact is that I was born to be a critic. That's why the powers of the universe bestowed upon me the curse of having strong opinions.

Frieren is more than good enough if you want an above average cut-and-dried fantasy tale with great production values that's an easy watch. I think anyone who watched the first season knows where they stand on this series by now. Season two is just more of the same. Maybe it's just a personal problem, but I always feel this nagging sense in the back of my mind when talking about an anime that everybody is already aware of. Everyone in the world already has an opinion on Frieren, and mine is that I enjoy it enough to keep up but don't particularly love it with the same ferocity as the general public. I entertained the idea of skipping over this show when the writing process began, but then I remembered that this is my personal blog and I can write whatever self-indulgent bullshit I want because nobody else sets the rules for my domain. I'm only special between the margins of this formatted webpage. 

Who's gonna read this anyways? You? Well, thank you. I genuinely appreciate it. Please continue to have faith in me as I talk about the other anime I've been watching this season. 

 

Himesama "Goumon" no Jikan desu S2

Produced by PINE JAM

One joke - I don't know why. Doesn't really matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind, they designed twelve more episodes to explain the punchline.

My apologies to the friends at PINE JAM to whom I express nothing short of unwavering loyalty and respect. Not once since the day you brought Do It Yourself!! into this world have I ever doubted your prowess nor cast judgment on your project choices. You've earned a lifetime pass to follow your heart (or your wallet) into the great beyond. It's been over three years and I'm still waiting patiently for another original anime project to sprout forth from your effervescent minds. Until then, it's fine if you want to produce a few more adaptations. Just get back to me at least once while I'm still alive, okay?

Exactly two years after the first season, PINE JAM returns with a second helping of Himesama "Goumon" no Jikan desu ('Tis Time For "Torture," Princess), an adaptation of the now-concluded gag manga that follows the captured royal princess Hime and her sentient sword Ex as they brave captivity in the dungeon of the demonic Hellhorde. Why is the word "torture" in quotes, you may ask? That's the entire crux of the series right there. This is a series where the humor all comes from the same brand of subversion. It's understood that in a traditional fantasy setting that the humans are good and demons are evil. This is a world where neither are evil and the demons have better work benefits. The conflicts are driven by misunderstanding. Everyone is fighting with the same lethality as a re-enactment of the American civil war.

The members of the Hellhorde take pride in their "torture" - so much so that the leader of the entire outfit is named Torture Tortura. She, and the other interrogators, serve under the demon king to extract secrets from their prisoners. Being a royal princess, Hime has more than enough juicy knowledge to last them a lifetime. No need to worry, though! This isn't a Jack Bauer style interrogation session. Remember that one joke I mentioned? It's simply the form that said torture takes with each segment. Most of the humor is derived from coming up with forms of torture in the abstract. We're not talking nail pulling devices or being scraped with rusty knives. It's more to the tune of watching someone cook delicious fried rice in front of you and not being able to have any. Two demons walk in and start playing that video game you were really interested in while you're in chains. Hime, despite being a trained combatant with a heart of steel, has little to no resistance to these hedonistic pleasures. Any secret will do, and it's a sure thing that she will always cave every single time.

I can't in good conscience act as if "one joke" shows are beneath me because I watched all of Seitokai Yakuindomo of my own free will and enjoyed it. These are just a special breed of gag-fueled slice of life shows that are more about riffing on personality traits and character chemistry than the set dressing. Hime is supposed to be a resilient and highly trained princess but her true nature lies in her laziness and penchant for fun. Her sword Ex is the straight man in the arrangement, trying to take the entire fantastical concept at face value despite the futility of it all. All the torturers are colorful members of the Hellhorde who quickly befriend Hime with their own quirks and interests. Even the demon king is just a quirky father with a wife and child who watches isekai anime when he gets off work. It's that kind of show.

If I had to describe it in a certain way, it's like all the characters are performers. They deliberately contrast from the behavior one would expect them to exhibit. The demon king is loud and menacing with an evil laugh but he's happy with just about any secret he can get. In dark and shady meetings, members of the crew discuss work-life balance. Everyone seems to be acutely aware of social media trends. It's the skin of a fantasy world comedy over our contemporary lives and played for laughs. The ensemble cast grows steadily over time with new faces and personalities that skew the torture methods and the means of engagement. "Silly" and "cute" are the most apt descriptors here. 

