#rating-a

'Tis Time For "Torture", Princess

姫様“拷問”の時間です

Comedy by Robinson Haruhara (writing), Hirakei (art) Length: 282+19 chapters Published: 2019 - 2025 Rating: A

Plot: Hime, the Imperial Princess and Commander of The Third Legion of The Imperial Army was captured by the Hellhorde. Their Grand Inquisitor Tortura Torture knows she has a head full of secrets, and the way to get to them is through her stomach.

Thoughts: Hey, I always said I should start doing some manga-only posts, so I though I'd start by cheating: a post about the manga of one of my favourite anime adaptations, mostly for a reason: as it's not something very suited to writing about about on a episode-by-episode basis, I ended up looking up where each chapter came from, and since the adaptation has an incredible range on the chapters it covers (and this turned out the most interesting thing to write about the adaptation) rather than being linear, I ended re-reading the manga between roughly chapter 50 and 200 so many times around the end I questioned if I shouldn't just have gone on wiki.gg or something and start a wiki from scratch, putting on detail who's on each chapter and with what Hime is being tortured with (if that's the case) and who won, and do the same for the episodes. But that would be what someone smart would do, and as established many times: I'm not. Well, if a third season is announced, I'll probably do it.

So, the manga. I've kinda covered it before as one of the very first posts here and was a frequent fixture on the Weekly Catch up posts until the end of serialisation, and this post would have probably gone much sooner if the second season of the adaptation had not been announced. Once I decided to start from the first chapter, I was kinda surprised with how so many of supporting characters were introduced pretty quickly: Inki and Youki in chapter 3, Krall in 5, the Giant in 6, Mao-mao in 12, Vanilla coming in much later but still in 37, and even Sakura, who only appears for real in 97 is alluded to a few times before. I had in my mind the idea it was just mostly Hime, Tortura and Datarma (with the Hell Lord and Kanadge at the end) through the first half year, but no, at that point the cast was mostly set. Those early chapters also set out the template for the whole run: Hime is "tortured" with food or some activity, resists for a bit or just immediately gets her ditz face on, then gives out some low-level secret. There are some permutations to the formula, For instance, Youki is pretty athletic and very confident in her physical abilities, but her attempts to come up with games or activities to challenge Hime usually end up in failure because Hime might be a lazy glutton, but is very well trained, deceptively athletic and with super-human reflexes, so the best asset she and Inki have is being her friends and play around, something she didn't have growing up: one of the recurring jokes is implying how her life as the Princess and as Commander of the Third Legion of the Imperial Army kinda sucked, she had a lonely childhood, having no friends and constantly training, and how she's having more fun in captivity, to the point even Ex in one chapter takes pity on her and confesses something for her because she looked really heartbroken after realising she only "won" because she never had friends to invite her to a ballpit and could not be tempted with that. Some chapters are just slice of life things, either on the cast hanging out or focused on the characters personal lives, like Inki and Youki's hobbies, Tortura's quiet life outside work or guiding Sakura in her new life, or the Hell Lord's family life and his friendship with fellow oldtaku Louch, who drops by on occasion trying to save Hime, with little luck. That Hime's very mundane secrets would ultimately be the key to peace because the Hell Lord realised there's not much between them and the Empire was something that you progressively saw through the Hell Lord's reactions to learning stuff like the King's favourite things, and it was really the right way for it to end.

The artwork remained mostly consistent throughout the serialisation, only streamlining the style a bit, and losing the few fan-servicy panels it had here and there at the very start. It's not particularly detailed, and it mostly puts a premium on big drawing of the characters' faces and the food, which suits it perfectly. One of the most unique features, however, is how you'd expect this to be some medieval fantasy, and if Hime's flashbacks show a very normal fantasy royal court, outside the demon castle it's a modern place with highways, cars, stores, vending machines and everything you'd expect to see in modern Japan. Even the Hell Lord lives in a rented apartment.

