Re-Watching and Nu-Watching

So, I've been working on a small 10k cross stitch piece, and now am back to working on The Big One.

All of which has required lots and lots of stuff to watch, most of it shows I've not seen before but I threw in a partial re-watch and a full re-watch too:

Resident Alien - I've blazed through all three seasons of this, it's an oddball sort of sci fi comedy with some hilarious and also some very emotional moments. Absolutely loved it! Am now stuck waiting for season 4 to give me the answers I so desperately need to the cliffhangers. Please. I need to know.

My Happy Marriage - starts off as a kind of slice of life anime of a disinherited daughter of a noble clan in imperial Japan but with supernatural gifts. The daughter - much abused due to her lack of gifts - is shunted out of the house into betrothal to a noble clan's head of house who's scared off multiple previous fiancées. This turns into a tale of recovery almost for both of them as she's been left with no self-love or idea of her own value and he's never allowed himself to care for anyone other than his sister and the household 'servant' who is probably more like his mother than anything else.There's a whole mystery subplot of encroaching doom and hidden identities, noble subterfuge that meshes really well with the main character-driven plot lines and elevates the whole thing. Totally enjoyed, looking forward to the second season.

Locke & Key - there's a few seasons of this sort of urban fantasy adventure but I've only watched the first. It was good! I will probably watch the other seasons but it's not what I'm in the mood for right now so I'll save it for another time. It's comic book based, same as Resi Alien, and the basic idea is a house full of magic keys that each have various powers when used right, but the new residents' deceased dad and his old friends unleashed something with these keys when they were kids, something that wants the newcomer kids to give up the keys they find so that this Echo can use them instead for unknown nefarious purposes.

Gushing Over Magical Girls - such a fan-service-y anime but also with some great fight scenes, some good humour and a whole sub-plot of growing into your strengths and not trying to be someone you aren't. I actually really enjoyed this one! (Why isn't there an equivalent with a male cast though? Fan service should be equally distributed!) There's hints of some wider plot coming through by the end of this first season and I'm looking forward to seeing where the second season takes these little threads.

Penny Dreadful - I watched seasons 1 and 2 when they were new and never went back for season 3 when that also released. So I rewatched from the start, and season 1/2 are still very good! Season 3 loses a little of its gothic air and ambience by having so much of it set outside not just London but also Britain. Whilst that part of the tale was good, it lacked the same gravitas and impact. There was a chance for them to swing all the way into that sort of New Americana gothic/strange feel but they didn't go for that either and so there's a good half the season that just has less weight to it. The ending is not at all gun shy though, a little camp in that Victorian way that gives the first season its humour, but they do not avoid making the hard calls to get the strong ending. It was a worthwhile finale to the show as a whole!

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies - Cute. Totally cute, but not in a sickly sweet way. A random find, I tried it out just because, and it was great! From the magical girl who also works a bunch of other jobs and thinks of the whole magical girl, fighting against evil thing as being the same as working in a café, to the bunny mascot who's entirely okay with selling her on the labour market (or worse) for her own ends, to the completely smitten Lt. who is an evil genius but also takes multiple episodes to find out his crush's real name because he's stupidly in love and it makes him stupid.

The cast is small but well crafted, the animation up to scratch, the storyline is at times cute, sweet, but also a little sad and bittersweet with enough hints of mystery to make a second season worthwhile. It's not pure fluff and I want to see how these two idiots progress and also what the hell is happening with these idiot mascots. Neither of them has a braincell, what the hell are they trying to do here?!

Chrome Shelled Regios - Mediocre as ever. A shame, because although I've never read more than half the light novels (the fan translation is rather poor and does a terrible job of consistently conveying what is obviously a rather deep, introspective story behind the mangled wording), there's definitely a solid story and a very engaging plot available. The anime ditches all the unique parts of the original tale except for what it deigns to  use as window dressing.

Instead, we get Generic Protag Boy #68 and his harem of trope girls, with his merry band of equally trope-y friends and enemies. None of the original character development or drive is really used except for power-up moments or as filler. Blech. At this point I should have a third watch, just to note down the few good scenes and then splice those into a speed-run compilation for next time I get the urge to re-subject myself to this drivel. The soundtrack is halfway decent at least, I like the more modern, techno-ish sound, it's a little different.

Still pissed they gave Ma Boi a crap sword and not his novel-canon polearm, nor showed his best fights or showed his skill level appropriately. He was done dirty. I want a full, professional translation of the novels to compensate. With added art for his scenes! (They at least gave him final battle super-mega-death-canon firing command privileges, which is always nice.)

Undead Unluck - Absolute left-fielder. Came out of nowhere (came out of a reddit, best anime of 2024 highlight reel last week) and hooked me. The start is the cliché suicidal protag burdened by unwanted, dangerous power meets un-killable person at suicide location of choice; hijinks develop and then it rapidly spirals within a few episodes to so much more. There's alter egos, hidden powers, a slow-burn romance or two, betrayal, unexpected friends and unforeseen heartbreak, it's a really all-rounder and stunningly animated to boot.

The fate of the world is at state but by Jove these lovable idiots are going to fix things by any means possible, even if their chosen path is utterly absurd as it is effective. So, so good. So good I then stayed up far too late to read the manga (which is complete at 239 chapters) to find out what the hell happens next. And even then, the show is such a great adaptation and brings so much vivacity to the action, that I'll still watch the anime when the next part releases and will undoubtedly die of suspense and impatience between each and every episode. I need moreeeeeee.