Ladies, gentlemen, and others, We interrupt our usual program of Newgrounds-related self-publishing advice and anime-opinions to bring you another special bulletin:

archive.org, which many of you will know as the "Wayback Machine" or the "Internet Archive", is facing an existential threat: A $700 million lawsuit, filed by major record labels.

Some of the people reading this News Post will already have received a PM from me about it the day before yesterday - because frankly, I did not want to write this article. I was already utterly drained by the weekend and I am even more drained today. I hope that it shows you how important this is to me (and you!) that I still set my mind in motion regardless.

Here is the actual article I'll be referring to:

Take Action: Defend the Internet Archive

If you haven't already signed the petition and you do not have a lot of time on your hands, I would prefer you to primarily invest your time there and (hopefully) sign their petition for the record labels to drop their lawsuit. But at this stage of events, the most important thing you can do and that will make a difference is to inform others. Raising awareness right now will help with the impact of any further steps archive.org will take from here on out.

I am totally fine if you set a bookmark to this article (the Newgrounds News Post you are reading at this moment) and return when you have the headspace.

If you need some convincing and don't just want to take my word for it being important, I'd like a shot at convincing you.

@TangoStar already wrote a post about this from a very personal, nostalgia-related perspective:

Internet Archive is in danger, and needs your help!

@ADR3-N wrote a post from the perspective of a freelance music producer and archivist:

Record Labels are once again trying to burn the Library of Alexandria

@ShangXian has also written a piece that would not look out of place on a website that publishes news articles and will show you yet a different perspective:

The Internet Archive

Other users, like @Zordoo99, have made a more... "URL forwarding"-style News Post, which I also think is completely valid for raising/spreading awareness. (It's just not my personal style.):

Petition Worth Signing

At the time of you reading this, other articles might be available as well:

(Most likely tagged with #internet-archive)

What I want to offer will be more of a "bigger perspective piece" with some explanations and future outlook.

Let me quickly set the scene...

Who are the Companies Responsible for this?

They organize under the name of "Recording Industry Association of America" (RIAA) and their leading members are:

Sony Music Entertainment (SME) [AKA: Sony Entertainment/"Sony" - the company that builds the PlayStation if they do not run out of microchips]

Universal Music (UMG) [You know... "Universal". The people who make money from movies.]

Warner Music Group (WMG) [Actually not owned by Time Warner/"Warner Bros." but rather by a group of private investors led by Edgar Bronfman Jr.]

There are others and it gets more complicated, but these are the "Big Three". These are the companies we can boycott (if we like) and "get the most angry at" for this.

Why is this important? What are the "Wayback Machine" and the "Internet Archive" for?

Now this is a question I heard from some of you yesterday and it honestly hit me with surprise. While I do not use the site more than once a month myself, at the times when I use it, there is literally no alternative. Anywhere.

You know Wikipedia and whatever tragedy you use for online searches (DuckDuckGo, Startpage, or even Google)?

When one of those where to "go away", you'd still have alternatives. Large parts of Wikipedia get mirrored by some chancers ("opportunists") and people who want to sell you something (or just want to fill your head with propaganda at opportune intersections). Losing Wikipedia would severely diminish the quality of information available to you.

Search engines are a mixed bag, and many are... "improvable..." but you actually have quite a range to choose from.

If archive.org "goes away" that will have been it. That is why this threat is so dramatic.

@ADR3-N likened the Internet Archive to the Great Library of Alexandria. And that is not just hyperbole, it's a pretty apt comparison: The Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant libraries of its time.

And you know artists? The people that give the site you are currently browsing the reason to exist. As an artist, you do not just sit in an empty room and "get ideas". There is a quote that summarizes the foundation of creative work quite nicely:

"The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write:

A man will turn over half a library to make one book."

 – Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), a British author, linguist and lexicographer,

Life of Samuel Johnson (Vol II) (by James Boswell)

Now... What libraries or museums would you recon resourceful artists visit when they need to look up all kinds of art in various media for educational purposes or the purpose of creating art? Will they spend the larger part of a decade to travel half the world and explore the great libraries, museums, and cultures of our time...?

No, of course not! The term "starving artist" wasn't coined from nothing. Almost every artist you will meet on any website that host art of any kind works a regular day job for a living, barely gets by (just like the rest of us), has crazy expenses and time investment for their art and operates at a loss - for doing what they are passionate about. 'Cause none of us have any money. So the place they go to is, often enough, archive.org.

Archive.org in a Nutshell

The Internet Archive

On the "Internet Archive", you are able to find countless resources creating fundamentals for artists of pretty much all sorts of media, stylistic directions, and walks of life.

You find installers and manuals for "old" and "ancient" games that you would often not be able to recover otherwise. (If you say "GOG" I will scream! The number of games that never got there or simply vanished from that site over licensing and royalty disputes... Or forcefully replaced by the new rights holder with a "remade" version that nobody wanted...)

You can find videos that are no longer (or were never) protected by copyright, or are no longer available through the hosters they were originally available through. (Most of the time YouTube.) Seriously: Their library on these things are huge. And unlike the former hosters, archive.org has a lot of search options, so you can narrow down search parameters until you get a manageable number of results.

"Music and "Audio stuff" freelance music producers would use. As well as "Art stuff"..." (I got to stay honest here: I am just not somebody who looks those up, as I am more interested in other forms of art.)

The Wayback Machine

The "Wayback Machine" lets visitors see archived internet sites. Sometimes including massive files that were part of that website (like videos and music). And if the same site (or part of a site) was archived at different dates, you can find parts of a site's history what were lost. Or in other words:

"It's a Time Machine...!"

This is the closest you or me will ever get to traveling back in time to witness events from the past "for the first time" and at our own pace and discretion without having to experience it through the lens and filters of somebody else.

I'm not suggesting you shouldn't cherish the present, but if this does not excite you, I can only assume you are suffering from a severe lack of imagination.

This is why preservation matters. This is why archive.org matters!

...And this is why I'd like your help spreading the word. Maybe write PMs and emails to friends who are interested in these sorts of things.

If you are thinking about writing an article, you'll reach more people if you don't write your articles at the same day you've already seen two others. Spread them out a little.

"I love criticism as long as it is unqualified praise."

 – Noël Peirce Coward (1899-1973), English playwright, composer of popular music, and actor

Welcome once again.

This is a ranked, spoiler-free list of which anime series seem appealing to me this season (Q2 2025). The season has just begun, so what I essentially offer is the estimate of what lies ahead, based on the preview on offer. Or In English: "I watched a lot of first episodes and here's what I think."

I won't go as in-depth as I did for my 2024 overview. Spoilers will be indicated in advance - although I think I managed to avoid those entirely this time...

Overall, this anime season's offering so far seems to be "about as appealing" as the last season. If you have a lot of unwatched backlog and still did not manage to get through it in 2024, 2025 seems to shape itself to become another 2024. ...With the difference that US Americans will "have to" pirate their shows now, because they are being bled dry by their elected government. What can I say? They did it to themselves...

One thing I noticed was that "almost nothing" came out in the first week of the quarter. With so many series coming out "last minute", I predict that professional reviewers will be rather cranky when they do similar projects as this one. (I think I had 3 new shows on this Saturday evening - it's all a blur!)

While this article is more of a preview, I might update it in time. If you are from the future, you can also check if there are any updates or additions at the end of this post.

And as is standard with these articles, entries are sorted worst to best.

New (Separate) Segment: The Ecchi-Appendix

(This will be its own, separate, Adults Only News Post - which will also be linked here. But I did not want to spam, so you will have to wait 3 days or so.)

Due to the resulting "A" age rating, the inclusion of "Ecchi" in the last article, excluded a not insignificant part of my readers. Since I had more underage readers than I thought, I branched "Ecchi" off and it got its own sextion - I mean "section".

Just to explain what "Ecchi" actually is: It's cheesecake. Definition done. ;)

...Okay, imagine this: You want to tell a story that features nipples and talk about sex, but you do not want to show the characters having sex or how they look like beyond their belly-button. In "Ecchi", characters behave playfully sexual, "naughty", or lascivious without it having to be played off as a joke.

It is different from "Hentai", where characters have genitalia and are having sexual intercourse in front of the "camera".

If you are a horny adult, you'll likely want to watch "Hentai" instead.

"Ecchi" on the other hand exists for the (apparently) rather niche audience that appreciates partial nudity turning into nudity (with obscured crotch regions). In a nutshell, it is a world closer to the real world, where sex in relationships exists and is discussed, rather than treated as a taboo. It is a medium for a mature audience that likes "naughty" scenes and immature panty-based humor that one would not depict in a show aimed at children under the age of 12. But since Japanese culture is incredibly prude, despite having a culture of public bathhouses, that "12" is turned into a "16".

Unless, of course, you're drawing or animating Ranma ½ - then you get away with panties and nipples without anybody questioning you. "Rules for thee but not for me.", I guess...

And I think that, by now, you have a pretty clear picture why I kept that category in an extension, rather than just dropping it altogether. Maybe one day we'll be able to treat the human body as something natural, rather than "Thou shalt be ashamed of thy natural anatomy!", you know...?

If you can hardly wait to read the current Ecchi-Appendix I'll go ahead and already tell you this: Just because I can appreciate "Ecchi" as a genre doesn't necessarily mean that all "Ecchi" is good - just like with all the other series I cover here... I'll make an effort to look into it, but there are no guarantees that that niche will get any quality writing in any given season.

I've kept you long enough. Here you go.

Anime Series

Unwatched

Let's start with some series I did not make the time for - often due to disinterest on my part.

There's no real "Stuff I'll skip"-category. If I did not list something you were interested in it is either not available to me or I had no interest in it to begin with. I'll list a few cases that I genuinely think might be interesting to people who aren't me, but the rest is "I have no intention of badmouthing this for no reason other than not being interested, personally"-stuff.

I am aware of the following series, but the chances of me finding time for them seem rather low:

The Shiunji Family Children

[Shiunji-ke no Kodomo-tachi]

The synopsis sounds extremely foreboding... I'm skipping that one!

Apocalypse Hotel

[Apokaripusu Hoteru]

I am picky about how robots are depicted.

Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive?

[Danjo no Yūjō wa Seiritsu Suru? (Iya, Shinai!!)]

This is its own category. Like Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? I call this "Stupid Question anime".

If you're asking a question in the title, the conclusion an article or show is going to arrive at will always be "No."

Next!

Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentōshō

[Kijin Gentōshō]

"Sword anime" tend not to be for me, but it does not look bad.

The Dinner Table Detective

[Nazotoki wa Dinā no Ato de]

Last season's Tasokare Hotel has set the bar very high - and I was already eating Kyokou Suiri - In/Spectre for breakfast before that. I might check it out, but not in a timely fashion. This post is already late as it is...

Rock is a Lady's Modesty

[Rokku wa Redi no Tashinami deshite]

I'm sure it's great - if you like "Music anime".

I would like to look at some elegantly dressed ladies rocking out, but what I've seen so far has not filled me with hope. When it comes to depictions of an "academy for the sons and daughters of nobles", I have seen far better depictions.

Koupen-chan

[???]

Will this be the next Little Shark's Outings? I have moderate hopes for this but I am terrified that they'll mess it up, so I'll make an update about that in a month or so. Just check it out yourself, if you're interested in "a softer world-stuff".

Anne Shirley

[An Shārī]

"Can you improve "flawed perfection"?"

In short: My nostalgia for the original series is just way too strong to give this anything even resembling a fair shot. If/when I'll watch this, I'll probably keep my biased opinion to myself.

