Autumn 2023 End of Season Rankings

Pretty much all the winter anime have now aired, and (I think) I’ve got a lineup I’m happy with! But that can wait for a future post, this one’s my final thoughts on autumn’s offerings.

Due to having internet speed issues from late November to mid December, I fell several weeks behind, and ended up dropping Goblin Slayer II, Paradox Live the Animation & Shy to focus on catching up with the rest.

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16: Helck

Helck survived being dropped mostly because I’d already watched >16 episodes of it by that point… classic sunk-cost fallacy! But also, the flashback arc around about that time was definitely the series’ high point. After that, a few underwhelming battles and a ‘power of friendship’ pep talk, then it ended before the manga finale could be adapted. Average story with low production values, doubt I’ll bother with any sequel it might get.

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15: 16bit Sensation: Another Layer

I thought I was watching a simple time slip anime, full of 90s nostalgia and a glimpse at what game development looked like back then. But suddenly aliens, alternate universes, and people floating in tanks! It was interesting to see what new plot development would be thrown at us each week, but I feel they could have done “what if moe culture developed around American comic style instead?” without making all those games featured in the series look so deliberately ugly. I didn’t like where it ended up going.

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14: Kamierabi

I picked up Kamierabi precisely because its first episode was my kind of mindless trash, but it had a few early moments of potential thanks to its memorable characters and cool abilities, so I still ended up disappointed when it later went off the rails. I might check out the sequel though, if only to try and make sense of that final episode!

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13: Dead Mount Death Play Part II

Dead Mount Death Play has all the same story elements that made Baccano! and Durarara!! two of my all-time favourite anime. I wish I could like it anywhere near as much as those series, but the execution definitely wasn’t as good here – poor pacing and below average animation held it back. Still, the last few episodes featured some big twists and decent fight scenes!

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12: Under Ninja

Dropping from 5th, mid season… Under Ninja was certainly an experience! I loved the humour, but there was far less of that the further the series progressed, and far more stiffly animated action scenes to replace it. Though I was intrigued by the story, the ending left me with a ton of questions and very few answers. Flawed, but fun.

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11: Dark Gathering

Down from #7 in my summer end of season rankings, despite its second half being much better – that just shows how much better autumn’s anime were on average! It was nice to find a genuinely creepy horror anime, and my very early complaints about Yayoi’s ghost hunting methods getting repetitive stopped being an issue once she was forced to bring out the ‘graduates’.

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10: Uma Musume: Pretty Derby S3

Another solid series of Uma Musume! The formula was more of the same: amusing training, friendly rivalries, glorious wins and painful losses. But it works well, as it does for more typical sports anime. The final race in particular was very emotional, I’m glad they made it as long as they did. And we finally got the idol performance~

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9: Hoshikuzu Telepath

All I had to say about Hoshikuzu Telepath mid-season was how cute and heartwarming it was… so the drama in the second half following the competition was a big shock! But a welcome one, in the end, allowing for a lot of great character development for Umika, Matataki and Haruno. Their rocket club activities were interesting, too. 🙂

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8: Megumi no Daigo: Kyuukoku no Orange

When this series is good, it is exceptional; those first rescues with the chef trapped by rebar and the flooded basement in particular had me gripped more than anything else this season. But the slow pacing is atrocious, and seems to be getting worse. Then you’ve got recaps at the start of each episode to rival One Piece! I only hope that future episodes will give us more content and less padding. [spoilers for the first two weeks of winter 2024: it’s still getting worse!]

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7: Bullbuster

Autumn 2023’s overlooked gem, in my opinion. I was not expecting the series to focus so heavily on Namidome as a small business, where the real enemy wasn’t the giant monsters taking over the island, but the greedy parent company seeking to profit from the situation – very unique. The ending was a little rushed, but not enough to ruin things.

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6: Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri

I came hoping for deep, complex murder mysteries, but I stayed for the ridiculously daft comedy! Ron and Totomaru make for a great double act, and no matter how serious the case, the former always managed to say or do something to make me laugh. I did cringe a bit when Sherlock and Moriarty were brought into the story, as seems to happen in a lot of anime these days, but I am interested to see what difference the ‘House of M’ taking a more active role will make in series 2.

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5: Dr. Stone: New World Part II

As much as I keep going on about preferring the tech tree and scientific advancements of S1 to all the combat focus of later series, Senku’s showdown with Ibara was fantastic. Great teamwork and ingenuity. And after that, a couple of episodes to set the scene for the next (and final, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up split into multiple ‘parts’) series. I’m going to miss these characters when it’s over, but this last adventure sounds like it’s going to be a real blast. 😀

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4: Spy x Family S2

The cruise ship arc, easily the longest and most action-packed story we’ve seen so far from Spy x Family, was wonderful – such a great balance of serious spy action and the show’s usual humour! Most of the other episodes were made up of mini side stories, enjoyable enough, but not very memorable. Doesn’t look like we’ve got a ‘part 2’ split season this time, but hopefully if it does get a third series, it’ll get back on track with Operation Strix!

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3: Jujutsu Kaisen S2

As mentioned mid-season, the Shibuya Incident arc was mostly back-to-back fights, with spectacular animation. No shortage of hard-hitting character deaths. But just when it was all getting too dark and serious, Todo showed up and reminded me how silly the show could be. Definitely not as all-round good as S1, but it never failed to entertain.

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2: Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

Dropping from #1, but through no fault of its own; the strong setting, clever interlinked plotlines and brilliant main character still make each episode of Kusuriya no Hitorigoto one of the highlights of my week. The amount of detail in the backgrounds, clothing etc, make it one of the best looking series of the season, and the music is also sublime. Sets a high bar for the new winter anime to compete with!

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1: Migi to Dali

Migi to Dali is just so unique, so weird and creepy, yet touching and heartwarming. No point in the story was too dark or too serious for one of the characters to do something ridiculous – if anything, those were the perfect moments for its bizarre comedy. Great pacing for a single season run, and a satisfying ending that wrapped it all up perfectly, were enough to bump it up to #1.