Since this season seems fairly light and pretty heavily weighted towards the weekends, I’ve decided to supplement with other shows from my backlog to watch in between:

• Sasaki & Miyano - This is based on one of my favorite manga of all time, but I skipped the anime when it came out because I was so disappointed by the BL budget and sort of weird pacing. But going back in knowing its flaws, I’m able to enjoy seeing my boys fall in love all over again. It’s not the perfect adaptation I would have dreamed of, but it’s still that same story I love so much.
• Revenger (not to be confused with Tokyo Revengers) - I was pretty busy during the season this came out and ended up not being able to continue basically any of the shows I’d wanted to, but this was one I was pretty excited for. It’s about feudal Japanese catholic assassins who only take on clients who are looking for revenge, and all of the characters have silly anime weapons that they use in pretty brutal ways, like the kid who uses a kite where the string is covered in bits of broken glass. I think so far it’s balancing well its edgy tone and its goofy elements, where it’s fun and not meant to be taken too seriously. I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews, though, so maybe it is supposed to be taken seriously and I’m the only one laughing at seeing a man pray to the virgin Mary for the souls of the people who he just killed with a sheet of gold leaf.

The resolution this episode felt sort of unearned. It seemed like we were being lead to believe that this A Tale of Perishing was deeper and more complex than the simple movie that existed in the real world, but then the solution to a philosophical disagreement was just a handsome anime boy and a musical number. And normally I’d be all for that, but that fixing Memmeln’s nihilism felt like a cop-out. Though I did still appreciate the handsome anime boy and musical number.

It’s an edgy revengefest, but it at least has some of its own ideas and worldbuilding. I’ve heard the gore and nudity has been toned way down from the manga, so I’m not sure it’ll live up to the expectations of people who like that kind of gritty revenge story, but it feels like there’s not that much there beyond that. Overall, it was watchable but very much not for me. I give the premiere a 3/5.