If you have no prior experiences with that story, this might be very much for you, though...

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

[Kidō Senshi Gandamu Jīkuakusu]

"I'm sure it will be great." (...they said sarcastically...)

Thus far, the Gundam franchise always knew to impress me with their Mecha-designs and to utterly ruin my opinion of it's author's writing skills at the same time. It beats "submarine battles in space" - which is what certain space battles of yesteryear boiled down to, but I'm not watching animes for fight sequences to begin with.

Plus: "GQuuuuuuX". The jokes about that title write themselves, I don't even need to do anything... ;p By the time you finished reading that sentence, you probably had made up a joke of your very own.

So I'll be skipping this one. But if 'you' like Gundam, you already made your decision and do not need my help to arrive at a conclusion.

Princession Orchestra

(AKA Princess-Session Orchestra)

[Purinsesshon Ōkesutora]

(I only had a glance so far, so I'll list it here.)

Generally speaking, I despise "Music anime" (only notable exception: Bocchi the Rock!), but I love Magical Girl stories.

While I haven't seen every Magical Girl show out there, I have looked into almost all of them - for serious research purposes. While there appears to be a lot of entries to the Magical Girl genre, it is not as overpopulated a it appears at first glance. Many shows are continuations in the same universe with a "new spin" - akin to Digimon.

I cannot tell if I will give up by episode 2, but right now Princession Orchestra looks good enough to stick with. If you're not into the Magical Girl genre and aren't looking for something to watch with a family member under the age of "12 to 14", then this is most likely not for you. On the other hand: If you like to see girls protecting the world, this might be an enjoyable watch for you, that brings back memories of yesteryear. It's visually reminiscent to DoReMi, but production quality and writing hold themselves to a higher standard.

Summer Pockets

[Summer Pockets]

Looking forward to watching this. At the same time I'm terrified they'll mess it up.

What will most likely happen is that I'll binge-watch it once they release the last episode. It worked for Island. ;)

Claims that I have signed a deal with the devil to skip certain series are entirely untrue. We are old pals - Lucifer could just ask me. I'd listen... ;3

Bad

Again: This is sorted from worst to... "less bad".

Kowloon Generic Romance

[Kūron Jenerikku Romansu]

Within 2 minutes, it will become clear that this is not what the typical viewer would expect when reading the title Kowloon Generic Romance. Also: The protagonist starts their day with a bite to eat and a cigarette right afterwards. Disgusting and revolting! (Do not watch this right after Food for the Soul.) Generally, there's a lot of "casual smoking" in this (feels like 30% of the screen time). Between this and the art style, my guess would be that they were aiming for a "90s look", but if you have seen a lot of anime from the 90s, it doesn't work out. It's "reminiscent" but it's not "nostalgic" and "that classic feel" is missing.

If you just noticed you are craving for something like that, and you are and adult, I'd recommend RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne - or just something that's actually from around that era - like Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991).

My guess would be that their aim was "nostalgia", but there were a lot of effed up things in the past and a lot of them are coming back to me when I watch this, such as:

"A female character being defined through her interactions with male characters..."

"A male character effectively belittling a female love interest and then acting as if they were generous to spend time with her..."

It might not qualify as "sexism" for some, but this has a strong "chauvinism"-vibe to it.

Episode 1 became increasingly hard to watch until the end and if I wasn't writing this article, I would have quit right in the middle of that very episode. I'm not even curious how the story will continue after, who would have think it: A "dramatic" cliffhanger. I was so displeased with this that I was briefly considering adding "X out of 10"-ratings to my review, just so I could express that displeasure even more. But I think people who can write are better off without numbers in that regard.

My verdict is: "Well-animated, but please f*ck off! This is a culmination of everything I don't miss about that time."

Me and the Alien MuMu

[Uchūjin Mūmū]

I had more than enough than my fill from overbearing, selfish, demanding characters who bully those who are trying to help them - be they present in anime or online.

Hard pass!

#Compass 2.0: Combat Providence Analysis System

(AKA Compass2.0 - Animation Project)

[#Konpasu Sentō Setsuri Kaiseki Shisutemu]

I hope the "attackers" win. Them managed to despise the "protagonists'" side before episode 1 was over.

I call them "attackers" because they have not even been established as being on the wrong side in terms of morals. The "defenders" on the other hand... Well, that would be a spoiler.

/me looks at a reference-screenshot... "Dude, this even 'looks' cheaply made. What a train wreck..."

The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows

[Isshun de Chiryou shiteita no ni Yakudatazu to Tsuihousareta Tensai Chiyushi, Yami Healer to shite Tanoshiku Ikiru]

Despite the studio trying to speedrun E01, almost nothing happened. Felt like 8 minute stretched out endlessly... What poor time-management.

Shockingly boring.

Once Upon a Witch's Death

[Aru Majo ga Shinu Made]

Bleh!

I love Witches! (Spoilers for "one day": If any of you ever find out what it is that I do in terms of creative output, you will find out how true that statement really is...)

But despite that love, this series is predictable, boring, and starts out with a premise that users who can operate a calculator will immediately notice to be flawed.

I can already predict the ending. And even if this series got a second season, the sloppy writing makes me suspect they would fish for a third.

I understand what they were going for, but it makes up at most a minute of screen time per episode. Story and protagonist personality utterly ruin it.

The carbuncle is cute, though.

Maebashi Witches

[Maebashi Uitchīzu]

Again with the witches? You folks are shooting yourselves in the foot by all doing the same stuff. 3x Ecchi, 3x Music... I guess there will be a third series featuring witches as well.

So yeah: This one is apparently featuring what boils down to a thinly veiled analogy for capitalism, paired with "Idunnu. Just add some "quirky" stuff that girls would find motivational". The result is so easy to shoot down that one of the main characters frequently does just that. Even though I watched the full episode for diligence, they lost me as a viewer at the 7-minute mark.

Sad. The Japanese school system already tries to groom students into becoming office drones and now anime tries to turn them into obedient retail workers.

Lazarus

[Lazarus]

The plot isn't "bad" as a plot, but... My inner edgelord isn't nearly strong enough to make me like this. ;p

This strikes me as "somebody who likes to direct action sequences had 'one' idea for a plot and somehow got a room full of people with money to not worry about the giant plot-holes that become apparent within 5 seconds".

I think the story as told is shit and every character in this is stupid, but the choreography for the action scenes is good and must have taken them ages - just for episode one alone.

If you like action and do not care that the series was animated by MAPPA, which makes this the moral equivalent of slave labor (getting paid 1/4th of the going rates while not getting proper training and being overworked by "perfectionists" who clock out on time)... ...then this series might be for you. I'm out!

Your Forma

[Yua Foruma]

I could feel the PLUTO-vibes before the first episode was even halfway over.

"Thanks, but "no thanks"."

If you liked PLUTO and do not mind a world that looks like they "borrowed" half of it from Ghost in the Shell, this might be for you, though.

Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey

[-That's Journey-]

The animation is put together well enough, but it's more of a skeleton of something serviceable - rather than the actual thing.

I like slow life as well as exploration series. Laid-Back Camp [Yuru Camp△] was great.

This is not.

In terms of story, this is somebody telling you what they had for dinner because they couldn't think of anything else, and their solution to make the upcoming conversation more interesting is to eat their next dinner at a place you couldn't afford.

Maitre d': "A wise choice, monsieur. And now, how would you like it served? All mixed up together in a bucket?"

Mr. Creosote: "Yeah. With the eggs on top."

 – Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

It's a "Culture anime" without the actual culture. It's just knee-jerk tourism.

The Unaware Atelier Master

(AKA The Unaware Atelier Meister)

[Kanchigai no Atorie Maisutā: Eiyū Pāti no Moto Zatsuyōgakari ga, Jitsu wa Sentō Igai ga SSS Ranku Datta to Iu Yoku Aru Hanashi]

It is hard to talk about this without spoiling anything. If you were one of the 5 people worldwide who where hoping Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town [Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari] got a second season then congratulations are in order! This is the closest thing you'll get to that.

But if there is any target audience for this series, it certainly doesn't include me.

On the other hand: If you are already scraping the bottom of the anime-barrel, you might as well start here. This is "friendly" and I expect the finale to feel exactly the same as every other episode.

Sequels & Spin-offs

You don't really need advice from me here, but in some cases, you might not have seen the first season.

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

[Vijirante: Boku no Hīrō Akademia Irīgarusu]

A My Hero Academia spin-off.

Since all of my complaints against My Hero Academia were very fundamental, rather than a thousand little things that added up, I'll be happily skipping this one.

Wind Breaker

[WIND BREAKER]

Season 2 is coming out.

Season 1 looked fun and promising. I can appreciate a story told through the medium of (non-lethal) violence. But large stretches of this story were too boring for me, so I dropped it.

Fire Force

[En'en no Shōbōtai]

Season 3 is coming out.

Fire Force started out brilliantly and I was very much into it but they lost me halfway through the second season. Too much crap I cannot find myself to care about...

I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!

[Ore wa Seikan Kokka no Akutoku Ryōshu!]

I'm inadvertently proving a point I made about this earlier, by redirecting you to something I wrote earlier if you want to hear what I think about it.

Shōshimin Series

[(Shōshimin) Shirīzu]

Season 1 is on my list of things to watch, now Season 2 is out.

I doubt I'll get around to having a look.

For me it's "Schrödinger's anime" right now: It "could be" awesome and horrible at the same time. Until I open the box, both can be true... ;p

Aharen-san wa Hakarenai

[literal translation: Aharen Is Indecipherable]

Season 2 is coming out. ...Wait, what?! O_O

To say that I was surprised would be a ****ing understatement! I loved season 1 and as with so many other good series, I did not expect it to see a sequel after close to 3 years.

Season 1 is... Hm. From memory, I'd say: "There's nothing like it." and "It's rather calm." apply most of the time. If this ever turns into a genre, we're going to see less heart attacks in Japan. :)

Heads-up: Some LGBTQIA+-baiting takes place in season 1. I felt the need to point that out because it was the only real criticism I had for that season.

I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level

[Suraimu Taoshite Sanbyaku-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Reberu Makkusu ni Nattemashita]

Season 2 is coming out.

Season 1 was brilliant and I re-watched it... "more than 5" times.

I'm kind of scared that they might mess season 2 up and haven't watched more than the first episode at the time of writing. It's... "okay". The energy I'm used to from the series isn't quite there. "A..." Hm... How not to spoil this...?:

"A main-cast character is portrayed too much over the top - which seem to be her only characteristics so far this season."

Middle of the Road Anime

Series that are "okay enough to watch" but might not become your favorite.

mono

[mono]

Interesting start into the story. More than once I though: "Is this how it feel to be lesbian for a straight woman...?"

The characters in some series are just "insane". This is one of them. They are fun to look at, but since they have such a wide range of actions that seem acceptable to them, you have to expect rather wide swings of what the story will be about next. If you are okay with that, this might be for you. If you are not, then this might be "fun - for a while..."

If you are interested in watching a photography anime that is more serious about photography and offers a deeper story, I recommend Insomniacs After School.

I am very undecided right now, but I'm pretty sure I'll watch episode 2.

Witch Watch

[Witchi Wotchi]

Bingo! A third series featuring witches. What the eff is wrong with the Japanese animation industry this season?

Not exactly brilliant, but it has a rather unconventional style of storytelling.

Similarly to last season's Zenshuu. I might like it enough to like it, but not enough to watch it all the way through. Time will tell.

