It’s time for a new general discussion thread! Hot takes, recommendations, questions, cautionary tales, all of it is welcome here.
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Good season so far. I’m following four shows (as I usually do) and I’m happy that three of them are good to great.
Dan Da Dan is a rare instance of a show that can do everything. The characters are enjoyable, the comedy is on point, the action is punchy and easy to follow, and the show can even pull off drama really well when it wants to. Impressive. I don’t have much else to say, really.
Orb is the freshest work I’ve seen since Frieren. Possibly fresher than Frieren, actually.
There are virtually none of the staples ones would expect from anime; there is no world to be saved and society itself is more the villain than the literal torturer is. Stakes are personal but feel high. Action is very limited and it’s mostly a science-philosophical exploration of theological dogma through the lens of astronomy. It’s basically like a particularly talky Star Trek episode but in medieval Poland.
On top of that, the characters, presentation, and story are all of high quality.
I didn’t think the industry had something like this in it and it might beat Dan Da Dan as my anime of the season. While Dan Da Dan’s punches land flawlessly, Orb is a master of an entirely different martial art, one rarely seen in the genre.
Demon Lord 2099 is nothing particularly special but is a solid example of getting your balance right. The magical and cyberpunk aspects of the show are well-balanced, as are mild comedy, action, and drama. The show is aware that it can’t take itself too seriously. Honestly, the most jarring element is the random V-tuber cameo that fails to match the art style. All in all a good mix, although not one that I will really remember much about in a few years.
Mecha-Ude is a nice example of a show that doesn’t know where it’s strengths lie. The story is bland and clumsily told, the protagonist may as well not have bothered showing up, the action is stale, and the show is really bad at drama but thinks that’s one of its strengths. What it is good at is being silly – honestly, this could’ve worked well as a zany comedy. Its near-total lack of self-awareness keeps is from capitalizing on that, however.
Probably the most similar other anime that I can think of is the second season of Vinland Saga (not the violence- and action-heavy first season), which shares the detailed mundane historical setting and relatively small stakes, and has some religious-philosophical underpinnings to its plot (although there it’s about pacifism rather than astronomy). Vinland Saga’s still more action-based and the stakes are a little higher, though. I don’t think Orb is going to solve anything significant with a fist fight.
So maybe not an especially close match, just the closest I can think of right now.
As a vtuber fan, I’m happy to see Towa, but yeah, I agree. Someone over there really wanted to showcase Towa and didn’t care how.