Winter 2025 Anime Season Wrap-Up

It was a good winter anime season, at least the shows I watched, and looking ahead, spring season might be even better.

But first, a wrap-up of the winter shows. I'll talk about the spring season in my next post.

Blue Exorcist’s Blue Night arc was as tragic as expected, as it revealed the twin’s origins and the true story of their mother, father, and adoptive father. I was more moved than I thought I would be, even though most of what happened was fairly predictable.

The series has always been slightly insane regarding its wild use of Catholic iconography and symbolism. Rin and Yukio are literally sons of the Devil after all, but even so, the story plays fast and loose with its outsider view of Christianity. And then that’s combined with the paranormal aspects, and the True Cross Academy for that high school feel, and suddenly you realize that Blue Exorcist is actually more multi-layered than you thought it was. The academy setting and the protagonists being teenagers fools you into seeing it as your usual shounen story, just set in a weirdly religious environment. And with the main characters being the Devil’s sons.

The Blue Night arc has Rin going back in time to find out the real facts about his and Yukio’s births.

Their mother Yuri Egin was an orphan who, as it turns out, was targeted by the Devil when she was still young. She stumbles upon Shiro Fujimoto, Rin and Yukio’s jiji, the one who later on more or less raises them with the help of monks and the rest of the staff. Shiro has run away from the academy, having been one of those students who were experimented on under Mephisto Pheles’ orders, but he is captured and returned to the academy. The academy discovers that Yuri has the potential to become an exorcist, and she is accepted as a student.

Shiro and Yuri, friends who frequently quarrel on the outside, are in love with each other but can never quite admit it. Meanwhile, through some plot complications that I had trouble following, the Devil is being held captive at the academy. He is a handful to deal with, and the only person he emotionally relates to is Yuri, who taught him when he was young.

By the time Shiro acknowledges his love for Yuri it’s too late, as Yuri has already committed to become the Devil’s lover in an attempt to pacify and prevent him from destroying the world.

The upshot of this trip to the past is that Rin sees the sacrifices that were made by a whole lot of people, Yuri especially, so that he and Yukio could survive. And Shiro’s sacrifice in raising the boys also finally makes sense. It never did before this, as all we saw was this old irascible priest, basically, who seemingly was stuck raising these two kids for an unknown reason.

Blue Exorcist’s Blue Night arc ends on a cliffhanger, but not the kind you resent. More like, yes, it makes sense to end it here and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I watched Momentary Lily because it was a GoHands production. GoHands was the producer of K, sometimes called K Project, one of my favorite animes.

Momentary Lily was... okay. I mean, it was certainly no K and I wasn’t expecting it to be, based on the premise and the previews. It’s about a gang of young women who survive the apocalypse, and who are somehow gifted with incredible sci-fi type weapons to fight the “Wild Hunt,” huge mecha-ish monsters that enforce whatever new order now exists in the world.

Momentary Lily suffers from pacing issues. For the first seven episodes, it’s what you’d expect. The young women - teenage girls, actually - spend their days fighting the Wild Hunt, running from the Wild Hunt, hiding, and foraging for canned foods to make meals with. Meal prep is a running theme in the show, as the main character, Renge, loves to cook and eat meals with her new friends.

Two things happen in the first few episodes that hint at the mystery at the core of the story. The blonde-haired Yuri, who seems like a main character, unexpectedly dies at the end of Episode 2. Another issue is that Renge can’t recall any of her memories. Her body also heals miraculously, without treatment.

It’s not until Episode 8 that the truth begins to be revealed. When it is, it’s not a bad plot twist, but more hints could’ve been dropped sooner, and the fact that they waited so long means that the first seven episodes felt aimless. The visuals are pretty - the GoHands team are masters at character design - but this time, the story simply wasn’t that engaging.

Which brings me to Unnamed Memory, season two.

I already knew I would enjoy Unnamed Memory’s second season regardless of whether they explained everything that happened at the end of the first season. The first season was a wonderful slow-burning romance with a huge payoff in Episode 11, as Tinasha and Oscar married in a beautiful ceremony.

It was in the first season’s final episode, Episode 12, where the jaw-dropping reversal happened. One should always be wary of fantasy stories where magic is a thing. Meaning...

