Surprisingly great season. Actually had a good amount of time to watch new and catchup too. A bit heavy on romance, but so many variations that it didn’t feel too repetitive for me.

Completed/almost-completed new releases:

• Oshi No Ko S2 - I think there’s another episode or so left in the season. Great season, lots of character development and overall plot movement too, although didn’t land quite as hard as S1 for me. 9/10
• Makeine - Surprise hit of the season for me. Really loved it. One episode left that is a new anime-only story written by the original writer iirc. I do wish it had simply avoided a few tropes completely, but that’s about my only complaints for this gem. 9/10
• Pseudo Harem - Another surprise. Loved this adorable couple, and almost didn’t give it a shot because the title didn’t sound like something I’d be interested in. Beautiful complete series in only 12 episodes. Honestly one of my top romance animes all time. 8/10
• I Parry Everything - Another out of nowhere really fun show. I really enjoyed this, in a silly what-is-happening way. Reminded me a lot of Helck, in a good way. 7/10
• Dungeon People - Filled the gaping hole left by Frieren and Dungeon Meshi. Very good, although the art style made me think this would be more chill than it ended up being. Some surprising violence and adult content. 7/10
• Days With My Stepsister - Shocked this turned out so good. It’s one of the most nuanced and careful presentations of young adults trying to make the best choices they can. I wish it didn’t have the titillating premise, because I’d love more romance anime that took its characters this seriously. 7/10
• Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings … - I think I’m tapping out after this season. I found the political intrigue not engaging and several of the characters grating or extremely unbelievable. It’s fine, just not for me. 6/10

Tried/dropped new releases:

• My Deer Friend … - Too hit or miss.
• Plus Sized Elf - Not for me.

Previous seasons shows completed:

• Dungeon Meshi S2 - Current frontrunner for AOTY, edging out Frieren cour 2. Absolutely loved it. 10/10
• Scavenger’s Reign - Not-anime but excellent. Gripping and engaging bizarre world. 9/10
• Cyberpunk Edgerunners - Phenomenal production, but not my favorite world. Still great though, maybe 8-9/10?
• Hell’s Paradise - Grew on me over time. Really enjoyed the last episodes and looking forward to S2 eventually. 8/10
• I Was Reincarnated As The 7th Prince … - Silly fun and light. Enjoyed a lot. 7/10
• Carol and the End of the World - Not-anime, but very interesting. 7/10

Future wrap-up from this season:

• Terminator 0 - Haven’t been in the right mood.
• Wistoria - 5 episodes. Good animation, great action, and fun story. Probably finish.
• No Longer Allowed … - I’ll give it another shot, but might drop soon.
• Spice & Wolf - Only watched a couple episodes. Interested in more when I have time.
• Nier Automata - I’m currently playing the game, so after that I’ll probably watch the anime.
• Slime-San S? - Eventually.
• Konosuba S3 - Eventually.
• MHA S? - Eventually.

Looking ahead to next season, it’s a bit light for me. I’ve been watching a lot (for me), so might chill a bit and maybe catch up on other stuff. Or maybe I’ll follow the charts and try out whatever bubbles up. I dunno! But I’ll definitely be watching:

• Re:Zero S3 - I’ve liked the previous seasons quite a lot.
• Ranma 1/2 - I grew up on OG Ranma 1/2 and have watched most of it. I loved it. I’m really hoping this is good, especially since some of the content is going to be pretty dated. But I at least feel confident it will be as well produced as possible since it’s being made by MAPPA. I’m kinda sad so few others are mentioning this. Maybe I’m too old haha…

Current releases, following weekly (roughly organized by decreasing interest):

• Oshi No Ko S2 - Decent start to a new arc. Several good moments.
• Makeine - This mini arc didn’t hit as hard for me as some of the others, but still enjoyed it.
• Pseudo Harem - Great episode again. This couple is adorable.
• I Parry Everything - Still good. I think there are more episodes, but it feels pretty wrapped up?
• Dungeon People - Caught up this week. Sometimes a bit hit or miss, but still enjoying throughout.
• Days With My Stepsister - Caught up this week. I have mixed feelings on it. It’s verrrrrry slow and deliberate. Sometimes this lands well, but a lot of the time I’m waiting for anything to happen. The characters are likeable and their feelings seem realistic. It’s decent, and I’ll at least finish this cour. I don’t know if there will be more.
• Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings… - I’m gonna finish this season, but I probably won’t follow future seasons.