PINE JAM has sharpened their expressive animation style much since Do It Yourself!! aired and gone to town with it to match the zany energy of this series. They were a sure fit for the first season, so it's no surprise they were quickly tapped for another dozen episodes that seamlessly continue the antics on display. Most episodes have Hime braving another "torture" session which quickly segues into fun and games, food porn, and plenty of light slapstick to go around. The second season has taken more liberties to give other characters their own self-contained stories which drift more into the slice of life playbook, but you won't hear me complaining about that! A series of this caliber can use all the variety it can muster lest it be accused of being a one trick pony.

This is a quintessential easy viewing show - perfect for a Monday time slot. Even though the OP song is named "Sunday Morning". It's got the spirit at least. But I have to be selfish for a little bit and beg that this studio gets to do something original again, or at least a more ambitious adaptation. I know the Japanese people love this kind of fantasy gag setup with manzai humor and all the tropes lined up but a second season of this is quickly speeding toward fatigue inducing for me. I think the individual members of the cast have their own charm but they hug too close to their specific character quirks to grow on me much more than they already have. The irony is that, in making the demons friendly and agreeable, they've sanded the edges off to where there's barely a distinction between them and the humans other than physical appearance.

It's not so much that there's one joke but that there's one punchline with varying types of wind up. I think I've settled with the fact that one season of this was enough and two is dangerously close to overkill. A third would just make me sad. Not to be rude, but it would be a straight up waste of talent. I'm enough of a realist to know that it's highly unlikely a second season of Do It Yourself!! will ever be in the cards, but I'd be happy to see this studio do anything original. There's always more room for original anime projects in this world, blissfully unchained from having source material to draw from. Himesama proves that PINE JAM still has the spice and the sauce for greatness. When are they going to be able to use it on something that punches at their weight class?

For the record, I do not think is a bad series or anime. This is probably the best adaptation a gag manga like this could ever get, and some of these second season episodes have gotten a chuckle or two out of me. I just like to dream big. Fans of the first season will be more than happy with what they're getting here. For me, I'll temper my patience. Surely one of these days this studio will return to surprise me yet again.

 

Seihantai na Kimi to Boku

Produced by Lapin Track

 

Romantic comedies in the anime world have fundamentally changed since the Reiwa era began. The push and pull of the "will they, won't they" formula that concludes with a long sought confession has been sidestepped. Writers are dying to talk about what fictional characters are actually doing in these relationships. There are no happily-ever-afters. Not immediately!

The old mantra "opposites attract" is the core tenet of Seihantai na Kimi to Boku (You and I Are Polar Opposites), a high-school romcom about a bubbly girl who adheres to trends and social acceptance falling for a bluntly honest guy who is uncompromisingly himself. Despite her clique status, Miyu Suzuki can't help but find any excuse to speak to her crush - the reserved Yuusuke Tani. After the two are spotted walking home together, she creates a misunderstanding in class that jeopardizes the relationship between them. Her bumbling good nature leads her to correct the record and ultimately confess which swiftly turns to the relationship she always wanted. As two people with drastically different personalities, Miyu and Yuusuke navigate through the world of romance together while decoding each other's love language in an attempt to mitigate the most infamous instigator of romcom drama - miscommunication.

Seihantai is a warm dream in a post Skip to Loafer world where people crave an ensemble cast of individuals that aren't orbiting entirely around the perceived main duo. As such, the series quickly establishes a web of relationships surrounding the class that also adhere to the theory of opposites. The friendly-yet-dense Yamada who can socialize with ease finds himself smitten with Natsumi, a shy library assistant who laughs at jokes she hears from across the room. There's also clear tension between Shino, an easygoing girl who effortlessly rides the social flow, and Taira, a man who echoes the behaviorism of Oregairu's Hachiman Hikigaya in the way he scrutinizes his classmates through the warped perception of the social hierarchy that surrounds him.

Lapin Track has been an interesting studio to follow since they adapted the screwball supernatural detective series Undead Girl Murder Farce and the similarly odd Shoushimin Series a few years back. Seihantai gives them yet another note of intrigue as they hit the ground running with an OP sequence plentiful with live action sequences that utilize optical illusions, papercraft, building blocks, and other elements between vibrant 2D animation segments. As a modern school comedy, it naturally taps into the youth culture of the moment - most notably the short form vertical content that should be familiar to those who have perused a TikTok video or two. The audience for anime is shifting and dispersing in interesting ways, but this show definitely has a little something for everyone.

