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Forum - View topicThe Best and Worst Anime of Summer 2023
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tintor2
 Posts: 2116 |
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Honestly, after seeing certain reviews and one or two articles, I expected one or two focus of Mushoku Tensei season 2 at worst of the season. Then again, the final episode of the cour kinda moved me considering it wasn't about Rudeus' impotence but mostly about how to surpass depression after the kid was abandoned by Eris in season 1. One of the final scenes from the episode had Rudeus waking up alone and sad. Then Slyphie returned, causing Rudeus to start crying in joy for not being alone anymore.
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5503 Location: Iscandar |
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I can see JJK season 2 being the best show of Summer 2023, but my sentimental favorite is Jobless Reincarnation season 2. Also, this is not a slim season because we once again have almost 50 shows to stream. Half of those are crap, but there are 10-15 solid to great titles to choose from.
Favorite: Jobless Reincarnation II Runner up: Yohane Least good: Level 1 OP Honorable mention: BanG Dream MyGo!!!!! Last edited by Angel M Cazares on Mon Sep 25, 2023 11:24 am; edited 2 times in total |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2635 |
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Looking back on this season is kind of sad in that it had a lot of mediocre anime. This included anime that you would expect to not be that good and also several who you sadly expected to be better. So I am just going to mention a few anime that made me feel something, be it good or bad.
Undead Murder Farce: I am not even going to explain this one after reading the article, it is a great show, watch it. Zom 100: I liked most of it, but the many delays killed the excitement completely, god only knows when the final 3 episodes will arrive. Vending machine isekai: actually a lot better than I expected with some creative battle and charming slice of life content. The second season is a surprise. The Masterful Cat Is Depressed: great show with a cat that can do anything and a master who needs the help of said masterful cat pretty badly. Spy Classroom Season 2: a lot better than the first season and worth a watch due to fun action and villains. The Dreaming Boy is a Realist: I have no idea what the point of the anime was to be honest, it felt like nothing really happened. The Devil is a Part-Timer!: it felt very dry and boring to me, the first season still reigns supreme and later episodes/seasons have not come close. Synduality: Noir: interesting world and plenty of action with some stylish looks, a fun watch. Atelier Ryza: charming show about a group of kids slowly becoming adventurers and growing bit by bit, also has the biggest thighs ever. Bleach: some annoying bits, but plenty of amazing looking action and fun character moments. Ayaka: a rare anime in that it murdered any potential the interesting premise had completely. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7406 Location: Maine |
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I guess I need to watch Undead Murder Farce. I had considered it ahead of the season, but wasn't really sure if it would hold up past the first episode. I guess I'll just marathon it at some point with its overwhelming win here.
ZOM100 I fell off of due to all the production issues. I'm just going to wait for it to finish and watch it all at once. As a product of the 80s that grew up on barbarian shows and cartoons I really enjoy Helck. It's like He-Man meets One Punch Man. The last few episodes were pretty filler-y, but overall I'm still invested in it. I like Am I Actually the Strongest because it's really more of an Itsekai spoof than anything. It's a joke version of Eminence in Shadows and it's well aware of that. I think it's a fun show and as an introvert who would hide in closets as a kid every time the doorbell rang, I can relate to the MC going out of his way to avoid people. Emerje |
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Araki
Posts: 395 |
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Zom 100 is really an immense letdown, production issues aside, especially if one's not familiar with the source material. First episode was excellent, until it became a bunch of generic anime gimmicks and comedy (?).
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2513 |
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Oh, wow -- Undead Murder Farce really cleaned up here.
Also surprised Mushoku Tensei doesn't seem to even be mentioned. Thought it would hit a few tops or bottoms, given how polarizing it is. |
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Hal14
 Posts: 716 Location: Heart of africa |
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I've noticed new seasons of a show rarely get listed for worst and if they do it's typically the person who reviewed it that mentions it.
Personally, My Best was Undead Murder Farce Runner up is either Sugar Apple or Bungou Stray dogs While my most disappointing was Helck's production values. Loved the manga but this has been a sloppy adaptation. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2635 |
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Maybe it is the opposite? I know a few friends who love the anime but never mention doing so since the discussion surrounding the show can be rather toxic on both sides. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18442 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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8/10 mentions for Undead Murder Farce may be an all-time high % for this exercise. I think that's more a testament to a combination of broad appeal and a dearth of strong competition than overwhelming quality, but I also place it as either #1 or #2 for the season (depending on how its last episode for the season plays out).
I'm a bit surprised that my other Top-Two title for the season - My Happy Marriage - only got one mention. Not as surprised that Mushoku Tensei didn't get mentioned, as this season seems to be widely-regarded as a weaker one and most (but definitely not all!) people who had big problems with it early stopped following it. |
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Andrew Cunningham
 Posts: 521 Location: Seattle |
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I was pretty happy with the Spellblades anime at first. The shortcomings were all things I expected it to struggle with, and it occasionally stepped up when it had to. Certainly better than most anime based on novels I translate.