If there's one major downside to it, as I mentioned before in this post and writing about the second season, is that there are multiple chapters that follow the exact same beat, and following the last months in the Weekly Catch up I mentioned how it was using the "Hime thinks she has a trick up her sleeve, Tortura turns the tables on her" format a bit too often, and while this was something that could just go on forever, I think they felt around 300 chapters (including bonuses) was a good place to end before it got really stale, although I wish It really they had announced the end after a month or so on the upswing. Still, it's better than completely running out of ideas and bloating the cast to the point of crashing the whole thing into the ground.

While it would be probably unfair if both adaptations get an A and the source material got a B (although I remind you scores don't matter much), I believe the reason the two seasons are so good is because the source material had so much at their disposal they had a ton of flexibility on choosing what to do and leaving out some of the more formulaic ones. Doing some quick head maths they did around half of the chapters of the first two thirds, which doesn't mean the other half is bad, it just means it just not deviating much from that formula, so I ended up giving both the same rating. Should you read the manga? If you are coming from the adaptation: sure. Like I've said, it's twice the stories, even if they are the same in structure as many others, it might sometimes feel a bit repetitive, but stories are short and simple enough you don't need to remember a ton of lore. If you are a complete newcomer, let the adaptation open your appetite for more, and then surrender to it.

Plus:

Extraordinarily cute

Minus:

Raven of the Inner Palace

後宮の烏

Historical supernatural mystery by Bandai Namco Based on a light novel by Kouko Shirakawa

Length: 13 episodes Aired: 2022 (Fall) Rating: A

Plot: Liu Shouxue is the Raven Consort, a special consort who lives in the Inner Palace, but does not serve the Emperor, Xia Gaojun, who recently seized power from the Empress Dowager. One night Gaojun breaks with tradition and approaches Shouxue to user her mystical abilities to discover to whom a haunted jade earring belongs to, setting in motion events that would legitimise the execution of the Empress Dowager while getting both of them closer.

Thoughts: If a few weeks ago I was looking at Ascendance of a Bookworm as one title I was keeping in the backlog for when the "I miss The Apothecary Diaries" bug was starting to bite, but decided to watch it as a new season of the book gremlin adventures would start soon. As the story of the prince and his cat are also scheduled to start in six months or so, there's no reason to not watch some of the other shows that were kept in that list, such as Raven of the Inner Palace. While the comparisons of the first come from the angle of "very smart girl rises in a very rigid society thanks to her intelligence", if The Apothecary Diaries at most uses the supernatural to show Maomao looking past the superstition, Raven fully embraces it as part of that world as Shouxue's main purpose is to exorcise ghosts that appear around the palace. While I don't intend to linger with comparisons much further, on the other hand Shouxue would rather like Gaojun left her alone for a bit, but is easily bribed (with tasty food, not exotic medicine), so some of the character interplay will feel familiar.

The show is mostly episodic, and the stories often involve Shouxue dealing with the trauma of constant struggles for power, be it the annihilation of the Luan clan or the intrigue in the court, the brutality of the inner court towards the servants and consorts manifested as literal ghosts, and even of their own stories and destinies, of Gaojun as the Summer King and Shouxue and the Winter King. It gently nudges the story towards tge bigger season long arc: Shouxue, who was raised by the previous Raven consort to seclude herself, keeping only her familiar Xing-Xing close slowly opening herself to others: first Jiu-Jiu, a maid she met while investigating outside Ye Ming Palace in maid clothes and after using her to access the records decided to keep her around, then Wen Ying, a eunuch assigned to protect her, Su Hongqiao, a maid who knew the truth about about the assassination ordered by the Empress Dowager and had her tongue cut, and also Yi Siha, a young eunuch who helped her exorcise a ghost and was punished by his master, with Gaojun and his attendant Wei Qing. This ends up saving her life, as alone she would have accepted her fate of both the plots inside the court or the confrontation with the Owl, the Raven's twin brother who came to free her sister from the pain she feels inside Shouxue. It doesn't drag plot for longer than it feels necessary: in the first episode Gaojun discovers the true lineage of Shouxue, two episodes later he promises her he would not raise a sword on her, and four episodes after that anounces the edict calling for her family's death was repealed, and there's never any particular drama over this. While it's mostly a serious show, it avoids being completely dry in many ways, be it Shouxue treating Gaojun like an annoyance (unless he gives her something to eat, which makes her still treat him like an annoyance but with her mouth full), Jiu-Jiu as her genki girl attendant, and Xing-Xing, the fat golden chicken floundering around the place. Visually it's pretty solid, the most outstanding feature being the character design of Shouxue, with the black and gold robes, the hair ornaments and the two big lotus flowers behind each ear she uses on her spells. Like her, the women are all drawn with a firm shoujo style, big eyes and small mouth, in a way I wonder if they were going for the Ai Yazawa style.

