I have a couple tweaks to the list I posted previously. I plan on watching a handful of shows in the new season:

Definitely watching

• Frieren - continuing from last season. Has been absolutely phenomenal so far.
• Delicious in Dungeon - A very well-received manga being adapted by Studio Trigger. Say no more.
• Villainess Level 99 - I really like the source for this one but thought that it was too niche to ever be adapted to an anime. I don't expect this to be everybody's cup of tea, but I hope it is going to be done well.
• Tsukimichi Season 2 - I really like the source material for this one and the first season was...alright. The story gets better as it goes and it changed studios for the second season (and got 2 cours for season 2), so I am hoping the animation improves alongside the story.
• Apothecary Diaries - This show is continuing from the fall season, but I haven't actually seen any of it yet. I plan on trying to catch up over this coming winter season so that I can end it being caught up. I actually work professionally in medicine, so I am looking forward to it!

Hoping to watch (time permitting)

• The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic - The source for this one is decent and the beginning couple bits of this story are the best that I am familiar with. So, time permitting, I am hoping to see the best character Rose in anime form.
• 'Tis Time for Torture Princess - I have read a couple chapters of this manga, but I am curious to see how an anime adaptation will work.

Might pick up depending on reviews

• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! - I have heard good things about the source for this one, but I don't really know anything about it. I am going to wait to see how well it is received as an adaptation. I might just opt to read the manga instead.
• Metallic Rouge - This is an anime original, but it looks awesome. I had to cut it for time, but if it is reviewed super well and another show I am watching is disappointing, I might bump it up into the regularly watching column.

Bot maintainer made a post over here.

tl;dr is that the short term plan is to try to reverse the defederation. Longer term plan if that doesn't work is probably to try to resume posting with a user on a different instance.

The root of the problem is that the anime community on the lemmy-verse has more or less consolidated to this community for episode discussions. If you look at other instances, there is a huge drop off in activity when it comes to episode discussion communities compared to here. So, it would not make sense to try to move this community to another instance as that would pretty much destroy what has been built up here compared with just moving the host instance for the bot.

We finally get to see John Smith in action this episode. I actually really like how the anime sets things in an industrializing world. One of the things it means is that John Smith gets to have his fights with wires on a train rather than just on the open road near a horse-drawn carriage like the LNs. A confined space like a train car makes the wires feel much more threatening and oppressive in my opinion. Also, in case you were wondering if Cid recognized who 666 was, that is still no. In the LN he just refers to this group as "Mitsugoshi's hit women".

The other bit of action this episode focused on Gamma and her unconventional fighting style. If it wasn't very clear from the very short flashback in this sequence, basically Cid gave up trying to teach her proper fighting technique due to her clumsiness. So, instead he told her to just use loads of magic and swing her sword hard and fast while making a swoosh noise. Thus, Gamma's fighting style was born.

The other interesting bit about this Gamma sequence is that in the LNs, it is Nu that accompanies Gamma rather than Kai and Omega. In fact, Kai and Omega don't really play much of a role at all in the LNs despite being characters in the original WN. From interviews during the first season (and some easter eggs in the show), it is clear that the director was a fan of the original WN and has worked to try to incorporate Kai and Omega into the story where it won't have a negative impact. They even get their turns at singing the ED this season (this episode was Omega).

Really looking forward to the next episode to see some more John Smith action.

One of the things I like about this series is how they use real artists/albums/songs rather than slightly changing names like is usually done. I say that, but on the first page it says Benny's instead of the real Denny's.

Great title drop to end the episode. In case you missed it last week, there was a discussion about the translation of the title in the discussion thread for episode 7. Looks like they went with Frieren the Slayer (at least in my subs, sometimes it can vary by region).

Frieren decided to break the number one rule in any D&D party by splitting up. She wanted to go solo the boss to get all the good loot for herself I guess. I am really looking forward to next episode as I remember the confrontation with Aura was one of my favorite confrontations of the manga (though the action is not necessarily my favorite part of Frieren). I don't remember all the details though as I haven't gone back and reread this one other than to spot check a thing or two as they have progressed through the adaptation.

