Anime |OT| Winter 2024 - The Year of the Wise Wolf

[Lord Arcadio]

LOL,

I love that series but got super busy and really didn't watch almost anything for a few years then felt super lost when I had time again

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I would just start from the beginning again since you probably won't remember all the details that will make the stuff you haven't watched yet make sense.

Also, you should watch in the correct order if you hadn't already been watching it that way. Anime release order is unintended and makes the story more confusing than it's supposed to be. The blu-ray box sets for Second Season (Japanese and English) and Final Season (Japanese-only release unfortunately) are both in novel order. There is no box set for First Season, but given what they did for the other seasons, you should assume novel order is the way to go when watching that.

Follow the order here:

Guide to the Monogatari Anime

Where, why, and how to watch the (in)famous Monogatari series.

edomonogatari.wordpress.com

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

I would just start from the beginning again since you probably won't remember all the details that will make the stuff you haven't watched yet make sense.

Also, you should watch in the correct order if you hadn't already been watching it that way. Anime release order is unintended and makes the story more confusing than it's supposed to be. The blu-ray box sets for Second Season (Japanese and English) and Final Season (Japanese-only release unfortunately) are both in novel order. There is no box set for First Season, but given what they did for the other seasons, you should assume novel order is the way to go when watching that.

Follow the order here:

Guide to the Monogatari Anime

Where, why, and how to watch the (in)famous Monogatari series.

edomonogatari.wordpress.com

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Honestly I was thinking of doing that as it has been so long.


That sounds like a good idea as well, thank you

 

[Jintor]

Torture Princess is pretty content to be one thing, which is a cute girl/demon hangout show with a cast of silly goobers enjoying food, games and the glory of Japanese convenience culture. The show rides five jokes as far as they can go: Princess says she won't give in but does, Ex gets his hopes up, Demon King is actually a nice guy, MaoMao - chan is adorable and everyone is actually just friends with each other. You tune in each week for a new episode, get a few chuckles in at the new ways they twist those few jokes and de-stress. It's a cutesy time filler, and if you can meet it at that wavelength you should have a good time thanks to a charming cast and some surprisingly high production values. The show never failed to at least give me a smile so I'd call it a success. Here's to season 2.

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I wasn't super enjoying myself watching it on a per-episode basis but watching chunks here and there while doing gym has been consistently pretty great. (I love the manga though, so I always knew I would at least like it; it's just the jokes can't really sustain for 30 minutes at a time)

 

[Jintor]

View: https://twitter.com/spatziline/status/1772313502708814140

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Definitely prefer older magical girls instead of reverting back to kid magical girl form. Please, more young adult magical girls

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Yeah, really wish we could get an actual adult magical girl series (obviously one not catering to otaku men).

 

[Jintor]

Yeah, really wish we could get an actual adult magical girl series (obviously one not catering to otaku men).

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there's a few manga i need to check out, specifically one where a 30-year-old career OL becomes a magical girl with a very realistic art style, but I can't read it yet lol (I mean I probably could but I'd like to read it without having to dictionary every page)

i wil say i thought precure otona was really good with the young adult side and i thought it was sort of crap with the magical girl side tbh

 

[Mandos]

Ok, list updated. not inherently final, it's me I can be swayed to try others. plus if some of this stuff is in inconvenient spots they'll drop

 

[chrominance]

Apothecary Diaries 7-12
I think so far I have only one real problem with the show: Maomao spends a LOT of time explaining things to people. I'm not sure there's a way around this; she's the detective, after all, and we all want to know her reasoning for things. But I think it's making it a little harder for me to follow everything that's going on, since I kind of have to pay close attention to Maomao's lectures to ensure I've gleaned everything I need to know from them.

One thing this stretch has taught me, though, is that the show is pretty good about going back to clarify/answer lingering questions. I think most of the stuff I was wondering about in my last post got cleared up in this stretch of episodes. It's also becoming clearer how much stuff turns out to be connected to one another; I'm hoping the story doesn't go overboard with this kind of thing but so far it's adding intrigue rather than frustration.

One last thing: usually I start skipping OPs very quickly, but this one's really good.

 

[effingvic]

Mimimi

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Okay I gotta find this spin off manga. Part of me hates that stuff because it feels like fan fiction but I am so curious. And I really hope she finds some happiness later in the series, shes suffered so much.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbq51ikrOg0

PEAK.

T.M. Opera O is back and they made her even cooler. She's the last boss now.
Please release this outside of Japan too.