This is one of those shows I wish I'd have watched before doing the Shows I'd Like to See post a few weeks ago, because certainly it would have been there. While it might lack the bigger court intrigue elements of The Apothecary Diaries and it might feel a bit lighter in content, it's still an excellent show that is more than deserving a watch if you ever feel that scratch needs an itch.

Plus:

A compelling lead

Episodic nature makes it suited for a 13-episode show where it doesn't feel it is constantly rushing things at the viewer

Minus:

'Tis Time For "Torture", Princess

姫様“拷問”の時間です

Comedy by PINE JAM Based on a manga by Harrison Haruhara, Hirakei

Season 2 Length: 12 episodes (covered from #41 to #52) Aired: 2026 (Winter) Rating: A (previous season: A)

Plot: Hime continues to be subjected to the daily torture of the hordes of the Hell Lord, including Tortura, Inki and Yuki, Giant, Krall, Vanilla Peschutz and even the Hell Lord's own daughter Mao-Mao, to the horror of Ex, Hime's holy sword who has to witness the humiliation she goes through on a daily basis. Except on Sundays.

Thoughts: One of the first shows I wrote about and a regular fixture on the Weekly Catch Up posts from the first until the end of it's serialised run around mid 2025, Himegou is a complete triumph on how it shows you can do the same joke over and over and it never stops being funny: most stories (the adaptation does 4 chapters every episode) begin with Tortura (or who else is in rotation that day) announcing the show's title, Hime declaring she is prepared and will not break, Ex voices some incredulity but will try to boost her confidence (or just comment on how she has a terrible record on resisting), the initial effort often falls a bit short making Hime overconfident, and then the torturer throws in an extra detail that makes Hime melt completely and confess, as Ex still feels somewhat disappointed watching it all happen. It sometimes throws a hang-out episode here and there for variation, but this is a show you know exactly what is going to happen, and when it does it still leaves you with a stupid grin on your face, either because of Hime's reactions, something Ex said, or the tiny permutations it may have to not make it completely repetitive. In fact, I could even have written most of this on post the first draft, as I usually start after the third or fourth episode and then add, delete and edit as it goes along so I don't have to remember all the tiny details three months later. It's a comfortable show with a very simple premise but it is very well executed.

Part of why this happens is that it goes big in the animation department. Hirakei's designs and panels are pretty simple (and got even simpler as time went by), but they also leave a lot of room to make Hime do all sorts of silly faces, and while it would be easy to go a bit economical and do the single "cell", pan and zoom reaction shot that works pretty well in other shows (for instance, Bad Girl did it, but the reactions were so good I wasn't even bothered), in here they don't skimp, If Hime is drooling, you're going to see her ditz face doing all sorts of shapes a single image doesn't do it service. In scenes that are just one panel, like Hime discovering Tortura has read her diary, they milk that into a full meltdown scene for no other reason that it is just fun to watch. Other thing is that since the adaptation should cover around 50 chapters (quick math says the two seasons do around one third of the total chapters), they can pick out the best ones, mix them up in almost any order, and break some of the sameyness that exists in a manga that is basically the same joke repeated for 19 volumes. Also because production took place as the manga was about to wrap up, this allowed who was picking the chapters to have some fun stuff with them, the best example being from episode 8, where they give continuity to two chapters separated by over an year with by adding an extra scene to the first tying both together, or even better, on the last episode they combined two chapters separated by what should have been close to three years. That's really a good display of understanding the source material, like using the chapter where Hime has amnesia to start the season (ch 100) and then turning the candle-blowing torture from celebrating getting an anime (ch 192) into a celebration for getting a second season. There's not much to speak of the episodes specifically, you can read on the Weekly Catch up posts how I felt about them individually.

