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Forum - View topicThe Best and Worst Anime of Spring 2023
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2372 |
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Best: Oshi no Ko
Runner-Up: Tengoku Daimakyo Stuff in the middle: Dr. Stone, Pokemon Horizons, Yuusha ga Shinda, Jigokuraku, Dead Mount Death Play Worst: Ancient Magus Bride. Not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely the show I was least motivated to watch week to week. Here's to next season and the kids protecting Philomela's smile. |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1314 |
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Best of the season for me is definitely Skip and Loafer. It and Insomniacs After School(which I still need to finish) have been my pair of feel-good manga for a few years now. Really perfect adaption.
Vinland Saga S2 continued to be a stellar series in this second half, making for 6 months of excellent watching. MSG:The Witch From Mercury would probably be my main runner-up for the season. I got into this series late, seeing the well-tweeted ending of Season 1 before anything else. I caught up a couple episodes into this season and have enjoyed it for the most part. This second half has stumbled more than once, but overall is up there with my favorite entries of the franchise. Still need to watch: The previously mentioned Insomniacs After School and The Ancient Magus Bride are both manga I hold in high regard, and know have great adaptions this season, but they I couldn't make time for. By the look of the Summer line-up, I should have time to get these done. Last edited by Gem-Bug on Mon Jun 26, 2023 11:13 am; edited 1 time in total |
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TheSleepyMonkey
Posts: 953 |
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Best: Vinland Saga S2
Runner-up: Skip and Loafer Worst: Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc. Okay, maybe not "worst", but I haven't really watched anything in this season that I would genuinely consider terrible, so I just went with DS for being so underwhelming for many of the same reasons James listed. |
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TheSleepyMonkey
Posts: 953 |
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You mean 6 months? 9 would be like, 3 consecutive cours. |
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Kalhiki
Posts: 67 |
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Best for me would be Heavenly Delusion. Creative and unique with a stellar production. Really looked forward to it each week. Praying for another season!
Least favorite/enjoyable would go to Ancient Magus Bride. Not saying it's bad, but its slow burn really made it difficult to sit through without dozing off. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18447 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Not surprised that the pack was led by returning series GWitch, Vinland Saga, and Birdie Wing (all of which got more than one vote), as this was a particularly strong season for established titles. I'm a little surprised that Oshi no Ko (my pick for #1) only got one vote and one other mention, but I guess that's a testament to the quality of the competition.
There were enough good views this season that I'd be hard-pressed to pick a #2; it could be any of GWitch, AMB2, Hell's Paradise, or Heavenly Delusion, all of which deserve consideration. (And I was happy to see each of the latter three pick up a 2nd-place vote from the review staff.) The biggest surprise for me, though, was Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion. Its technical merits were too weak to compare with any of the aforementioned, but it packed one of the season's best heroines, a top-rate, simulcasted English dub, and an unexpectedly compelling story and romance. After just seeing the final episode, I dearly hope a second season gets greenlit. Concerning Worst titles, yeah, there are vastly worse titles out there this season than I Got a Cheat Skill, which at least does what it's doing very well, including featuring gorgeous character designs. The Aristocrat's Otherworldly Adventure carried its OP premise to the point of obnoxiousness, but even it wasn't as low as Summoned to Another World for a Second Time. That series took a potentially-interesting twist on the standard isekai formula and buried it under bland story execution, minimal character development, poorly-designed action scenes, and easily the weakest animation effort of any series I saw this season. I struggled to finish the last 3-4 episodes and won't be back if more is made. And even though the negatives against it were mild and qualified, A Galaxy Next Door still deserves a little defense. I wasn't looking for anything more than a pleasant, mild romance featuring slightly older characters than normal, and I was quite satisfied with what I got. I felt the Ichiro/Shiori chemistry got established well enough to make them my favorite couple of the season (even over Nasa/Tsukasa from TONIKAWA). |
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DamianSalazar
Posts: 762 |
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I only watched ONE anime this season, and it was Too Cute Crisis. I think it's an underrated series that needs a lot of love and appreciation especially if you're a pet owner, this show is definitely for you.
For me, I'm not a pet owner. Never have been at any point in my life. I've had friends who own dogs, but I've been too afraid to go anywhere near them, because of childhood fear of them constantly barking at me. That said I find the humor surrounding this series hysterical, like whenever there's an animal the alien characters have never seen before, they would go "I'm traumatized by its cuteness!", or whenever the pet owners (whether human or alien) get really competitive about pets. That's hilarious. The show has a lot of heart to it. The jokes aren't mean spirited and hateful. It's about taking care of your pets and understanding what it probably means to be a pet owner which I can't fully relate to because I've never been one. AOTY? Not really. AOTS? No. I need to see more from the season, but it's my personal AOTS. EDIT: Seems like I was the only one who watched Too Cute Crisis. C'est la vie. Last edited by DamianSalazar on Tue Jun 27, 2023 3:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gem-Bug
Posts: 1314 |
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Dang, I thought S2 had begun in October for some reason! 
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5506 Location: Iscandar |
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Spring 2023 has been a very solid season. I think I did a good job watching the good stuff and avoiding the stinkers.
