Stínolez’s Seasonal Roundup [Summer 2022]
Greetings, and welcome to my seasonal roundup, an article I do at the end of (almost) every season to summarise my thoughts on the shows I watched. With everything going on in the world right now, you might have felt either direct or indirect effects from everything piling up. With even basic needs costing more, some people might be more cautious about their leisure spending and cancel subscription services they no longer see the value in. With anime being distributed on various platforms in different countries, that may be the case for you. Despite how it sounds, I’m not here to tell you what subscription is worth keeping and what to let go — everybody has different options and tastes, and I don’t know all the services in the world. I’m simply here with the selection of anime shows I picked this season and my opinions on them. If those give you the reason to either keep, leave or purchase a new subscription for the service the show is on, it’s for you to judge. It’s also worth noting that I’m still a working adult who needs to feed his family, so I don’t have time to watch everything. Even though I prefer certain genres and types of shows, I’m also trying to pick a wide range of shows, so you might find something you’d like or maybe something to avoid.
Now, as per usual, the shows are divided into three groups: great and good, average, and bad and dropped shows. The opinions in this article are mine and you might disagree. If you do, please do so politely in the comment section and respect my opinion so I can be respectful of yours. Now without further ado, let’s dive in…
Call of the Night
Episodes: 13 / 23 min. per. ep.
Genres: Comedy, Psychological, Romance, Slice of Life, Supernatural
Score: 9 / 10
The night is alluring. I’ve always loved the night as I rarely fit into any group, so the nighttime was perfect for me as I rarely saw other people and didn’t need to interact with anybody. The nostalgia for these days is so well depicted in the Call of the Night that I instantly fell in love with the show. Accentuate it with a bit of supernatural and mystery and spin around to the beat of both the opening and ending and you have the perfect cocktail. The story itself isn’t that complicated, but the show is masterfully crafted with characters that feel alive. The end of the series presented me with the biggest dilemma: Do I wait for the next season, if it ever comes, or do I spoil myself with the manga? Thus far I’m leaning towards waiting as the animation, colour palette, and the music were that good…
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? IV
Episodes: 11 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Score: 9 / 10
I’m biased, I know, but I simply love this series. It gets better and better with each season, and this one is no exception. My excitement isn’t lessened by the fact I know what’s gonna happen as I’ve read the light novels — that’s how good DanMachi is. The fact the fourth season is a split cour is its only detriment. For the second part of this season, you have to wait at least until the Winter 2023 season.
My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Comedy, Romance
Score: 7 / 10
From the synopsis alone, you’d likely expect a Domestic Girlfriend-level of dumpster fire, but it wasn’t that bad. What presented itself as a trashy show was, in the end, quite a competent series with a problematic relationship between the both main characters. In a way Mizuto reminded me of Hachiman from My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. Maybe it was his visible detachment of most emotions, disinterest in anything else than books and lingering feelings for his ex-girlfriend and now step-sibling Yume. I wouldn’t claim this show reinvented the wheel, but in my opinion they didn’t majorly screw anything up.
Overlord IV
Episodes: 13 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Score: 7 / 10
The first few minutes of Overlord IV made me realise that I don’t remember almost anything that happened at the end of the third season. I unfortunately had to go back and watch the last two episodes to be reminded of the atrocious CGI animation of the massacre of hundred thousand soldiers that served merely as a scare tactic for other nations not to play with Ains Ooal Gown. Despite Momonga himself having his emotions reduced by the lich class, even that was taking things too far. The fourth season subsequently continues as if nothing happened with a “happy” kingdom building and starting a war with the Re-Estize Kingdom on the side, while getting the Empire as a vassal state trying their best to find a way how to deal with Ains. The chances are, if you watched previous seasons you likely already watched this one and if not, then with it being already four seasons in, you might never start. All in all, it was a step up from the previous season, though the crimes he already committed cannot go ever away.