Other thing is that I really love how Haruka Shiraishi plays Hime on a mostly serious voice, like the extremely competent warrior we know she is and shows at times, usually when Youki tries to challenge her for some athletic or skill game, but then has fun going completely off the rails as the story demands or the voice she did for BUFF HIME, likewise the dignified voice of Ex (by Chikahiro Kobayashi), expecting Hime to fold and still be somehow disappointed with her, or the Hell Lord (by Tesshou Genda, who I'm surprised to learn is the voice of Umibozo from City Hunter, another character with a booming voice and appearance, yet as likely to be in silly moments, but also Henmi from Dear Brother) who also got the note he might look your average fantasy final boss, but above all he's a dedicated husband and father.

I've already scheduled a post about the manga itself that is just kind of repeating some of the things I've said here with some more specific comments about the manga itself, and while it doesn't have anything left to promote, there's still a lot of chapters to mess from around the last third or so (and they could still pick things up from the rest, as they've done here) and I'd really like to see a third season to wrap the little story it has.

Plus:

An adaptation that shows an incredible level of familiarity with the source material

Minus:

Bartender

バーテンダー

(Anime)

Iyashikei by Araki Joh

Era: 2000s

Rating: A

Plot: In a sidestreet corner in Ginza, Ryu Sasakura runs the small Eden Hall bar, where he gained a spotless reputation as the "Glass of God".

Length: 11 episodes

Thoughts: Much is said about "needing more anime featuring adults", as the average viewer age seems to get older and older on each new survey, in one hand because like videogames, it stopped being that thing you were supposed to let go when you turned 18 and a larger selection of genres to pick from became available rather than just was doing numbers in the teenager demographic, on the other how the whole demographic pyramid in many countries is starting to look less Egypt and more Tokyo Big Sight, but as you get older the whole "go in an adventure with your friends and kick the shit out of everyone in your way" might start to feel less attractive, and while some genres like historical dramas don't have that problem of including older characters with different, more complex motivations than a schoolkid, others like iyashikei usually focus more on school or college age kids. Since one of the immutable aspects of life is that hey, it's 7pm somewhere someone could have a socially acceptable drink (even if it's on a boat in the middle of the Pacific), a bar does seem the perfect place to do a story about people thinking about their lives and watching a night go by. Looking at the work of author Araki Joh, you can see a pattern, himself a older man, four years older than someone like Rumiko Takahashi but who only saw his first published work already in his early 40s. I don't think you can write something like this when you are fresh out of college, at best you might do one of my favourite type of characters, the drunk gremlin (see: Akemi from Maison Ikkoku), and trying to confirm more things about him I found this interview, a very interesting read.

Now, what can a guy who doesn't drink say about a show about a young talented bartender and his regular barflies and the occasional patron just wanting to kill time? One of my rules that applies to hobby anime, a genre that also applies here, is "you can make anything interesting if the writing is good and engaging", and this is no different, and hey, it made an engaging episode thematically centred in The Old Man and the Sea, a book I *loathe* with every fibre of my being. Rather than making it about drinking per se, the show is mostly about the story and symbolism behind a drink or cocktail and how they connect to what led the patrons to Eden Hall at that moment in time: a professional struggling with a current project, a woman trying to identify a bottle she broke as a child, a CEO on his last night before retirement reflecting on his past regrets, first (and last) dates, a man being transferred to a smaller department and feeling like a failure, a screenwriter with writer's block who plays a game with local bartenders and finds a parallel between his career and single malt and blended whiskeys, a politician about to fall in disgrace, a conman who Sasakura would much rather he would not go through with with his latest mark, a man to whom he served his only wrong cocktail and an academic who devoted his life to fluid research but realised he's missing much in his life, these are the people you probably would expect to see in a somewhat obscure small bar in Ginza, one of the most upscale areas of Tokyo.

