lol no

Because you like Encouragement of Climb:
LaidBack Camp

Because you like K-ON!:
Hidamari Sketch

Because you like Monogatari:
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

Because everyone should watch Symphogear:
Symphogear

Very funny, very sweet.
Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu

I think I'm obsessed with this show, y'all.

On the deranged scale (with episode two’s game being a 1 and Vipere being a 10, though as the show goes on I imagine we’ll be adjusting that scale), this is probably a 5. Some people were complaining about the show’s more “normal” episodes, apparently, but for me, the way the show seamlessly switches between “standard sports anime” and “what in the everloving heck am I watching” is one of its great strengths. The normal stuff keeps the crazy stuff grounded, which adds weight to both the characters and the narrative. When you can drop a line like “an illegal golfer with ties to the mafia” and I don’t even blink, you’ve sold me on your crazy premise. I have accepted the over-the-top setting as perfectly normal, and THAT is a strong, subtle achievement in storytelling that’s VERY difficult to pull off.

As for the VR game, it’s fun how much they get into it; before Aoi shows up, Eve thinks to herself about how non-physically taxing the experience is, since she doesn’t have to walk from hole to hole. By the end of their match, however, they’re both lying on the ground, panting from exertion, which I'm sure isn't a metaphor for anything. It’s a subtle but nice indication of how much they love each ot—playing golf against each other, and that they’ve both finally met their match. The fact that this great character moment is taking place in a virtual space where Eve is dressed like a catgirl and Aoi like a superhero is a perfect example of this show in a nutshell: utterly deranged setting, real and earnest characters.

Also, this show is SO GOOD at writing heartbroken melodramatic teenagers in love. "The heat's left my body. I'll never feel that heat again." Just pitch-perfect, haha.

That said, other characters are already dropping the “you come from DIFFERENT WORLDS, you can NEVER BE TOGETHER” line, which I really hope is less foreshadowing and more something for Eve and Aoi to reject and triumph over. No bittersweet endings, please.

Anyway this might be my favorite show of the season, which I never thought I'd say in a season with S2 of Machikado. Give us two cour, you cowards!

"Can't make their promised meeting because of circumstances beyond her control." - weak, tired, overdone

"Can't make their promised meeting because she was playing an illegal golf game as proxy for a mafia boss in a literally underground course with randomly-generated landscapes versus a lunatic who cheats by unzipping her jumpsuit & secreting a perfume." - genius, 10/10, no notes

I don't know how this show even exists but I'm so, SO glad it does.

Clannad After Story, March Comes In Like A Lion, A Silent Voice. An argument could be made for Liz and the Blue Bird. Incredibly, the Honda ad airing this season, Super Cub, has a pretty quiet and delicate portrayal of a character with depression, though she seems to recover fairly quickly. That first episode though, ooph.

If I Could Reach You

The first episode is on YouTube, per the official website, but it's not translated. Also, I don't know if all the episodes will be available there, or just the first one.

Granbelm!! Best show of 2019. Magical girls piloting mechas, from the director of Re:Zero, starring Aoi Yuuki and Yoko Hikasa. I am baffled this did not do better.

Idiots inexplicably good at hard thing.