01. The Millionaire Detective – Balance: UNLIMITED (Fugou Keiji: Balance:Unlimited) (ep. 3-9) – The main feature is the odd-couple repartee between the 2 police detectives, and Millionaire Detective is probably worth watching for that alone.
Fortunately, the initial formula of Daisuke causing reckless, unnecessary damage and then paying huge amounts in reparations doesn’t last the entire run of the series. There is an actual mystery storyline here.
(streaming at Funimation)
02. APPARE-RANMAN! (ep. 4-11) – Like Millionaire Detective, APPARE-RANMAN! initially debuted in the spring season but got delayed due to the pandemic. It’s really nice to finally have these shows back.
Appare and Kosame are taking part in the Trans-America Race in their steamship-turned-racecar in hopes of winning the prize money and getting back home to Japan. More than the race itself, it’s fun to follow this motley crew of colourful and extraordinary characters on their adventure.
(streaming at Funimation)
03. DECA-DENCE (ep. 1-10) – Is this post-apocalypse? Sci-fi?… Isekai?
The second episode was a drastic departure from the first one; and it’s not until episode 3 and beyond, however, that we get a clearer picture of what DECA-DENCE is really about.
(streaming at Funimation)
04. AHIRU NO SORA (ep. 37-47) – Both of this and Fruits Basket (below) have hit a nice stride. They are reasonably enjoyable to watch every week; however, they’re still nothing to get super excited for either.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)
05. Fruits Basket 2nd Season (ep. 14-23)
(streaming at Crunchyroll and Funimation)
06. Mr Love: Queen’s Choice (Koi to Producer: EVOL×LOVE) (ep. 1-9) – I quite like the MC in this otome game adaptation. She looks like a little girl, yes, but she’s smart and independent. It’s obvious she finds Victor intimidating, for example, but she isn’t afraid to speak her mind to him.
Unfortunately, I do find it weird and somewhat troubling that the subtitled names and spoken names in this series are not the same, especially in the case of Lucian/Simon.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)
07. The Misfit of Demon King Academy (Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e) (ep. 1-11) – Instead of introducing characters and taking the time to get us familiar with them, the setup is often accomplished by characters standing around and explaining things. That does get us to the important part of the plot expediently, but we don’t know enough about the players to feel the weight of subsequent events. Because of that, the pace somehow manages to be too fast and too slow at the same time.
The story, and the humour, is passably effective, but I feel most of it could be a lot more impactful with some more skillful and graceful storytelling.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)
08. JAPAN SINKS: 2020 (Nihon Chinbotsu 2020) (10 episodes) – I was expecting something along the lines of its thematic predecessor Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, but with how this show seems preoccupied with killing off its characters in the most ridiculously shocking and gruesome ways, JAPAN SINKS comes off as more of a B-grade horror flick than a disaster movie.
(streaming at NETFLIX)
09. Food Wars! The Fifth Plate (Shokugeki no Souma: Gou no Sara) (ep. 3-11) – While there has always been a fair amount of fantasy to Food Wars!, it has gotten plain ridiculous at this point. The members of Noir are literally clowns! And what’s with the authorities of this BLUE competition randomly turning a blind eye to illegal activities?
Worst of all, the show is also rushing through the cooking and food presentation, which was previously one of the main highlights of the series.
(streaming at Crunchyroll)