With a large knowledge of spirits and cocktails (technical and historical), as well as a sharp memory who remembers his patrons' favourite orders even if they just met once before and a talent to read them and knowing what they would want before than they would, Sasakura is the ideal bartender any bar hopper hopes to find someday, and as you'd expect from a bartender, he's a good listener to the point it's one of those shows the main character isn't the one with more lines, Daichuu Mizushima's calm and soothing voice only appearing in spaces in most episodes, as the stars are each of the episode's patrons, as well as their choice of poison, Sasakura is just acting as the host as they tell their story. It is a very idealised show (to the point if might feel a bit corny at times) with a very relaxed and laid back mood, and around midway you start feeling like the guy who's always in the corner not bothering anyone and only talking to the bartender when nobody else is around ("behind the scenes", if you're Hanako from Asobi Asobase).

Visually, you could almost adapt the first episode as a play, even wonder if that was the feeling they were going for, as while they reminisce, characters get a spotlight on and address directly the audience like a monologue. Kinda wish they kept using that device a bit more often, gives that episode a really unique feel and compensates how it may look a bit rough on modern eyes: using what look CG bottles in the bottleground feels like a practical concession to have dozens of bottles in the background in perfectly recognizable detail without forcing an artist to refer to what would have to be a very complex continuity sheet if the director thinks a scene needs a different angle. But back on the unique angle, when the end credits roll you get to see footage of a bartender on a small bar not unlike Eden Hall preparing a cocktail, often the one seen in the episode. The music compliments the mood of the show perfectly, as you would expect a mix of slow piano and strings you'd see in the sort of place people want to have a conversation in but still need some ambient live music for those who are alone. There are shows with great vibes, and here? They are Immaculate.

I didn't read the full 21 volumes the Bartender manga ended with, although I've looked at the first couple of them to get a feel of it, and this really feels like a true adaptation, where parts are taken out and reassembled. For instance, Eden Hall is yet to appear, the ice sculpture Sasakura destroys for harder ice is from the hotel as he takes part in the test we see very early on, the college student with a hole on his pocket isn't a flashback but an actual patron saying goodbye to his current life, the divorce story takes place in the couple's home where Miwa takes Sasakura to prepare drinks as a gift and after hearing he can choose one of their very rate and expensive bottles, he tries to abscond with three of them and yes, the adaptation got the Oshii treatment, it is a NO FUN ZONE, except the Christmas Miracle episode that is pretty much straight from the manga and why it feels a bit different in tone from epsiodes. A few other stories also make it mostly intact, like the escaping politician chapter, although in the manga we also learn Sasakura's father is an old rival of his and even compiled a file on him, how he refused entry to a prestigious university to move to Paris and worked in kitchens to become a bartender. If you think about it, it's very appropriate how something that makes the point alcohol can be either medicine or poison, and focus on how the job of a bartender isn't to send you home drunk, but to heal you and see you leave feeling better than when you walked in, has been adapted to fit into complete iyashikei vibes. Still, doing my diligence in checking some of the source material was worth it, and should I ever start covering manga a bit more consistently, this is one I'll surely get back to.

While my cutoff between "modern" and "retro" was set semi arbitrarily in 2005, making it very awkward for edge cases, decided it was close enough to bend the rules a bit to do Bartender as a "retro" show because strangely enough, the manga had a second adaptation almost 20 years later with Bartender: Glass of God, which which will be the next show covered here. While this original adaptation looks more at the stories from an episodic perspective of the bartender and his patrons, the more recent one has some plot about Ryu's personal life and being personally head-hunted to tend the upscale bar (not end the Barts) at a luxury hotel, even if involves most of the same cast, but we'll get there very shortly. As for this version: should anyone over 30 who is sceptical of anime ask you one to watch, ask if they're interested in cocktails and drinks, and show them Bartender.

Plus:

Direction, writing, music, this is laid back vibes perfection.

Minus:

Lacks a bit of structure

SPY×FAMILY

(Anime Season 3)

Spy comedy by Tatsuya Endou

Era: 2020's

Rating: A (previous seasons: S, A)

Plot: Tasogare continues Operation Strix with the help of Anya and Yor.

