Counterpoint: I always enjoy Nezuko kicking deadbeats.

I've enjoyed the Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) anime for most of its run, but I've certainly not been a fan of all of it. In particular, I only have so much patience of the shounen jive that's just part of the territory when it comes to these sorts of shows. People who actually like shounen anime and manga may appreciate those tropes and styles, but I could do without a lot of it. However, with regard to the current Katanakaji no Sato-hen (Swordsmith Village Arc) season, the actual problem is my disinterest in Tanjiro as a character. I mean, he's fine, but I mostly liked him before because he wasn't Zenitsu or Inosuke. He might not have the charisma to carry this season alone.

Wait, he has a gun. Are demon slayers allowed to use guns instead of swords?

This wouldn't be an issue if the other characters in Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-hen had more going for them. So far, I don't give two shits about the swordsmiths, and the other demon slayers don't seem to have personalities at all, aside from just sort of being assholes in general, even if they're not especially malicious about it. And I guess unless you count Yelling as a personality. They've got that going for them, too, but that's true of a lot of Demon Slayer characters it general. (Specifically, WAY TOO MANY of them.) Honestly—and I say this with utmost sincerity—I'm praying for a lot of scenes with the weird-looking Hanakana-voiced girl with the fucked-up hair.

No pressure.

I don't know what her deal is, but the OP and ED to these Swordsmith Village Arc episodes clearly indicate Mitsuri is one of the three main focus characters. Through the first three episodes, she has done absolutely fuck all, but now that The Fighting has begun, I expect she'll start getting more scenes. Just to be clear, I'm rolling the dice here. All of my previous impressions of this character throughout her various appearances in the series thus far have been mostly negative, but Demon Slayer this season doesn't seem to have a lot going for it, so I'm hoping she'll save the show. She can still be weird. In fact, probably the weirder the better.

These are cute pajamas.

I've been meaning to say this for a long time, and I might even have said it on the Twitter at some point, but I stand by this claim: Azaka is the only character in Kara no Kyoukai (Garden of Sinners) who has any charisma. Now, don't get me wrong. I like Shiki and Touko, but I wouldn't describe what their personalities have going for them as charisma. I like Mikiya too, but that dude definitely ain't got charisma. Anyway, Azaka is the reason why I find "Oblivion Recording" (the sixth installment of the OVA series) retains so much more re-watching value to me. And I'm not just saying that because Azaka kicks a vagina flower in the nads.

Locks are only good for keeping out honest people.

In the interest of heading off foreseeable objections, I suppose I should concede it's been a long time since I've watched most of these movies, and I should probably reconsider such a broad statement without at least giving the "Mirai Fukuin" ("Future Gospel") characters more attention. However, the reality is I've been thinking about making this claim since before that even came out (10 years ago), and I needed a blog post for this week. It was either going to be this or something about more anime guns again.

It's not a metaphor.

With less than a week left before the start of the Spring 2024 anime season, I currently have 19 shows that I'm willing to at least try. Moreover, I compiled this list weeks ago without closely scrutinizing what series will even be airing in April. There's a good chance I've overlooked multiple anime I'd also consider, and I may have missed series that were announced only recently. Based on past experiences, what's likely to happen is I'll end up dropping a lot of these, but that still leaves a significant number of shows to follow.

I didn't expect to like Hibike! Euphonium more now than when I started the series.

Some of these titles are a lock. For example, I'm guaranteed to follow Yuru Camp△ SEASON 3, Hibike! Euphonium 3, and Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 3 (KONOSUBA -God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! 3), and Wonderful Precure! regardless of how they turn out. Likewise, I'll probably stick with Kimetsu no Yaiba: Hashira Geiko-hen (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc) and The iDOLM@STER: Shiny Colors.

Everything know about Shiny idols, I learned from fan art.

Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e Kayou II Part 2 (The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants Season 2 Part 2) probably has enough momentum that I won't drop it outright, and I'm curious enough about the Spice and Wolf do-over (Ookami to Koushinryou: merchant meets the wise wolf) that I'll at least watch some of it, despite finding the first anime horribly overrated.1 Anyway, I support the assertion that good media do not need to be remade. Rather, it's the bad ones that would benefit from an opportunity at being unfucked. Since I have a generally negative opinion about the 2008 Spicy Wolf, then this remake should be right up my alley. I hope it's not bad a second time.

I've since learned Holo has "the form of a sweet 15-year-old girl" via @Kotobukiya_EN.

Besides these and a few more I didn't mention, the current lineup also includes eight new shows, at least two of which are anime-originals. There's even a baseball anime. This place could use more robots, though. Preferably giant ones, but I'm not going to be picky if the alternative is a robot-free-zone spanning three months, alas. It's probably hypocritical of me to say this, though, seeing as how I never got around to watching Brave Bang Bravern! during Winter 2024. I heard it's great. I suppose I could just watch that, but I can't resist New Season allure, and there's so much of it.

Note 1: I got to Spice and Wolf late, after its positive reputation was well established and generally uncontroversial. Well, I disliked nearly all of it for reasons too lengthy to include in this aside. I probably should have written a blog post detailing those reasons at some point instead of bitching about it on the IRC and on the Twitter (such as here, for example).