Watched part of, but not up to date:

• Wistoria - 5 episodes. Good animation, great action, and fun story. Probably finish.

Completed:

• Hell’s Paradise - Well the big surprise was I thought this was a single season show. It mostly definitely is not. Still, I ended up much more satisfied than I was for the first half. Initially felt like an excuse for extreme bloody violence. By the end, I liked several of the characters quite a lot and am very curious where the story goes. If there’s a season 2, I’ll likely continue.

Current releases, following weekly (roughly organized by decreasing interest):

• Oshi No Ko S2 - No new episode.
• Makeine - Still great. The curious thing for me in this anime is it flirts with common tropes, but then subverts it somehow that makes it not bother me. I wish it just avoided certain situations completely, which would make this a much easier recommendation to non-regular-anime-watchers.
• Pseudo Harem - Great episode. This couple is adorable.
• I Parry Everything - Another episode where the stakes just keep going up, and it gets beyond the level of absurd I thought it could do.
• Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings… - More anime tropes I find very boring, but at least it was only part of the episode this time. When it focuses more on the relationship of the main couple, it’s much better.

Watched part of, but not up to date:

• Dungeon People - 6 episodes. Fun and easy watch. The content sometimes surprises me. It looks like it’d be relatively safe for kids, then something happens or is referenced and I realize it’s more adult than it looks.
• Days With My Stepsister - 4 episodes. Watched because it keeps hitting very high on the weekly charts. I’m super leery of the subject, but it’s surprisingly mature and realistic. Veerrrry slow though. It’s good enough I’ll keep going, because I think it started really climbing the charts for its later episodes.
• Wistoria - 3 episodes. Watched because it’s been higher on charts. Fun story, good animation, likable characters, interesting world. Ya I’ll probably keep going.
• No Longer Allowed In Another World - 1 episode. Watched because charts. The obsession with suicide is very off putting (I don’t think this subject should be handled to lightly…), and then I learned the MC is based on a real person (who actually died by suicide) and that made it feel really icky to me. I’ll admit, I laughed several times in the first episode. But I dunno if I’ll keep going.

Current releases, following weekly (roughly organized by decreasing interest):

• Oshi No Ko S2 - Finally hit the climax I’d been waiting for. Really nailed it between the last episode and this one, then hooked in for exciting plot progression. Great episode.
• Makeine - Looks like focus is shifting to a new character again, with a new accompanying (excellent) ED. It was a bit of an exposition episode, so a bit less exciting than the last few, but still excellent.
• Pseudo Harem - A bit slower episode for me. Still good.
• I Parry Everything - Caught up this week. It’s great. Tension and scale keeps escalating and the silliness keeps outclassing what I thought was peak absurdity. Characters are very likable and animation is serviceable. Try a couple episodes!
• Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings… - Ya, mostly just finishing because I’ve watched this far. The general conceit of the series feels mostly forgotten, and is largely the type of anime I wasn’t really here for from the beginning.

Watched part of, but not up to date:

• Hell’s Paradise - 10 episodes. Alright I was kinda iffy for a while, but I’ve really enjoyed the last couple episodes. Finally filling in story a bit and setting up an overall plot that is fun and understandable. I’m definitely finishing now.
• Dungeon People - 4 episodes. Got some time to try it out more and it’s excellent. Surprisingly darker than I expected, based on the animation style! But very silly, fun exploration of dungeon crawl tropes, and a low stakes mood. Really nice easy watch that slightly mollifies the gaping hole that finishing Frieren and Dungeon Meshi left.

Completed:

• Scavenger’s Reign - Not anime, but so good. Super strange world with bizarre but just realistic enough creature designs, great animation, great sound effects. Y’all should check it out. It’s a wild ride from start to finish, and I’d be ecstatic if it gets picked up by somebody for a second season.