Length: 13 episodes (covered from #26 to #37)

Thoughts: As seen with the Ranma½ post a few days ago, these new season of a show posts are kinda hard to write when they maintain the same level of quality and continue the story of the previous season, not everything is Kaiju no.8. Yet, rewatching for first two seasons for their own post a few weeks ago in the middle of the season, I kinda felt the focus on more individual stories around each of the three Forgers this season rather than as a family was a bit of a step down, particularly how Yor is mostly absent at the start outside her own episode, although that comes in the context episodes 5 to 9 of the previous season (the cruise ship arc) were focused on her, and it restored some balance as the season went on, culminating with the most dangerous situation Loid had to face so far, along other highlights, such as explaining his backstory as a war orphan, a second avenue for the missions as Yor befriends Damians' mother and Anya getting her second Stella during her heroics in the bus hijacking and going full Double Starlight Anya to everyone's annoyance. And... you know, I had an whole paragraph saying how it would be unfair to say this is the worst (or, well, less good) season yet, but reading on what I wrote there's just not much to complain, there were a lot of fun moments, and on a continuity, this is pretty much the same show it always was, yes, maybe this should have ran for two consecutive cours where you wouldn't look at the fun one off stories and think "I want the story to move a bit", but looking at each weekly post made me realise the show had a bit of a slow start, but picked up the pace very nicely and ended in a good place: Tasogare, after being close to capture or death, and only saved by Fiona (who finally got a big moment) showing how much she cares, finds himself questioning if he lost a step, and looks at his family that is probably feeling a bit less fake at the end of every season.

There's not much else to add to the post a few weeks ago. It remains one of the best ongoing shows around, and with plenty to offer, from Anya, the humor it finds on the rest of the characters or the actual occasional spy shit.

Plus:

Great as always

Fiona getting her big moment

Minus:

Paprika

パプリカ

(Film)

Surreal sci-fi by Satoshi Kon, Yasutaka Tsutsui

Era: 2000s

Rating: A

Plot: Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a lead researcher in the DC Mini project, a device capable of looking into other people's dreams. As Paprika, she helps people with the device, including police detective Konakawa, haunted by a series of nightmares. Things take a turn when one of the devices is stolen, and department chief Dr. Shima starts talking nonsense and jumps from a window.

Length: 90 minutes

Thoughts: Playing like a detective story that gets more surreal as it's protagonists and victims fall to the illusions created by the DC Mini - even Atsuko can speak to Paprika, who acts as a warning sign when she is confusing them with reality, like when investigating the house of a suspect, she climbs over what she thought was a barrier fence in the ground, but in reality was the railing of the balcony. More co-workers fall to the illusion, and eventually the culprit himself, but as the dreams start merging together, it's clear there's something else to it, even more as they start merging with the real world. If you are aware of Satoshi Kon's work, was was almost an inevitability, and like in his previous work, where (or if) a dream ends is always a question left in the open. I think there's an interest contrast between Atsuko and Paprika - the first begins as somewhat stern, very reserved and highly professional, compared to her alter ego, more girly and easy going, and while I don't think it's a matter of split personalities, it's more of a side that Atsuko likely represses for professional reasons, as a lead researcher in a project the other key person is a quite big manbaby. But in general, there's a lot of themes here, and for a movie about to turn 20 years old, enough thinkpieces were written about it not only from anime enthusiasts but also western cinema critics I feel I could add very little it and if I did would probably be only regurgitating something I've read close to two decades ago that stuck in the back of my very very dumb brain.

Quality-wise, Kon as a director, Madhouse producing it, Susumu Hirasawa on music. Probably that's as much that needs to be said. Visually, it merges well the 3D elements with the characters, and there aren't many scenes where you are distracted by an unusually smooth surface, everything looks like it belongs, which is quite ironic in a movie that is better known for it's strange festival parade with marching appliances, cursed porcelain dolls that would make Dear Brother even weirder and torii gates, and who knows what else. Susumu Hirasawa, always the innovator, decided to add to his already otherworldly sound by using a vocaloid as a singer, and it's hard to imagine this music without him doing the music, like in many of Kon's works And unfortunatelythis is the last, roughly 11 years after he got his directorial debut with Meganetic Rose, the first short in Memories, also a story where dreams, memories and reality all blur together. Between it and Paprika, he would go on to write scripts and/or direct Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers and Paranoia Agent, leaving Dreaming Machine incomplete. That is more in a decade than most could dream to accomplish in their whole careers, without even going into big name Holywood directors who either praised his vision or "never seen" any of his work, but surely have some scenes that look taken from it. Gone too soon, and watching Paprika is a fine way to honor his memory, even if it might feel even less conventional than his first two movies, or lag behind the heart of Tokyo Godfathers.

