#see how i didn't say quirky weird or funny. i have strong feelings about how bad the cover of this book is

[stworzonka]

Reading "convenience store woman" as an autistic person was groundbreaking, devastating and wonderful actually

[regarding-stories]

An embarrassment of riches

That's what this summer season is in regards to anime series. There were seasons (like this one) where the lack of good new releases was strong. Even last season was a bit so-so. Not this one!

I rounded up some of its Isekai already (together with some others I recently watched), but there's more. Oh yes!

Don't watch EPISODE 0!!

By which I mean "Dead Dead Demons DeDeDe Destruction". Seriously. If you want some minor spoilers I'm willing to oblige, but episode 0 apparently spoils the whole run of the series before it even starts. WTF?!?

"Dead Demons" presents itself (if you start with episode 1) as a story of school girls in Tokyo. Except a huge ass mothership shows up over the city, some people die, and then for a while, a whole lot of nothing happens. People live their lives and get used to this new development... somewhat.

But not really. People start to go nuts. (And who wouldn't?) The government is hush-hush. UFOs get shot down over inhabited districts. People die. And we as viewers get clued in to even more strange stuff happening.

Apparently the show is a re-cut of two movies into an anime series (and episode "0" a sort of epilogue). Its developments are dark and weird and lure you in. And somehow a few weirdo high school seniors growing into adults amid this unfolding slow motion drama is the icing on the cake.

Just don't watch episode 0.

2.5 Dimensional Seduction

I noticed this one as manga but didn't follow up to reading it first. And here it is, in animated glory! (It looks really good.)

Nerd boy is the only remaining member of the manga club where he mostly obsesses about his favorite character, Liliel, watching this old anime by himself. He, of course, has no interest in "3D girls" and only in his beloved waifu. (How serious he is you will see when you get to see his bedroom a few episodes later. I wonder what his mother thinks when she walks in...)

In comes Ririka, a cosplayer-in-the-making which obsesses about... Liliel! A girl our protagonist can nerd out with, and her cosplay of his beloved character is, of course, perfect. Conflicting feelings arise in no time.

A childhood friend (with a confirmed crush) shows up in episode 2 but given how they are billed in the credits and everywhere, we can safely assume that first girl wins, which makes this "love triangle" a bit sad and cruel right out of the gate.

The series actually has, beyond its cute antics, a few good observations to make about cosplay, its fanbase, etc. Nothing world-changing here so far, it doesn't obsess over details like "My Dress-Up Darling" does, but somehow that was refreshing.

It's a silly, predictable show with people tripping over and onto each other, as expected. (But not in a way where I fear they'd need dental work after.) It's cute and charming and I like it.

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines

Anime titles are often abbreviations of their longer version, but this one is a play on words as well. "Makeinu" means "loser" and is built from the kanji for "lose" and "dog." "Makeine" in turn is a contraction of "lose" and "heroine." And the name's the program!

As the cast grows, we're introduced to a series of girls experiencing a unrequited crush and finding themselves rejected or realizing that they have no chance.

And our protagonist ends up getting involved in all of these scenarios right when they come to heads.

In principle this is a harem comedy, but its setup is clever enough and it's damn funny without resorting to being over-the-top and stupid. It doesn't seem to overdo the cringe and the characters get their own fleshing out, including the cast surrounding the literature/writing club that becomes the epicenter of it.

Wins the award for the most quirky bow tie design a school uninform can have.

Love is indivisible by twins

Can a show that has its spoiler in the title surprise you? Why yes, it can!

The show really revolves around our two protagonists, which I'd say are the girls (which also act as narrators), not the guy. They are twins, of course, but of different temperament, and they are childhood friends with the boy living nearby.

He has this big crush on the one sharing his literary interests, only to be asked out by the other. (Of course he's oblivious both have crushes on him.) In an unusual take on the genre, we see a full love story unfold in episode 1. So, if you were there for the first kiss, you can switch off now.

I don't think you should, though. The show wants to be a bit creative with its setup in spite of its spoilery name. I guess it will be interesting enough to see how it gets through the drama stage to a resolution.

The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses

(Technically this has been around since last year but quickly got a season 2. Also, I started watching it only now.)

Guy is off to Tokyo, studying, when his grandma dies, his only living relative and primary caregiver after his parents' death. They left on bad terms, and now he finds she took five strangers in in the year before her death - five young girls she ran the café with that was her livelihood.

They're off to a really bad start and frankly, I would have been totally on his side if he just kicked them out. At least one of them was up for blackmailing him (and also taking advantage that one of her friends has no self control when drunk).

The setup is unconvincing. When you follow the first season you see no clear indication why the MC was having a bad relationship with his grandma, he seems to go back and forth between a good guy and insightful and being brash and immature. The guy he turns out to be during the show seems to not follow from the guy we meet at first.

It's clear to see that the setup for the show is ... pretty much "The Quintessential Quintuplets" all over again. With a few differences... mostly in execution. One thing is that the show is nowhere near the drama level of the Quintuplets, with their regular "decision events" that turn out to be postponed. For almost a whole season it managed to avoid the "It's fated!" trap, only to then insist that all these girls have grandmothers who worked at a cafe his grandfather ran when he was his age. Oh bugger... And well, by putting a future scene with a daughter in that implies one of the cast is her mom. Yep, another Quintuplets move (though that show was more about showing weddings). To be fair, though, it doesn't pull this constantly.

Also, season 2 has one really good reason to apologize to Brazilians everywhere.

The show in general is funny and lighthearted, though the girls seem all too keen to be violent towards the protagonist for situations they pretty much cause themselves. (In a nice twist, they acknowledge this eventually.) Conflict tends to resolve rather quickly, as well. You probably can expect this to take around three seasons' worth before concluding, I guess. It isn't moving very fast, but since the story revolves around making the café profitable again as much as the blooming romance, it doesn't get too one-sided.

All six main characters (guy + girls) get rather likable once fleshed out and watching their interactions and antics is satisfying. If you ignore the somewhat rough start it certainly is a decent show.

Further mentions

"Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian" got an anime adaptation. I read some of the light novels and can't bother watching it for that reason.

"SHOSHIMIN: How to become Ordinary" is a thoughtful show about solving small mysteries, but I can't really write about it because I'm not entirely sure what its deal is. I guess they are yokai trying to pass as humans? Goes very slowly about revealing the core of its story. Gorgeous visuals.

"My Wife Has No Emotion" is a story about a guy falling in love with his household appliance robot. While the story will surely reveal she's more than that the initial setup is so cringe, I stopped watching and hoping he would just see the need for getting therapy. Lots thereof. (Also, how many Japanese just start drinking by themselves once 20...?)

"Dahlia in Bloom" is yet another Isekai story with a reincarnation background. It's a bit painful to watch a spirited young girl starting to give up her own personality for a guy's ego, so I still have not watched episode 3. I'm sure it will head straight to "I'm making my own way in life" right after finishing its setup.

"A Nobody’s Way Up to an Exploration Hero" is something something dungeons in modern Japan. Guy finds ultra-rare summoning cards and instead of becoming filthy rich by selling them, he now has a cute angel and a cute demon accompanying him on quests while he lies to his childhood friend about what he does. Hmmm...