Anime

I like the opening song of Dandadan S2. Not sure which one between S1 and S2 is better, but both are bangers.

I also like the intro part of The Summer Hikaru Died opening song, but only until the vocals come in. lol

I finished Samurai Champloo this week and started Mononoke (the series).

It sounds sacrilegious, but I enjoyed Samurai Champloo more than Cowboy Bebop. The characters and stories are more interesting.

I’m currently on ep 3 of Mononoke. My eyes are still getting used to the animation style as I sometimes miss some details while watching with subs, but I’m getting there. The stories are great so far.

Recently started My Dress Up Darling S2. I find the ED-style OP in episode 1 to be wild. I don't know if it's unique to that episode, but that is fun.

I am not actually watching too many shows this season, so that portion of my list is pretty short. However, I feel like this season has, overall, a lot of good OP/EDs to choose from. I cut down my initial version of this list a lot and included some kind of silly awards at the end.

Shows I am watching:

• City OP - Hello by Furui Riho - such a perfect fit for the show
• Dan Da Dan OP - Kakumei Douichuu by AiNA THE END - another banger of an OP

Shows I am not watching:

• 9: Ruler's Crown OP - ResoNAnce by Araki - I have no idea what this show is about, but I liked the OP.
• Bad Girl ED - Bad Surprise by Tenrou-gun - the OP is a lot of fun too
• Bullet/Bullet OP - Work Hard by Chanmina - an embodiment of an aesthetic that works
• Fragrant Flower ED - Hare no Hi ni by Reira Ushio - beautiful vocals and great crochet animation

Other Notables:

• Putting the Dark back in Dark Fanstasy - Clevatess OP - Ruler by Mayu Maeshima - great visuals that have piqued my interest in the show
• Now That's What I Call Edge - Gachiakuta OP - HUGs by Paledusk - This OP (literally) screams one of those edgy revenge stories that we get from time to time.
• You're Too Good For This - Rent-A-Girlfriend OP - Umitsuki by ClariS and Rent-A-Girlfriend ED - Boku no Vega by Regal Lily - I like both these songs and artists, and the animation in the OP is great...but my enjoyment is definitely tempered having read through this portion of the manga.
• HanaKana can Rap?! - Detectives These Days are Crazy ED - GORI☆GORI Feez e-Girl!! - It's fun, and not what I am used to from HanaKana.

My roundup is still pending...I have been busy and haven't yet finished listening to all of them yet. Stay tuned!

For general depravity, you guys gotta watch Grand Blue Dreaming. It's a drinking anime with a diving sub-plot, absolutely hilarious. I'm thrilled it's back after 5 years. Though it's gonna be tough for it to live up to S1, it's doing pretty well so far.

Bad Girl ED and Watari-kun OP are both bangers.

I'm so out of the loop this season. I've only just caught up with Dandadan S2 and My Dress-Up Darling S2 and started with Dr Stone.

My favorite this season is Dandadan S2 OP. I also liked its ED.

Besides those, Call of the Night S2 has a cool OP, and My Dress Up Darling S2 and There’s No Freaking Way I’ll Be Your Lover! Unless… have fun OPs too.

Started Mononoke has a good plot, I like this one very much

Meta

May we please have a tag for community discussion posts like those from @molave@reddthat.com? Perhaps have one for episode discussions and one for news too. It would help with filtering of posts on Photon.

Can we also have a tag to indicate that there are spoilers in the tagged post? Sometimes, people want to talk about the content of anime they have watched freely, outside of episode discussions. Spoiler-tagging a post allows people to be warned before seeing the comments.

Past Seasons

I completed Haikyuu!! season 1 over the past week. Instant 10 / 10.

Only this anime can get me as hyped up as Umamusume: Cinderella Gray.

Writing-wise, Haikyuu is basically the volleyball version of

On a more meta note, I think sports anime are the best suited to the shounen demographic. Other forms of shounen anime have tropes that I find annoying, but these tropes actually make sense in the context of sports.

For example, in many battle shounen, the hero tend to let the villain walk away instead of finishing them off when they had the chance. The villain would then live to fight another day. It's so stupid because the villain would cause so much preventable suffering later. I'm sure it's because they want to reuse the same character instead of coming up with a new one, but that's just an excuse to justify subpar work.

This is not a problem in sports anime because even if the stakes are high, it would almost never be a life-or-death situation. There is no real villain. Even if the protagonist lost to their opponent because they failed to end the match decisively, it is alright - they can get their revenge in a subsequent match. Nobody is really getting hurt.

Another genre that I dislike when targeted at young boys is romance. I read somewhere that young boys don't have much experience being in romantic relationships, so they relate to "the chase" better. I wholeheartedly agree.

My watching experience tells me that the protagonists of such anime take multiple seasons to get together and once they get together, the story ends. Personally, I find it too frustrating.

This is not a problem in sports anime at all. The focus of relationships is on friendship and camaraderie, something that shounen are more than familiar with.