I continue on my unending quest to keep up with good Oneshots that I see get posted to Mangadex. It means I have to sort through the giant pile of Touhou doujin oneshots that get posted, but I do it for all of you out of love. Some of my favorites from the past week:

• Shishunki ni Rikai no Aru Ane no Hanashi - A silly story about an older sister trying her best to be understanding of her brother as he experiences the trials and tribulations of puberty.
• Futari no Kyori - A single page oneshot that nails the punchline.
• Android wa Bug wo Shiranai - Learning about human emotion through an android.
• Boing Ninja - Like Naruto, but with more boing.
• NSFW Shokujin Shokuyuujou - This isn't the sexy kind of NSFW, this one is a horror oneshot. I am not usually a fan of horror in manga/anime, but I thought this one was well done.

Finally, I will wrap up this post with my weekly shoutout to read Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyu-bu.

Another great episode. Really loved the first part about Himmel not wanting Frieren to be alone and that is why he had so many statues made.

One of the (many) things that I really enjoy about this series is its portrayal of demons. They really feel quite alien but relatable at the same time. They fall right into an uncanny middle between human and monster that always has you second guessing yourself about them. Frieren probably says it best in that they can understand our speech, but can't be communicated with; drawing a clear line between being able to speak and being able to understand and convey thoughts and emotions through speech.

There are many parallels I can draw between this series and Mushishi, but this portrayal of demons reminds me a bit of how mushi are described by Ginko. They are more or less wild things living in nature and when they intersect with humans bad things can happen, but it isn't out of malice or any kind of emotion, it is simply surviving in the environment it finds itself. I think Frieren views demons in much the same way. They are not hurting humans out of malice, but simply creatures that find themselves in a world full of humans. As a survival strategy, the demons found ways to use humans to their advantage, it just so happens that those strategies involve manipulating and taking advantage of human emotions.

One of the things I was most curious about how they were going to adapt this season was the explanation of Claire's newfound powers. I never thought that the way the LN described this part was very clear and it is only through later discussions with other fans that I got a good understanding of it. I think that the anime actually does a better job of setting up and explaining this. Plus, we get to see Aurora-sensei and JK Claire in the process, so that is a win.

The fight sequence was quite modified from the source, but I actually really like it. Characterizing Elizabeth's attack as literally raining blood was a great touch. My favorite part of that sequence was Aurora/Claire trying to use Cid's All Range Atomic. This was a great anime original touch and I loved everything about it. From her initiating it, Beta realizing what is going on and freaking out, and finally Aurora trying to do the Cid atomic voice. Just chef's kiss.

We get to see a new ED this episode by Maaya Uchida (voices Nu). We also get to see the setup for the next arc in a post-ED scene. If you liked the design of Yukime and didn't want to see her leave the story yet, then this scene should give you hope. Also, just as a meta-aside, the next arc is probably the overall fandom's favorite, so look forward to it!

Edit: I forgot to mention that this begins one of my favorite ongoing gags in the whole series. In which Cid thinks Claire is just a chuuni having chuuni delusions about things.

So good to see my favorite LN series back with Season 2 so quickly. So many things I can say, but I will keep it to the highlights.

• I think it was a good choice to do a tiny bit of recap to make it clear that Claire won the Bushin Festival. I remember a lot of people not really picking up on that at the end of last season. Though, I am sad to see they pretty much cut the scene of Cid treating Claire to dinner, it was a pretty funny one. It was nice of Cid to yadda-yadda his way through most of the recap so as to keep things moving.
• The "I smell it" gag and that whole Shadow Garden meeting was an anime original scene and worked pretty well. The anime keeps finding ways to incorporate members of the Seven Shadows that haven't even really had an impact in the LNs yet.
• They handled the early ghoul stuff a bit differently, but I actually like they way they did it a lot. In the LN, Cid didn't really meet Mary in that way, so he was spouting off lines that he made up to sound cool. In the anime, I really like that he copied Mary's lines with everybody that he met as Shadow. I am pretty sure they literally just reused the animation of him saying them multiple times, adding to the gag.
• Skel and Po showing up was nice to see. They don't appear in this arc at all, but this totally fits their characters.
• Claire is just casually decapitating ghouls with a kick. If you remember, we saw Rose do this to a cult member in Season 1 when she gets her magic back during the school attack arc.
• Mary using a blood sword is a nice touch that I don't remember being in the LNs. However, it totally fits with the lore and I really like it.
• The last five minutes of the episode felt like a whirlwind as they rapidly introduced all the new characters for this arc.
• I like the new OP. I was never a huge fan of Season 1's OP, so I am happy with the change. I guess we will see what they have done with the ED next episode.

