My AniList profile would testify that I watch animes at a pretty consistent pace, about an hour worth per day currently, yet I don't really ever talk about them, you could only guess my thoughts on any given anime by checking the arbitrary score I chose to give it. I wanted to fix that today!
Not only that, I also wanted to make a post lighter in tone than the ones I usually do, so not only will I be talking about fictional stories rather than our crumbling reality, but I will be talking about multiple animes in a single post, so that I can rush through the points I want to make, without feeling like I'm hammering them in.
With this post, I'll be specifically covering all animes that I have finished between July 1st and December 31st 2025, both inclusive, mostly in chronological order. It's starting to be a while, and I will say most things out of memory, so wish me luck!
March comes in likes a lion
I sorta like shogi, more so its puzzles (especially tsume), but thankfully I don't really need to talk about that because March comes in like a lion which I'll call Sangatsu from here on isn't too much about shogi, at least not as much as Hikaru no Go is about the game of go, for example.
Unlike most people, I gave its first season a higher score than than its second season. To understand why, I believe I need to talk about season 1 individually, and season 2 as the continuation to season 1. Let's get into it!
Season 1
There are many things to like in the first season of Sangatsu, Nikaidou is a character I very much liked, the dynamics of Kiriyama's foster family were interesting, I had fun trying to figure out by myself how the shogi matches were going, and the Kawamoto sections were pretty wholesome, same could be said for the protagonist's club at his school.
It was a good time watching this season, though I felt like the stuff about the protagonist's foster sister was lackluster, perhaps underdeveloped? She always felt like she was around, yet there's not much happening with her, so I could only hope that she's addressed properly in the following season.
(8/10)
Season 2
His sister and her boyfriend are quickly swept under the rug in Sangatsu's second season, meaning there isn't much payoff for what felt like the first season was building up to. Additionally, Nikaidou ends up being very absent this season, so that was kind of disappointing to me specifically.
Dealing with heavy themes such as bullying is difficult in media, but I'd say it was rather well done here, though I remember finding it a bit absurd that the show expected me to not keep my guard up even after one of the involved characters said something along the lines of "it's over!", maybe the arc ended too suddenly? I was bracing myself for more because of the theme, but maybe I failed to read the room.
This season was much like the previous one, but with slightly more things missing than things added. I'd also like to say I particularly liked what they ended up doing with Souya's character.
(7/10)
Black Butler
Black Butler is a franchise that I had only consumed in 2016 or so, from its first season all the way to Book of Circus, particularly enjoying this latter entry. At some point in 2025, I felt a bit nostalgic for it, and figured I should watch what followed Book of Circus, even though I was sure to have forgotten a lot of what was going on in the Black Butler universe.
Book of Murder
Who is committing the crimes in Ciel's estate is the question Book of Murder's creators want you to think about throughout most of its runtime. I did enjoy Umineko, so it's no surprise I enjoyed trying to figure out the mystery. Now, was the solution to the mystery fair?
Maybe? I initially thought "not really", but in retrospective, it might be to the viewers who know and remember all the supernatural stuff that is possible in the Black Butler franchise. Either way, how the solution was laid down and explained was fun for the most part.
Actually, I'd say this show as a whole was pretty fun. It was good to try and remember some of the things from so many years ago, to see how cunning the characters could be, maybe I gave it a score too low, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it more if I fully remembered the previous Black Butler entries, but I don't have all the time in the world. There can't be too many conditions to enjoy something to its fullest.
(7/10)
Book of the Atlantic
Book of the Atlantic was shockingly really good?? I remember it being insanely well paced, and my biggest issue with it being some cheap and distracting visuals. It was otherwise extremely entertaining, legitimately something I might rewatch if I felt bored.
Its characters felt like they all had the screentime they deserved, the big threat on the ship becoming not much of a threat ("overshadowed" might be the word to use here) was not an issue to me as it simply showcased the strength of the characters that were dealing with it.