Current releases, following weekly (roughly organized by decreasing interest):

• Oshi No Ko S2 - The last few episodes have been excellent. I thought they’d get to a mid season climax sooner and move on to other plot, but nah it seems to keep adding in backstory and side stories to fill in on many of the characters. It’s been great, but I’d like it to finally get to the climax.
• Makeine - Surprise hit of the season. I’m absolutely loving it. Probably more than Oshi No Ko, if I’m being honest. Seriously worth checking out.
• Pseudo Harem - That previous episode was such a fake out not-ending. I had to look up details to make sure I hadn’t missed something. No, it really has like 5 more episodes planned. Then this week just picked up and kept going lol. It’s been great and gives me such cozy early-relationship feelings.
• Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings… - Previous episode kinda threw me. I wasn’t expecting certain tropes to be in this kind of show and I don’t know what I think of it. Then the current week episode kinda kept going on that. I’ll probably finish out the season, since I’m this invested already but it’s sorta losing me. Surprisingly, Yuki was my favorite part of this week’s episode!

Watched part of, but not up to date:

• I Parry Everything - Almost caught up. Really enjoying this one a lot! Feels similar quality and tone to Helck and I really enjoyed that one.
• Hell’s Paradise - 8 episodes. Still a bit graphic for me, but I’ve enjoyed it enough to keep going. Animation is quite impressive.
• My Deer Friend Nokotan - 3 episodes. I haven’t felt like returning to it. I think I may drop it for this season, since I’ve read it doesn’t really improve from this point.
• Dungeon People - 1 episode. I’ll probably make time for this soon after I finish catching up with Parry Everything.

Oh nice. I’ve been verrrrrrry slowly watching OG Trigun over the last year. I think I’m also at episode 13. It hasn’t really clicked for me, hence the ultra slow watch. But I’d like to finish it and get to the new version. Maybe I’ll prioritize it a bit more since you’re watching and can bounce thoughts off of.

Last I remember, there was finally some character development exploring Vash’s motivations. But I just can’t shake the feeling of it being off brand Cowboy Bebop and not as cool or fun. And definitely agree on struggling with outdated norms of humor.

What do you mean? My kids have been playing my library using the new Family Sharing rules for a couple months on my LCD deck by opting into the beta.

And yes, the new Family Sharing is amazing. It’s made me want to buy exclusively into Steam ecosystem.

Finally had some time to catch up.

Completed:

• Cyberpunk Edgerunners - Absolutely phenomenal animation, music, storytelling and production. But also not really my thing. Super downer of a story (fitting the genre) and a world I find horrifyingly possible. It’s good, but I didn’t have a great time haha.
• Was Reincarnated As The 7th Prince… - My silly light hearted watch of the season. This was sooo much better than I expected. I struggled with some certain common tropes, but the rest was so fun that I could overlook it.
• Delicious in Dungeon S1C2 - Brilliant. Tied with Frieren for my anime of the year for this year. Animation, characters, story, humor, world building, everything are just top notch. Loved it.
• Carol and the End of the World - Yea, not really anime. It’s weird and different and evoked a lot of emotion out of me. Not nearly as downer as the premise made me expect. Much more of a metaphorical exploration of the value of life and experiences. The asteroid is coming for all of us, anyway, it’ll just hit at different times for each. How are you spending your remaining time? The show peaks at like episode 6 though, and the last few I think are skippable.

Watched part of:

• Oshi No Ko S2 - Caught up. I loved S1 (just missed my anime of the year because Frieren) so I was very psyched for S2. It’s started slow but really ramped up quick. The last couple episodes have been phenomenal. Really looking forward to where this is going.
• My Deer Friend Nokotan - 3 episodes. Very hit or miss, but I’ve literally lol’d multiple times. Probably keep watching when I’m in the mood for something dumb lol.
• Makeine - Caught up. Surprise hit of the season for me. Absolutely loving it. The animation and production quality are stunning, and I love all the characters. It sorta feels like it’s focusing on the three main female characters in each 4 episode chunk. The last episode had a new ED that suggested a different focus. Definitely finishing.
• Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings… - Almost caught up. Enjoying it but not loving it. The conceit feels a little forced and unrealistic, every time it happens. Yuki is my least favorite part, by far. Feels the most over-the-top ridiculous and kinda taking me out of my immersion for the rest. I like the other characters and it’s a fun lighter watch, so I’ll probably keep watching.
• Pseudo Harem - 4 episodes. Super cute main characters and pretty realistic setup. Enjoying a lot. Likely finish.
• Scavenger’s Reign - 9 episodes. Not really anime, but figured it’s worth a mention. I’m loving this. Most of the time, my mouth is slackjawed open in horror at whatever the hell is happening. Body horror, psych horror, great characters, striking animation and sound that feels so realistic I can believe these crazy things are really happening in this bizarre planet. Really loving it.
• Hell’s Paradise - 4 episodes. Incredible animation, but wow it’s gory. It’s a bit much for me. I’ll probably watch a few more at least.
• Dungeon People - 1 episode. Liked the start. Try more when I have time.
• I Parry Everything - 1 episode. Giving me Helck energy, which I liked a lot. Likely try more some time.
• Plus Sized Elf - 1 episode. Nah, not for me. Too much fan service.

I just signed up for their 2 year subscription deal, and always looked forward to getting my latest edition. Also listened to their podcast, which was great too. Super bummed about this.

Can’t believe we’re in a new season already. Oshi No Ko is an obvious must-watch for me. Otherwise feels a little lighter, which is great. Might catch up on last season a bit.

Finally had a bit of time to watch this week. I’m way behind for the season and barely watched anything.

I tried some Chillin Lvl 2 and some Jellyfish Can’t Swim. I think I’m 3 episodes into both. Enjoying both quite a bit.

Did Jellyfish fall off after the first few episodes? I thought it was ranking way higher earlier in the season, but now it’s not even top 10.

I find it interesting that this is titled Turning Point 3. The first two Turning Point episodes had a very obvious Major Event. This one seems much more subtle. Rudeus made a decision to do something directly against the advice of the Man-god, but nothing big has happened yet.

Finally got a bit of time to watch. Wrapped up a couple and making slow progress on a few.

Villainess Lvl 99: Finished. I really enjoyed this one. I think it peaked around halfway, and the ending isn’t quite as strong, but still a great chill and fun story.

7th Time Loop: Finished. Liked this one a lot too. Again, peaked about halfway. The ending felt a bit complicated and didn’t quite land as well as I’d hoped. But still fun and silly and felt like you knew everything was going to turn out fine, even if you didn’t see how.

Mushoku Tensei: Still great.

An episode or two of a bunch of stuff. Jellyfish Can’t Swim At Night, Whisper Me A Love Song, Spice and Wolf, Konosuba S1 (catch up), Slime-San S2 (catch up), Trigun OG (catch up), X-men 97.

Not sure about the hype for Date A Live. I haven’t watched any. Not sure it’s for me. Anybody got a sell for it?

I’m still mostly working my way through leftover winter season shows.

Villainess*2: Mostly through Villainess 99 and 7th Time Loop. Both really great and very much worth a watch. They’re my cozy before-bed shows right now. I love the humor, positivity, confidence, and essentially zero fan service. Super good. Also that Lvl 99 OP is great.

Grandma & Grandpa Young Again: Yeaaaa… I think one episode was enough. I get the humor and it’s fine, but the repeated incest joke was rough on the very first time, and it seemed like it was going nowhere at all.

Fluffy Paradise: 2-3 episodes in. Cute characters, silly story, fun overpowered MC from a slightly different angle. But I find the MC a little grating, especially since she apparently mostly forgot her previous life and is now actually a young child. There’s a background malice to the world that is an interesting contrast, but I don’t think I’ll stick around to see if it pans out.

Wrong Way to use Healing Magic: 3 episodes in. Silly, fun premise in an otherwise pretty generic isekai. I might watch the rest because I like the MC and Rose and it’s a pretty light watch.

Love it! Gives a great look into the season so far and what’s worth a look.

Looks like I really need to catch up with Slime-San and Konosuba to try the new season.

New ones that I’ll probably try out:

• Jellyfish
• Whisper Me
• Kaiju 8
• Spice & Wolf

Definite watch:

• Mushoku Tensei
• Delicious in Dungeon
• Yuru Camp

Oh yea, I saw some of the twitter follower charts and wondered what kind of data that was showing. Like, is popularity the same as quality? I’m sure there’s some correlation there, and maybe the difference isn’t meaningful for our purpose of highlighting current anime for discussion.

