The Anime I've Been Watching For Summer 2024

Given how I wrote a blog post back in March about what anime I'll be watching during spring 2024, you would think I would do the same for summer 2024, but....uh, it's the end of September, and two of the anime I've been watching have finished airing already. It probably wouldn't have been the most accurate of lists in hindsight, anyway, given how I ended up watching some anime that I wasn't planning on watching, anyway. Well, given how I'm way too late for my "What I'll Be Watching During the Summer 2024 Anime Season" post, I'll just list what I've been watching instead and some quick thoughts on each one. I'd also list what I plan to watch during the Fall 2024 anime season, but I think it'd be better for blog post length and overall focus on the topic to just make a separate post for that. Well, enough chatter; let's just get to it!

1. Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf

Out of all of the anime I watched during the spring (including Highspeed Etoile, which was the only spring 2024 anime I ended up dropping), the Spice and Wolf remake is the only one that continued into the summer. Speaking of which, in my spring 2024 anime post, I questioned why Spice and Wolf needed a remake, and as it turns out, there is actually a good reason; the remake's fourth arc was completely skipped in the original anime, and it apparently is very important to the overarching story in the light novels. I don't know; I still haven't read the light novels. Anyway....yeah, still not the biggest fan of Spice and Wolf. I mean, the aforementioned fourth arc has been kind of interesting, and I have a bit of a newfound appreciation for Lawrence and Holo's chemistry; I guess it might just be that there's too much economic stuff for my tiny brain. (Also, I don't know if it's just me, but I think the animation in the remake might be at least slightly worse than the animation in the original.) Oh, well; at least Spice and Wolf fans will be getting a more loyal anime adaptation!

2. Oshi no Ko Season 2

I'm not sure if I'd say that the 2.5D Stage Play arc is my favorite in Oshi no Ko, but it is one that pops up in my mind when I think of the manga for a few reasons. For that reason, I was pretty excited to see it animated, but....HOLY CRAP IN A BUCKET. Doga Kobo did a fantastic job on the animation in the first season of Oshi no Ko, but they're really stepping up their game with this season! On a side note, without spoiling anything, I could already hear anime-only fans freaking out at a certain plot twist at the end of episode 11; I know that the way it was animated got me freaked out a bit! Knowing what's going to happen just a little bit after this also makes me look forward to how it's going to be animated! Overall, a great second season so far.

3. 2.5 Dimensional Seduction

You know, for an anime called "2.5 Dimensional Seduction", the ecchi moments in it aren't quite as intense as I thought. Not that that's a bad thing either way; I was just expecting a TV-MA level of ecchi instead of a TV-14 level. (Then again, the Japanese title is "2.5-jigen no Ririsa", which actually translates to "2.5 Dimensional Ririsa". Maybe the English translators for the manga that it's based on should have just used "2.5 Dimensional Ririsa" instead, but that's just what I think.) Oh, well. Anyway, this anime is kind of cute, but it's nothing particularly special; "My Dress-Up Darling" is definitely the better cosplayer rom-com between the two. One worry that I've had since early on in the series is that since Ririsa doesn't seem to want to cosplay as anyone except Liliel (and most of the other cosplayers in the series seem to just stick to one character), the whole thing is going to end up getting stale. Luckily, this is a 2-cour series, and it seems like two new cosplayer characters will be added to the cast in the second cour; I look forward to seeing what they're like!

4. ATRI: My Dear Moments

Very few visual novels have been getting anime adaptations in recent years, which makes "Atri: My Dear Moments" pretty lucky. Then again, the original visual novel was technically published by Aniplex.... Anyway, another part of why I wanted to watch this was the gorgeous-looking animation from TROYCA, but.... well, while the 2-D animation is, indeed, gorgeous, there is also some pretty hideous-looking CGI animation sometimes, specifically with the 3-D character models. I do like the story so far, though, and while it took me a while to warm up to Atri as a character, there really is some hidden depth to her. This anime definitely makes me want to check out the actual visual novel sometime!

5. Plus-Sized Elf

Mood.

You know how I was expecting a TV-MA level of ecchi from 2.5 Dimensional Seduction? Well, you can find it in Plus-Sized Elf! (Bonus for those into bigger women.) Besides boobs and butts, this anime also provides its audience with a variety of work-outs to do at home, and provided that said audience actually does those exercises on a regular basis (not that I have been, though), I can see them actually being useful. Other than that, though.... well, Elfuda can't say a single word without me hearing Arisa from BanG Dream instead. Yeah, I persoanlly don't find it to be anything special, but hey, I won't judge anyone whose tastes line up with what it has to offer.

6. Giji Harem

As of today, September 20, this is one of the two anime I've been watching that has already finished airing. I was actually going to write a review for this one, but I ended up not doing it, which means I'll just be sharing my thoughts here instead. Although I always thought the premise was quite unique, I wasn't all that into this series in the beginning; the way each episode was formatted just felt off, and the fact that there were multiple segments in each episode was only part of why I felt that way. Luckily, the problems I found were gradually fixed in the second half, and I also found myself really liking the relationship between Eiji and Rin, enough for me to be genuinely happy for them at the end. Plus, props to Saori Hayami for showing off her voice acting range alongside Rin's acting range!

