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Hey, everyone, I had to break this up into two parts because tackling one editorial that was going to be eight pages long would have been a lot for my readers, so if you have yet to see part 1, then go to this link and you will find it there. Thank you and enjoy the rest of this breakdown and observation about the Fall 2023 Anime Season!
Romance
Anime talked about in this category:
A Girl and Her Guard Dog (Crunchyroll), I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness (Crunchyroll), Our Dating Story (Crunchyroll), The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really Really Love You (Crunchyroll).
Overall Impressions: It must be tough to make a good romance anime, because you either have authors that haven’t had a relationship experience or had proper relationship/dating experience, or you get a few chaotic individuals who are either tired of romcom or harem anime tropes, and just run wild and pulling the lever to see what happens with it. A Girl and Her Guard Dog is yet another creepy as-hell age-gap romance, and one where the romance isn’t all that great or healthy. Yes, some authors use stories to explore taboo subject matters, but when it’s between a 15-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man who has known her since she was a toddler, then that becomes a problem. It’s by far and away the worst show of the season, despite it trying to make it quirky and charming when it feels like the story has to twist itself into pretzels to make the story work. Exploring taboo subject matters isn’t forbidden, but if you are going to, you have to tackle it in a way that isn’t an adult man who is aging into 30 telling the teenager that she grew into the body type he likes. The I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady show is about a powerful wizard who is making sure a young woman who was thrown through the ringer has a life full of joy and happiness, but after the third episode, it felt like they were taking away her full agency. That is a shame since while it looks generic in a lot of ways, it has enough to make it stand out that does culminate into a sweet show. Our Dating Story on the other hand feels like a generic version of titles that we have seen come out from previous seasons. The story of a shy guy whose first real date is with a popular girl. Them finding out that they both have flawed perspectives on relationships is a cute idea, but a lackluster visual style and a dull world doesn’t offer much that you couldn’t get out of other romcom anime out there. With all that said, the show I was surprised the most this season was The 100 Girls Who Really Love You. It is a chaotic, cranked-to-100 absurdity and comedy about a guy who is destined to end up with 100 girlfriends that ends up being a raunchy, funny, and charming time. Not that everything works at all times, but to see a harem anime go this hard with its antics and character dynamics makes for a watch that is constantly funny. The show has so much personality oozing out of every frame that it results in a new standard for harem shows that go the distance. The fact the story kicks off because the god of love accidentally gave our lead 100 girlfriends because he accidentally wrote 100 on a sheet to fill out the main character’s wish for a girlfriend shows you how on board everyone is with this show.
Comedy
Kawagoe Boys Sing (Crunchyroll), The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess (HiDive), The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch (Crunchyroll), Tearmoon Empire (Crunchyroll), 16 Bit Sensation: Another Layer (Crunchyroll), Stardust Telepath (Crunchyroll), I’m in Love with the Villainess (Crunchyroll), My New Boss is Goofy (Crunchyroll)
Overall Thoughts: Comedy has and will always be a polarizing and subjective genre when it comes to entertainment, and that’s just what’s going to happen. Some of these are a little more varied in genre than just pure comedy, but websites can’t nail down what genre each anime belongs to. Anyway, Kawagoe Boys Sing feels like a show that was supposed to be attached to a multi-media franchise that never got off the ground, so what we have is a clunky and fairly mediocre anime about the formation of a boy’s choir. The characters aren’t interesting, the animation is rough, and the story and music aren’t good enough to carry you from point A to point B. The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess has a creative idea within its world-building, how the world they live in is full of armies killing one another and then at the end of the day, coming back to life. The thing is, the show is more interested in the trials and tribulations of our young princess not being a super strong vampire and having to fool and manipulate her way into being the heir to the throne, but the characters are forgettable and fairly creepy at points. It also doesn’t do enough to justify its setting. The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch is sweet, even though it has a few bits of comedy like the crass comedy that don’t fully land. The mother and adopted daughter aspect is cute when it focuses on it, and the phoenix familiar is probably the best part of the entire show. Tearmoon Empire might be another show with time travel, where our lead goes back a few years before the revolution happens to work on not being such a “garbage” person. It’s cute and has some solid character beats, but it isn’t as thrilling as other time travel shows. Still, it’s an entertaining watch. Last season, I complained about the fact that villainous-style stories were becoming uninspired and repetitive. Like the isekai power fantasy, villainous stories need to have a refreshing change of pace, and I’m in Love With the Villainous is that change of pace. Putting fiery romcom energy into the story where our lead doesn’t turn into the villainous of her favorite visual novel, but an adjacent character who goes out of her way to make the villainous character fall for her is such a creative idea. Don’t worry, the Looney Tunes-inspired comedy and dynamic between our two leads does grow and evolve as the show goes on, and it is a gem of the season. If you had to ask me what the funniest show of the season is, it’s the surprisingly wholesome My New Boss is Goofy. While it is about a young man who joins a new company and his new boss is a bit of an adorable dork, the show builds upon the main idea of our lead recovering from the trauma and abuse he encountered in his last job workplace experience. It might be straightforward, but who wouldn’t want an endearing show about friendship and healing?