This is a semi-sweet experience that enjoys being saccharine but only after earning its stripes through a sprinkling of light drama and playful friction. The emotionally obtuse Yuusuke often finds himself struggling with his personality and status in the face of the girl he loves being a social butterfly with good standing. In the same vein, Miyu overthinking her social interactions and choosing only the best aspects of herself to put forward leads her to improperly express her true feelings out of a shame. The real sweetness comes when they recognize and rectify these faults in each other, carving out the pathways for communication and understanding in service of the relationship. It's a balancing act of exaggerated anime tropes and grounded emotional navigation that establishes a beautiful contrast. Each episode is such a pleasant experience that has been elevated by the hard work of Lapin Track and their creative talent who clearly hold the source material in high regard.

Romcoms like Seihantai are trying to chase something a little more real without losing the expressive idiosyncrasies that made anime a beloved (and sometimes controversial) medium, and that's a winning formula in my book. The extra effort gone into rounding off the characters including establishing the social network between their family members and other friends creates an intricate sense of community that allows for extra freedom in how these interactions come together. I particularly enjoyed the way Natsumi meets Yamada through the latter's interactions with her good friend Honda who has a habit of making a comedic lip-sucking face when she's afraid of grinning too obviously at the social developments surrounding her schoolmates. It's an attention to detail I can easily appreciate and helps the cast naturally gravitate toward each other without contrivance.

Not that I mind contrived romance fluff - I'm a Toradora fan after all. I'm trained in the art of suspending my disbelief and have no qualms in doing so for worthy entertainment. That being said, as someone who has navigated romance many a time in my life, a series like this that seeks to be a more accurate depiction of adolescent relationships gives me a pang of yearning for times long departed. No, not in the "tfw no gf" way. I'm talking about the good yearning. That spark of connection to love and humanity that keeps one in touch with their inner empathy. It makes me want to root for the characters more so they too can find that joy. That extra layer of individuality that slowly peels into view for each of the major characters really goes a long way.

That's a lot of words just to say - this show is so freaking cute. It puts a smile in my tired eyes. An admirable feat, no doubt. It also incorporates the classic ED song lead-in at the end of each episode. If you've been following me or my writing for any length of time you should know that is one of my favorite anime style choices in the world. Something about dropping five to ten seconds of the ending song in the show before the visuals hit just sets my neurons on fire. I couldn't even begin to break down the logic of how it works, but it does. Just trust me on this one.

Romantic comedy fans are feasting like royalty, especially when they're not watching the most boring tripe in the world. This shift comes in extremes. Some of the most critically acclaimed anime with romantic themes of the modern era are coma-inducing. I'm sorry to say it, but somebody has to. Seihantai is one of those lighthouse beacons in the darkness that should cure anyone of their misconceptions. It's adorable, warm, layered, and practically exudes iyashikei aura in the way it mends the wounds of the heart. What else can one ask for? It gets my full endorsement. Lapin Track, you dogs. You've won me over again. I'll be sad to see this one end, especially since the source material has been concluded for some time. It's important to remember that all great art in this world needs to meet its natural end. A candle can't burn forever. I'll cherish it while it lasts.

 

Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu.

Produced by Studio DEEN

Speaking of art - polarization is one of the clearest indicators in the world that a form of expression will be fascinating. When the reaction to a work is either passionate love or righteous fury, it's certain there is something to be explored; to be witnessed. Danganronpa V3 is a game that draws ire all over and yet it's one of my favorite creative expressions in the medium. I tend to gravitate toward works that exude an energy of uncompromising vision even at the cost of alienating a good share of its potential audience. I'm no clairvoyant. There was no way of knowing what I was getting into when I arbitrarily decided to pick up Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu (Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table). My logic at the time was simple: a quirky life-or-death premise reminiscent of Saw being adapted by a studio with a fascinating history has to be an entertaining watch. Despite a recent track record that is nothing short of messy and incoherent and the loss one of their strongest production teams, I couldn't help but cast my eyes back at Studio DEEN to see if they were coughing up a project that wasn't BL or incest related. 

What I wasn't expecting was a fresh faced director who had no intentions on settling for business as usual. Souta Ueno's credentials aren't long or glamorous. He started as a production assistant on Hatsukoi Monster in 2016 and steadily worked his way into the industry with minor roles in storyboarding and episode direction while collaborating with studios like DEEN, David Production, and P.A. Works. It was DEEN who ultimately invested in his potential, giving him his first assistant director gig on the BL series Sasaki to Miyano and his directorial debut with 2024's Gimai Seikatsu (Days with My Stepsister). After proving himself capable of handling DEEN's twin pillars of taboo romance, he managed to secure his next project: a light novel series about a kuudere heroine who wants to win ninety-nine death games in a twisted world where humanity watches them for entertainment.

