Category: Anime

The first one is making a lot of waves on my various feeds, and there’s a good reason. It’s a sweet rom-com with some of the standard tropes, but it’s not the season-long slow burn.

Next up is another rom-com, but there’s a sci-fi twist. This is one where I would recommend the sub version because the dubbed voice actors get distracting. I will also say it gets a bit sappy sometimes, but it’s still an enjoyable watch.

This third recommendation is a rom-com with a mythical twist. It’s your typical harem rom-com for the most part. Nothing really spectacular except for the general premise.

Finally, we have a slice of life show, but with at a school for cute monster girls. What I like is watching some of the characters graduate and new ones come in. This gives it a more “realistic” feel – or at least more like how life occurs with people coming in and out.

This first one I knew to be very popular, but I’d been holding back as there were other series I was more interested in. Then I finally decided to take the plunge and ended up binging the first two seasons before coming up for air.

Yet another isekai playing with the tropes. I liked the concept and overall, it’s not too bad. The supporting cast makes up for the protagonist being stupid.

Our third recommendation this month is a cute rom-com, but with a bit of a twist. This is one I wish was dubbed because The Wife would get a kick out of it.

This last is your standard workplace slow-burn with interesting characters. Yet another I wish had a dub.

This first one had an interesting premise. The downside is that a lot of the characters are pretty much shonen tropes. And the main character goes between cool and insufferable way too much. Still, it was overall pretty decent.

This next one is a dark fantasy that plays with some of the tropes and comes up with something fresh. I don’t know why, but the animation feels almost as if the animators behind “Heavy Metal” decided to try out anime.

Third, we have an isekai. Sort of. It was on a couple of lists of good “reverse isekai,” but I’m not sure I would call it that. I will say that the main character is annoying to the point of being someone I actively disliked. The supporting cast kept me going, and I was glad of it.

This last one is more or less the standard high-school rom-com, but it does some twist and turns from the standard tropes. And the characters are enjoyable.

This first one was an interesting slice-of-life / romance that did not go as I expected it. This is also one I think is missing a lot of backstory that’s probably in the manga. Still enjoyable.

This next one is an “opposites attract” kind of rom-com. I’m not a big fan of the main female protagonist, but she doesn’t do anything to make me actively dislike her either. I also like that this is one of those where they get together in the first episode and it’s more of how their relationship goes than the “will-they / won’t they” normal.

The next is in the “reborn into an otome game as the bad girl” genre. The nice thing is the protagonist’s only goal is to avoid all the bad outcomes – and none of her plans involve romance. Different take on the tropes.

Okay, this last one is kind of weird for me – it’s pretty much everything that I’ve come to dislike. All the characters are kind of losers. The story is pretty much all slapstick and ecchi. Yet, like the train wreck that it is, I can’t look away.

Here are a couple of animes whose first seasons I adored and are finally coming out with second seasons.

This first one I’ve been waiting impatiently since it was announced. This is one I wished it was dubbed so I could watch it with The Wife. She would love it.

I was pleasantly surprised when the second season of this was announced.

This first one is an isekai with an overpowered main character, a lot of busty women around him, and just a lot of tropes. Yet, it still amused me. I also liked that it wasn’t someone from the current world reborn into a fantasy, but someone from a fantasy world reborn into another one.

This next one is an ecchi rom-com wrapped with an urban fantasy skin. It isn’t what I would call amazing, but it’s an enjoyable way to pass the time.

This next one is a bit older, but it is an awesome futuristic noir story. The world building is amazing, the characters are not just tropes, and the story is pretty damn compelling.

This one is a fantasy harem comedy that I enjoyed. Plus it has some neat twists on the standard genre.

I normally do four, but I’m doing five this month because I want to give an honorable mention because I love the concept, setting, and the characters. Unfortunately, I’m just not into yaoi (gay romance). I’m not enlightened enough to look past it to make it through more than a few episodes. But, I think those that can should give this one a try.

We’re starting off with a romance where the main character is reflecting on her high school experience as COVID shuts everything down and her relationship with her four male friends. The story jumps between the MC’s life in high school and her life ten years after.

This one is probably one of the most popular shonen anime in the last few years. I like the concept, I like a few of the characters, but TBH, after a while, it got repetitive. It’s still worth a look, even if just to understand all the memes.

This is a completely unglamorous look at policing in Japan. It has that work-a-day feel of people just trying to do their work while dealing with the normal annoyances punctuated by events that remind you why police work is a bit different.

Our last one is a gorgeous isekai that garnered a lot of chatter recently. The storyline isn’t innovative or super engrossing, but the animation is gorgeous. And there are few interesting plot twists.