Meaning that everything that came before then got wiped out, reversed, in that final episode. ARGHHH

So season two begins with the characters starting over from scratch, essentially. The characters are beautiful and the writing was so good in the first season, that I had no worries that this season would go awry.

And in fact, it didn’t go awry. Basically, as this is a fantasy romance story, the characters had to fall in love with each other all over again, just in a different time period and with a few things that were changed.

And they did. And... as it turns out, this wasn’t their only time that they had a do-over, not hardly.

Here’s the thing. Magic on its own, with rules, okay. Time travel on its own, with rules, okay. Both magic and time travel... there are no rules left that mean anything.

The first season’s end saw Oscar go back in time when he touched a certain magic orb. And Tinasha - who retains the knowledge of what happened in their other relationship in season 1 - in season 2, she has to proceed with Oscar knowing that he doesn’t remember her from that time, and is under no obligation to fall in love with her again.

Most of the plot tension in season 2 comes from this. Along the way, Oscar gleans that he loved Tinasha in another time and that he made a certain sacrifice to save her.

The story’s antagonist, Valt, is from the mysterious Time-Reader clan. We don’t get how critical his role is in the overall story until fairly late in season 2.

He appears to be resetting time, or causing new timelines to form, or something... maybe I’d lost focus or stopped caring by the middle of the season, because I wasn’t clear on it. But finally, near the end, in Episode 11, he comes out with it.

And it’s a huge info dump when he does. Basically, it was this:

TINASHA: Valt...? Did you transport me here?

VALT: Yes, I did. It was for a reason.

TINASHA: What reason?

VALT: Well, let me tell you why... and explain my powers... and what I did to you before... and the significance of it... and...

Okay, I’m exaggerating, but not by much. The scene goes on for long minutes as the two stand facing each other and Valt explains about the Time-Readers and what they do and what Tinasha must do for him in order to save her kingdom of Tuldarr, etc.

It’s amazing, but this continues into the beginning of the final episode, Episode 12. More truths are revealed, including about Oscar, about whom it’s been hinted from the beginning that he also has the ability to use magic.

The bottom line is, the series ends well, or at least decently, in a story sense. The different timelines are stopped, leaving one new timeline that can’t be interfered with. Oscar and Tinasha find each other in that timeline and it’s implied that they’ll fall in love yet again.

My point about magic and time travel in fantasy stories is that we need to be told earlier than the final few episodes not only what is going on, but also what the parameters of the magic and time travel are, what can and can’t be done, and how to counter those abilities. Otherwise it’s a free-for-all where anything can happen, simply because we are told so.

It felt like the producers thought they had a season three coming, only to be told around Episode 9 that they would have to wrap the story up in season two instead. At least, I hope that’s how it happened, otherwise I don’t know why the end was so rushed.

But would I recommend Unnamed Memory despite its flawed final season? Yes.

At its heart, Unnamed Memory is a solid romance. The characters truly love one another; you can feel it. Each is drawn to the other again and again through time, realizing that the other is the only one for them.

Again, the character designs are wonderful. And the seiyuu for Oscar, Yoshiki Nakajima, has a great voice, very masculine and yet velvety smooth.

Another reason to recommend Unnamed Memory is that Tinasha and Oscar are equals in status and power. Oscar is the King of Farsas, while Tinasha is the most powerful witch, and in at least one timeline she’s also the inheritor to the throne of Tuldarr, her own kingdom. I love stories where the characters, whether romantically involved or not, are equals and have to respect each other.

I’ll probably rewatch Unnamed Memory in future. Actually, I would consider buying the DVDs if they’re ever released in the U.S.

Finally, Dragon Ball Daima, a holdover from fall season, came to an end in the middle of this season. The series had a rushed feeling at the end, similar to Unnamed Memory, but sadly, I think we can guess why.

Akira Toriyama passed away in the midst of developing Dragon Ball Daima. I don’t know whether he had figured out the ending or if he’d had the time to fully work through the details. Regardless, I enjoyed Dragon Ball Daima. It is an addition to the Dragon Ball canon universe and to Toriyama-sensei’s memory that is entirely worthy of both.