The Beginning After the End

[Saikyō no Ōsama, Futatabime no Jinsei wa Nani o Suru?]

So far this seems to be very "standard Isekai"-fare, with a slow-paced(?) story about personal growth embedded into a more prominent sequence of gaining more power. The most original element so far might be that the emperor wears a piece of chin-armor - which makes no sense to me: The lower jaw is the bone in the human body that is the hardest to break. (Go protect your brain instead, man...)

If you liked Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (mentioning that one for no particular reason...), or As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World..., or any other Isekai series, really... You should just re-watch those instead. And if you do not like fighting, check out Ascendance of a Bookworm. It is inevitable that, the more Isekai stories there are, the harder it will become to innovate, but judging from the first episode, the author didn't try very hard in that regard. Given that most viewers drop off after episode 1, holding back your best material until episode 3 would seem rather balls-y, so this is where I drop out.

Sorry for being so snarky. I do not want to imply that the author just plagiarized popular shows and did nothing himself, but the elements that he did copy are very recognizable/blatant. I'm sure it might 'still' play out as entertaining, but in the first episode I was not presented with anything I had never seen before.

Shout-out to Daisuke Aizawa's The Eminence in Shadow, which basically only showed me stuff I had never seen before - or showed them to me in a new light. Brilliant work, Mr. Aizawa! (Please stay healthy!)

Food for the Soul

[Hibi wa Sugiredo Meshi Umashi]

The animation quality stands out and you can see the high budget/effort from a mile away. The story is told in a rather calm, and, at times, slow fashion. So far, the character introductions have been focused on the one character who kicks the story off. Whether or not she will remain in a "protagonist role" or whether the cast will be introduced one by one is not yet clear.

This series being a about Japanese food, it is foreseeable that it will have a heavy focus on meat- and fish-centric dishes - which means it will always be a mixed bag for vegetarians, such as myself.

The food-aspect is comparable to Isekai Izakaya "Nobu". It's less flashy than Isekai Shokudou. And it seems less character-focused than Flying Witch. By my estimation, we will not know that much more about the individual characters but will learn more about the group-dynamic, as it develops. "'Bocchi the Rock!' this is not."

While I'd love to say stuff like "The food-appreciation is 'real'.", it's just too early right now. E01 feels like the tutorial in a video game. the audience has been set up, but the meat of the story has yet to happen: We got our Japanese pre-meal tea and had a cheeky look into the kitchen, but we are still awaiting what our order will end up looking like.

This looks as if it would be a nice watch for a calm evening when you are about to go to bed but don't want to doze off because it was too calming. ;)

The Gorilla God's Go-To Girl

[Gorira no Kami Kara Kago Sareta Reijō wa Ōritsu Kishidan de Kawaiigareru]

A fantasy world with sexism comparable to our own in the 80s - or the present, depending on which shitty backwards-country you happen to live in...

The main protagonist is a kindhearted but meek woman and the kind of growth I'm expecting to see here is exactly the kind of story that usually gets glossed over with the kind of "but now she can marry and be a good housewife" in some other stories. My hope is that it will turn out more like The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent - Season 1 than The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent - Season 2.

I'm being cautiously optimistic and I'm certain I'll enjoy experiencing the protagonists "fun adventures", but... "But while having a partner is great, you do not "need" a man in your lives to achieve success or happiness." - and I severely hope they point that out at some point and this will turn out to be good...

The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom

[Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru]

"I wonder what 'this story' could be about...? I'm not spoiling 'anything' for the reader. I hope you appreciate that..."

This could go either way. I'm not too invested in the titular Saint, but they did a pretty good job explaining how it could come to this situation and that "Yes, 'even in this fantasy world', many people are petty, selfish, greedy idiots!"

However the story will play out, it is blatantly obvious that the antagonists will get their karmic retribution delivered to them - not by the bucket-load, but rather they'll need an entire convoy of trucks for that. If you are a person who works hard and diligently and is underappreciated, but cannot quit their job, this series might be exactly what the doctor prescribed.

Very Good

"Good" to "sufficiently enjoyable to hook you for this entire season from episode 1".

The stuff that appeals to me so strongly that I will most likely go out of my way to watch it, even when I do not have the time.

"Oh look... It’s 3 again." Honestly: I did not plan for this. If it were up to me, I’d have one great series for every day of the week...

Catch Me at the Ballpark!

[Bōrupāku de Tsukamaete!]

Like so many other genres I don't like "Sports anime" either, but I can tolerate them if the writing is good.

Luckily for me, Catch Me at the Ballpark! is not a "Sports anime"; it's a workplace anime. The series is centered around the staff at a very wholesome, Japanese baseball stadium with a focus on the newest member of staff. And... Everyone is delightful!

My only complaint it the amount of alcohol depicted and that it's portrayed so nonchalantly.

I can already predict that this series will rank rather high when/if I do a ranking at the end of the quarter. If you watch anime to relax and do not want to remember character names or plot points, give this one a go.

You know how I go on about "this might be good", "this might turn out to be good", "I hope they don't mess it up" further up in this article...?

"This is good. Period."

Teogonia

[Teogonia]

One of several "last minute" entries before I put this list into shape...

I felt intrigued by the story before it even really started. While the animation budget seems "normal", the storytelling (and the intro) pulled me in immediately. I wanted to know more about this new world and what kind of struggles the characters living in it had to go through.

If you read manga, my bet would be that the manga this animation is based on would be superbly written and well worth your time.

If you are familiar with some of the ideas found in spirituality or if you're a spiritual person yourself, the ideas presented will be "less impressive" to you, but it is still a well-written story regardless.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman: My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now and They Won't Leave Me Alone

[Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru: Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Hōttekurenai Ken]

This is a down-to-earth story about a character who has honed his skills through hard work; rather than having been given awesome video game-stats. And what he does with this skill is: Teach it to others.

If you like Isekai but you are at the same time tired of the typical Isekai-formula, this might be your speed.

If you liked My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer, this might be for you as well.

For reasons I cannot quite put my finger on, the topic of helping others by guiding them seems to appeal to me... No idea why... ;3

There’s a good chance that this series will appeal less to you, depending on your outlook on life. I'm clearly biased here. I'm aware of my bias, but at the same time I cannot ignore it.

And this was is for the best Anime I have watched so far this season.

As overwhelming the offering turned out to be in quantity, as underwhelming it was in quality. But it certainly had its highlights and who knows: At the end of the season this might all look very different. There was a lot of stuff that I did not have the time for that might get a deeper look once the dust settles.

Western Animation

"Them American animés!" ;)

Devil May Cry (2025)

An old series existed, but this is a new one. I so don't care about Devil May Cry, but I wanted to share this information who do care and who were under the impression that they had already seen this years ago.

Unicorn Academy

Apparently, Season 3 is coming out.

I have actually completely missed out on this series during my Netflix days. What a blunder! I feel like I ended turn one and forgot to put a land card down... ;)

Have you watched it? Are you interested in sharing your impression in a (mostly) spoiler free fashion? If you can convince me that you watched it, write your own article about it to be linked here, send me a PM, and I'll put in a spot a spot for a guest-speaker. ;) (I would suggest spell-checking, though.)

Isadora Moon

Cute vampire girl. :3

I am not a vampire but I will probably look into this at some point.

At first glance, it does not exactly appear to have the highest production quality ("NG with more frames"), so don't hold your breath - but this may become a good "comfort series" for someone.

Jeez Louise! That took absolute ages this time...

"I never want to write anything ever again... Or at least I'll give stuff I 'didn't' like less spotlight ;) "

Addendum 2025-04-23: More thoughts before I run out o--

Summer Pockets

The cast is so stupid it is disillusioning.

Episode 1 will have been all I'll be watching of this.

Yaiba: Samurai Legend

I fear this style of "comedy" might not be for me.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX

Truth be told, I watched this out of a feeling of obligation. Because they might have learned from their past mistakes and then I would have felt guilty for judging them for things they might actually have improved upon this time. Sooo...

My first thought: "There's a lot of 'noise' in space..." I can accept that vibrations will travel between mechs and that the honking could have been a transmitted signal but if it was a signal, they would have actually transmitted a voice, complaining about the issue at hand. And there really is a lot of noise in space scenes. To much just to be "for ambience".

They have gone for a quirky style, with little to non character introduction or motivation or world-building. "Stuff just happens."

It's a bit better than expected, but they almost immediately go for the same old mistakes they made in previous iterations: They presume every viewer has watched 250 to 600 episodes Gundam and knows the rich lore and history.

Just for reference: I have watched somewhere between 50 and 100 episodes of Gundam series and have watched a video that explains some history for another series. Among what I have watched was The Witch from Mercury - both the pilot episode and the complete series. I have a basic understanding of less than 20% of what was referred to in episode 1 of GQuuuuuuX.

Unless you have watched all the Gundam series and movies that came out since 1979, you will likely not get the full experience.

I. Like. Mechs! But if Sunrise cannot be bothered to either explain that shit or write a stand-alone series for once, I cannot be bothered to care about the stupid bullshit they dare to call "lore". It's like a history test, but the subject matter is not from what you learned this semester - it's from 3 to 8 years ago.

I can only guess that everybody who watches this either loves reading wikis, has actually seen the over 50 TV series, films, and OVAs, or just want to see explosions, and teenagers piloting giant robots. If either of those things applies to you, I am happy for you that you can enjoy this. But I want a story that can be enjoyed as is without having to refer to lots of lore that is not included either as the start of the series or as the story takes place. "You're a refugee...? Okay... So there was a 'war'...? ...You're not going to get into that, are you...? Just "I'm a refugee". 'Fan-tastic'... Next!"

Given a significant difference in feedback concerning two more or less recent, anime-related "News" Posts I made, I started pondering if I'm misjudging the age of my current audience.

Yet, I do not want to go around asking past readers "Hey, are you a minor or an adult?" (It is beyond my understanding why somebody would keep that information a secret on a community like NG, but I also want to respect your privacy.) So I have chosen the most accessible AND most unreliable method of creating user statistics I could think of:

I made a StrawPoll.

(VPNs are enabled. If multiple answers apply, pick the topmost positive hit.)

If you are somebody who cannot stand me and wants to mess with the numbers, please be aware that I would also write for an audience of one - which I am basically already doing by commenting in the Artist News on all sorts of topics.

"I don't think this will be a horrible mistake at all." (...they spoke, testing if the cement for their enormous flag pole had settled yet...)

For related reasons, replies given until the evening between Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th will be relevant to the post I'm about to write for this weekend, but the poll will remain open until 2025-04-20 - that is by whatever timezone StrawPoll.com resides in.

Thank you for your time.

Addendum 2025-04-10: I did not think that needed mentioning, but if you want to keep your age private, it's probably a good idea to not emote to this News Post - or to do so at a later time. Technically another user could hammer F5 on both pages and determine which user just voted. I don't exactly attract a huge audience... ;)

Addendum 2025-04-11-A: After 18+ hours, the spread was actually surprisingly even and close to what I was expecting when I drew this posts (and the StrawPoll) up. The only thing that really surprised me was that 2 users did not trust StrawPoll. Good on you for being careful, but in that case, you might want to look into the Tor Browser*, which is (in a nutshell) a modified version of the Mozilla Firefox browser, combined with a free VPN client.

Whoever admitted that they do not actually read the posts: Thank you for your honesty - I do not mind it. I'm not trying to impress anybody and it's not a competition, so don't feel forced/obliged to react to my stuff. Though I do wonder if it's only long posts, since you clearly read this one. :3 (I left the age intentionally undecided on that option, in case anybody wants to elaborate via PM.)