7. Katsute Mahou Shoujo to Aku wa Tekitai Shite Ita.

Geez, here I am, thinking that this was going to be a wholesome rom-com between a magical girl and an "evil" lieutenant, and then, episode 2 hits us with the tentacle scene! My stepdad walked by as this scene was going on, but even though we've never talked about it at the moment or since then, I'm sure he was judging me then! Other than that, yeah, this anime has a surprising amount of sexual innuendos, but that's not going to stop me from watching! Overall, the comedy is kind of hit-or-miss, but the relationship between the two main leads is pretty cute. The running gag of Mira's glasses breaking every time Byakuya does something cute makes me wonder how many pairs of glasses he has, though. Well, he's an evil lieutenant; I'm sure his organization pays him enough for him to be able to afford the extra glasses!

8. Kimi ni Todoke Season 3

I wasn't going to include this at first, given that all five (hour-long) episodes of this season dropped on Netflix at once in August instead of airing one episode a week starting in July, but when I was going through the list of my summer 2024 anime list on AniList and saw this, I thought, "Eh, why not? I did watch it." Kimi ni Todoke, as a whole, is a very sweet anime, and season 3 was no exception! Sure, there were some parts that bothered me a little, but overall, it was great seeing Sawako, Kazehaya, and the others again! (Why am I saying that as if I didn't just watch both seasons earlier this year....?)

9. Too Many Losing Heroines!

First of all, the "Make!" part of the opening theme has been living rent-free in my head for months, and I have no plans to charge rent for the time being. Anyway, while I wasn't necessarily opposed to watching Makeine (as it's often called) before it came out, it wasn't really on my "to-watch" list at first. Mother's Basement's "Ones to Watch" for the summer 2024 season quickly changed my mind, though; it showed me that some real passion was being put into this production, which I had to see for myself. Admittedly, I'm not exactly enjoying it as much as others, but I do find it to be a good anime. Unpopular opinion, but I think Chika's my favorite girl; she's too relatable!

10. Mayonaka Punch

This is one of two P.A. Works original anime that came out this season (along with a video game adaptation, which I didn't get around to watching), and out of curiosity on how two anime in the same boat would turn out, I decided to watch both this season. Unfortunately, both of them turned out to be kind of meh, but most people (if AniList and MAL scores are anything to go by) and I would argue that Mayonaka Punch is the better of the two. While vampire YouTubers definitely wasn't on my anime bingo card for this year, it does make for potential interesting conflicts, and the animation is pretty good. The main character, Masaki, was annoying at first, though, and while it's definitely just my taste in YouTube videos, I can't really see myself watching the Mayonaka Punch channel if it was real. Oh, well.

11. Na-Nare Hana-Nare

You know, I feel like if said a certain way, the title of this anime actually kind of sounds like a cheer. Like, "Na, nare! Ha-na-naaaaa-re!" Funny, considering that this is supposed to be a cheerleading anime. Anyway, this is the other of this season's P.A. Works originals, and when Masaki from Mayonaka Punch still annoyed me, I thought this was going to be the better one of the two. Unfortunately, there is some really ridiculous melodrama that drags this anime down a bit. Like, without going into spoilers, there's an entire thing about one main character doing things behind the other main characters' backs, and while this wasn't exactly the best decision this character made, it was treated as way worse than it actually is....and the next episode, one main character's like, "Actually, she's kind of right." What? Plus, the visual representation this anime has is....a choice. I also feel like characters like Suzuha aren't utilized as much as they could have been, which is a shame, because Suzuha is best girl.

12. Senpai wa Otokonoko

I was actually reading the manga version of this on Webtoon and found it to be pretty cute, and luckily, the anime adaptation is the same way. I mean, it took me a while to get used to Akira Sekine's performance as Saki, since it felt like she was screaming all of her lines in the beginning, but other than that, all of the voice acting was as solid as the animation. The story did feel rushed in places, though, but I'm not entirely sure if it's actually rushed or if it's just because I read the manga rather slowly due to Daily Pass shenanigans; the story being at the place it is as of episode 10 is making me very nervous, though. I still love the relationship between Makoto, Ryuji, and Saki, though, and Makoto's struggles still seem very real.

13. Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian

And finally, we have what is arguably the season's sub-leader (behind Oshi no Ko 2) and the other of the two anime I've watched that has finished airing (although a season 2 has been announced for this one), Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings In Russian. I remember first hearing about the original light novel when Alya's VTuber model was announced and thinking, "Not gonna lie, I kind of want to read this now." At the same time, though, I was a little concerned that a girl secretly flirting with a guy in Russian and the guy actually understanding every word wouldn't be enough to carry an entire story; maybe it would work for a manga, but I wasn't sure about a light novel. Regardless, I was excited to watch the anime when it was announced, and it turned out to be pretty cute. The whole student council sub-plot might not appeal to everyone, but hey, at least it gives the concept something to work alongside!

Aaaand that's what I've been watching during the summer. Hopefully, I can post the list of anime I'm watching in the fall soon, but that'll have to wait until a little later. Until then, до свидания!