As far as I know, there is no season 2 yet confirmed. I absolutely loved the series and would hate to see it never come back, but my understanding is that it didn't do nearly as well in Japan as it did the rest of the world. That usually isn't a great sign for a show's survival.

In case you missed it, there is a post-credit scene this episode. As far as I remember, it is the only one this season, so FYI.

tl;dr As written, the Usuba family served no purpose and really hurt the story.

Alright, rant incoming...

I was really hopeful for this show for a number of reasons. I think there needs to be more josei stories adapted to the anime medium. We have shounen, shoujo, and seinen fairly well represented, but josei mainly lives on bookshelves in printed form. So, I was hoping that this story, being one of the few josei to get a quality anime adaptation would really become a flag bearer for josei everywhere and encourage more adaptations in the future. Note that if it does well commercially, it still might do that, but time will tell.

My central thesis, after giving it some thought, is that introducing the greater Usuba family to the story (at this point) really squandered a lot of potentially great storytelling. I will first explain why they make absolutely no impact to the story and then what could have been done instead.

Let's look at the contributions that the Usuba grandpa and Arata made to our story. The grandpa gave an entire episode's worth of exposition dump giving us the backstory of Miyo's mother and how Miyo's powers ended up sealed; then basically disappeared again never to be seen. Arata served the purpose of being some kind of benevolent jailer to Miyo, selected by the Usuba family to protect her. He also served the purpose (through the duel with Kiyoka) to show a bit of why the Usuba family is feared by the other supernatural families. However, it's important to note that in this final episode, Arata decides to give up doing his one job just because Miyo asked nicely. I mean, what was the point of kidnapping her and dueling Kiyoka and all of that if you just let her go again? It feels like it is simply some contrivance to create artificial tension in the relationship between Miyo and Kiyoka and to physically separate them so that they can't communicate and clear up any misunderstandings.

Now, let's think about what could have been done instead. There are a few story beats we need to hit in the second half of the show:

• We need some way for Miyo to learn about her mother and her powers
  • I think this could have been done better if we got to learn about Miyo's parentage slowly over a couple episodes through her dreams. She had touched her mother's tree, breaking the seal on her powers at this point. Grandpa Usuba did say when he was explaining her power that she can see the past and the future in her dreams. This also would help the viewer gauge her developing her skill at controlling her power; as she better controls it, she can see and learn more.
• We need Miyo to begin confronting the trauma she has had in the Saimori household since her mother passed
  • The bonus potential for these dreamwalking segments is that she can confront different parts of her psyche and acknowledge and begin to deal with the trauma that the Saimoris inflicted on her. We got a little bit of that in this final episode, but it could have been done much better. In the show, she basically overcame her trauma by hugging it out with herself. In my alternate version, it would take time and repeated dream confrontations. These confrontations would be the best way to make Miyo's physical condition decline as she struggles to deal with her past trauma.
• We need some way to foster a closer relationship between Miyo and Kiyoka
  • I think this could be done by keeping the grotesqueries storyline. Have Kiyoka consistently in the field, fighting battles to protect the city. Meanwhile Miyo is struggling at home trying to control her powers. You could even keep the bit where Miyo collapses in the city. However, instead of Arata inserting the Usubas into the storyline at that point, have Kiyoka rush to Miyo's side and give our main couple a bit of R&R while they talk about all the things they haven't been able to lately. This allows them to share a common goal, understanding and controlling Miyo's power, and it brings them closer as partners.
• Ideally, we would like to have some kind of climax to end the season on.
  • This episode works pretty well for that purpose. The main difference is that she won't need Arata's permission to help Kiyoka. Just make her be a badass on her own instead.
• A hook for season 2
  • This is where the Usubas can best fit into the story. Have some ominous scene at the end of the season with the Usubas talking about needing to remove her for her protection or something to those ends. Perhaps the events of the grotesqueries storyline and Miyo's ability very publicly saving Kiyoka is what alerts the Usubas to her true powers.

/end rant

I am glad I watched this show, rant aside. I will likely stick around for season 2 since I still think there is a lot of potential in this story. Like I said up top, I hope that it is successful and is something that can help more josei story adaptations to get made in the future. Time will tell.

Disclaimer: I have no insight whatsoever into the production process for this show behind the scenes.

That out of the way, it is a bit ironic that this show is the one with the troubled production and (likely) crunch for the staff as the whole motivation for the MC is to escape being overworked and pursue passions instead.