Oh, and of course I'll share the results here, when I determine how the post for this weekend will look like and once on the 20th.

* Just to explain Tor for a bit: You can use it with the kind of VPN service you pay for, for some extra security (which many people actually do). It will be a slower connection, though. There are ins and outs to getting the Tor Browser to run smoother (like excluding US, GB, RU, & others in the torrc-file), but you can expects at least 1.x Mbit per second, unless you're already getting less from the servers you frequent or your regular connection. (Note that cloudflare.com explicitly hates Tor users. Every two years or so, they will "accidentally break" something that makes it impossible for Tor users to get a connection to sites they "protect" - and said companies will then wonder why their user base dropped by 20% - not suspecting interference from their "partners". The only solution is to write well-worded emails to those companies and to wait.)

Addendum 2025-04-11-B: After about a day, the direction this is going has become pretty clear. Inside me there are two wolves. One is bi and-- I mean: There are now two News Posts:

Yatsufusa's Anime Ramble (Q1 2025) (Mostly Spoiler-Free) [Now slightly edited and rated "T" to be accessible to more people]

Yatsufusa's Anime Ramble (Q1 2025) (Spoiler-Free) (Ecchi-Appendix) [Rated "A", which contains the now removed segment from the previous post]

Enjoy. Or don't. ;)

Addendum 2025-04-13: Finally got an anime post out on a 13th: Yatsufusa's Early Anime Overview (Q2 2025) (Spoiler Free!)

As promised, here are the current results:

I'm an adult who cares for anime and reads "A"-rated posts.

4 votes (Technically 5 votes, but one of them is myself. I had to test if everything was really working correctly.)

I'm a minor who cares for anime.

3 votes

I'm a minor, but do not care for anime.

2 votes

I'm an adult and care for anime, but never read "A"-rated posts.

2 votes

I do not trust StrawPoll with that information.

2 votes

I just 'react' to your posts instinctively, but do not actually 'read' them.

1 votes

I'm an adult, but do not care for anime.

0 votes

I'm an adult who cares for anime, but never 'react'.

0 votes

Since the numbers did not move since yesterday, I'm expecting that 24 hours is the most visibility I'm going to get with a post, or that not more than 14 people in my audience are willing to click on a post titled "Do you like Anime?" ;)

Addendum 2025-04-19: It seems no further changes were made. Thank you to all the users who participated! I learned a lot about my audience and their (surprisingly fast) reaction time.

Now all we need is a season with more that 3 "good" and 6 "middle of the road" series. The next poll will probably be "Should I just drop the stuff that isn't particularly gripping or do you appreciate the warnings about which series are 'not that great' as well?"

I'm considering making the Q2 summary a Top 13. The only problem with that is, that I will likely not stick with 13 series. But a Top 10 or Top 5 is so "disgustingly normal"... ;)

I'd Like to Publicly Acknowledge some Users

Preamble

(This is one of those boring circlejerk-posts. You do not have to care for it. People being cool without you knowing about it happens all of the time.)

"Hi. I'm Yatsu-whatstheirface and I complain a lot. One of my favorite quotes is "Hell is other people." But I'd like to share this post to remind all of us, that 'not everyone' is shit all of the time, even if we we happen to run into assholes and idiots at times."

People who are a blight on humanity are really obvious and they tend to "stick" in our memory. But those who are good and kind and work really hard seem to be easily forgotten. Or you forget their name because they chose "qwerty741" as their username and you lost them in the crowd again.

Please do keep in mind that, no matter how cool you might actually be, I might just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and did not notice you being cool.

Since I do not want to rank people as if one person was "more" than another, I'll go by alphabetical order. I will try to keep it short, and some users get acknowledged for quite similar things, so I'll group them together rather than writing almost the same text twice. It also avoids situations where "Person A has the same text as Person B, but slightly better..."

So, let's see... Alphabetical order... Starting with... Huh... Man, you absolutely did that on purpose, didn't you... ;3

"You are doing good":

@Aalasteir AKA @SteveMaddenFootball (who changes his user name way too often)

Some of our regular users put so much work into Newgrounds, as if it was their job. He puts in so much work that it's enough for two jobs. If you know a lot about certain users on Newgrounds, you might know all that stuff from one of Aalasteir's various interviews.

(QA Interviews [written], A100 Interviews & A200 Interviews [podcast style])

@blambi

Best mysterious deer with a blaster 2024 - and probably also 2025.

"If you know what they do, you'll understand..."

@CrimsonKero (formerly known as Anonymous-Frog) & @Platzsoldier (formerly known as Poligeektoons)

For encouraging people to have higher standards. ...Hm... That doesn't sound quite right...

"For encouraging people to have standards."

@Czyszy & @MetalSlayer69

For acknowledging the kind of art that other users in the limelight lack the proverbial balls to praise (or criticize) publicly.

@G2961 & @Quest

For keeping the Audio Portal free of stolen songs and AI generated crap.

They are not the only users doing it, but when they make their posts, I need to scroll multiple times in order to read them in full.

If you want to do what they do: Newgrounds Wiki: How to Detect AI Audio. (Also helps with getting to Deity Whistle Status, if you happen to care for that.)

@Gekkotsuki (formerly known as AutisticMan1), @ShangXian, & @TinFoi

For being there for others in the Artist News.

@Osaka

For making people speculate about them so much: Sometimes even questioning if they are secretly an android - or dead. Some even say they are a teacher now. Whatever the case, I'd like to believe that they are doing well while continuing their work from the shadows, like they always have. ;)

@TaintedLogic

He deserves a medal for being able to verbalize what he thinks about Audio Portal-submissions using "music words" and also making constructive suggestions what to improve upon.

Who thinks that this is not impressive clearly has never read "reviews" in the Audio Portal...

@qwerty741

Another one of our unsung heroes. He tirelessly writes helpful game reviews.

@[Those who I befriended on NG - against all odds]

You know who you are.

@[All of the Moderators and former Moderators]

Thank you for all your hard work! ...And for not strangling me when my reporting sessions run longer than previously planned/anticipated.

I did not know this for the longest time, but Newgrounds Moderator is a voluntary (and completely unpaid) position. This isn't "their job", this is what they do after they are done with their day-job.

@[All the Supporters]

If it wasn't for your continued contributions, none of us could use Newgrounds today and we'd have to bide our time on cesspools like YouTube, Instagram, or DeviantArt. *Yuck!*

@[You]

Thank You! to all of you who didn't do something crazy or stupid today. I mean it! You're already helping NG, just by showing the restraint of a regular human being.

[Space for Editing by Future-Yatsufusa]

(I'll mark this space in advance for the benefit of the readers. It is meant for adding the people I forgot about and who I will remember 5 hours after clicking that [Submit Post]-button...

These users will be added in order of "I remembered them", rather than alphabetically. Because otherwise this will become one big nightmare for everyone who reads this more often than once...)

@Tyhond

We disagree on rating-methodology, but I maintain that Newgrounds is a better place with him that without him. Entering a new platform can be scary for artists. Especially for young artists - which NG still has a lot of. I vastly prefer Tyhond's unconditional positivity to "What am I looking at?"-reviews and despite our aforementioned, irreconcilable disagreements, I hope our one-Femboy-welcoming-committee will keep doing what he's doing until the servers go dark for the very last time.

DL;DR: Dear Tyhond, I think you have no taste. ;3 ;* ;3 Keep doing what you're doing, please!

@Skoops

Shares good, practical advice on how to improve as an artist. All. the. time!

And sends people to Cube Jail... You can't have one without the other, I suppose.

(Click Here to be Sent to Cube Jail)

@[All the Artists who generously create Tutorials for Others]

Thank you so much for helping others. You did the real work behind my Guides, Tutorials & Other Help-playlist. I'm just a dog pointing at stuff.

Yendor (formerly known as YendorNG)

He is no longer around, but he was helpful, friendly, open, knowledgeable, and generous. You will probably have come across threads where people replied to or quoted a "YendorNG" and were wondering what happened there. He left us, because certain people chose to act in a manner absolutely unbefitting of human beings.

Of all the users who left Newgrounds, including artists, I miss his presence the most. There is a Yendor-shaped hole in our community that nobody has been able to fill so far. But: I wish Yendor and his new community the best! They are so lucky to have him!

If you want to get an impression of what he is like, there is still an interview that Aalasteir recorded with him.

I will not list TomFulp, because that would be too reminiscent of toxic personality cults, from #name censored# (failed science fiction writer and successful scam artist) to #name also censored# (failed businessman and successful scam artist).

Lastly, something personal

A little over 3 months have passed since this whole thing happened. I still do not feel "chill" about it, but I can look at your avatars again without feeling too bad. So I unblocked you again.

@BlakeTakesTheCake (formerly BlakeyTakeyTheCakey)

@GrecoStone

@NoobClock666

I am also very sorry for blocking @BlakeTakesTheCake! As it turns out, he went out of his way to edit his original voting post within minutes after my reaction to his post, removing my name. I just didn't see it because I had already blocked him and nobody told me about it either. (Presumably because of the rule against passing notes from blocked users to those blocking them.)

Sadly, I was not in a good place back then and did not expect that kind of reaction anymore after having certain people essentially tell me that I feel the wrong way.

Please Note: If you were listed here and are displeased with the way I present you or do not want to be listed at all, send me a PM. There is no time limit for editing News Posts, so if you change your mind two years along the line, that's fine as well. Of course the same goes for situation where you change your pronouns or username. (Except Aalasteir! You're a name-changing addict! You need an intervention!)

Addendum 2025-04-07-A: Some Tyhond added; some typos removed. (English isn't my first language and I am always tired when I log into NG. Can you tell...? ;) )

Addendum 2025-04-07-B: Added Skoops & [All the Artists who generously create Tutorials for Others]. (What can I say? When it rains, it pours!)

Addendum 2025-04-10: Some very belated, but well-deserved recognition for Yendor/YendorNG. He was one of the best of us.

Just a little reminder: Some people are bad at "jokes" but today being a special day, even those people might try their hand at "being funny".

You don't have to laugh, but tradition demands that you forgive them.

"Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone."

 – King Pyrrhus of Epirus, in the Battle of Asculum (his second Pyrrhic Victory against the Romans)

I will now ramble about anime from the current season (Q1 2025), but I won't go as in-depth as I did for my 2024 overview. Spoilers will be indicated in advance. There are also some words about western animation/cartoons at the end. You have been warned.

While this list is ranked (worst to best), this is not so much a collection of reviews as more of a recap of the current anime season (Q1 2025). There were some gems, but overall, the offering was poor.

Anime Series

Unwatched

Let's start with some series I did not have time for but have meant to watch.

Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You

[Douse, Koishite Shimaunda.]

I expect that I would like it, but the synopsis wasn't interesting enough for me to actually watch it.

The Blue Wolves of Mibu

[Ao no Miburo]

I just can't get into the mood for something from that period.

The character depictions are good, but I need more magic or technology to make this interesting enough for me. ;)

From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!

[Akuyaku Reijō Tensei Oji-san]

I "know" that that one will be good and that I'll enjoy it, but I cannot find the headspace to actually watch it.

What can I say: Life is hell. (My apologies to people who live in actual hell right now. Planet Earth is not a nice place right now and certain forces are doing their darndest to make it even worse!)

(See Addendum 2025-04-03 near the article's end for an update. [It's very good so far.])

Dr. Stone

[Dr.STONE]

Season 3 is out but I still haven't seen season 2. I bet it's good, though... Season 1 certainly was.

