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Dated 9 May 2023: CATS: In re Yoru wa Neko to Issho S2 and Kawaisugi Crisis

Kyuruga
Is cat.

I am watching two shows this season about cats. The second season of Yoru wa Neko to Issho (Nights with a Cat) is basically the same as the first season. Some dude and his kid sister make unremarkable observations about a house cat's behavior. The episodes are only a minute or two long, but it's a pleasant little show about a cat doing cat-type things. I've watched 39 episodes so far, and it could probably run indefinitely because the source material (i.e., cats doing cat-type things) is essentially inexhaustible. I like it.

Yozora, Seiji, and Liza
Defeated.

On the other hand Kawaisugi Crisis (Too Cute Crisis) is sort of intense. The premise of this show involves alien invaders coming to Earth and discovering it is the only planet in the known universe that contains cute animals. Like, the cutest creature previously known to this spacefaring race is some doofy-looking thing that gets instantly blown out the competition by Earth's seemingly endless supply of cute animals. The series sort of only has one joke, but I haven't tired of it yet. It's basically the same sort of reaction gags that are more typical of food-related setups common to anime, only here it's aliens losing their minds about cats doing cat-type things. I dunno what to tell you, aliens. Brace yourselves. Cats are cute as fuck.

Dated 4 April 2023: There's a new Setsuna in town

Kusunoki Tomori
Kusunoki Tomori welcomes her successor.

31 March 2023 marked Kusunoki Tomori's final day voicing Yuuki Setsuna in the Love Live! franchise. Hayashi Coco (alt: Koko) assumed the role beginning April 1st. This is hardly the first time anime characters have been recast, and this particular handover seems to have been handled well, but part of me wonders how necessary it really was. As far as I know, Kusunoki Tomori is still doing voice work and has only stepped down as the voice for Setsuna because health issues make the physical requirements of the live performances too demanding.

Hayashi Coco
The handover between Hayashi Coco and Kusunoki Tomori was posted on the YouTube.

Despite still claiming—even now—not to be a Love Live! fan, I consider Setsuna to be the franchise's best idol. (Shibuya Kanon is "only" its Best Girl and best character.) Of all the different Love Live! iterations, I regard Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai (Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club) as having the best music. This is in no small part due to how much I enjoy all of the Setsuna songs. Would I like them as much with someone else in the role? That remains to be seen, but I do know the Kasumi version of "CHASE!" from the Shuffle Festival album isn't quite as good as the original Setsuna one.

Setsuna and Kasumi
Nijiyon Animation was okay.

Personally, I think simply not having Setsuna appear during the live events ought to have been a viable solution, but this likely reflects a lack of appreciation on my part as to just how important those live events are to the franchise and its real fans. The production powers-that-be (not to be confused with the School Idol Deep State) surely fully explored every possible option and concluded that re-casting the role was the right decision.

Setsuna and Lanzu
Second-Generation Setsuna appears briefly in the Next Sky PV.

I don't know how many Nijigasaki-type things there will even be going forward, but I know there's one OVA already announced (Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai: Next Sky). I presume there are a lot of live events planned too. Thankfully, the reception to "Setsuna 二代目" appears to be very positive, so the newest Love Live! member at least shouldn't be facing an uphill battle for our hearts and minds.

Dated 14 March 2023: Please make more Doomsday with My Dog

Master and Haru
This is not Yuru Camp △.

Sekai no Owari ni Shiba Inu to (Doomsday with My Dog) ended after 72 episodes. These are pretty short episodes to begin with, and they also barely qualify as anime. Think of them more as voiced comics or illustrated radio dramas. Nevertheless, I found the series entertaining, probably in no small part thanks to Uchida Maaya voicing the dog's unnamed master. She at least makes "Goshujin-sama" seem like a cool person to be roaming around with after the fall of humanity.

Master
Coffee is pretty great.

It appears there are only four volumes of the source material (a 4-koma comic), so the anime could have run out of strips to adapt, but at least it's listed as still running. Maybe if I wait five years there will be another 72 episodes. In the past, that would have seemed like a long time, but five years basically goes by in a flash now. To tell you the truth, it's starting to feel as if time passes at an alarming rate even after being converted to dog years.

Dated 13 December 2022: These dog and cat anime will go on as long as they have to

Dog, Master, Cat, and Alien
She's honestly taking this pretty well.

Have I not mentioned either Sekai no Owari ni Shiba Inu to (Doomsday with My Dog) or Yoru wa Neko to Issho (Nights with a Cat) yet? Both anime have been running since the Summer 2022 season and I have no idea when they're expected to end. They're both shorts, so the episodes are only a few minutes long at the most, and that includes the credits.

Fuuta and Kyuruga
Is cat.

Doomsday with My Dog is about the last human on earth rolling around with her devoted dog. She's the last human, but at least she can talk to animals and there are various aliens and yokai who show up once in a while. Nights with a Cat is just a bunch of vignettes about a cat doing cat-type things that will feel familiar and relatable for anyone who has spent any amount of time around house cats at all.

Pii and and Kyuruga
Is cat.

There's not really anything outstanding about either series, but all the episodes are pleasant, and some of the gags are clever and funny. There are already more than two dozen Yoru wa Neko to Issho episodes, and more than 50 Sekai no Owari ni Shiba Inu episodes. I don't know how many cours these shows are going to run, but I am still interested in watching more.

Dated 7 June 2022: I can't use Detective Conan as a control anymore

Conan and Sera
Sera, what are you even wearing?

This has been developing for a while now, but the quality of Detective Conan episodes seems to have declined. I haven't examined this closely, but I suspect there are significantly more anime-original episodes now. It's probably also not easy to further advance the ostensible main plot in satisfactory ways given how absurd it is. It's one of those things that works best as an anime setup when left unchallenged.

Amuro
Amuro is in both of these spinoffs.

Disappointingly, there were also a couple of recent Detective Conan spinoffs which are sort of terrible. Meitantei Conan: Keisaku Gakkou Hen (Detective Conan: Wild Police Story) runs in place of regular Detective Conan episodes and features tales of some of the side characters from the main series during their time in the police academy. It's not unwatchable, but it's certainly not good, even as a series intended for small children.

Amuro
This car looks pretty good considering how often it gets fucked up.

Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time ran on its own and consisted of six half-length episodes centered around Amuro. It, like Wild Police Story, is an adaptation of a spin-off manga, but I found its six episodes entirely pointless. I guess they were better than the Wild Police Story episodes, but I can only imagine Amuro has a lot more fans than I realized. Hopefully, it at least made some good people some money.

Dated 4 January 2022: Sorairo Utility needs a longer course

Minami
This is product placement, isn't it?

Sorairo Utility (Sky Blue Utility) is only a single 15-minute OVA? That's it? You're kidding me! Well, that leaves me with one less show than I was expecting to follow during the Winter 2022 anime season. That's unfortunate, because it was nicely done. There is no shortage of shows about girls who obsess over a particular hobby, but this felt much more natural and realistic than the typical fare.

Ayaka, Minami, and Haruka
It happens.

I learned of Sorairo Utility from one of the hundreds of artists I sort of follow on the Twitter. Specifically, the director, Saitou Kengo occasionally mused about wanting to make a girls-playing-golf anime, and then suddenly it became a reality. I have no idea if there is ever going to be any more, but I'd certainly be in favor of it.

Reines and Waver
I did appreciate Reines sassing Waver.

Sort of unrelated aside from also coming out on 31 December 2021 is Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note - Tokubetsu-hen (Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace note TV Anime's Special Edition), a short movie about magic shenanigans involving Waver's classmates from his pre-Fate/Zero days. I feel like I would have liked this more if I had a greater grasp on TYPE-MOON lore in general, but possibly not understanding is the normal and expected state.

Dated 29 December 2020: The war on pants will go on a long as it has to

Yoshika and Shizuka
I don't dislike Miyafuji anymore, but these two still aren't exactly favorites.

It's been a while since I've watched the first two Strike Witches seasons, but I felt this third season seemed better overall than those previous installments. I also liked it better than the Brave Witches spinoff. Despite this, I'm still not at all prepared to call Strike Witches: Road to Berlin the best season yet even though it sort of has to be by definition. The problem is Road to Berlin still relied on the Neuroi as the primary advesary. This is an unavoidable component of the World Witches canon, but these alien invaders have never been compelling enemies. The witches need to fight somebody, but the battles still feel hollow and the stakes haven't grown as the war has progressed, despite a fair amount of dialogue trying to convince viewers that they have.

World Witches Take Off!
That sure is a lot of witches.

Thankfully, Strike Witches 3 at least avoided some of the even less convincing drama that dragged down parts of the first two seasons. Frankly, I rather enjoy the characters more when they're doing silly things in garrison such as in the Strike Witches: 501 Butai Hasshin Shimasu! (Strike Witches: 501st JOINT FIGHTER WING Take Off!) gag anime. This bodes well for next season's World Witches Hasshin Shimasu! (World Witches Take Off!) installment, although I think I would still prefer it use the standard superlovely character designs than the simpler comedy-friendly ones.

Dated 27 October 2020: More more more Autumn 2020 impressions

Tsurumi and Tsukishima
He had it coming.

Some of the shows I covered in previous posts (1st, 2nd, 3rd) included remakes and sequels or continuations. Well, there are more. Golden Kamuy also resumed this season. It's described as the third season, but really it's just the third cours of series. The anime remains as good as ever, thanks to the strength of the source material. In fact, the anime has improved by thus far avoiding the 3DCG pitfalls that unfortunately distracted from the first cours.

Mutsuko and Daigo
Daigo is short.

Major 2nd S2 remains consistently good as anyone who has ever followed the franchise would expect. The current arc again revisits events from the first season of Major 2nd, but it should still be accessible to new viewers. Well, they can be new to Major, but it probably helps to know at least a little about baseball. At a minimum, it will reinforce how relatively lucky the new girl has been so far despite making a lot of basic mistakes.

Akira
This is not actually a room.

One Room is also back for a third season. It's first-person-anime gimmick seems a bit lewder this time around than I remember from the previous installments. However, it's still fairly tame even though the first girl found an excuse to whip off her clothes by the second episode. I guess since the characters only gets three episodes for each arc they have to make the best of their opportunities.

Hattori and Miyafuji
Strike Witches is still Miyafuji's show.

Going the other way, Strike Witches: Dai-501 Tougou Sentou Koukuudan ROAD to BERLIN (the third "proper" season of Strike Witches) is definitely less lewd now compared to how it started out. The first season of Strike Witches featured uncensored casual nudity on a fairly regular basis. This season started with an appearance by Sakamoto Mio wearing pants, of all things. PANTS!