But as time's gone on, the failings snowballed. They didn't build the foundations later events are based on, which makes everything feel meaningless. The characters and the relationships were given no time, so nobody cares what happens to them. It cut all exposition about the world and the themes so you can't even tell why we're being shown this stuff. And the staff seem to have no knack for tone, so it feels goofy when it should be sincere or horrifying, every exchange stripped of nuance. It's starting to feel like it's surgically removed everything that makes the novels some of the best books around, and yet has just enough of a glossy veneer that people don't realize these problems are entirely induced by the adaption. Hopefully some people see through that and give the source a shot. |
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2475 |
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My Best would have to be Jujutsu Kaisen S2 if I can separate the flashback arc to what's currently happening. The flashback arc was pretty good, everything since has been as boring to me as a good portion of season 1 was. Honestly nothing as a whole this season has impressed me much, Zom 100 is quite all right when it actually airs but that whole 2-episode-escapade with the previous boss was just awful and brings the entire thing down. Masterful Cat feels like it would've been better had it had less episodes and was more focused on the good bits, Mix S2 finally went the Adachi Mitsuru-way of delivering good drama but it took way too long so most of the season is pretty mediocre, and Helck feels like it could've been great if the anime looked better, but that's not the reality we got
My Worst is shared between Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses being absolutely boring and stretching itself extremely thin a couple of episodes in already, and My Happy Marriage for just having insufferable characters who make baffling decisions that I can't take any seriously, which ended up just making me kinda angry at it I'll definitely watch Undead Murder at some point (if only to stan a VA in it) so I'm glad it's getting a lot of praise |
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Villain-chan
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7.8/10 Too Much Undead Murder Farce on this list and no mention of best or runner up for The Masterful Cat Is Depressed again today? Shame.
Anyway, glad I'm not the only one who thinks this was a downer of a season that has been dry. |
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RenRen94
 Posts: 231 |
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Best: Link Click S2
This season had EVERYTHING. Drama, intrigue, tragedy, action. Ugh, the action! The blows and the falls all sounded so believable that I would visibly wince with each thud, and the fight choreography was amazing. The revelation in the final episode had me over-analyzing everything that happened over the past 2 seasons. Whenever I had questions about one part of the episode or was wondering how the characters were going to get out of certain situations, they elaborated on it in subsequent episodes in ways that felt believable. Can't wait for S3 (I'll probably have to rewatch both seasons and see what new details I can spot). Runner up: tie between Bungo Stray Dogs S5 and My Happy Marriage Every BSD episode had me on the edge of my seat, even though it looked like the villains were one-upping the ADA any time they got a small win. Also got my boy Chuuya screaming like a banshee all season long, and I love it. Miyo deserves the world, and I loved watching her blossoming relationship with Kiyoka. A second season is well deserved. Most underrated of the season: Mononogatari S2 The animation isn't stellar which isn't a deal breaker to me most of the time, but the main relationship between Hyouma and Botan was really sweet. The Bridal Trosseau are badass, too. Worst/most disappointing: Helck This was between The Gene of AI (dropped at episode 5 because I knew they wouldn't get to Sudo's mom's plot until the last 2 episodes and I wasn't willing to wait that long) and Helck, and Helck ultimately takes the L. Helck started out well as i was interested in how they were going to choose a new demon king, but I began losing interest once they got transported from the empire to the island. Piwi is a nice addition, but I've been more annoyed with the show than anything and it feels like a chore to watch. The latest episode showed some potential plot progression, but with how many shows I'm interested in starting up in October, Helck would be the first show to get cut from my lineup. Edit: forgot to finish a sentence about Helck, lol. Also wanted to note that I found Undead Murder Farce to be just fine, as I'm more interested in the resolution of the mysteries, but care less about the characters. Tsugaru can be mildly annoying too. Last edited by RenRen94 on Mon Sep 25, 2023 2:10 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24141 |
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Man, am I ever offside with most of ANN's reviewers. I dropped Undead Murder Farce after about three episodes. I'm not big on detective/mystery shows due to their inherently exposition heavy nature, I found the male lead irritating and I wasn't charmed by the dynamic between the two leads. In other words, no reason to hang around even though I liked the time period and setting. JKK 2 and Zombucket have been my faves with My Happy Marriage bringing up the rear.
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2513 |
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I haven't finished Link Click yet (due to being obsessed with the more slowly released English dub; unusual for me, but I started with it before trying the Mandarin, and after getting used to the excellent dub I can't tolerate going back to the original), but honestly already think I second this. In a relatively weak season, Link Click's the only show I feel like has been consistently great; maybe JJK was a competitor until we came back from the preview content. Undead Murder Farce has been fun and has good atmosphere, but its character writing and plot are a lot less uniformly impressive than Link Click. EDIT: Oh, barefoot beast queen show was also quite good all-around. Link Click definitely has it beaten on production quality, though. Last edited by NeverConvex on Mon Sep 25, 2023 12:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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