My Happy Marriage

[Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon]

I bet this is amazing... I just cannot bring myself to watch this on a bad day when my thoughts are elsewhere - and I had a lot of bad days this year...

Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest

[Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai Saikyō]

If you cannot decide whether or not to watch this by season 3, I will be of no help to you. But I could try by sharing a few honest statements:

- The first two episodes(!) are abysmal - I don't even know why they messed them up so bad, because everything afterwards is fine...

- Unbelievably rewatchable for something that starts out so uninteresting...

- Whilst overpowered, the main protagonists still have to struggle and make sacrifices in order to achieve victory.

- Rebecca Silverman knows what she's talking about. The romantic part of the relationship with Yue is a bit on the dark side of the psychological moon. But from my perspective it's not the scarring kind. - Everyone's got issues... is what I'm saying here.

- "I'm betting Miledi Reisen wasn't related to the Liberators at all. She's just a scourge on humanity."

Bad

Let's get this over with: I did not watch every single series, but some of the stuff I watched (or started watching) was baaad. And I could not find it in me to act as if I had hopes for improvement. For most of these I only watched 2 episodes.

Again: This is sorted from worst to... "less bad".

Even Given the Worthless "Appraiser" Class, I'm Actually the Strongest

[Fugūshoku "Kanteishi" ga Jitsu wa Saikyō Datta; Naraku de Kitaeta Saikyō no "Shingan" de Musō Suru]

This was even worse than I expected.

Consider my statement a cautionary tale...

Magic Maker: How to Make Magic in Another World

[Majikku Meikā Isekai Mahō no Tsukurikata]

This has to be the most boring depiction of an "innovative magic system" I have ever seem. If I had written that myself, I would have left it in a drawer. The story is also a bit... "uncomfortable while featuring children..."

Magic Maker can go in the bin!

Promise of Wizard

[Mahōtsukai no Yakusoku]

This series is so boring that I cannot even find it in me to tear it a new asshole.

Übel Blatt

[Yūberu Buratto]

"Regrets were had..."

If you want a great story about revenge, (re-)watch The Princess Bride (1987) instead.

If you want a story about lots and lots of violence in a fantasy setting, (re-)watch Berserk instead. (Any will do.)

Okitsura: Fell in Love with an Okinawan Girl, but I Just Wish I Knew What She's Saying

[Okinawa de Suki ni Natta Ko ga Hōgen Sugite Tsurasugiru]

I can only assume that this is a better watch if you speak Japanese.

The gimmick is cute for a single episode, but I could not watch an entire season of this. I quit after episode one.

I Have A Crush At Work

[Kono Kaisha ni Suki na Hito ga Imasu]

Rather misleading title: They have do not have "a crush" at work; they have a boyfriend/girlfriend at work. When the series begins they are already dating - hardly a mere "crush".

After several episodes it is still unclear why they stress themselves with keeping it a secret. The reasons provided are rather vague and there is no evidence that the downsides would come even close to the downsides the couple is currently experiencing. It's not "infuriating" to watch or anything, but their "struggle" seems so pointless I cannot find myself getting invested.

The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World

[Sentai Reddo Isekai de Bōkensha ni Naru]

"All the transformations and battle-shouts are fun at first, but get old very quick..."

That is the most charitable thing I can say about this. If you like (or hate) Sentai, your mileage will likely differ greatly, but for me this was an original palate cleanser at best an I quit the series very early on.

Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective

[Ameku Takao no Suiri Karte]

I liked the premise, but not the execution. Past the second episode, it seems she covers mostly stuff that was already widely covered in media over 2 decades ago... It's makes cases boring if you already know the answer.

I also would like to include a personal commentary for E04 "What are you all doing without as much as a mask? You should be in fucking hazmat-suits!"

Also: Just call the police, folks... ("They who put themselves in danger and perish while doing so are effectively committing suicide...")

Flower and Asura

[Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku]

This series might be very interesting for artists who work with voice actors or are close friends with podcasters, but I am unsure how much voice actors would get out of watching it.

It is a glimpse into a world that I, despite having a lot of respect for, have no great personal interest in. (I also have a horrible voice, so I'm probably a little bit biased.)

I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic

[Botsuraku Yotei no Kizoku dakedo, Hima datta kara Mahō wo Kiwamete Mita]

What starts as an interesting promise with a few ideas you don't see animated too often, develops into an endless string of hollow-feeling "upgrades". Nothing really poses a challenge and you feel that somebody want to "upgrade" just for the sake of it - often to unreasonable degrees. If this were to get a second season, the main character would end up in a position where they could destroy the universe by thinking too hard. If you ever want to point to a power fantasy that has gone to far, this one is like Dragon Ball sped up - but with magic and villagers.

I like character progression, but the series does not make it feel like progress; it's just "more power".

While I watched it to completion, I thought it was "watchable" at best. Cannot recommend.

Middle of the Road Anime

If you have time and want to watch something, these will do just fine.

I'm a Behemoth (AKA Beheneko: The Elf-Girl's Cat is Secretly an S-Ranked Monster!)

(AKA I'm a Behemoth, an S-Ranked Monster, but Mistaken for a Cat, I Live as an Elf Girl's Pet)

[S-Rank Monster no “Behemoth” dakedo, Neko to Machigawarete Elf Musume no Pet toshite Kurashitemasu]

(AKA [Esuranku Monsutā no ''Behīmosu'' dakedo, Neko to Machigawarete Erufu Musume no Kishi Petto to Shite Kurashitemasu])

·

This segment was moved, in order to lower the age rating of this News Post. It can now be found here:

Yatsufusa's Anime Ramble (Q1 2025) (Spoiler-Free) (Ecchi-Appendix)

[Said News Post has an Age rating of "A".]

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Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four!

[Sararīman ga Isekai ni Ittara Shitennō ni Natta Hanashi]

While the title and first episode suggest competence porn, this is actually a show that promotes having a closer look at other people and cultures in order to understand them better. More often than not characters do the total opposite of "what would make sense to you, the viewer", because of values you had not taken into account. If you are a bit of an intellectual, you will likely love this series to bits.

Personally, I found the "social riddles" to be a bit of a letdown. The show does something novel, but it does not really reinvent the wheel.

Good Demon Lord, though. Big fan! (Please come and take over my world! It's the third rock from the sun. Lots of trash in orbit an in the seas - you can't miss it!)

Solo Leveling (AKA Only I Level Up)

[Na Honjaman Rebeleop]

Season 1 was "not very good" in my eyes. It was something you could watch to switch your brain off to. ;p

But in comparison, Season 2 episode 5 is fantastic. It's a sudden and unexpected culmination of storytelling that was done to this point but never got any focus. It's like the writer had passed away and was replaced by a professional.

Later episodes are somewhat better as well.

Mean remarks aside: If you are already watching Solo Leveling you do not need me to tell you if it's good or bad. If you were interested before, it might help you if a snarky internet person says "It gets better. But that takes forever..." How you value your own time is up to you.

Shangri-La Frontier

[Shangri-La Frontier - Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su]

"'Solo Leveling', but slightly better." Every mini-ark is either "good mediocrity" or "bad mediocrity".

Season 2 is both slightly better and slightly worse than season 1. Season 1 ends on an underwhelming and boring note, so I am happy for the fans, but this is the kind of series I watch when I could be watching anything. It's the low-hanging fruit because I watched earlier episodes and know what to expect. But I also know that I will never get what I want/need from it.

You heard it here first: "Watching bad anime is like dating somebody out of convenience." ;D

ZENSHU

[Zenshuu.]

I watched 4 episodes and I still have no idea where this will go or what it is really about...

If you like mystery, you will probably love this. It looks good and is done very well. But I just cannot find the motivation to free up time in my schedule for it. It's probably 8/10-material, but it is just not for me. If I want to feel nostalgic about the anime of yesteryear, I'll re-watch Princess Mononoke (1997), Laputa - Castle in the Sky (1986), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Porco Rosso (1992)... The list goes on...

I'm sure Zenshuu. gets better, but from my perspective, it has almost nothing to say aside from "Wasn't that time great...? ...Yeah, I had nowhere to go with that trail of thought..."

I Left My A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths!

[A-Rank Party o Ridatsu Shita Ore wa, Moto Oshiego-tachi to Meikyū Shinbu o Mezasu]

"Good show. It's boring!" ;p

Honestly: Aside from having a title that is way too long, this show does a lot of things right. Character motivations... Fleshing out the world around the characters... The combats are super-short - because it's cheaper to animate. ;) Instead, all of that budget went into pretty colors, detailed outfits and flashy effects.

If you are on the fence about this series, and you like rainbows, you will be fine.

One thing, though: E09.5 is a Recap Episode. It practically ignores the plot that happened from E01 to E09 - presumably because that part is "finished". Whoever came up with that idea came from a time when "When you missed an episode, you missed it forever..." In today's media-landscape cutting the story like that made no sense.

I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time

[Guild no Uketsukejō desu ga, Zangyō wa Iya nanode Boss wo Solo Tōbatsu Shiyō to Omoimasu]

I relate to her rejection of "Why don't you do the thing all the others say is great?", but at the same time maybe a bit too real...: The main character decided on a career path that is linked to a thing she doesn't like - and she is bad at her job.

If there is any final moral to the story, it absolutely should be "If you don't like your job: Quit and apply for a job with similar perks but without the thing you don't like." That young woman could work in any government funded job and be fine. (Delivery person might suit her best, and I hope the intro foreshadows this...)

The viewer can care about the characters, but the title premise honestly gets in the way more often than it carries the story.

I think the series is worth my time, but I can only recommend this for viewers who do not mind dropping a series when they had enough.

And I like women wielding giant weapons as if it was nothing. If you ever met somebody in an MMORPG who donned a female avatar with a comically large, two-handed axe, a cutesy outfit, and a hearts and rainbows-pet... That might have been me! ;3

Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time

[Izure Saikyō no Renkinjutsu-shi?]

Personally, I liked this very much in the beginning, but...

The series is okay and the characters are nice but you are waiting for something meaningful to happen, but all that happens is select characters getting more powerful. The ending is a non-ending. That ending is barely enough happening to claim that a 2-episode arc would be over. Which felt very disappointing.

Plus: They depict slavery "in our just and fair country" as a non-issue. Even if that were "factual", there's always bad apples. Acting as if there was "an okay way to do slavery" drives me up the wall each and every time.

That being said: Guilty pleasure is still pleasure and I like how the author went "Screw it! Maple is an over the top character without any human boundaries!" That girl is pure anarchy.

You would probably not like the series unless you are into "Skill-Screens" and Level-Ups and can compartmentalize personal concerns in favor of seeing them.

Oh yeah: The meta-plot is also quite enjoyable. Probably should have mentioned that earlier...

Very Good

From my point of view, 3 series were "good" this season and I would recommend them universally.

Those 3 were...

Sakamoto Days

[SAKAMOTO DAYS]

Enjoyable for young and old - but the premise gets old halfway through the series.

Full disclosure: That I was watching them at a friend's place might have impacted my motivation to watch the full series. There were better things to do...

Still: Would recommend. Even if you don't stick with it, you will likely enjoy what you see.

The Apothecary Diaries

[Kusuriya no Hitorigoto]

Still great, but I feel less in love with this season. Overall I would recommend the entire series over (say) Tasokare Hotel, but this season just did not grip me as much as the 24 episodes that came prior.

No, she did not get Mulan 2'd. What I have seen of season 2 so far is just not as good as season 1 was. But you have to take into account that season 1 left a very strong impression. At the time of writing, season 2 still has 13 episodes(!) to go, so there's still a lot that can happen.