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That looks raw as fuck, wowwww

TM Opera in an antagonist role is so damn cool. But holy shit look at that dynamic animation. The camera angles, impact and effects look incredible.

CyGames Pictures will bless our eyes this year. Hope this has an international release or streaming asap.

observation

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That's a neat catch. Damn its really happening!

Anon thought she's in K-On! when it's actually Beck.
I never expected a character like Soyo from this franchise. Usually the "not exactly a good girl" characters from BD are actually just awkward or misunderstood but Soyo is straight up cruel and manipulative.

Even Sukuna couldn't handle her.

Spoiler: JJK S2 edit

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WAk_1x5Q1A

Probably one of my favorite JJK edits ever .

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Lmao thats amazing. Such a high quality edit. Happy this show is popular in Japan and China.

 

[Xils]

Uma Musume is one of the few series I want to watch in theater with a bunch on uninhibited fans screaming and cheering around me.

That'd be so hype.

 

[SparksterMeta0]

I gotta watch MyGO, for some dumb reason I really want to finish the D4DJ first season before I even start up any because i'm a dumbass

anyway, Doremi anniversary vid following in the footsteps of precure i guess

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3mzMFy3dBg&ab_channel=%E6%9D%B1%E6%98%A0%E3%82%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E5%85%AC%E5%BC%8FYouTube%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8D%E3%83%AB

Definitely prefer older magical girls instead of reverting back to kid magical girl form. Please, more young adult magical girls

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Wow. I haven't heard of this since the 4Kids era. Such a long time.

 

[Jintor]

Uma Musume is one of the few series I want to watch in theater with a bunch on uninhibited fans screaming and cheering around me.

That'd be so hype.

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i can imagine it now. that does sound fun

 

[effingvic]

US theatrical release of Uma Musume movie

Post credit scene: Uma Musume global release is now live!

🥹 🥹 🥹

 

[Xils]

Oh hey, today's Hina Youmiya's birthday.

She's the voice actor for Tomori from MyGO!!!!! and Yamada from The Dangers in My Heart. She also did Shinju (My Dress-up Darling) and Lainie (MagiRevo). I guess she's now the go-to actor for characters with some kind of complex lol.
She's only been active for a few years and already got big and difficult roles and did phenomenal works with them. Really, I can't imagine any other voice for Tomori and Yamada.

Earlier this month she also received Best New Actor Award at the 18th Seiyuu Awards.

 

[Pellaidh]

Oh hey, today's Hina Youmiya's birthday.

She's the voice actor for Tomori from MyGO!!!!! and Yamada from The Dangers in My Heart. She also did Shinju (My Dress-up Darling) and Lainie (MagiRevo). I guess she's now the go-to actor for characters with some kind of complex lol.
She's only been active for a few years and already got big and difficult roles and did phenomenal works with them. Really, I can't imagine any other voice for Tomori and Yamada.

Earlier this month she also received Best New Actor Award at the 18th Seiyuu Awards.

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Speaking of, this just came out on the MyGO Youtube channel:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdfTNa11yt8

 

[effingvic]

Oh hey, today's Hina Youmiya's birthday.

She's the voice actor for Tomori from MyGO!!!!! and Yamada from The Dangers in My Heart. She also did Shinju (My Dress-up Darling) and Lainie (MagiRevo). I guess she's now the go-to actor for characters with some kind of complex lol.
She's only been active for a few years and already got big and difficult roles and did phenomenal works with them. Really, I can't imagine any other voice for Tomori and Yamada.

Earlier this month she also received Best New Actor Award at the 18th Seiyuu Awards.

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Speaking of, this just came out on the MyGO Youtube channel:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdfTNa11yt8

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Ah, that explains this collab. She's an incredible actress and is the best part of both of those shows.

Nice cover! And well deserved award.

 

[Pellaidh]

Today also marks 8 years since Uma Musume was first announced. Kind of wild to think that the franchise has gone from this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYrVKLBhitE

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To this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akV2Q2NpN5M

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8tL4v0bQrY

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Might honestly be one of the most shocking success stories of the past decade.

