Not sure how much of a VN crowd DLP is, but curious: has anyone read The House in Fata Morgana? Been binging with a friend; absolutely wild stuff.

 

I have heard of this. I have read reviews for this. It sounds very compelling.

But there's no Mac version.

 

We've just been watching a playthrough via YouTube tbh. It isn't the type of VN where there's a bunch of endings to unlock or anything. The choices are more or less irrelevant and the bad endings are kind of troll. It reads more like a novel than anything else.

Fair warning, it does get pretty dark. And you're also gonna have to sink a fair amount of time into it. The payoff isn't really immediate either, I think it took me about 16 hours worth of story before I was fully invested lol.

 

So I've finished Fata Morgana base game. It's an absolute behemoth of a story, but the emotional payoff is definitely there at the end. Sometimes I look back at how it all started and wonder how it ever got to the ending to be quite honest.

I've never really finished a VN before. It feels quite strange to be done, although there's still Requiem for Innocence and Reincarnation to go (DLCs). I haven't really fully digested the story yet, but I think this is the first VN I've read where I genuinely thought it was worth the time.

 

This season is pretty cracked. Go watch Frieren (might make my top 5 all time), of course, but also Apothecary Diaries is surprisingly interesting. With the return of Spy Family it's the first season in a very long time where there's at least three shows that I'm actively following.

 

Wow. Frieren is something else. There's no plot development to speak of and it still manages to just be absolutely captivating. It's been a long time since I've come across a fantasy series that drips so heavily with reverence for both the genre and anime as an artistic medium.

I'm ranking it up there with Mushi-shi and the very best of Ghibli films.

Meanwhile, absolute garbage like Shield Hero leads the season in viewers. I weep for the anime industry.

 

Frieren and apothecary diaries are the two in watching and keeping so far.
Dropped tearmoon empire (it was just so inferior to my next life as a villainess that it hurt) and 16 bit sensation, which got lost and confusing with it's time travel. And I guess I don't like idiot woman protagonist as a character.
Which explains why I like Frieren and Apothecary. Complete opposite sides of the seriousness spectrum, but we are liking both.
Apothecary was going to get cut after episode 3 but we gave it one more chance. Episode 4 had the funniest visual gag of the season, and the clip that they've captured for the Crunchyroll YouTube is masterful.

Speaking of, The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again was delightful. A domestic comedy about a salarywoman whose kindness nets her a 6 foot tall cat who is good at all the things she's not, like cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc.

 

The thing is, I don't see Frieren as a pure fantasy series. I feel like the fantasy worldbuilding and a lot of the magical elements actually feel handwaved, or at the very least simplified compared to other shows. But I don't really think of it as a weakness, because Frieren is as much a show about the human condition as it is about a fantasy world, and its ability to focus on that aspect of its storytelling while incorporating elements of fantasy makes it stand out.

I haven't read anything else in the fantasy or isekai genres that made me invest so heavily so quickly.

 

I rarely watch anime now but Frieren's up there as one of the few that caught my attention. The only other one in recent years that I've gone out of my way to not only watch but wholly recommend to friends was Spy x Family. Started reading both of them as manga they were slated for anime adaptations and they lived up to my expectations. They balance humor and emotional depth and peak character writing.

Masterful Cat slipped under my radar but it is indeed delightful, thanks for the rec.

 

More Monogatari! Holy fuck, never thought I'd see the day. I'd been reading fan translations of the post Zoku light novels and I agreed with most fans' perspectives saying that it would be difficult to animate. But I have faith in Shaft.

 

Finally finished Sound! Euphonium season 3.

Honestly, the best nostalgia show for me. Had a very similar experience to them in high school, albeit in a different type of club. I can't believe they brought back Asuka just for one scene and then proceeded to bait for the entirety of said scene.

I think it's finally the end of the road for this series, which is sad to think about. But it's one of the best in recent memory, probably deserves to make my top ten.

 

We are loving Akeneko Ramen. It's a fun slice of life about a ramen shop run by talking cats. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's heartfelt and sweet. Good for days you need a pickup.