(9/10)
Eureka Seven
Eureka Seven started rather badly, I almost dropped this anime of 50 episodes after roughly 10 episodes, yet it paid off. The things that are obvious to the characters but not to the one watching the show end up getting explained, the decisions they take are rational and make sense, the pretty toxic environment Renton finds himself in becomes more bearable as events happen...
It's kinda a lot of hype and aura, with great soundtrack and a good mood set by the hipster and music culture thing, that show just needs some time to take off. I even enjoyed the football episode, which most people didn't seem to like, it feels like I enjoyed the characters a lot more than people in its fandom, and the overall story a bit less.
So yeah, I found this show to be quite amazing, inspiring even, episodes 26 to 29 (roughly) among others are very memorable and I am still listening to its soundtrack. It was very much worth watching!
(9/10)
Odd Taxi
Meanwhile, there's Odd Taxi, it only has 12 episodes yet I've decided to drop it after 6 episodes. Its mood, so the visuals and the such are very good, but good lord, I couldn't find any reason to keep watching. Of course, I started watching thinking I'd like the show, I wanted to like it, but... nope!
Whatever intrigue was going on was not interesting, and that's mostly due to the anime having essentially no likeable characters, as in half the cast was dislikable, some were whatever, and the boar was alright but I wasn't gonna watch Odd Taxi for him. There was no reason for me to stay in for the drive.
People love to praise this anime, so I always get a little sad not understanding what's so good about it. I guess I just don't find deconstructions of difficult situations for realistic-ish characters to be interesting enough on their own? I don't know.
(4/10)
Nabari no Ou
And now there's Nabari no Ou, a rather niche anime which starts somewhat well and completely crumbles halfway through (when visiting the academy) by clearly telling its audience that its characters risk nothing, so there are no stakes in this action show.
Furthermore, the motivations of the characters are... not quite there, the teacher disappears to accomplish nothing, the immortal character that wishes to die does little in their power to accomplish that, I ended up not really caring about what was going on anymore.
After having found this show, I hoped I found a hidden gem, but I did not. This should probably stay hidden, though it was bearable enough that I didn't drop it. I forgot to mention that the visuals were pretty noticeably cheap, but I don't know where else to say that.
(4/10)
Porco Rosso
Porco Rosso ended up being the first Ghibli movie I have ever watched, and I enjoyed it! What took me by surprise in a good way was how historical the setting was, it wasn't necessary but it still made the movie's universe more inviting.
What made it even more inviting was this layer of... innocence mixed in with the creativity, as if nothing would have devastating consequences, like shooting at a plane full of kidnapped kids doesn't risk harming them, in fact the kids didn't care much about getting kidnapped! It's a very good thing, this tone is set very early in the movie, and it allows me to relax and not overthink what tragic plot points could happen or whatever.
Admittedly, I was kinda getting bored towards the end of the first half of the movie, but it got back my attention. I'm also glad there was nothing really weird with the age gap, which is actually tagged at 79% on AniList, that's quite a bit!
(8/10)
Girls und Panzer
Never have I thought that I would enjoy Girls und Panzer as much as I did, I am lowkey embarrassed about it, but I really liked almost all of it! The 3D at the beginning of the show is a bit nauseating, some characters don't have enough time dedicated to what's going on in their life (Hana being the best example of that) and a whole battle was moved to OVA content, but otherwise it's really good I swear!
Really, this anime suffers from only having 12 episodes when it should have been 18, there's so much it wants to do and so many side characters, and most of them you do need to pause to notice their personality traits as they're mostly either in the background or only focused on for a few seconds in the whole show.
And speaking of details, I liked the attention given to the tanks themselves, enough so to watch the OVAs with Yukari speaking about them. I also like to have Yukari on screen or on my speakers, don't tell anyone about that, though.
Girls und Panzer would be a lot more frustrating if there were no movies or OVAs after the original anime, but even so, it's still frustrating that the main anime is so short when it clearly had the potential for so much more.
(8/10)
Spice and Wolf
Having heard of Spice and Wolf quite a lot, as in the one from 2008, and given that I like to think and to predict what will happen and how something will happen in a show's scenario, I decided to give this anime a shot.
