I can do bad if it’s not boring 
I’ll def let you know if I watch it.
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Decided to finish off one of the last few <20 shows that seemed to have any substance. I watched 104 episodes of Chi, I am not watching another 200+.
On the one hand, there’s a lot of people speaking over each other and weird quirks, so in that sense it’s on par with the level 23-25s in difficulty. On the other hand, they discuss absolutely nothing, and the required vocabulary is similarly probably like 1000 words for the entire show, so I see where the 18 is coming from.
On that regard, this is the most bland show I have ever seen. I watched 4 episodes and couldn’t remember much. I thought it was because I had a little idle game on the other monitor, so I shut everything off and rewatched 2 episodes. No, it’s just… nothing. Character designs are quite good, but there’s just nothing here. To like, or to dislike. A true 5/10.
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I finished 30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい S1 | L23 today. I watched the drama about a year ago and really liked it. I had been saving the anime assuming that because I liked the drama so much that I’d really really like the anime, and it started off quite good, but it just had a soggy middle and then too much shoved into the last episode to be really satisfying. I can see why they did that–I’m assuming they knew that they were only going to get one season out of the show so they decided to give it a good ending for fans, but it was unsatisfying, pacing-wise.
The drama has its own sins, (mostly making you watch real live people hip hop dance over multiple episodes), but since it’s a looser adaptation I think the final show is better as a standalone story rather than a show for fans of the manga, which is what the anime wrap-up felt like (I have it on my wishlist, but honestly, after the anime I’m not suuuuuper stoked to start it anytime soon, which is probably the opposite of what their goals were).
Anyway, I’d recommend either to someone who likes BL (but have better suggestions if you’ve never read/watched any before), but that’ll teach me to be precious about media in the future. That is a lie, I will not learn.
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This happens in so many Japanese dramas and I die a little inside every time.
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Oh god why did you just remind me that that was a thing? It was painful to watch
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What a cute and unique service 
Basically a ‘hospital’ for old stuffed animals to bring them back to their former glory
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I love that channel!! It fell off my YouTube a while ago and I forgot about it, but now I’ll have a bunch to catch up on 
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That was an amazing watch, and I’m starting the manga! Though I do kind of wish I’d seen it before おにいさまへ… S1 | L26 though - because for me, the latter is much more fully realized, and this didn’t quite hit the same melodramatic highs, despite clearly being cut from the same cloth. (Consider this a praise for おにいさまへ rather than a criticism of ベルサイユのばら). Anyway I wrote a review.
Wrt how it treats Oscar's gender (major spoilers)
Actually not quite. There’s a ton of “if only you were a man” (typical 男より男らしい) from the other female characters, and some mix of either misogyny or attraction from various male characters. Oscar herself started off thinking of herself as exclusively male, and edit: seemingly till puberty(?) always thought of herself as exclusively male. I’m the first to, she gives up her lingering desire to live as a woman.
When the person she eventually develops feelings for is maybe available, she starts to present more femininely, which ultimately leads to her getting hurt, and wishing she could go back to the days when she thought of herself as exclusively male. Afterwards, she does try to repress her feminine side - but later finds a balance. And while she does eventually couple with someone, but never gives up her masculinity in the process. Even when she’s hurt from being rejected romantically, the unrequited feelings weren’t due to any deficit of femininity. The show did seem like something might actually happen between her and one of the female characters (Rosalie), but ultimately didn’t go down that path.
I’m satisfied enough with it there personally, but おにいさまへ is definitely much more daring as this stuff goes. (which to be fair, the all-girls private school setting allowed it to be)
桜蘭高校ホスト部 S1 | L27 - 11 eps in, and while I overall like it, some parts don’t land very well for me. For language learning, it’s great tho! Curious to see where it goes, and I’ll be able to enjoy it more now that I won’t be inadvertently comparing it to ベルサイユのばら (they have almost nothing to compare, just a side effect of watching two series at the same time)
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There are definitely some eps that I just don’t watch anymore. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t good like the rest. I hope you’re just hitting a few of those bumps. 
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More or less that. A mix of “this just wasn’t funny” and/or “this rubbed me the wrong way”. Very per-episode. It’s like it’s either good or bad, with no in-between
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My spring seasonal anime tour. 
I’m excited to have one of these again since winter was kinda disappointing for me. I only kept up with アオのハコ S1 | L24 and picked up ハニーレモンソーダ S1 | L25 (entirely skippable).
The animation is maybe not the best, but the locations are beautifully drawn. I do quite like the character design as well.
It felt cruel to have to watch a travel themed show immediately after getting home from Japan, but that complaint aside, I really enjoy travel shows and this feels like it will be a good one.
The MC feels a little milquetoast, but I’m sure they’re setting up character growth for her over the season. I did find her cute when she was out doing things.
The difficulty is rather easy, probably L23-24, except for the narrator who bumps the difficulty up quite considerably when he talks.
I’ve never actually finished Anne of Green Gables, but have seen a number of adaptations (although not the earlier anime). The art was absolutely lovely, and it really feels like the show is in love with the location (I wonder if they sent anyone to Prince Edward Island… 
)
For difficulty, Anne is … a lot in Japanese. I also don’t know the story well enough to remember the characters outside of the Cuthberts, so I had some difficulty with Japanese pronunciation of character names as well. I’m going to guess L25-26, but maybe a bit easer than that if you are more familiar with the story.