Even as adaptations become more ambitious, they rarely shake up how the source material is interpreted. More often you see them simply expand on what's already concrete and sure. To put it in KyoAni terms, they turn out more like K-ON! and less like CITY. There's a frictional risk involved in reconstructing the original work; hardcore fans tend to decry it as a distasteful affront. The world still echoes with the war cries of 2003's Fullmetal Alchemist against the more authentic Brotherhood. Even SHAFT found themselves facing the ire of Japanese audiences for often taking creative liberties with their adaptations prior to Bakemonogatari and Madoka Magica earning them the mandate of heaven. It's a sensible business decision to play by the rules, but an artistic medium shouldn't always be at the mercy of universal appeal. The joy of art is in the expression and the medium chosen is the form factor it takes. Really, more adaptations should portray the source in a way that only an animated medium is capable of.

It's for that reason that Shiboyugi has captivated me moreso than any other show this season. It quickly became the highlight of my week by a significant margin after witnessing its bold double feature debut. Some may call him a hack. Some may call him pretentious. The discourse I've witnessed brewing over this anime is highly reminiscent of the reactions to MAPPA's first run at Chainsaw Man where Japanese fans largely rejected its cinematic directing style. I had my own qualms with it, largely due to the fact that Fujimoto's frenetic energy was more absent than I'd like, but still left satisfied as someone who did read the source material prior to viewing. Here we're faced with a more interesting dichotomy between work and adaptation. Shiboyugi is a light novel series straight out of the '00s boom without a token male lead - a soft spoken, emotionally obtuse high school girl with snow white hair chooses a career as a death game contestant. At the point the story begins, she's already a battle-hardened veteran with the experience to show for it. She's cold and cunning. Her empathy toes the line between genuine and manipulative. As a trained combatant, she can wield knives and guns with ease. And she'll do anything to survive.

After scanning through the first volumes of the original light novel and its manga adaptation, it's no surprise why viewers familiar with the work were caught off guard by this anime. The source has the energy you'd expect; action-packed and wrought with paper thin drama. Most of the death game scenarios are set dressing to justify our heroine Yuuki and her fellow participants dressing up in myriad outfits - maid uniforms, bunny girl accessories, bath towels, and more. This is conveniently a woman-only industry, so one can easily extrapolate the reasons for this choice. Alliances schism, factions are drawn, and Yuuki has to overcome battles both physical and mental to survive unreasonable odds. It's her cunning and badass personality that equips her with the means to do so. It's high octane schlock, and one would expect the average anime to follow suit. But things aren't business as usual here.

Shiboyugi is a much different beast in anime form. It's slow, brooding, and meticulous. The visuals cycle between different shades of minimalism where detail is often obscured until it's not. There's an increased emphasis on sound design where music and ambiance often drive the tension between scenes. Very little exaggeration is found in the voice direction and portrayal of the characters. Despite the frequent presence of death, there's little visible blood due to a mechanic where all participants are injected with a serum that turns their blood into a cotton-like substance if it leaves the body. Yuuki's inner monologues paint a far more layered picture of an ambitious woman who is at odds with the moral corruption she's willingly engaging with. The inner struggle permeates further than just her heterochromatic eyes. One episode centers entirely around her life after a match which consists heavily of drawn out scenes, mixing narration with perspectives of her gazing out at the nearby overpass and restlessly sleeping in bed. At the end of the most recent game she survived a deathly encounter with an old rival by entering a panicked fight-or-flight state - a stark difference from her tough-as-nails personality as depicted in the light novel.

Detractors may see this as disrespectful, but I feel the exact opposite; there's no doubt in my mind that this director loves the source material. His reverence for the story is almost certainly the reason why he seems to have gone all in on trying to ascend it from fun schlock where women kill each other to a twisted arthouse production that has some of the best audio direction I've heard in a recent anime. It's not always the most coherent experience and it often has to compress the material to fit the time constraints, but the method in which it does so reflects clever direction. There's a sense of creativity in the way certain events and actions are presented in the abstract. At one point, Yuuki has to speak to the father of a competitor who died because of her actions. This is presented as a conversation in a liminal phone booth where her perspective is clearly illuminated by continuous non-answers and her aversion to perceiving them directly. If it could risk her spirit from pushing onward to winning ninety-nine games, then it's a liability for her to cast away.