RWBY: Ice Queendom
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Score: 7 / 10
After years and years of arguing if RWBY is an anime or not, we at long last have conclusive confirmation. Even though the animation looked much cleaner than the original one from Rooster Teeth, they cut corners so visible at times that I felt back at home. In all honesty, the story in the beginning went a bit faster than I’d personally liked as it provided a little exposition of the characters for you to care about in the second half. That brings me to the other fundamental issue of RWBY: Ice Queendom — its story. In all fairness, it was lacklustre. I wasn’t excited or impatiently waiting for the following episode to drop to see what’s coming next. It was inevitably a filler on the night I didn’t want to go to bed early and I’d already watched everything else. All in all, the show was pretty much average, and probably the sole reason I’m ranking it higher is to promote the original work more despite its crappy animation.
The Devil is a Part-Timer! Season 2
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Slice of Life
Score: 7 / 10
I jumped on the Devil is a Part-Timer train way too late. For quite a long time, I’d had the series in my plan-to-watch list, but never got around to actually watching it. The announcement of the second season gave me the last push I needed. It was an alright show; I wasn’t too certain why I’ve heard so many good things about it. Despite that, it wasn’t so bad as to prevent me from watching the second season which continued in the similar trend. Do I sometimes feel like the show is stupid and silly? Naturally I do, but that is presumably the intention. The comedy sometimes doesn’t work for me and the whole Lucifer being shut-in nerd isn’t my cup of tea, but I can live with that. Nevertheless, it was a fun watch.
Black Summoner
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Score: 6 / 10
I’m not gonna lie, I strangely enjoyed it. Despite the horrible CGI in battle scenes and the fact, it’s as generic as it possibly can be, it was nonetheless a fun watch. Kelvin, the lead character, seems to be the reason why. In one way he doesn’t break the standard tropes and behave quite predictably, which is comforting. On the other hand, he’s a cynic. That shows multiple times in his decisions and spin the show on its head sometimes. I’m not going to recommend the show for anybody looking for novelty, but if you are comfortable with watching yet another, albeit fun, fantasy isekai show, give it a go.
Parallel World Pharmacy
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Fantasy
Score: 6 / 10
It’s a peculiar phenomenon of the past few recent anime seasons where we have at least one drugstore-, pharmacy-, medical-, or alchemist-related isekai. Parallel World Pharmacy took the baton this time. Medicine researcher Kanji overworks himself to death just to be reborn into another world as a Falma, son of the royal pharmacist with the abilities rivalling the god of medicine and his former modern Japanese medicine knowledge intact. If he identifies the exact atomic structure of any substance, he can generate or annihilate it at will. There is no law of conserving energy; it’s just deus-ex-machina-like powers to allow him to cheaply produce modern drugs to serve people and piss off everybody else in the business. While it’s great to see stuff he’s making based on science, his info-dumping a bunch of terms I know nothing about is quite boring. I’m unversed in medicine, so I cannot verify if what he’s stating is even remotely true, while at the same time I’m too lazy to fact check an isekai show. Overall, if you are interested in anything I mentioned, give it an episode or two, but otherwise you could skip it and won’t miss much.
Rent-a-Girlfriend Season 2
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Score: 5 / 10
Every so often I ponder why I’m even doing this to myself. I wasn’t an avid fan of the first season of Rent-a-Girlfriend, but I still watched the second season as well. It is possible I just hoped that Kazuya would be less of a scumbag, or Mizuhara will finally kick him in his blue balls. Nothing of that sort happened and, as such, the sequel fit in the same average category as its predecessor. While the show has few merits about trying to achieve dreams, family, and friendship, most of the situations are so ridiculous and the character reactions so unbelievable that it makes you shake your head.