Best: Skip and Loafer Runner up: Witch From Mercury or Oshi no Ko (depending on how they conclude) Least good: The Legendary Hero is Dead! and Summoned to Another World Again |
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HKurogane
Posts: 16 |
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As someone who's seen a few Gundams (about 4 of the entire franchise and enjoyed greatly) I'm trying to find what people find enjoyable about GWitch? This is a serious question, not trolling. I'm assuming it's the characters people like the most but personally I haven't been able to enjoy any of them. I think most of the mechs are lackluster as well. Again, I'm genuinely trying to find what people enjoyed about this because I think I missed something. I also felt this way with Darling in the Franxx, just lost on why people liked that show too. Heavenly Delusion is also on that list of why is this popular? Oshi no Ko? Birdie Wing (I would have loved this show way more if it was absurd underground golfing and abilities.) It's been quite the struggle to get through as well. I genuinely want to know what I'm not seeing that most people are...
Last edited by HKurogane on Mon Jun 26, 2023 11:56 am; edited 1 time in total |
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tfwnoymir
 Posts: 325 Location: Hungary |
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Best: Skip and Loafer and Heavenly Delusion, the latter I haven't finished yet, for understandable reasons
Runner-up: G-Witch 2nd Cour and here's hoping they're not going to rush the ending and giving us the proper 2nd season |
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SrkSano
 Posts: 205 |
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Best: Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury
Runner-up: Mashle Worst: Demon Slayer. BUT the animation is still Amaze-Balls! Only reason I watch the show. I've never been a fan of the storyline me personally. Honorable mentions - Golden Kamuy, Dr. Stone, Ultraman (Netflix) and Otaku Elf (HiDive). Last edited by SrkSano on Mon Jun 26, 2023 2:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Swissman
Posts: 793 Location: Switzerland |
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Best / most overlooked: The dangers in my heart.
I've been reading BokuYabai the manga since 2019 and the anime is a very good adaption. This is probably one of the best romance shows of the past few years; the two main characters and their steadily progressing relationship feel real like no other anime I've seen in a long time. Having an excellent ambient OST by Kensuke Ushio was the cherry on top. Moreover, this show is a perfect example of "show, don't tell" type of plot progression. Second: Skip to Loafer and Insomniacs After School Both are very good SoL/romance shows as well. I was particularly surprised by Skip and Loafer. The characters were lovable and well-written. I hope there will be a second season. As for Kimi wa houkago Insomnia, I've been reading the manga for a few years as well. The voice acting is quite good, so is the ambience, but here I think the manga is a bit better at explaining certain things and setting the mood. An excellent series nontheless. Need to catch up: Gundam: Witch of Mercury S2, My clueless friend, Galaxy Next Door, Tengoku Daimakyou I enjoyed the first couple of episodes from these series, especially Heavenly Delusion which I've already read as a manga. My clueless friend... seems to be okay, but I prefer the art and pacing of the manga. Worst: No real worst. I usually avoid anime I think I won't enjoy in the first place or stop after a few minutes when I dislike them. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2648 |
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Some anime of note for me:
Anime I liked: Edomae Elf for being a perfect blend of cute, fun, educational and a bit of melancholy about the aspect of being immortal. Every episode was a riot. Kuma Kuma Bear Punch was a charming isekai with plenty more beary fun. Mashle is just a very amusing series. Harry Spotter dealing with all kinds of magical baddies and challenges never bores. Skip to loafer has some very organic feeling friendships that make you smile. It also shows that very different types of people can become very good friends. Anime I disliked: Magical Destroyers has confused me more than any other anime this season, I have no idea what it was trying to tell me beyond that it is okay to like what you like. Smartphone 2 managed to be worse than the mediocre first season. It ended up being a rushfest through the source material while focusing almost completely on the harem. The third season of Demon Slayer managed to bore me, which is saying something. It still has the godlike animation, but this time the pacing in particular did not do it any favors. There are still very good moments to be had, yet also has episodes that feel like nothing really happened. Anime that had or did something of notel: The dangers in my heart started of with a creepy kid thinking abour murdering his classmate and ended up being an addictive romcom with plenty of humor and fun moments, it is rare for a series to only get better as the episodes go by. Oshi no ko is not for me, but the episodes I did see were a very vivid account on how the entertainment world is not a fun place. Heavenly Delusion has one hell of an interesting setting that comes alive through the amazing art and soundtrack. Dead Mount Death Play ended up being an isekai in a completely different way than I first expected hearing the summary. KamiKatsu sure has a lot of degeneracy in it. |
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SrkSano
Posts: 205 |
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As a long time Gundam fan, I do like the characters and their relationships. I also enjoy having a female lead and a female Char Clone. There's things I do enjoy like the Haros returning and newer interpretations / takes on Minovsky Particles with the Data Storm, and another way of interpreting those old school 'Newtype ghosts' with the Erie clones floating in the Data Storm. It's not one of my favorite Gundam series, but it's a good take for a Gundam show that takes place in the "future of 2023" as opposed to "the future of the 70s." |
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