Tasokare Hotel

[Tasokare Hoteru]

If do mind mild spoilers only read the next sentence: "'Tasokare Hotel' is the one series most worth watching this season and it has a proper conclusion!"

This series does not even know the meaning of the term "moral high ground": Only a very small handful of characters are "pure" - and none of them carry the story. When I saw that this was based on a Japanese mobile game I thought it would be utter garbage and I would only watch an episode or two - judgmentally...

Instead, this series, despite not being morally commendable, ended up becoming the series I ended up looking forward to the most every week (and on a Friday - where I would traditionally' watch the week's "backlog" first).

Western Animation

Other tidbits for people who are more into western animation.

Wolf King

One or two readers may remember about my falling out with Netflix. Long story short: A local friend still uses their service. They said very bad things about Wolf King (which apparently is utter pits).

Runes

Aforementioned friend also mentioned a Canal+ series that's supposedly quite good: "Runes". Which has one of the most generic names in existence, so that caught me by surprise and I felt I should forward this...

Some digging revealed that Runes was kind of a bigger co-production and has a whopping 26 episodes - which are seemingly all already out. If you are more into comic-style, cel shaded 3D, it may be for you. Also: English and French Dub available. (Although the English Dub is never mentioned anywhere you can find a sample if you do an online search.)

At the time of writing, the (somewhat bare-bones) IMDB-page & French Wikipedia article are all I have to go on.

I have neither access nor headspace for this, but I thought it might interest one or two of my... probably 6 readers. ;)

(I have zero ambitions to become popular. If you enjoy this: Great. I just wanted to write something that was a bit different to clear my mind.)

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie

A Looney Tunes Movie came out. jthrash was convincingly pleased.

As for my personal takes on western animation for this season:

Red Iron Road

A mixed bag. Every episode is its own, stand-alone story. Overall okay.

The Amazing Digital Circus

Episode 4 came out: "Fast Food Masquerade".

I cannot bring myself to care about the series, but people like it. If you somehow missed out on that episode coming out Dec 2024 (just like me): Here you go.

Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stories

[Yami Shibai]

This is season 14. How many other series do you know that have 14 or more seasons? I don't know what to tell you here...

Either the people love this to bits or it gets is funding from the realm of the dead. Probably both. ;)

Common Side Effects

Pretty good. Very worth watching. It's much more than just "Fuck 'Big Pharma'!"

I won't say any more on this.

Invincible

♪ From far and wide,

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. ♫

Very good series throughout. Always worth watching.

But... Amazon sucks! Amazon Prime sucks! If you can (legally*) watch this without paying them directly, I would recommend to consider that option.

* I added that word in post, because I originally thought it went without saying that nobody on Newgrounds would promote piracy in earnest. Nobody... :)

Addendum 2025-03-25: I hope I found all the typos now. Sorry for the inconvenience. The reactions suggest that "nobody" read this. I always suspected it: I have practically no adult followers who are also into anime. Their loss. ;)

Addendum 2025-04-03: This is a long one.

1st)

From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!

[Akuyaku Reijō Tensei Oji-san]

I found some energy and watched 3 episodes of From Bureaucrat to Villainess. It is even better than I thought it would be. And I had pretty high expectations.

It's exactly what the doctor ordered: The story is funny and uplifting, the characters are easy to sympathize with, the world and setting are thought through more thoroughly than... ... ... Okay. The rules of this world are like a precision machine. If there's a Top 10 for "best world rules" this would be in the running.

And that outro is a sight to behold!

Of course I'm just 3 episodes in so far, and a lot can still happen, but so far this has been consistently awesome. Well worth a watch!

2nd)

I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!

[Ore wa Seikan Kokka no Akutoku Ryōshu!]

Studio Quad seemed hellbent to squeeze a whopping 3 episodes in before the first season of 2025 had ended. And I have no idea what they hope to achieve... They are way too late to get considered for any rankings for Q1 and they're "too early" positioning for Q2 might cause them to get lost in the memory (and more importantly: the listings) of those who list shows that started in Q2. The series is currently "preview-able" via Abema and will then regularly release about half a month later again. By the time E04 comes out, less people who already watched the first 3 episodes will be in the mood to invest an hour of re-watching, just to continue watching. They are going to lose "a few" potential viewers over this.

I predict that statistics will bury this show. This will be something Otaku-archeologists will dig out 10 to 20 years from now and ask "Hey, did you know 'this' existed...?"

(Bottom line: Somebody is screwing around with the release-dates, shooting themselves in the foot and I don't like it.)

The series itself is... decent, so far. I would have probably watched the rest as well if I had not already seen the "preview". The show's main weakness is an utter lack of consistency. All 3 episodes released at the time of writing had very different arks and themes. As if I was watching 3 different shows. The plots are not so complex that it would make me feel disoriented, but they don't seem to try to please any specific demographic. And as everybody who has spend more than a few weeks on Newgrounds knows: Try to please everyone and you will please no one!

At this point their core demographic is "Weirdos who'll watch 'anything' as long as the production quality is high enough" - and they'd get those even if they made it another otome game anime... I'm not bitter or anything, but there are tons of well-received anime series that did not get a second season. ("Must be nice" if you like One Piece, Naruto, or My Hero Academia...) If the decision to animate this manga was about budget, they could have picked up the rights to Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody to Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater for the price of a dinner at a family restaurant...

Okay, I might be a little bitter, but it's more that I'm frustrated by all their blunders in this. Everything studio Quad made so far was... frankly "unwatchable" - so having something of decent quality on offer was a nice surprise. This is their first decent project and I see a giant flag that reads "self-sabotage" waving over it. I'm hardly a fan of their work, but I have no interest in seeing yet another studio die either.

Addendum 2025-04-11: After having had a little survey (Thank you to everyone who contributed to that, btw.), I decided to split this post into an SFW- & an NSFW-post in favor of accessibility to a (as it turned out) significant part of my readers.

I am sorry if this new format is inconvenient to you, but this isn't exactly the type of post where I would tell 30% of the people interested: "Come back and read it in 3 years or so." or "You're adults! Can you please be a little bit more horny? ;p" You don't have to approve of this, but I hope you at least understand the circumstances.

In true Newgrounds tradition, I want to keep offering my questionable takes on anime series from both the SFW- and NSFW-spectrum. But with current-day technology, this means: From now on, there will be two posts when I publish my anime opinions. I'll space them out a bit, to not pollute the classy, high-brow talking space that is the Artist News. (I practiced in front of a mirror, so I could say that with a straight face.)

As already mentioned quite a bit above, the (now removed) segment of this News Post can now be found here:

Yatsufusa's Anime Ramble (Q1 2025) (Spoiler-Free) (Ecchi-Appendix)

[The linked News Post has an Age rating of "A".]

March 14, 2025 came and went. Your "old" Firefox (or Tor Browser) might look pretty horrible today.

If you are not willing to update to a newer version of Firefox that might break all kinds of stuff for you and disrespect how you want to use your browser, you can either look into a new browser or look for a workaround.

Here is a workaround.

But before you apply it, please keep two things in mind:

1) I am not an expert. I just dabble.

2) I might be secretly evil. Hell, if you don't know me, I might even be openly evil. ;3

Seriously: Consider a user's past actions and your past experiences with them before you follow their advice blindly. And don't just install something without hesitation. Do some checks first. Same goes for "tech support" websites: Don't just look at the top hit labeled "Solution to your Problem. Probably." (I'm paraphrasing here). Take a few minutes to figure out if the author knows what they are talking about. There might be comments. There might be old articles telling you how you should beware of aliens from outer space that want to store your brain in a jar...

I bet most of you didn't read half of what I wrote above. I cannot blame you. You are not in a emotionally good place right now "just" want your stuff fixed. Maybe read the rest later...

Set a bookmark here in case you need/want to look at this again - to undo the changes or to send the link to a friend in need.

To get your Add-Ons running again enter "about:config" into the address bar.

Then search for "xpinstall.signatures.required" and set it to false by double-clicking.

If you were using a language that wasn't English, you can get that back as well:

To get your usual language settings back enter "about:config" into the address bar.

Then search for "extensions.langpacks.signatures.required" and set it to false by double-clicking.

Restart your browser and your language should be back to whatever you had it set to before (likely Spanish or Russian).

What did you (the person reading this) just do?

You set your browser to not check with Mozilla to verify if an Add-On (or language pack) is actually safe to use and/or functional. If it's any comfort to you: Mozilla just don't test most Add-Ons anyway and a lot of Add-Ons do not work as advertised or do not work at all. You can trust your "old" Add-Ons as much as you could before, but you should be careful concerning any Add-Ons you add to that version of Firefox.

Will this workaround fix that problem forever?

"Maybe..."

It's probably not a good idea to use that version of Firefox for an entire decade or something, but at least you can enjoy this weekend without further drama in that regard.

Where did the solution come from?

Surprisingly enough, the official Firefox support page - albeit not in the kind of article you'd expect it in and they sure as hell did not list it for people to use it in the way I described here...

Why did that happen to you (the reader) in the first place? (simplified)

The answer is pretty boring. Basically, you ignored the warning message you might or might not have been getting (depending on the age of your Firefox) - or you thought it wouldn't be that bad, because the wording was as unhelpful as always.

Why did that happen to you (the reader) in the first place? (detailed)

Officially stated reason.

The actual reason is "so that people update their browser. We at Mozilla just can't understand why people wouldn't want to update Firefox as often as possible... We always put so much effort in to change every single part of the interface that people liked before and make it harder and harder for our users to change the interface back to an arrangement that makes sense (like having tab bar right above 'the actual tabs', instead of having it two bars removed from the thing that they are attached to). Also: Our users should rejoice that we keep breaking "old" Add-Ons for the sake of security and then delete the installer files off our site, so nobody can ever find it again to install it on a version of Firefox it would still run on - or pick up the project and port it to a newer version of Firefox." ;p

This Dilbert comic puts it best.

Anything else?

I might or might not update this post (further) in the future. But right now I am too tired for that. And most of you will likely just want your stuff fixed, so your life can go on like you were used to. Which would sound very relatable to me. ;)

I'll make notes at the very bottom of this post to point out updates if any updating takes place.

TL;DR:

about:config

xpinstall.signatures.required = false

extensions.langpacks.signatures.required = false

As always: I hope this helps. You're welcome. Now go enjoy your remaining weekend.

Addendum 2025-03-15: Added links to sources as well as more complaining and a link to a comic strip to make up for it. Sorry that I'm so short on time & energy these days. I'll hopefully improve the wording eventually. Thanks to everybody who liked this post, but it is absolutely okay to pay no attention to it. I bet half of you just wanted to be kind and don't even use Firefox in the first place - let alone an older version... ;)

I am taking an extended NG hiatus. I won't do "people" anymore. In all likelihood I will still log in at irregular intervals to look at art and rate it. (Please vote on more art, y'all.)

I might "return"; I might not. If I do, it might be in February, November, or in a few years.

Any writing previously indicated might or might not happen. As of right now, I do not have the head to deliver it at a quality that would reach my own standards. (There are other people who can write sentences that make sense on NG. Go read their stuff.)

PMs are disabled as of now and will be re-enabled when I return. My apologies if this inconveniences you, but I do not want people to invest their effort in vain when I might never reply to them - which is already happening in some cases. (Those who I shared my email address with can still contact me that way.)