The Winter 2025 Anime Season

It’s a good start to 2025 with a solid winter anime season! Not only are some excellent series continuing on from fall 2024, but there are some choice new titles arriving soon.

But first... a wrap-up of the fall season.

Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War arc concluded with a bang-up episode. This was the third cour of four and it featured some of the best fight scenes in the series, including one with creepy Mayuri and an electrifying (pun intended) Yoruichi scene right at the end. And in case anyone actually thought a certain character had betrayed Ichigo and crew (... as if!), the final episode put that idea to rest.

The fourth and final cour of the Thousand Year Blood War arc, “The Calamity,” doesn’t have an air date set as of yet.

Blue Exorcist finished its Beyond the Snow Saga arc and last Saturday launched right into the new Blue Night Saga arc. Finally, the story is delving into Rin and Yukio’s parentage, a subject that has been a mystery up to now.

I’ll admit that I don’t normally find Blue Exorcist deep or hugely absorbing, but this arc will likely be an exception to that. The brothers’ relationship is the story’s most compelling element and what happened in their family’s past will explain a lot about their dynamics.

Alas, The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup Semi-Finals ended and the next season doesn’t appear to be on the horizon. PoT is an old favorite and I hope the next season won’t be too far off in the future.

I am slow-watching the Shinsengumi anime Blue Miburo, and I just finished Yakuza Fiance, which I wound up liking more than I expected. The characters are all violent and weren’t easy to relate to at first, but the main couple is engaging and there’s even a bit of love triangle energy between the girl, Yoshino, her yakuza clan’s big-brother type Shoma, and Kirishima, the semi-psychotic teenager from a different clan whom Yoshino is engaged to. There’s clearly more to the story than what was covered in 12 episodes, so there should be a second season coming along at some point.

And Dragon Ball Daima is continuing into the winter season! It’s wonderful to have a fresh Dragon Ball episode each week.

Which brings us to the new anime season.

Anime stories with tons of cute girls isn’t usually my thing, but I’m making an exception for Momentary Lily.

The reason is the animation studio. GoHands made K (aka K Project), one of my all-time favorite series, and on that basis alone I’m happy to at least give it a try. K featured a beautiful use of color in its production art, as well as some of the best male character designs I’ve ever seen in anime.



But the winter anime I’m looking forward to the most is...

Unnamed Memory was my favorite series of spring 2024. A romance story between a crown prince and a powerful witch set in a fantasy world, it featured solid romance, gorgeous character designs, interesting side characters, basically everything I enjoy in a story.

The anime’s first season reached its climax in episode 11, which should have been the happy ending, and it would have been if not for the episode that came after. I don’t want to spoil anything, but as a reminder magic is an element in the story and let’s just say that certain complications arose in episode 12 that necessitated at least a second season to put everything back the way it needs to be.

And finally, there’s a movie being released at the end of this month that I hope Crunchyroll or somebody has the good sense to license.

The original Rose of Versailles series has been on my to-watch list for about twenty years, or as long as I’ve been an anime fan. It’s a classic and I put it on my list because everyone said it was good, but I never knew until recently what made it different from any other shoujo/romance story.

The story description from Udon Entertainment for the manga:

“Oscar François de Jarjeyes is a young noblewoman raised as a son by her father. As commander of Marie Antoinette's palace guard, Oscar is brought face-to-face with the luxury of King Louis XVI’s court at Versailles. Joined by her servant André, Oscar is privy to the intrigue and deceit of France's last great royal regime.”

Yeah. Oscar is a woman masquerading as a man. It’s not just the gender-switch aspect that attracts me but also the seiyuu casting.

Oscar is being played by Miyuki Sawashiro, the sexiest female voice in Japan (as voted by the fans), and Marie Antoinette is played by Aya Hirano, one of my favorite seiyuu. She was Haruhi Suzumiya in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kaoru in Zettai Karen Children and its fantastic spinoff series The Unlimited, and Misa Amane in Death Note, among many other roles.

I’ve always admired Hirano’s talent and drive. She studied voice acting in New York and had her own rock band for a time. In recent years she has decentered voice acting, but hopefully Rose of Versailles will put her seiyuu career back on the map.