Recommended to: Lucid dreamers

Plus:

An incredible looking anime, scored by a brilliant artist

Trippy, but in a way that doesn't rely on cliches.

Minus:

Witch Watch

ウィッチウォッチ

(Anime)

Fantasy comedy by Kenta Shinohara

Era: 2020s

Rating: A

Plot: After six years training in the witches holy land, Nico Wakatsuki, a witch with one of a kind generational talent, returns to regular society and for her familiar she picked her childhood friend "Moi" Hitogi, who comes from a line of oni, and who's not completely thrilled to live with the mess her klutziness leaves behind, but knows he must protect her from a disaster her mother, an oracle, predicted.

Length: 24 episodes (covered between #1 and #26)

Thoughts: Early on, I've mentioned how I really like these stories of "young witch finishes her training and must integrate with the general population", so this went into the watchlist quite easily. First, I wasn't expecting to be this amused, then got the pleasant surprise it would run for two consecutive cours, and even more as it maintained it's quality throughout all 24 episodes. One thing I absolutely adore about it is how well it commits to a bit - the spell that makes things lighter (and then heavier) which set the mood for the show, the shoujo inspired episode with a different style that caught me off-guard, the story of the boy who looks like a character from a New Horizon English textbook and speaks in the kind of rigid sentences you learn the grammar and vocabulary of a new language from, the student council that is just a parade of delinquent tropes, and later gets confused with the actual supernatural beings on the Morihito house who look very normal, doing an episode on the first week of a new season that for the first 10 minutes plays it straight like it's the adaptation of the in-universe hit manga Uron Mirage complete with OP and ED, when they discover the manga Morihito drew when he was younger and Nico's spell rather than making him live in that world made them look like his drawings, how Keigo wanted some help with his video channel, so Nico uses a Rule 63 spell on him (and then on the rest of the cast) which goes well until Wolf(y) makes an appearance and knows what people want to see, or when Nico decides she wants to have her magic candy wonderland by shrinking to an inch tall and then realising physics still get in the way of magic, all are perfectly executed. This is a show that *loves* doing bits, and puts a lot of effort into making them into full pieces, and for this to work, it helps there's a varied cast of characters, Nico is a clumsy witch still learning her craft who only has eyes to Morihito, who has to play the straight man to everyone's antics: Kanshi, who makes a great companion to Nico when both are low on their braincell count, Keigo who's a great depiction of the insufferable hipster poser, Miharu, the angelic-looking vampire with no filter whatsoever who says whatever crosses his mind, and friend of the Morihito household Nemu, who still considers visiting in her cat form because she likes to be petted. It's also a show that relies a lot on it's visuals to land a joke, and Bibury really does a great job to follow up on whatever bizarre spell or scenario was thrown at them. It's not the most dynamic show out there, but for the most part there isn't much in terms of fighting or action.

Not having read the manga (yet) but picking up a chapter here and there - there's was recently an incredible one where Nico accidentally turns Kanshi into a messaging app sticker that you know it's going to incredible to see animated - the feeling of the show is that it is mostly filler episodes, something silly to play with the characters two or three times an episode, barely showing any interest in plot, and... it works pretty for it. It does a few more serious or heartfelt stories here and there, but something resembling "arcs" is left to maybe a handful of episodes at the end of the first half of the season. And you know why in almost one year I still haven't done Sailor Moon? I'm a Nurse Minako kind of guy, love the filler and the silliness of it, the serious arcs are kind of a bummer and themselves feel out of place from the anime. This is one of those shows that ticks a lot of my boxes, and maybe I'll pick the manga in the near future and add it to the weekly posts. Second season is already confirmed, and it's a show that feels so well made with such good characters it's not hard to imagine only disastrous numbers would prevent it from getting it.

Recommended to: Want to see a Slice of Life with a witch who doesn't consider the full implications of what she's doing?

Plus:

Oh god Nico makes the best faces.

It does a good balance of the types of stories, with a great cast

It hits the jokes a lot more than it misses.

Minus: