It could be worse. Like, Pixie (Monster Rancher) tiers of worse:

(I liked the MR games way more than Pokemon or Digimon to be honest. Also screw Octachrome.)

I read the manga and heavily recommend it.

Without spoilers: based on the pacing, odds are that the anime season will end on the equivalent of the manga chapter 60. It's a conclusion of the current short-term events, odds are that it'll feel emotionally fulfilling instead of a cliffhanger.

If you liked the first season odds are that you will be excited for a [potential?] future second season, but... that's it, no Zoltraak feels going after you.

What a wonderful episode.

It's almost creepy how happy Frieren is, at the prospect of her disciple being able to kill her. It makes sense though - not just because of the past, but because she basically raised Fern, which parent wouldn't be happy when a child surpasses them?

...fuck, and now I'm bummed. Dragon Ball was what introduced plenty people (including me) to anime; it's like Toriyama-sensei opened a gate for us and said "see this? It's anime. Have fun!". I'm near my 40s and I still have DBZ T-shirts, to give you an idea of the long-term (and positive!) impact of his work.

And when it wasn't anime, it was games. I seriously doubt that Chrono Trigger would be loved by so many people without Toriyama designing the characters. (inb4 that's why Crono resembles Goku.)

May he rest in peace, and my condolences to the family.

I disagree with this decision, I never saw a single piece of CSAM coming from ani.social, or the devs backing up their claim that ani.social would have CSAM, and honestly I do not think that ani.social admins did anything wrong, so... here I am.

I think that, at this point, we're bound to need to use multiple accounts to access all content that we want. This might get better over time; but for now I wish that I could merge the feeds of multiple accounts.

Übel might be unlucky, but she's great reading the others. She knew that glasses Land would help her out. Frieren getting all excited with dungeon exploring, Denken's tactical retreat...

Fern might not demonstrate emotions often, but when she does it, everybody pays attention. I love how she got jealous of Frieren being hugged, like a kid saying "don't steal my mum!".

She grew up into an amazing mage though. To the point that she's confident that she can overpower her master.

My top 3 would be probably

1. Chainsaw Man - Kick Back. It's the gift that keeps giving; every time that you watch it you'll find something new, and the more that you like it.

Don't get distracted by Power wearing a bikini, or the movie references - look at the details. Makima taking Denji for a walk, Denji seeing carnivorous flowers (a dangerous love), golden balls rolling... Mother's Basement does an amazing job exploring it, way better than I could.

2. Elfen Lied - Lilium. The anime aged poorly, and it's a weak adaptation of the manga, but damn! This OP is beautiful. And the Latin mass actually makes sense in the light of the manga's story:

::: spoiler translation of the lyrics into English

The mouth of the just will practice wisdom
and his tongue will utter judgement.
Blessed the man who endures temptation
Since, as he’s being tested, he’ll take the crown of life.
O Lord, source of virtue
O Lord, divine fire, be merciful
Oh, how holy, how serene, how kind
how lovely the virgin is believed to be.
Oh, how holy, how serene, how kind
how lovely, oh chastity lily

:::

Switch the genders for a moment and everything falls in place: the "man" enduring temptation is Lucy, asking for forgiveness to a "chastity lily" called Kouta. And she's devoted to him almost religiously - because, even if she's a sinner, he's the one accepting her, giving her peace and serenity, pleading in her defence, as if he was her personal Virgin Mary.

3. Sorairo Days - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The song is great, don't get me wrong, but what makes the OP really special for me is that it isn't just "a single OP". The scenes shown in the opening evolve alongside the story in the anime, while keeping the same catchy song. For example, here's what the first ten seconds of the opening tells you:

• up to ep8 - it's the story of three people: Kamina, Yoko, Simon.
• from ep9 to ep16 - it's the story of a whole team that includes Yoko and Simon but much more people.
• from ep17 to the end - it's the story of a boy growing up, Simon.

Except that it isn't just those ten seconds. It's the whole opening that evolves, throws back at earlier events just to push forward, in a way that feels completely natural and consistent with the theme of the anime series - evolving and going forward.

[email protected] is open! Now not just for weaboo, but also for people of culture! ...we're still a buncha weebz.

I loved this episode.

I read a lot of stuff. Mostly fantasy; sometimes I don't remember small details, or even large ones. And I probably read ch57 at least a year ago. I should have forgotten.

And yet so many scenes shown in this episode were so memorable that I could remember it, in the minimal details.

Fern's tantrum because of the staff. Lernen being able to detect instability in Frieren's mana, but not Serie's. Serie bitterly saying that she shouldn't take human apprentices. The flashback with Himmel. Serie initially thinking that Fern was petrified because of Serie's mana... only to discover that Fern could see it. It was such a moment of awesomeness, the young mage who's into magic just to repay a corrupt priest taking care of her, that mage could do what nobody else could.

This episode was pure joy. From Patrick being unable to invite Yumiella, his blatant jealousy making him forget that humans don't lay eggs, Yumiella taking care of the egg as if it was some cute little pet...

I love the new OP. It's fun, but it conveys really well that the party runs nonstop into troubles (getting "cooked"), while playing with the topic of the series.

Kabru for me is one of those characters that I love as a character - he plays a huge role for a side char, his antics are interesting to watch, and he fills a "character role" well, without being shallow. As a person though? I'd hate him, and I can't help but agree with OP calling him "punchable".

They finally kissed. THEY FINALLY KISSED! I was waiting since the start of the series for this. But they finally kissed! Fuck yeah!

Having your own parents to send assassins against you is rough. At least she isn't emotionally attached to them, for good or bad.

Just like Yumiella sucks at making people like her, she also sucks at making people hate her. It's hilarious how attached Eleonora became, like a blond puppy wagging her tail at the dark magic eldritch abomination. (If the ending didn't spoil you guys enough: Eleonora is a fool. A lovable and loving fool.)

So there is some "gaming force" trying to railroad the story back into its track! Mostly acting as Alicia's compulsions.

Yumiella and Alicia in the dungeon was everything that I hoped for, plus a bit more! Stating by the dragon-sized puppy transforming the guard's hear into a pool of saliva. Then Alicia calling for her granny to save her. Then Yumiella forcing Alicia to grind the dungeon over and over. Then Alicia seeing her dead grandpa, who says that she isn't ready "for this place" (afterlife) yet. It was fucking perfect.

...and it shows how much over-protecting someone might cripple them. Alicia made far more progress with Yumiella gently encouraging her into a risky situation than the three stooges did all this time by protecting her. ("Gently encouraging"? Who am I trying to fool? She simply threw Alicia into the fire!!)

The ending left me a bit dissatisfied to be honest. Okay, they tied the stooge couple (prince x Alicia), killed the demon lord, had Alicia backstab Yumiella (instead of the two stooges)... but what about Eleonora?

Small cute detail: Ryuu following Patrick's orders. It shows how much time Patrick and Yumiella spent together, to the point that her dragon-sized puppy trusts him.

As soon as they mentioned "raiding a dungeon", the first thing that came to my mind was Frieren stuck in a mimic. And of course that happened.

...is there any replica of a mimic nearby? That could solve the problem for Denken and his group.

There is no "right" answer for this question - it all depends on how you define isekai.

Is it just a trope, or a genre? If it's a genre, which works should be considered the canon? Does being transported into another part of the same literary universe count as "being in another world"? Does the protag need to be from Earth, or a world resembling Earth? etc.

Personally I don't consider it isekai. For me isekai is a lot like a novel, manga and anime movement, and Dune is simply too far from said movement to be part of it:

• it's considerably older - from the 60s. Most things that I'd call isekai are from the 00s onwards.
• it's the product of another culture - Dune was written in USA; most isekais are Japanese, or at most Korean and Chinese
• the setting is completely different - the setting in most isekais is a swords-and-magic world, or perhaps a game-like world. Dune is a basically a sand hell.
• as @[email protected] said, the world where Paul ends is part of the same literary universe as the world that he's from. That's actually quite impactful as it means that people in Paul's world Caladan are fully aware of Arrakis, and it's part of the same "power structure" as Caladan.
• etc.

None of those things would be enough on itself to say "no! not isekai!", but when combined they make me think "perhaps we should classify Dune as something else".

But again, that's my personal definition. If you use a different definition, calling Dune an isekai might be sensible.

Senshi can't keep a weapon properly, doesn't care about ores, and uses adamantine as a cooking pot. He's no dwarf! He's a half-tallman, quarter-foot half-half-foot! The beard is just a disguise!

Jokes aside this episode was great to flesh out the supporting cast - mostly Namari, but also the gnomes. I like how much depth it gives her; sure, she'll do odd jobs for money to survive, but not everything, and she doesn't mind helping out some friends (as she did by holding the adamantine cooking pot, even to the point that her hands were boiling). She's pragmatic, not cold-hearted.

Poor Kensuke was almost cooked.

[Edit reason: my brain auto-correcting "Namari" into "Nanami"]

I think that the main boundary is between deciding what you like versus what others should like.

The former is fine; even if someone like "ahneemay" because it's trendy, or avoids fanservice or because the person got tired of [whatever they're watching in USA nowadays, I seriously do not know] and wants something different.

The later however is not. It's just someone being entitled, and expecting people to appease their personal tastes. It doesn't make them just a shitty anime fan, it also makes them a shitty person, unable to deal with the fact that the world does not revolve around their belly button.

Just my two cents.

I'm also hoping for a sequel. The following arcs are cool, and the animation got a great momentum, it would be a shame if they let it drop.