There are other new and newish anime series that are maybes to add to my currently watching list, but we’ll see how much time I have for them. I’ve got plenty to watch as it is. ;-)

Mid-Season Update and Thoughts on Transformative Works

So I somehow missed the fact that My Hero Academia was returning this spring season.

Actually, I know exactly how I didn’t notice. They began in April with four clip shows that recapped the highlights of the previous 6 seasons. I saw that something was happening with the series but they seemed like OVAs so I didn’t watch them. Until Season 7 began on May 4... So I caught up with the first two episodes.

I think this may be the final season of the anime, unless some commenters I’ve read are wrong. It wouldn’t surprise me. The storyline has gotten dark the past few seasons and since it’s a shounen story, I think we have our final or at least next-to-final boss in Shigaraki/All for One. (The only other villain who needs a resolution would be Dabi. Given his importance to the family of one of MHA’s heroes, I expect Dabi will be handled last.)

My Hero Academia had such a bright, sunny beginning. I have to say that once the story got dark, it stayed dark. I still enjoy the characters and of course I’ll watch it to the end, but I kind of wish it had taken a different route.

As for the rest of the spring season, Unnamed Memory and Spice and Wolf are still lovely and Bartender Glass of God is still an adult viewer’s delight. Tadaima Okaeri is proving to be a bath of emotions, which I more or less expected given the premise (gay omegaverse couple with cute baby).

Kaiju No. 8 is a blast, just a straight-up action ride with fun characters and a lot of humor. All in all, it’s a very good anime season.

Every now and then I feel compelled to highlight certain fan works. The term transformative works applies to fan fiction, fan art, and the like. It doesn’t really cover, however, just how complex and richly nuanced some of these works can be.

Hetalia: Axis Powers remains a fertile story universe for transformative fan works, especially given its huge cast of characters, historical setting, and large female following. The amount of fan art alone is staggering (just Google “Hetalia” and hit “Images” for a small sampling).

Since the story at least tangentially deals with World War II, some of its fan works are dead serious in tone. Lately I’ve been enamored with the following YouTube (or I should say NicoNico) video.

The context is Germany’s relationship with his older brother Prussia. Before you watch, look out for:

1) The enormous level of effort put into this video. This is a fan-created video with fan-drawn art, fan-composed new lyrics for the Vocaloid RIN song “Kokoro” (“Heart”), a fan singing those new lyrics, and a fan video editor to cut it all together.

2) The beautiful artwork. In particular, note the faces, bodies, hands. Whoever drew this is a professional-level artist (and is also completely in love with these characters, you can tell from the detail work).

From concept to completion, this video must have taken months to create. It’s one of countless fan-produced things out there, drawings and fan fiction and doujinshi and videos and dolls and cosplay outfits and everything else you can imagine. All made out of pure love with not a thought of money.

Enjoy. (And hit the CC for closed captions.)

Video Credits (video is below the credit picture):

Spring 2024 Anime Season - It’s Adult Romance Time!

I was out of town when the spring anime season began, so I got a late start on it. When I did, I was happy to see that there are a number of good offerings this season. And oddly - there’s a theme to them.

My favorite anime this season is Unnamed Memory.

In the Kingdom of Falsas, Crown Prince Oscar faces a dilemma. The Witch of Silence has placed a curse on him that prevents him from having an heir. He needs an heir, so he journeys to a faraway tower to seek the help of the Witch of the Azure Moon to lift the curse.

The witch, Tinasha, knew Oscar’s great-grandfather. (She uses her magic to look young.) She explains that his curse is strong enough to kill any normal woman who tries to bear his child.

Oscar then impudently asks if she - as a powerful witch - could successfully bear his child. She is so shocked that she answers honestly: yes.

Thus begins an adult romance story between a prince and a powerful female magician, with flirtatiousness and gentle humor and a nice fantasy setting. I feel lucky that I happened upon this series as I’d heard nothing about it beforehand and I don’t think I would’ve chosen it from the art visuals alone, though the visuals are good quality. I’m not normally drawn to fantasy settings.

Unnamed Memory joins another adult romance on my list this season.