Turning a kuudere badass light novel lead who dresses in provocative outfits into a fundamentally flawed anime heroine buried under her own cognitive dissonance is a hell of a play. There are more than a few overly ambitious directors in this world who could've attempted this without even a fraction of the vision or execution. For a second run at directing, this is an impressive feat. At the risk of sounding like a snob, I find far more value in a risk-taking work like this that can enrich the medium over another one-to-one adaptation that can only trace the margins of the playbook. Apologies to the fans of the source material, but it was a worthy sacrifice. Souta Ueno is the truest disciple of the Team Shinbo era of SHAFT where the rules were more akin to suggestions and they fought tirelessly for a unique vision that both they and the original authors would be happy with. Not for a million years will you see me ever decry such a philosophy. 

I'm no hater of schlock and there's certainly some popcorn light novel writing that even an aging fossil like me can enjoy, but when a work permeates across mediums, it's an optimal outcome if they can stand side by side. Nisioisin, who remains one of my favorite Japanese authors, understood this perfectly when he allowed SHAFT to wrangle the Monogatari anime how they pleased and then bestowed the same grace to Oh! Great for the manga. I don't think Shiboyugi's source material is bad. It's perfectly serviceable and closer to what I expected when I picked this show up. But if there's anything I enjoy most, it's a good surprise. A true subversion of expectation. That's a large part of why I find myself so enamored with this production. It still has plenty of goofball action with Yuuki dual wielding knives and brandishing weapons against her enemies. They didn't get rid of the scene where she straight up kills a wolf. She still wears the provocative outfits. The core differences aren't in the twisting in details but in the cadence of its execution. They should let this guy direct a true horror series next because he's built perfectly for it.

It was the moment that the OP first played that I realized this would be a different beast. A dreamlike freeway at night with 3DCG cars whirring by punctuated by ambient vocals that are uncharacteristic for an opening song. It reminded me of the OP songs that played for the Shinobu arcs in Monogatari where the vocals were another part of the instrumentation and didn't follow the standard conventions. SHAFT alumni Tomoyuki Itamura was always particularly fond of freeway imagery. Hell, even the ED for Yofukashi no Uta season 2 stayed true to that, being the urban fairytale that it was. Maybe DEEN wants a future in this industry where they can continue to be players, especially after losing the Konosuba team to Drive. Whatever the case, the industry could use a few more guys like Souta Ueno to throw the machine a bit off axis. It's healthier that way.

To cap this off with some pettiness - I just like seeing Niconico Japanese boomers squirm. They really do not like this show. Generally, they don't like much of anything that has an acquired taste. Spite is never a good driving force to ride on when it comes to love and hate, but a little bit doesn't hurt. It's the small joys in life that keep us going.

 

As you can imagine, I'm extremely exhausted from all the moving and life experiences I've been enduring recently, but I'm not eager to dump the whole load of it onto this anime related blog post so I'll save you the waterworks. I don't even know what I'm watching next season other than Re:Zero returning for its 4th season of Natsuki Subaru's Pain Train. They're telling me there's a show about a short king working with a women's volleyball team consisting of voluptuous ladies. I looked it up and found out that it's straight up hentai which is kind of funny. Alright, cut the mic. Let's move on to the Fall 2025 postmortem already.

Spy x Family Season 3 - I was wrong about the bus hijacking arc being the only big moment that would show up in this season. The confrontation between disguised Loid and Yor's brother Yuri during the WISE mole arc lived up to its depiction in the manga. They paced it perfectly so that most of the heavy hitting moments lined the latter run of episodes. Ultimately I'd say it comes out stronger than the second season thanks to that. Otherwise it's pretty much what you'd expect from this series, which is good enough for me!

Shuumatsu Touring - Well, they talked to aliens in one of the last episodes. That was pretty cool. The conclusion was fairly open-ended, although I'd be surprised if this one gets a second season. Pulling out the Mount Fuji shot at the end put me right in the Yuru Camp headspace, but this show had those vibes to begin with. Not a lot to say that I didn't already go over in the original post. A neat little show.

Towa no Yuugure - Just when I thought this show couldn't get any funnier it decided to hit the nitrous throttle boosters and speed out of control into the nonsense zone. Akira has a cognitive breakdown and goes into computer sleep mode for like a decade. A forced timeskip makes Amoru go into cuckold rage and try to steal an android body so she can become part of the robot polycule. The most obvious secretly evil guy ever was truly evil but then he gets burned alive by a giant laser. That silly dude that kept following the crew around was actually the leader of the not-so-evil censorship organization. Akira's human body was kept in a pod and he admits that he allowed the world to be destroyed so dark woke could win. The sentiment of "I let society collapse so people would just accept it's cool to be gay or fuck your sister or have a harem" is really fucking funny, I gotta admit. This show was trash but it's that special P.A. Works turd that has you looking on in awe in the face of it all. What a thrill.

And that's all I've got. Until next time, stay moe, friends.