 

[E_i]

View: https://x.com/HIDIVEofficial/status/1772678489239339035?s=20

 

[katsu044]

finished a bunch of season stuff last night

Way of Pon 12
show most likely not gonna make any rounds for being a slightly above average CGDCT but it was the only one ! for winter

what started off as a simple show of a bunch of girls goofing around playing mahjong taking what they learnt from manga like kaiji really came together by the end despite these kinds of shows not having a overarching plot leads to very random and unpredictable episodes of them just doing whatever with somehow having mahjong still come up

so i was taken back by this bittersweet ending of a sendoff and their attachment to playing together( it was the friends me made along the way) until it reminded us it's a comedy and everything is all good again plus they hinted at there being a sequel?!

i think the director did a way better job than they even needed to for a CGDCT that almost feels like yostar doing advertising for their mahjongSoul gacha
all the town shots made for a very comfy and relaxing vibe even more so than hokkaido Gals did with all their product placement and advertisement

flat 7/10 helps the cast were fun to watch troll each other and i'd be happy to see more think if i knew how to play id get more enjoyment from all the actual plays they did

Torture princess end

this show started off okay but got way better once it was clear what it was going for and it was mostly trying to be wholesome as possible also that last 5mins lol..

always a big fan of reverse evil characters comedy hit or miss and it did manage to keep things feeling fresh


hokkaido Gals end

its biggest crime was trying to be a harem because holy crap the rest don't stand a chance also a lot of the times it had drama for the sake of drama im just like well that didn't seem like a big deal at all and here once again for the finale
MC wasn't great either but the girls were good and it had it's fair amount of cute moments like i said before it had a lot of product placement that felt like it was almost a travel ad for Hokkaido at times lol

tenshi end
it was alright very much felt like a 2010 comedy battle?ish romcom very much got better as it went on also this had a odd amount of western memes? lol think i saw the pinocchio dead meme at some point
i'd watch a s2

 

[Lord Arcadio]

The blu-ray box sets for Second Season (Japanese and English) and Final Season (Japanese-only release unfortunately) are both in novel order.

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Wtf! I just willed this into existence...

MONOGATARI Series Final Season Complete Blu-ray Set | Monogatari Series USA Official Website

The Final Season of MONOGATARI come together in a complete Blu-ray set! Coming April 23.

monogatari-usa.com

Like the Japanese release, Koyomimonogatari is in novel order before Owarimonogatari. Not in the middle of it which makes no sense since Koyomi introduces ideas that are followed up on in Owari "season 1". How are you going give answers before you ask the questions lmao.

 

[E_i]

Tis Time For CGDCT, Hime episode 12

Oh man, the vampire girl is crushing hard on Hime.
Oh, there's only one Torture for Hime.
"Oh yeah, we got isekaied and the only way bakc is to the defeat the dark lord, which I did in the last two hours." Ha!
From a formuliac show into something more and better than it's roots. Great show and I can't wait for the second season.

 

[effingvic]

BanG Dream! MyGOAT!!!!! 11-12

Yeah, this rules. After 10 episodes of heartbreak and suffering, the girls finally earn themselves some quality time with each other as they march toward their debut performance and sprint to finish their new song. Really liking this "new" Soyo where she doesn't have to pretend being Miss Perfect anymore and is more straightforward. Stray cat casually getting drinks and snacks while the other 4 break down into tears is amazing lol

"Mayoi Uta" is such a banger. MyGO has been on fire with their tracks this season. Loved all the cameos during this performance as well.


View: https://youtu.be/B8k6JtF6WrU?si=GAuPfkpLViof3IYE

Aside from the performances, the BGM in general is really good too. Anon's "Im not that lost, I can read maps" got a big chuckle out of me.

I feel really bad for Mutsumi. I feel like she's constantly getting caught in the middle but is too reserved to stand up for herself or say how she feels. With 1 episode left, Im not sure if we'll learn more about her and Sakiko's deal which seems like a major driver of the events of this season. Especially as Sakiko is working on her building out her own super group.

 

[Xils]

Especially as Sakiko is working on her building out her own super group.

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Sakiko this entire season:

 

[DrForester]

Started Witch from Mercury S2. New ED is amazing.

Today also marks 8 years since Uma Musume was first announced. Kind of wild to think that the franchise has gone from this:



To this:


Might honestly be one of the most shocking success stories of the past decade.

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I need to watch S3 and that web special sometime soon. It's such a great sports anime with the absolutely most goofy premise.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Started Witch from Mercury S2. New ED is amazing.

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It's top tier, possibly up there with the greats.

 

[mrmickfran]

Started Hyouka, think I'm on episode 4

Really enjoying this so far, Slice-of-life/mystery is such a good mix. Oreki is funny dude. Animation is gorgeous and the direction is really good.

The ED sequence doesn't match the tone of the show at all tho

 

[effingvic]

Today also marks 8 years since Uma Musume was first announced. Kind of wild to think that the franchise has gone from this:

To this:

Might honestly be one of the most shocking success stories of the past decade.