“I am the Wise Wolf Holo. How many of your lifetimes do you think I have lived?”

This is the much anticipated remake of Spice and Wolf and several episodes in, I can say that it has lived up to the hype. I was in my early days as an anime fan when the original series ran and honestly don’t recall too much of the storyline, just that Lawrence was a trader and Holo was, well, a wolf.

The animation is lovely and I love that seiyuu Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu returned to play these roles again. The two voice actors are close friends in real life and their ease with each other is apparent.

And now for something completely different - the season’s big shounen epic.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to try Kaiju No. 8. But I did and at least from the two-episodes-in vantage point, it’s a worthwhile pickup.

Kafka (yes... they went there lol) is a member of the cleanup crew that mops up after giant kaiju monsters get killed by Japan’s elite monster-killing unit, the Defense Corps. Since high school, Kafka has tried to join the unit but keeps failing the exam. Meanwhile, his childhood friend Mina Ashiro was accepted, now leads the unit, and is famous across Japan.

As children the two had vowed to grow up and fight kaiju together. Kafka has had to deal with bitterness and a sense of failure. That changes when he’s attacked by a kaiju while laid up in the hospital, which is witnessed by new recruit Reno Ichikawa. The kaiju enters Kafka’s body and like Gregor Samsa in Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Kafka becomes a kaiju himself.

Kafka astutely recognizes that the Defense Corps will come to kill him, so he escapes the partially wrecked hospital with Ichikawa. The scene where the two run in panic, with Kafka desperately trying to turn back into a human with Ichikawa screaming at his side, is the funniest scene I’ve seen in anime in a while.

Of course Kafka becomes a kaiju that rescues humans, and he does eventually learn how to regain his human form. Kaiju No. 8 has a shounen feel but the characters are twenty-something adults, and clearly the story is being set up for Kafka to join Mina in the Defense Corps, with a possible romance to follow.

Have you guessed the theme that runs through these three series? Actually there are two themes.

The first is that these are all adult romances (I’m convinced there will be romance between Kafka and Mina). There’s such a different feel to romance stories between adults as opposed to the high school ones.

The second theme is that in each of these stories the female lead is totally independent and empowered. The witch Tinasha has powerful magic. Holo in her giant wolf form could squash Lawrence or any other human like a bug if she wanted to. And Mina is a hero whose path developed separate and apart from Kafka, who still struggles to find his way.

These women were living their own lives before the story began; none of them need to be with the male protagonist for their survival or any other reason. These relationships are equal or even female-superior at their core. This makes a huge difference in the way they feel, at least to this viewer.

I get a little tired - and I can’t be the only one - of fantasy stories where the prince falls in love with the scullery maid or whatever. Hidden in those stories is the implicit acceptance that patriarchal power structures will hold until the end of all time. Really? I’d rather watch stories where women not only have their own agency but their own power. I personally find that more stimulating than another Cinderella retelling.

The last two series I’m watching this spring also feature adult main characters.

Well, you knew I would be watching this one, right? ;-) Tadaima, Okaeri is a gentle story about a m/m couple with a small child who was carried by one of the men as an “omega.”

Omegaverse stories are about men who can carry children in their bodies like women. I think omega mpreg stories began in fan fiction and then spread to indie published works. This is the first manga/anime story I’ve seen that has an omega mpreg plot.

And finally, Bartender Glass of God.

In Ginza, there’s a special bar called Eden Hall. The bartender there is a soft-spoken young man named Ryu Sasakura. He will pour you the exact drink you need in the moment, tailored to your needs specifically.

Miwa Kurushima works for the swanky Hotel Cardinal. The hotel is looking for a bartender for their high-end bar but the owner is very picky. It has to be someone who will pour you the exact drink you need in the moment, tailored to your needs specifically... yeah. Once Miwa finds Ryu, she relentlessly pursues him to come to work for the hotel.

Ryu was a bartender in the west who has now returned to Japan. His background is a mystery but there are hints of a painful past.

Bartender Glass of God has a nice slice of life for adults feel. Like the other series on my list, the theme for the season appears to be anime about adults, for adults. It’s a good time to be an older anime fan. ;-)