Other
Shows talked about in this category: Protocol: Rain (Crunchyroll), Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deduction (Crunchyroll), Migi & Dali (Crunchyroll), The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons (Crunchyroll), The Apothecary Diaries (Crunchyroll), Overtake! (Crunchyroll)
Overall Impressions: The Other category tends to have some of the best anime of the season, but it can still have some terrible titles in it. Protocol: Rain attempts to be a compelling esports-centric anime about an underdog team trying to save a cafe from closing down, but the characters, pacing, writing, and drama aren’t compelling enough to make it through a few cute scenes, a solid opening beat, and the mediocre cgi for the game having an appealing looking charm. Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deduction has the unfortunate timing of coming out after Undead Murder Farce. Its premise of a newbie detective teaming up with a weird oddball detective who just happens to have the ability to essentially tell the culprits to stop living is a fun twist that kicks into high gear by episode two. It has some fun animation, and when the overarching plot revs up, it becomes a fun murder mystery anime. Migi & Dali is one of the most distinct anime this year, as it was based on the manga by the creator of I’m Sakamoto Kun so it wears its odd dark comedy about identical twins that get adopted by an elderly couple, but the twist is that they are pretending to be one child since the elderly couple only adopted one child. The first beat of the story for this one is them finding ridiculous ways to fool the couple and not getting busted that they are twins and not one child. It then turns into a murder mystery as they figure out what happened to their mother. It’s a wild ride and it’s the type of show you will need to vibe with to catch what it’s throwing. The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons had the most unfortunate launch with mediocre subtitles that only got fixed a few days after the first episode went up. Just another sign that y’all need to pay your translators better because they ruined the hype of a truly charming albeit heartbreaking show about four brothers of varying ages as we follow their lives after the loss of their parents. Apothecary Diaries was a show that got all of the proper talent, time, and resources, due to this medical period drama about a young apothecary tending to the care of the emperor’s concubines. It results in a complex and enthralling journey through the apothecary’s life and the concubines’ interactions with characters like a very curious eunuch. It’s also a drop-dead amazing-looking show. Overtake was a real deal surprise of the season, due to it being an original anime about a photographer who finds new joy in life by helping out this underdog Formula 1 racing team, and we can watch the well-executed races and the behind-the-scenes drama of funding and the human side of these races. It shows that you can make a thrilling and endearing show about anything, and even non-fans of those sports or interests will be compelled to see how the rest of the series unfolds.
I apologize for how long this editorial is. Once again, I tackled 30+ shows because the anime industry doesn’t know when to stop and slow the heck down. Either way, a lot of wonderful shows came out from all of this nonsense, and my favorites were
The Apothecary Diaries, Overtake!, My New Boss is Goofy, The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Shangri-La Frontier, Migi & Dali, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Really Really Really Love You, Undead Unluck, Shy, and Bullbuster.
The Other Side of Animation 