Anime

Reincarnated as a Slime - First ep was fine. a slice of life-ish recap to start the season makes sense for a longer running show. Next three were completely pointless. Maybe it gets better after that? I don't know. This might be where I drop the series. Episodes 1-4. 2/5

Ascendance of a Bookworm - If you told me this season was based on a table of contents or AI summary of a few books, I'd believe you. Anime only and I can still tell that lots of content was missed, skipped, etc., at least I hope the source is more complete... Counting the recap, the MC jumps through three families in just the first episode. I should feel sad for her for being separated from her original family, but they are reunited (somewhat) almost immediately. In one later episode, they had to throw in a brief flashback because they apparently skipped a plot point needed for that episode to make sense. What's there is good, but rougher than it should be. 3/5

Re: Zero - What's to say. It's ReZero. It continues with the same quality and fullness of episodes as in past seasons. It does get a bit much near the end and suffers from being just the first half without any of the resolution. 4/5

_An Observation Log of My Fiance Who Calls Herself a Villainess- Maybe the biggest surprise of the season. The plot is nothing spectacular, just fine. A few twists on the usual isekei villainess tropes. But what made it stand out was the characters. Both leads develop well through the episodes and make the final payoff worth it. Good mix of humor with some later romance. 4/5

Witch Hat Atelier - It is not Freiren, but the quality and care of adaptation is certainly there. The world is beautifully animated, the fantasy setting, style, etc. all solid. I get the impression there is a lot more to the world, its lore, magic, etc. but this first part felt like barely more than an intro. 4/5

My Ribdiculous Reincarnation - The other surprise of the season. It looks like nonsense, and sort of is... but its consistent and purposeful nonsense and that makes it work in a way where many seemingly similar shows fail. 4/5

The strongest job is apparently not a hero or a sage but an appraiser - The generic, popcorn isekei of the season. Looking back, I think maybe it was aimed at younger audiences. I like that it was consistent, did not take itself too seriously, and had a sort of saturday morning cartoon feel. 3/5

Always a Catch! - I really enjoyed it at first, but have not yet finished it. 3/5

Daemons of the Shadow Realm - I'm behind on this one as well but fully intend to finish. 4/5