Season 1
Spice and Wolf's first season shared some interesting concepts, but it did make me feel quite dumb. Sometimes, like during the scene with the scales and (I think) the pepper, I would simply not understand no matter how many times I'd rewatch the scene. This just left me with an annoying feeling, because I'm either too dumb for the show, or the show sometimes makes no sense.
Quite a shame given why I decided to watch it in the first place. But other than that, the ending credits are amazing, the characters are very enjoyable, and it was still a fun time. Maybe it just wasn't exactly something for me.
(7/10)
Amber Melancholy
Chapter 0 of Season 2 named Wolf and (the) Amber Melancholy needs a special mention, as I watched it the very day I realized I was getting ill, and it's relatively rare that I become sick. It's relevant here as it's the episode where Holo falls ill, so for once in my life, I could kinda relate to a wolf girl. Ahem.
More seriously, while my illness did enhance my experience, I thought such an episode where the focus is entirely on the characters with no scheming going on just made for an ideal OVA. I ended up really enjoying it, but I'm not sure how delirious I was when I watched it. Still, I chose to rate it, and the rating is quite noteworthy, especially for this franchise.
(9/10)
Season 2
Sorry to say that, but the second season of Spice and Wolf is basically the same as the first season, but essentially worse, save for the dive into Holo's abandonment issues, which might mark the second time I can relate to a wolf girl.
My issues from the first season are still there, the ending credits are great, I wasn't really into how the season only focused on those two town's affairs, it was entertaining but less so than the things the first season had to offer. I wish I could've liked this show more, it has charm.
(6/10)
NEW GAME!!
NEW GAME!! is the name of the second season of NEW GAME!, as made obvious by the second exclamation mark. I had already watched the first season probably in early 2017, and I had already enjoyed it even though I wasn't into game development at the time.
Somehow, it leans a lot more into fanservice than I would've thought, though not at an uncomfortable level. It manages to juggle well between the struggles at the game company and the more personal matters the characters face, especially the new ones. For some reason, french culture seemed quite prevalent too, and I guess that's cool??
Otherwise, it's a really fun and entertaining time, it has nothing special to praise it for, but I don't have much to complain about either, and that in itself is something worth praising. Actually, one good thing worth noting, the episodes sorta flew by, I don't recall ever getting bored!
(8/10)
Cardcaptor Sakura
When it comes to Cardcaptor Sakura, I try to think of the first half where the titular character finds creative ways to capture the Clow Cards, instead of the second half that had some of the most unapologetically boring episodes I have watched in the last few years.
There are actually a lot of things this anime did well even when ignoring any kind of historical context in my opinion, none of which relate to Mizuki or Eriol even though they take up a lot of the show. To my surprise, I really liked how Meiling turned out to be!
How Li's feelings for Yukito were dealt with during that one scene with Yue was shockingly bad, but at least Sakura's feelings (for Yukito, again) were dealt with in what I found to be a really smooth way. The relations between some other characters are great, like in Sakura's family, or Clow's entourage.
In comparison, whatever's going on between Touya and Yukito (yes again) is awkward, and I understand why it is that way, but it's still awkward nonetheless. While what goes on between Sakura and Li is something I ended up not really caring about, but I think that's because there's nothing novel here compared to the other things in that show.
Nowadays, I think there are shows that do the things Cardcaptor Sakura does in a better way, or even do the things it couldn't do perhaps due to when it first came out. But it's still pretty good, with some great episodes here and there.
(6/10)
That's all!
Those were all the animes I have finished during this time period, as well as my thoughts on them several months later. It was fun to think back to those, and wasn't nearly as time-consuming as I first thought, maybe thanks to the format I'm doing where I keep myself from going too much into details. In the first place, maybe it's because it's been a while since I watched those shows that I couldn't confidently get into some details.
I might do it again for the period between January 1st and June 31st 2026, both inclusive still, later this year. Or maybe not, no pressure. Or maybe another period if it turns out I don't have much to say or if I'd like to do another format. Who knows!