I don’t want to add more work for you, since you’re already doing so much. But, as an idea, is there a way to aggregate those in the weekly “what are you watching posts”? I think that’d be a neat point to get more discussion on how they’re doing and what you’re watching at the same time.

It’s a shame the other two charts you listed don’t make a nice shareable jpg per week.

AC definitely has a certain taste. Which is helpful, when I’m looking for, let’s say, what were the popular romance anime of a season.

I don’t remember what other relatively easy to track Top 10’s there are. Does MAL have an easy one to snag? It’d be nice to have a contrasting one to AC.

Out of town and busy for a few weeks, so fell behind during the winter finish and spring start. This’ll be a catch up post for all of these. Would it be better to post in the respective threads, even though they’ve kinda passed on to obscurity? I dunno.

Winter anime roundup: really great season. I had low expectations going in, and it ended up being so much better.

Finished:

• Frieren - Excellent. This cour dragged a little in the first half, as it introduced so, so many new characters that each needed time to develop. But it finished strong and was super high quality throughout. May not be my AOTY, like the first cour was for 2023, but still phenomenal.
• Delicious in Dungeon - Excellent. Wow this show is really going somewhere. I love the characters, the animation, and the story is intriguing. This is my top recommendation lately for recent great anime. Must watch for Spring.
• Apothecary Diaries - Excellent. Not quite as engaging as cour 1, but still great. I felt like some of the reveals later on felt too much like a twist for the sake of it, and that we were mislead earlier on. Still very worth watching though.
• The Dangers in my Heart - Very good. I didn’t engage quite as much as the first season, mostly because the MC lost a lot of his personality and became more generic. But it’s still one of the best depictions of high school romance, for me. For anybody curious, yes, this show gets dramatically better than the first two episodes of season 1. MC is mostly an unlikeable edgelord at the very beginning, but becomes much more interesting quickly.
• Solo Leveling - Very good. I’m an easy sell for these types of shows, and this one is particularly good. Good characters, high stakes, great action, satisfying progression. Just wish more were out so I could binge more quickly. Feels like too little happens with one episode (or less…) per week.

Trying out based on end of season rankings and recommendations:

• Villainess Level 99 - A few episodes in and this is so, so much better than I would’ve expected. Genuinely funny yet heartfelt. Definitely finishing.
• 7th Time Loop - Couple episodes in and really like MC, the premise, and curious about where it’s going. Give it a couple more for sure. That first episode covered a ton of ground!
• A Sign of Affection - One episode in and probably give a couple more.
• Sasaki and Peeps - Pending.
• The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - Pending.

Spring look forward: a few I’m interested in, but not many stand outs. A lot that I’d need to catch up on.

• Delicious in Dungeon S1C2 - Must watch. No idea where it’s going from here. Super good.
• Mushoku Tensei S2C2 - A mildly guilty pleasure, but we’re finally getting to the point that it’s a lot less difficult to defend. Rudy has grown a ton, we’re seeing a lot of payoff for years of toil, and I really like a lot of the characters. I’m hoping the adaptation keeps at the super high quality of the previous seasons.
• Spice and Wolf - Remake. I actually watched the first episode of the original recently and didn’t know this was coming. I’ll probably try this out instead.
• That Time I Reincarnated As A Slime S3 - I’m pretty behind, somewhere in S2. Might try to catch up.
• Konosuba S3 - I’m way back in S1. Not totally in, but probably give it another try to see if it clicks, since it’s apparently popular and they keep making it.
• Demon Slayer S? - Also behind. Might catch up, but already feeling too stacked.
• My Hero Academia S7 - Several seasons behind. Unlikely to catch up. It just felt so padded and unnecessary.
• X-men ‘97 - Yea, I know, not anime. But I’m still really excited about it. This is my childhood coming back, and the first 5 episodes have gone so hard. Very curious where it’s going.

Only one I haven’t seen mentioned in other responses that I plan to follow is Mushoku Tensei Season 2 Cour 2.