memory of the future

(Crossposted from my journal.)

Apocalypse Hotel was great. Just great. Go watch it. It's definitely on my Hugo ballot next year.

Kowloon Generic Romance ended very well, even if the finale didn't quite have time to spell out every last detail of what was going on. Presumably the manga, which is ending soon, will be able to explain better. Recommended with some disclaimers: there are some very male-gaze camera angles at first but they stop after episode 2, and there is someone who initially appears to be a depressingly stereotypical queer villain but ultimately becomes three-dimensional and far more sympathetic.

Zatsu Tabi continued to be exactly what it appeared to be, a low-key story about travel and introduction to some of Japan's lesser-known tourist attractions.

Sword of the Demon Hunter is continuing into summer, but I have to say this: The choice to fridge someone in the first episode wound up feeling more and more out of place as the story went on. The subsequent story isn't grimdark at all; eventually it's about a guy hanging out in a soba shop with his friends and taking on jobs with an emphasis on how his work heals the community. Even the demons are mostly sympathetic at this point. So I'm not sure why the author chose to do that, other than he couldn't think of another way to get the protagonist out of his comortable village life and out into the world.

For next season, the shows I'm looking at fall into three categories:

Shows I am truly interested in checking out: Bullet/Bullet, Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, The Earthbound Mole, Onmyo Kaiten Re: Birth Verse
Show I would be checking out if it weren't on Netflix: The Summer Hikaru Died
Shows I should be excited about on paper but am not really: Cute High Earth Defense Club Haikara!, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun season 2 part 2, Ruri Rocks