Addendum 2024-12-30: If you are staring at this post in the hopes it changed, here's something more wholesome for you: Today is "One day...!" I got done sorting My 100 Favorite Movies and My 100 Favorite Music Videos. Both lists are now open to the public. Go watch some good animations and/or music videos with some great music. Music that wasn't "generated", but has actual been composed by human beings. (Why would I even bring that up? Well...)

Addendum 2025-01-14: Just wanted to state that I'm still alive - just in case somebody was worried. Y'all deserve better, but I need a break. From everything.

Addendum 2025-01-20: Yes: They did it to themselves. But it's still sad...

Addendum 2025-01-26: During this weekend I took some time out of my schedule to see how "returning to NG's more social side" would feel. ... I'm not particularly confident about returning to the Artist News anytime soon.

Addendum 2025-02-07: Days on which I'm more likely to log in are Tuesday (because of Takeover Tuesday) and Friday (because that's the day I switch out the set of 6 Art favorites that I will feature on my profile for a week).

On a quick side note: On some days logging in just feels more rewarding to me than on others... ❤

Addendum 2025-02-16: PMs are open again but my sentbox is permanently full, so I have to delete/archive two PMs for every one PM I want to write. I do appreciate your kind words, but NG makes it a chore to respond so I might not always answer.

Addendum 2025-03-01: As some have already noticed, I'm making an effort to help out over in the Artist News at irregular intervals. Enjoy it while I still have some energy but don't expect much. ;p

"Watch more anime!"

 – Tristan "Arkada" Gallant from Glass Reflection, Canadian Reviewer

Welcome.

This is a ranked, spoiler-free list of my top 13 favorite anime series "this year" (more on that in a moment).

...Because that's clearly what most people come to NG for: Anime opinions! xD

Some stuff you should know about this list before you skip down to the rankings:

- There are no links or images to the shows here and I will not discuss the actual content - only mood and quality of the writing as well as the animation/"cinematography". You can go in absolutely blind, if you so desire. Since this is a service no one (I know of) provides, I thought this ranked list would be a good idea.

I would not expect that readers would be psychics who waited almost 12 months in order to get recommendations from me of all people - but we cannot all watch "every single anime" and we are into different stuff. "Different" can still be "good", though.

- Only anime series that aired their first season during 2024 will be considered.

- 2nd or 3rd seasons will not be included - so As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World will not be on here. "Consecutive-cour series"/"2nd-cour series" do count - explicitly so I can "cheat in" The Apothecary Diaries.

But yeah: Generally, if you watched season one of a show and liked it, you don't need others to tell you to watch the second and third season as well. At that point you already know if you like it or not.

- If a show's premise didn't sound interesting to me, then I didn't watch it. Even if I had access to every single series that comes out somewhere, I do not have the time and energy to watch everything.

- I am no professional reviewer. That being said, I critique quite often. I just don't do it on NG anymore. Because fuck those crybabies and their drooling fans. I am under no obligation to improve the creative output of others and I can still hand out poor ratings to poor submissions.

- All the shows are watched and judged with original Japanese voice acting with English subtitles provided by others. I do not comb the web for good subtitles anymore. If the English dubbed version is shite or if there are no good subtitles available in your country, I wouldn't know about it. Likewise, I would not be able to say "The EngSubs from [a certain place] or [certain person] are the best." (Who can even afford multiple services these days?)

- Also: Yes, shows such as Senpai is an Otokonoko, Cherry Magic! and A Sign of Affection were good and worth watching. But I will not pretend that I am sooo deep and that I enjoyed them to an extend which would justify including them here. Not every single thing I happen to like has to be "the best". And likewise: Just because I'm not hetero doesn't mean that I will automatically like all shows aimed at a stereotypical LGBTQIA+-audience the best. (Once more: The aforementioned series were good; just not "the best".)

I still enjoy me some representation, though. ;)

- The list starts with the last place and moves to first. Because that's how you do these "review" style of lists. This isn't a playlist...

- And finally: This list is sorted by my own preferences. For those who have trouble understanding this: My personal tastes can be different from yours - there is no "objective" way to "rate" culture and art. The wording of individual entries may be adjusted or expanded upon during the next 3 days. But while I may still agonize over the wording, the sorting of my candidates is final. I'm an honest person and I honestly do not give a fuck about what you liked this year. And if I did I would seek out and read your list on the topic. (Once again, the comment section is closed because I cannot be asked to read and moderate "lol, but..."-comments. I don't hate you, dear reader - I just do not care for a discourse on subjective opinions on the matter.)

Now without further ado:

#13

Delicious in Dungeon

[Danjon Meshi]

While still a pretty good watch, at some point, a fun show about fantasy c[Spoilers!]ing, exploration, as well as aiding friends and companions suddenly turns into this complicated and convoluted mess of a story that nobody asked for. The start is still very good, but I really have to ask myself: Who thought that this kind of change was a good idea?

Since I did not read the manga I've decided to blame Netflix. They had it coming, anyway! ;p "Goodbye Netflix!" And that's a significant part of the reason why Ranma ½ (2024) isn't on this list - I didn't watch it. I'm sure it's great and "not at all" a rehash of a story that has already been exhaustively animated many years ago and has already had more special episodes than most of the readers had birthdays!

...

Thanks for bringing us "She-Ra", though. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power was out of this world.

I can highly recommend the first 12 episodes of Delicious in Dungeon. The other 12...? Not so much.

While the production of a second season has been announced I'll be content with the early episodes (which I thoroughly enjoyed) and call it a day. It was the fun kind of "weird" until they changed the formula halfway though the series and I really cannot stand this kind of behavior.

#12

Acro Trip

[Akuro Torippu]

Not a Magical Girls anime as such and more genre adjacent.

It has some great moments and some boring ones, but the characters (including a protagonist you can sympathize with) are what saves this series for me.

If you are not into Magical Girls this is most likely not for you, though.

At the time of writing, this is still airing, but I am confident that the placing for this wouldn't change, even if they suddenly decided to double their budget for the show.

#11

Dandadan

[Dan Da Dan]

Well written story and characters, fantastically over-animated at times (very impressive), but the story doesn't really grab the viewer and does not make them long for the next episode.

Still: If you like very pretty eye-candy and aren't violently allergic against humor aimed at Japanese teens, this is very watchable.

At the time of writing, this is still airing, but I don't see it getting considerably better (or worse).

#10

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer

[Nozomanu Fushi no Bōkensha]

This is an interesting story with very good pacing, good character writing, solid animation with mid-tier budget... It's even still good on a re-watch. ...And I have the feeling it was completely ignored.

If you are (to put it lightly) "sad", but you have no desire to engage with positive teenagers and bright colors, then this "unwanted" anime series with a sobered but not defeated mood might be the right pick for you.

#9

Mr. Villain's Day Off

[Kyūjitsu no Warumono-san]

This is what you watch when you need a break - from everything!

It tries too hard to relax the viewer, but at the end of the day I cannot fault it for that. It does a good job at what it has set out to do and if you, dear reader, are one of the people who cannot decide if they want to vomit or cry first when you crawl into your save space in the evening, this is definitely for you.

While there is no doubt that the target audience is adults, I'd reckon that anyone who landed on this article would be the right age to enjoy it. I doubt kids would like it, though.

#8

Sasaki and Peeps

[Sasaki to Pii-chan]

Do you enjoy stories? Do you enjoy genres? Are you fairly confused by my vague phrasing? :3

Sasaki and Peeps is a lot of stories and a lot of genres all interwoven into one impressive work of art. You will likely enjoy it, but you need to be rather awake to process everything that is going on. For this very reason I also suspect that you will enjoy this more if you rightfully fancy yourself as being an intelligent adult.

This would have ranked considerably higher, but is weighed down by large stretches filled with commerce and bureaucracy. On the other hand: That I still rank it this high despite this grievance should tell you how competently put together this is.

The production of a second season has been announced and I'm looking forward to it.

#7

Dungeon People

[Danjon no Naka no Hito]

If Mr. Villain's Day Off was not strong enough for you and you need something to fill you with more hope and confidence, Dungeon People might fulfill that need: The characters are all incredibly genuine and I would describe the world as "rough and real, but lovable".

While this might speak to people who like power fantasies, this is a warmth fantasy instead:

"Imagine if people - 'but good'!"

#6

The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash

[Saijaku Teimā wa Gomihiroi no Tabi o Hajimemashita]

If you think that title is quite a mouthful... well, you are absolutely correct*, but you probably also didn't watch a lot of anime until now. Fear not: This might be for you. The Weakest Tamer (and so on...) is really accessible even for viewers who aren't familiar with "the usual tropes". Everything will be explained to you in a digestible pace. If you have children (or parents) that you would like to watch some hopeful, current-day anime with, this one is pretty much the ideal pick. And if you're a "veteran", it isn't bad either.

That being said: There have been no signs that a second season will be produced - which is a very common occurrence in anime series. In a nutshell: Most anime series get produced as "high quality advertisements" so more mangas will be sold.

* How about "The Weakest Tamer's Journey"? This took me about 10 seconds to workshop. Dearest Honobonoru500, I love your work and I do understand that artists are typically pretty overworked (regardless of country). But next time please consider getting a second opinion on a title.

#5

Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord

[Akuyaku Reijou Reberu 99: Watashi wa Ura Bosudesuga Maou de wa Arimasen]

Now that's a title you could pummel somebody to death with...* ;3 And also kind of a spoiler - but you can't blame that one on me.

This will be my most divisive pick for this list: The writing isn't out of this world and neither is the animation budget. But it does things that no other series of this making does - or at least not this well. The comedy is almost entirely dry humor that can actually land with a "western" audience and the protagonist is perfectly reasonable and smart for a change.

Just a spoiler-free heads-up: You will likely think you are watching the wrong series at first - because Yatsufusa from Newgrounds would not have recommended you to watch... "this". What you are most likely complaining about is a regrettable design-decision I cannot defend, but will excuse. It gets cleared up within the first episode and never returns to haunt us. (Like in Gakkou Gurashi!.)

As an added bonus, the story will be concluded by the end of the series so you don't have to wait for a sequel or curse the Japanese animation industry for baiting you once again.

* I know what title and a subtitle are - I'm just being pedantic. Places can already canonically use "Villainess Level 99" but some still use the Jenga tower-version.

#4

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

[Sōsō no Furīren]

People would have likely burned me at the stake if I made up a rule to include second-cour series and didn't list "Frieren" in a very high place. It is a really well-told story about topics you won't find tackled too often - to say the least. The animation is also... "delicious!" ("Sense... Who is that elf magus?")

But that being said, the journey that is the story is, at times, paced very slowly. This is absolutely intentional and makes sense within the confines of the story, but it might inspire you to gnaw on the corners of your furniture in anticipation for the next bit of "actual story" or character growth.

"Frieren" tells some lessons, but not every member of the audience might be up for that kind of storytelling all of the time.

The production of a second season has been announced.

#3

Gushing over Magical Girls

[Mahō Shōjo ni Akogarete]

"Te-he-he...!~" :3

Observant readers may have wondered why this list would be rated "M"... I was wavering whether or not I should forgo this show in favor of an "E" age rating; but a string of recent (and concerning) events have made it clear to me that we need a bit more healthy sex-positivity in our lives. And the series is really well written, actually. I did not put this over "Frieren" on a whim! So here we go:

Gushing over Magical Girls is a modern 2024 series that has streamlined a lot of elements of the Magical Girls genre in favor of telling a good story... And showing girls getting touched by other girls in strange and exciting situations...~ :3

At its core it is really quite an innocent series that doesn't treat its audience as if it was stupid. Unless you are sex-averse, the show is easy to watch and you are almost certainly going to have a good time (as well as deepen your understanding of the Magical Girls genre in some regards, even if you fancy yourself to be quite knowledgeable in these areas).