I had no idea about this one before it showed up in my Netflix recommended feed, but was really pleasantly surprised. It’s a Jump manga with a romance plot/strong female co-lead, so it’s basically target audience of me, but it wasn’t on my radar before. Great animation, I really like the two leads so far, and the arc for the season feel well established even in the first episode. Vocab was a little tricky for me in ep 1, but it might settle down after the plot is established. Est L25-27, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets a little easier as the season goes on.
I’ve watched the drama twice through, so I was really excited for this one. It feels like the anime is doing its own thing (maybe a closer adaptation to the LNs?–I haven’t read those yet) but still has all the things that worked for me in the drama.
Difficulty-wise, dialogue doesn’t feel difficult if you’ve done detective shows before, but they talk fast. Est L27-28.
I didn’t find any first episode duds this season, which was great. But it also means that I have 4 seasonals that I’m committing to right now. 
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Ohhh that’s what this is! I looked at the preview and thought maybe, but then decided I probably wasn’t in the mood for an additional shounen. Idk maybe I’ll give a try after all
Then again, I think my next pick will either be the 70s 赤毛のアン S1 | L30?? or ふしぎ遊戯 S1 | L23 - once I finish 桜蘭高校
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I can let you know what I think a few episodes in. It feels like it has potential, but it also felt like the source manga had really short chapters, so it might also settle into a slice of life with less overall plot movement than I’m hoping 
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The 1979 version. So far I like it better than the 2025 one (both are good). It’s a challenge to understand without subs, but doable. Pacing is far slower (about 3:1), but I like the older aesthetic and voice acting styles. I’m gonna keep up with the 2025 one too though. So that should be really good listening reinforcement.
Somehow missed this when I was checking seasonals before. Ninja-assassin slice of life, casual murder yuri. It’s pretty silly, and easy enough to follow - tho a few parts, like how the assassin rankings worked, went a bit over my head, when I got distracted. Pretty long after-credits scene, and the episode went by pretty quickly
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I picked up 忍者と殺し屋のふたりぐらし S1 | L25?? from your recommendation and it’s fun. But now I have 5 seasonals 
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Sorry for late response, but I was out of town and I love talking about Gender in Media.
gender in Rose of Versailles
So admittedly it was many years ago that I watched Rose of Versailles, so my memory of the details are hazy, but back when I watched it I remember feeling like I wish it had pushed things more. I wonder if I’d appreciate the figurative queerness of it more these days though.
This is still not my favorite trope though.
You’re making me want to re-watch Rose of Versailles to see if my feelings about it will have evolved, although it’s going to be a while before I think my vocab is built up enough that I can manage it.
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Being lazy and watching a sampler of seasonal anime today as a vacation to recover from my vacation.
I’m a sucker for anything with witches, but I kind of agree with whoever said Meg might be a little too hyperactive. The animation looks nice though.
This one is beautiful. Perfect cottage core vibes. I was worried that Anne would somehow get into moe-cutesy territory, but so far she’s mostly just a girl with a flair for melodrama and imagination that I remember.
PA Works does anime food. I don’t know that I need to say more than that. 
It’s an anime adaptation of afro’s yon-koma manga about a photography club. The first episode was kind of gay, but I’m not getting my hopes up that it’s going to be anything more than just jokes.
Just give me the wish fulfillment of traveling around Japan. Or traveling in general. The background art is lovely, I’m less enchanted by the character designs though.
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Finally finished ふたりはプリキュア Max Heart | L21 and now that Ive watched two Pretty Cures, I can start my “Where to Start Pretty Cure” guide.
Futari wa Pretty Cure: The first series in the metaseries and a great starting spot. Honoka and Nagisa are great characters and I love them. There’s magical girls, there’s action, there’s friendship and there’s a little bit of romance. A good solid start and a great series for listening practice since it doesn’t use terribly complicated language.
Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart: A sequel series to the first series. Unfortunately, this one is pretty skippable in my opinion. They add a new girl and moved the focus away from what I liked best about the first series (the friendship between Honoka and Nagisa). Plus there’s just too many mascot characters (aka marketable toys). Even if you’re a fan of the original series, there’s no reason to watch this one unless you’re really determined to watch every Pretty Cure or really want listening practice.
(My disclaimer, because this is the internet…) Obviously, this is just my opinion so if you disagree with me, please be nice about it.
Next up is ふたりはプリキュア Splash Star S1 | L30??. So far it kind of seems like the first series except in the Japanese countryside instead of Tokyo.
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I watched ある閉ざされた雪の山荘で | L31 (movie) this evening and quite liked it! Can’t say I ever seem to get tired of closed circle murder mysteries It’s based on a book by Higashino Keigo that I haven’t read, but it very much has his flavor of story telling.
None of the scenes are particularly graphic and while there is blood, generally violence is implied rather than directly shown.
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Pretty sure that was me. Tho I haven’t watched ep 2 yet
She’s kinda borderline on the moe-cutesy territory thing for me (bc of the voice acting), but (having never read the original) I think they’re doing a good job with it. Tho having watched the corresponding eps of the 70s version, I like it much better (2 eps vs 9 so far tho)
ベルサイユのばら & gender
Somewhat same - but I think it’s a mix of おにいさまへ having set my expectations, and also the fact that I’m watching this in 2025.
In Passionate Friendship: The Aesthetics of Girl’s Culture in Japan, Deborah Shamoon makes the point that Andre had to be gender neutralized (both visually, and in terms of his actual power/status) before they could have sex/a relationship. He and Oscar both had to be equals, who accepted all of each other, for them to finally have their relationship. (In contrast to her previous attempted or rejected romances). Which is very easy to take for granted now, but seemingly not so much back then.
(She specifically links this to Takarazuka Revue and pre & post-war shoujo culture… But it’s a little hard to sum up here)
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