Vermeil in Gold
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Ecchi, Fantasy, Romance
Score: 5 / 10
Since the day I started reading books; one of my go-to genres has been fantasy. The appeal of distant and magical words is apparently something which virtually always works for me. With sci-fi, you might look into the future with hope to achieve a technological breakthrough and start flying into space. On the other hand, a chance to discover true magic and introduce demons into our world is something you can only dream about. That’s probably the reason I inevitably give these mediocre shows a go, enjoy them while watching them and then pile them up in the back of my mind where they’re quickly forgotten. Vermeil in Gold is no exception. I’d compare this show to popcorn in a movie theatre. You unconsciously devour it while doing something else, merely leaving a hit of salt on your tongue when you finish.
When Will Ayumu Make His Move?
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life
Score: 6 / 10
This show is a classic school rom-com where not much really goes on. I was drawn to When Will Ayumu Make His Move? by the prospect of it being about shogi, but the game is just used as window dressing. For what it’s worth, they might have played tic-tac-toe and it would be quite the same, although that might be the reason I’m harsher on the show as that didn’t satisfy the expectations. In hindsight, it wasn’t a bad show.
Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Drama, Ecchi, Fantasy, Romance
Score: 1 / 10
Don’t even bother with this anime. No amount of titties can save this garbage. The atrocious animation, the terrible game-like UI the main character can see aren’t the worst part of this show. What started as a generic isekai quickly devolved into a degenerate show where you’ll feel dirty just from watching it. The show could not pick if to focus on adventuring and the story or the horny hentai scenes, so they did both crappily. And we aren’t even at the show’s lowest point. I don’t know why slaves are such a popular theme in the recent shows, but I’m unfond of it, especially when the main character forces himself onto them. Sure, she gave consent, but is it really consensual? And the show progresses like this until the final episode, where in a rapid succession he buys few more female slaves, giving us quick montage of hentai scenes and a harem one at the end. Stay away from this shit.
My Isekai Life: I Gained a Second Character Class and Became the Strongest Sage in the World!
Episodes: 12 / 24 min. per ep.
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Score: 2.5 / 10
The original author genuinely loves sages. His previous light novel that got an anime adaptation was The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest. That was a subpar anime with boring characters and a predictable story. My Isekai Life is similar to that in most cases. For some weird reason, I picked the manga and stuck with it, but that might have been a detriment for the show. If you look at this from an adaptation point of view, it’s an absolute disaster, not only pacing- and characterisation-wise, but also the final part between episode 10 to 12 — it’s completely made-up bullshit. The only saving grace is the unique personality of the slimes; it shines with the voiceover much more than in the manga. But beware, I’ve also heard opinions on the other side of the spectrum that it made the slimes more annoying, so it might be a flip of a coin for you. But in all sincerity, I’d recommend not to bother with it — it’s a mess of a show with no real cohesion.
The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious
Episodes: 11 / 23 min. per ep.
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life
Score: 4 / 10
Despite my doubts based on promotional art, The Maid I Hired Recently is Mysterious presented itself as a wholesome show. If you look at the surface, you might not experience any problem with it whatsoever. On the other hand, if you stare into the abyss for too long, it’ll start looking back at you. That’s similar to Lilith’s eyes if you are her young master. I never pinpointed their actual age difference, but it’s no added value to their viewer’s portrayal. Yuuri is a young, I’d say, kid, grieving his parents’ deaths and the loss of his servants. He has also never experienced romantic love, yet knows what it is. Lilith is a young adult, trying to suppress her emotions and embarrassment behind improper jokes that, in the end, are no jokes at all. Combined with her unknown origin, it’s a case for criminal justice. While the final episode offered a slight insight into her past, it didn’t undo everything she did prior that moment. The final straw is Yuuri’s voyeuristic friend Tsukasa. She makes it her mission to pair off Yuuri and Lilith purely for her own self-interest and obsession with romantic novels.
You’re reading AniTAY, a reader-run blog whose writers love everything anime related. To join in on the fun, check out our website, visit our official subreddit, follow us on Twitter, or give us a like on our Facebook page. This article was brought to you by Stínolez — gamer, anime lover & so-called writer. Check my other stuff here or follow me on Twitter. As always, I’m thankful to Luigi for editing this piece, check his stuff here.