Watching it when you happen to have kids might pose a logistical challenge, though...

Fair warning: Not every episode will be "sexy strange". Not every "intimate exchange" between "sometimes consenting" partners (who will not be hurt ...that badly) will be for you.

There is a censored and an "uncensored"/"less censored" version. Both are equally tame and there isn't a lot of actual nudity, but the censored version simply doesn't look quite as nice.

#2

The Apothecary Diaries

[Kusuriya no Hitorigoto]

If I were to make a list of the best 13 anime series of the decade in... *counts with fingers* let's say "in a few years", then I am confident that The Apothecary Diaries would not only be in it but would also be ranked quite high. This is a show the world desperately needed and I am very glad that it was made. The characters, while very "real" for their era, are the best they could be and have a lot of edges and angles that aid the telling of a throughout "believable" story. If you sometimes struggle with "suspension of disbelief" or if you feel that there aren't enough "real" female protagonists in anime, then there is a high chance you will love this series to bits.

I have nothing but respect for Rebecca Silverman; but to me, this show is clearly "S rank"-material. There has barely been a second where I haven't felt entertained or engrossed in the story.

The production of a second season has been announced at the end of the 24(!) episode long first season. If you aren't filled to the brim with confidence for The Apothecary Diaries by now, I do not know what to do with you.

...but...

After hearing me gush about this you might be asking: "How can this be only be the 'second' place...?" Well: In a different world, this show would have been first place. But considering the world and times we actually live in...

#1

'Tis Time for "Torture", Princess

[Hime-sama "Gōmon" no Jikan desu]

'Tis what you want to watch, dear reader.

If you are... a person of any age who has been stuck living on planet earth throughout the year 2024 and you are planning to brave the hellscape that will be 2025, then 'Tis Time for "Torture", Princess is what will most likely help you to find at least some of the mental strength to see another day.

This series is exceptionally well made, features exceptionally likeable characters with surprisingly healthy and grown-up mindsets. But one more word from me and I would be spoiling what this series is actually about, so I can only hope that I have stressed enough how good this might be for your mental health. Now go and watch 'Tis Time for "Torture", Princess. (Who cares about me waffling on here? You probably already got what you came here for.)

And that was it. 12 endless months. 13 great series. A bunch that did not quite make this list. ...and many, many more that were just "subjectively bad". Apart from a few notable exceptions, 2024 has not been a strong year for Japanese animation, but I hope I could help you find something that caught your interest.

It is worth mentioning that I can not recommend the service I'm using in earnest - at least not at the time of writing. Therefore: If you don't know how to find a certain anime - don't ask me.

And as pretty much every independent reviewer in "the west" will tell you: Some of those shows might have legal options that are actually available in your country - but others might not. If the latter is the case and there are no legal alternatives, I would have no moral qualms about telling readers to use an internet search engine and look up places where they can watch those any way you can.

"Would have" because I obviously cannot condone piracy. Because that would be illegal. Even if this means you never get to see those shows and the publisher would take no financial loss from your actions. ...All because the companies behind them prefer to invest time and resources into trying to fight piracy sites instead of looking into how to get affordable and easily accessible anime to potential customers outside of Japan. And if piracy never even existed in the first place, they would "totally" watch out for you...

*Sigh!*

If you want anime recommendations from me beyond these 13 picks, my personal anime preferences are actually quite public, although not sorted as carefully.

And if you didn't like this list (or the lack of synopsis and visual references) at all, Arkada (from the opening quote) will probably do one for this year, so you can go there in just a few weeks and enjoy the work of a professional with way more competence, wit, charisma, and funding than me.

(In case the cesspool that is YouTube doesn't want to cooperate with your browser setup, use 9xbuddy - which is horribly named, but will get the job done. [Update 2025: It will no longer get the job done. Here's an emergency solution I currently use. Only works for 360p, though.])

[This post concludes the first part of my December Road Map. (If you want to send something in, you still have until the 18th of December.) Was Thursday a good day to post it? Was this a good time of the day to post it? Probably not, but time will tell.]

Addendum 2024-12-12: I am such an idiot! If I had waited just one more day I could have published a "Top 13" on a Friday the 13th! x|

But I don't want to annoy people and it doesn't make the list better or worse, so I'll leave it as is. To make ammends: Here's a very good animation about the power of the number 13 made by @FrankHardon, who covers occult and "supernatural" topics.

(Still: What a blunder...!)

Addendum 2024-12-13: Fuck me sideways! I "just" wanted to feature fanart from the highest ranked shows on this list in my Art Portal favorites (I update them every Friday to give every set of 6 pieces a fair 7 days in the spotlight). I needed several hours to find some. Our artists are just terrible with tags... Or using the names of the actual source material...

Long story short: Out of 13 series I could find 4 with solid SFW-fanart. ...And two with NSFW-fanart. Because it was such an entirely unexpected find, I decided to share one of those as well - which is uncharacteristic for my profile, but I like it when (aged-up) characters get to have a sex-life for a change - and people who don't like that will have configured their filters accordingly anyway. So: Enjoy! ...Or don't. ;)

Addendum 2024-12-23: Prophecy fulfilled:

Glass Reflection - The Best Anime of 2024 [2024-12-22]

( I cannot wait to hear him rip my favorites a new one and place my least favorites first and seconds respectively... ;) )

Addendum to the Addendum 2024-12-23 (after actually watching the video):

If you have actually read this post and do not mind slight spoilers (visual and otherwise) I highly recommend the video I just linked to. Both for different takes on things as well as for getting recommendations for shows that I did not mention. Both of us featured some series that weren't exactly mainstream. Aside from other things, I was stoked that he included Villainess Level 99 in the #10 spot. ;)

My reason not to include "Appraisal Skill" and 7th Time Loop are very similar to Arkada's: They are still in the "buildup-phase" (amazingly...). While many shows might never be concluded, you'd like to see more than just the entry-level application of those hours of preparation. That being said As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World is enjoyable. It's just... 2 seasons have just concluded but the best thing I can say about it the a general NG audience is: "If 'you' want to learn about the effective use of BGM in animation, this is a good choice." It's just "too early in the series" to recommend... After eight hours!)

Some words of warning on Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master: The praise was "understandable". One could enjoy the show for various qualities. But it is not something you can recommend to those with limited time. Arkada has taste. But if you are not into "traditional Japanese-esque royal court stuff", this will not be as enticing for you as it is for Arkada. On top of that [slight spoiler], around half of season one is completely inconsequential. If you want your plots to be meaningful and to go somewhere meaningful, this is not for you.

[spoiler over]

Dandadan. ... :)

I overall enjoyed how we could appreciate a similar pool of anime series for similar things - just to different degrees. Granted: It wasn't a big pool this year... That we seemingly had similar thoughts during our prep work was also quite a treat... It made me particularly happy when both our thoughts synced up on "a particular technicality" that many other will undoubtedly have ignored. But since I have no Top 13 of 2023, I am not held back by the same qualifiers/dis-qualifiers as him.

Lastly... When he lead up to his #1 spot I got very excited, because I knew exactly what show he was going to talk about. Great choice! :3

All of you: Enjoy your holidays and watch more anime - if you can.

"I'm so glad we're friends, Nana."

 – Nanao Nakajima, Talentless Nana (2020), (E01: Talentless)

Hey there.

I'll be a lot less talkative after the upcoming New Year. I'll try to cram in a few News Posts until then. 3 of them being:

#1) My Top 13 anime recommendations from the space year 2024. [Done.]

You may ask: "Why 13?"

To which I retort: "Why 10? Or 5? I don't need to impress anyone."

(Spoilers: Ranma ½ (2024) will not be on the list. I wasn't into Ranma ½ when it first came out and Netflix has become too eager to burn money they are given with projects that are obviously trash...)

#2) The second part of my Frequently Given Replies.

#3) Some really boring, janitorial index page so people can easier navigate through all of my crap-- I mean: Useful advice - with more text than just a single link describing it.

Although I don't expect noticeable feedback, I'd also like to try my hand at one or two posts with audience participation:

#4) A News Post about whatever you think would be interesting for more users than just yourself. I'm asking for audience participation (AKA PMs) in this particular case, because: What I see as easily accessible and widespread information might be something that others hadn't even conceived of as being public information.

I will pick the best suggestion(s?) for this. And because it would be hard for me to judge who actually had a good idea there I'll be picking from the ideas that sound halfway feasible to me in order of actual voting power (base value plus B/P-bonus). I don't want to make this a dick-measuring contest, but unlike account age, voting power is an actual expression of "How much time did the user spent getting to know NG." It's a flawed system, but its hard to manipulate and it ensures that nobody from my block-list just commits multi-abuse to try and get a bunch of crap ideas in.

#5) And maybe another News Post with lighthearted questions, to celebrate... What little time we have left on this planet. I will not do an AMA-style. Actual personal stuff is taboo and I won't do your homework. I have not fend off previous attempts to "interview" me, just to cave in now. There won't be a comment section for that one. You can send me your questions from now until the 18th of December (maybe to be extended to the 25th, but don't bet on it).

Spellchecking mandatory. You can send in longer questions, but don't write an essay. That's what I am here for. ;)

Now a few short words on the comment section: Use PMs instead.

This might feel draconian, inconvenient or less fun, but it makes it way more convenient for me to mass-delete contributions from spammers and other unwanted individuals and y'all can use formatting - if you like.

Put "[Post Topic]" or "[Question]" in front of the PM-titles respectively, so I'll know the context. (You would not believe how many users contact me, without providing any context for what they are talking about addressing something I said or did weeks ago.)

The Age rating for the audience participation-posts will be "Not E" and that I all I can say for now.

If there's not enough acceptable or interesting questions, I'll discard that idea again. Please do not expect a personal reply to those PMs. You'll know if you were picked when/if it comes out.

I already know that I bit off more than I can chew (for reference: This very post was scheduled for Thursday), so the actual execution for all of this might take until the end of January or something. (I regret this already...)

Oh, and something not entirely unrelated: It has recently come to my attention that my efforts to help artists (and restraint to not strangle people just because they says something that appears stupid to me) have not gone unnoticed. That's very sweet of y'all, but... But no! If you vote for me in the BBS Awards as having been the "most helpful" this year, I'll come after you. I'm warning you... Your votes will be publicly visible! "I have a hammer..."

You can find my reasons here, but I am very aware that not everybody voting will read that post, so I mentioned it here as well. Go vote for users such as @Pingu or @Skoops - to just name my personal favorites. We have some great "helpers" on NG. They deserve this way more than I do - and certainly more than AlexToolStudio...

And finally: Just so nobody who bookmarks this News Post panics later: Once all that aforementioned writing is dealt with, this News Post will very likely be deleted because it will have served its purpose. I see far too many un-curated News sections on NG and right now I can see no value in archiving this publicly.

So long and thank you for your time.

If you did not read all of that, I'm not thinking less of you. ;)

Addendum 2024-12-17: For the one or two people who will read this: I don't feel like logging into NG anymore. I have made plenty of notes for the Frequently Given Replies [#002] in the past weeks but no more motivation to edit them into something publishable.

Addendum 2025-01-27: To make good on past promises I will keep the FAQ #002 & the boring, janitorial index in my schedule. But it may be a few more months. I also have a promise to a certain Moderator to uphold.