This year is nearly gone. We passed the halfway mark weeks ago, so this isasgoodatimeasanytolookatthe best anime of the year so far.
The seventh season of Boku no Hero Academia is currently running. Eleven of the season’s 21 episodes have already aired. However, it is not generating the same excitement as previous seasons. The manga will end in a few days after a successful 10-year run. Meanwhile, the anime is setting the foundation for an explosive finale.
I expect the second half of season 7 to recapture the hype of previous seasons. Demon Slayer Season 4 left me dissatisfied. Just as the Hashira Training Arc was ramping up, the season ended. Previous announcements already told us to expect a trilogy of films as opposed to a fifth season, but who knows how long those will take to animate.
Switching gears, I could not watch Delicious in Dungeon. People keep hailing it as the next Frieren, but I disagree. The anime is what I would term cozy/slice-of-life/fantasy. You follow an eclectic crew on a mission to save a friend from a dragon. Along the way, they discover, hunt, and cook fantastical creatures.
Apparently, the show is not as comedic as the first act suggests. In fact, the final third is supposedly devastating. I’m tempted to give it a second shot. The Apothecary Diaries falls in the same camp. It lost me after a few episodes. If you watch historical Korean dramas, you already know what to expect from this show.
The protagonist is a young chemist whose life takes an odd turn when she becomes a lady-in-waiting to the emperor’s concubine. The anime ticks every box. You have compelling characters and challenging mysteries. The political turmoil is engaging. I have a feeling most of you would enjoy the show. Yes, I dropped the anime, but I have nothing bad to say about it. I’m just picky.
I am yet to watch Kaiju No. 8. However, I won’t hesitate to endorse the anime because the manga is incredible. I don’t see how they could ruin the adaptation. The protagonist is Kafka, a lazy man in his 30s whose dream of defending his homeland from terrifying monsters shatters when he becomes a monster.
Rather than surrendering to his instincts, Kafka becomes a vigilante, using his gifts to fight other monsters. I agree with everyone who has elevated Wind Breaker over Tokyo Revengers. The two shows could not be more different. Comparisons arise because they both explore gang culture. In Wind Breaker, Haruka is an outcast.
People reject him because of his bizarre appearance. He has always retaliated with violence. Haruka expects his life to remain largely unchanged when he joins a new school. But then he learns that delinquents like him are celebrated as heroes in his new community. The anime is every bit as heartwarming as that synopsis suggests.
We can end with Bucchigiri, an amusing fantasy comedy in which a shy student who hopes to finally lose his virginity encounters a powerful genie that pits him against two gangs. Audiences have compared the show to the likes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) passed away a little while ago. So I should probably mention that Sand Land, the single-volume manga he wrote has an adaptation. The protagonist is an elderly sheriff who meets a demon prince while searching for a new water source for his village during a drought.
You should give it a shot if you are tired of re-watching old Dragon Ball episodes, but are still looking for ways to honor Toriyama.
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Source: The Observer
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