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Born just in time to witness the era of the horse girls.

It's come such a long way, dang. Never saw that animation before but interesting to see how the character designs evolved over the last 8 years.

Sakiko this entire season:

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What is she cooking???

Started Witch from Mercury S2. New ED is amazing.

I need to watch S3 and that web special sometime soon. It's such a great sports anime with the absolutely most goofy premise.

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S3 of Uma Musume is great, and Road to the Top has some absolutely jaw dropping animation. Probably the best UM has looked so far. I cant believe it was just a web special.

And ED2 for WFM is so good. Lovely audiovisual combo.

 

[citrusred]

BanG Dream! MyGOAT!!!!! 11-12

Really liking this "new" Soyo where she doesn't have to pretend being Miss Perfect anymore and is more straightforward.

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I could watch Soyo looking scornfully at Anon forever.

 

[wamoss]

Finished Frieren last night and now I'm completely unsure of what to watch to fill that void. I know people had complaints about testing arc, but I thought it was fun.

 

[hyouko]

Finished Frieren last night and now I'm completely unsure of what to watch to fill that void. I know people had complaints about testing arc, but I thought it was fun.

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If you haven't been watching Delicious in Dungeon, it might be a good fit. It's deeper than the first ep or two would make it appear.

If you're looking to get on a feels train, my go-to recommendation remains Haibane-Renmei, two decades later.

 

[kurahador]

Finished Frieren last night and now I'm completely unsure of what to watch to fill that void. I know people had complaints about testing arc, but I thought it was fun.

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Apothecary Diaries and Dorohedoro.

 

[wamoss]

If you haven't been watching Delicious in Dungeon, it might be a good fit. It's deeper than the first ep or two would make it appear.

If you're looking to get on a feels train, my go-to recommendation remains Haibane-Renmei, two decades later.

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Don't have Netflix, but I'll consider Delicious in Dungeon. Series does look great. Plus does seem like a nice jumping point from Frieren with fantasy setting.

I'll have to look into that other one you suggested then since I never heard of it before.

Apothecary Diaries and Dorohedoro.

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Suppose peeps in here have been talking up Apothecary. I'll take a look into that one then!

 

[mrmickfran]

Winter 2024 Recap:

The Best: Frieren, The Apothecary Diaries, One Piece

Damn Good: Dungeon Meshi, Shangri-La Frontier, Torture Princess, A Sign of Affection, The Witch and the Beast, Healing Magic, 7th Time Loop, Undead Unluck, Sengoku Youko, Ishura

Okay, I guess: Mashle, Solo Leveling, Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Doctor Elise, Weakest Tamer, Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Classroom of the Elite, Synduality Noir, Mr. Villain's Day Off, Villainess Lv. 99, Hokkaido Gals, Momochi House, Fluffy Paradise

Mid: Metallic Rouge, Sasaki and Peeps, Bucchigiri, My Instant-Death Ability is Overpowered, Strongest Tank, The Foolish Angel Dances With the Devil

TRASH: Gushing over Magical Girls, Chained Soldier

Best OPs (too many good ones this season to boil it down to one): Assu from One Piece, BLING-BANG-BANG BORN from Mashle, LOVE or HATE from Villainess Lv. 99, Hibana from Sengoku Youko, Haru from Frieren
Best ED: Anytime, Anywhere from Frieren (yes, again)

Lots of good shows but not many absolute must watch shows like last season. Sengoku Youko and Healing Magic were big surprises, I wasn't expecting to enjoy those as much as I did. Classroom of the Elite and Metallic Rouge were disappointments.

Yeaaah, I'm not watching as many shows next season.

 

[TechnoDisaster]

I started The Apothecary Diaries two days ago. I'm 4 episodes in and I'm already a member of the Church of Maomao. Episode 4 especially had some great moments.

I don't know if I will watch much new stuff next season. It looks barren so I'll probably get back to One Piece.

 

[Stoof]

Spring is gonna be backlog season for me

 

[viral]

Spring is actually looking way too strong to me, I have like 20 shows I wanna check out.

 

[BassForever]

Got my ticket for the Spy x Family movie next month.

 

[chrominance]

Metallic Rouge 12
Bamboozled. I was looking forward to this being the last episode, but no, there's still one more.

At this point I'm watching everything to cross this one off the list, but man do I not care about anything that's happening anymore.

Apothecary Diaries 13-20
The new OP/ED are disappointments compared to the first set. A shame.

New arc took some time to get its hooks into me but we're finally there, though I'm not a huge fan of plots where every seemingly random thing turns out to be part of the grand plot/conspiracy. The show's good enough that it overcomes that issue, at least for now.

 

[Warrior of Light]

Cherry Magic 12 - The End

Wow. Such a sweet ending to this wholesome BL!

 

[Oinone]

I started The Apothecary Diaries two days ago. I'm 4 episodes in and I'm already a member of the Church of Maomao. Episode 4 especially had some great moments.

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[mrmickfran]

Sengoku Youko 12

Weird that Douren doesn't mention the random bystanders and Jinka just shrugs it off, that fight was disappointing but Arabaki's enlightenment, Resshin's death and the fuckin kaiju fight more than made up for it.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki S2 13 END
F in the chat for Mimimi
Fumiya's confession was smooth.

I would like to say that this was better than season 1 because of Fumiya's growth, but that's the whole point of the series, so I'll just say that I enjoyed how Fumiya grew this season.
At least there wasn't many cringe moments this season.

Hyouka 05
I just gotta say, the imagery used to depict Jun getting abandoned by his class was incredibly haunting and wonderful, there is some really creative direction in this series.

 

[Warrior of Light]

Final episode of Bravern tomorrow. I am not ready for this show to end.

 

[kyo2004]

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki S2 13 END
F in the chat for Mimimi
Fumiya's confession was smooth.

I would like to say that this was better than season 1 because of Fumiya's growth, but that's the whole point of the series, so I'll just say that I enjoyed how Fumiya grew this season.
At least there wasn't many cringe moments this season.

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Hoping that Project No. 9 greenlits a 3rd season... considering the LN are also in the final legs it would be nice get the complete story animated.

 

[mrmickfran]

Hoping that Project No. 9 greenlits a 3rd season... considering the LN are also in the final legs it would be nice get the complete story animated.

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I read somewhere that the author was surprised that it even got a second season, they said that the first season had low bluray sales.

I would def welcome a third season, hopefully it gets popular enough.

 

[Shard Shinjuku]

Metallic Rouge Episode 12:
I like this show better the first time I saw it when it was called Lycoris Recoil.

 

[Wehrwolf]

Thanks to whoever mentioned that Pon no Michi is on YouTube. Was originally disappointed it wasn't picked up for US streaming, but now it's a good thing to watch between seasons 😺

 

[Mandos]

After headaches with CR Customer service for the last 3 months, finally they arrived. And some other fun stuff too(and some shirts but I accidentally put the anime related one on the other side of the Toku stuff… )

tempted to put Gainer next on the watchlist but I already had Aquarion queued up

Thanks to whoever mentioned that Pon no Michi is on YouTube. Was originally disappointed it wasn't picked up for US streaming, but now it's a good thing to watch between seasons 😺

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I am now tempted to do this too

 

[Sibersk Esto]

Sengoku Youko - 12

I kinda dig who the main villain couple are just kinda chill and goofy and probably just want to lay around with each other. Also temple vs mountain battles.

Metallic Rouge -12

So you can just give other Neans your soul orb thing? That seems weird considering it's supposed to have all your memories and whatnot

So Sylvia can just grow an arm back

Oh shit the Puppetmaster was...that guy! You know, that guy! What a twist

 

[effingvic]

Tomozaki S2 End

That was great. Awesome season. Time to hit the LNs.

Really sweet confession and the swerve in the play was a nice surprise. I feel like a major Hinami arc is on the horizon.

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki S2 13 END
F in the chat for Mimimi
Fumiya's confession was smooth.

I would like to say that this was better than season 1 because of Fumiya's growth, but that's the whole point of the series, so I'll just say that I enjoyed how Fumiya grew this season.
At least there wasn't many cringe moments this season.

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Mimimi scene hurt. Ugh. But happy for Fumiya. Bro has come such a long way.

 

[chrominance]

Apothecary Diaries 21-24 END
A bittersweet ending. Gonna have to go back and read everyone's commentary on the show, now that I've made my way through it. I don't think this quite beats Frieren for me, but that's a really high bar, and I like what this has to offer nonetheless. Maomao and Jinshi are fantastic characters, and the supporting cast are all great as well--I'd love to see more of them, honestly. Patiently awaiting the next season along with the rest of you!

That seems weird considering it's supposed to have all your memories and whatnot

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A better show would do something interesting with this but I don't think any of the pieces are there to make it happen. I guess I could be surprised though.