Buckle up boys, the best season of the year is coming. That's right, between spooky festivals and huge meals with family and friends (that doesn't involve scouring around for gifts at the store), fall is back to save my year. Before that happens though, we've got to say goodbye to the shows of summer that kept us entertained during the heat. Well, some of them anyway. A lot of these really fucked me over.

Oshi no Ko Season 2

MY BOY MELT TOOK MY HEART AND MELTED IT BABY LET’S GO! Oh, uh, we’re starting already huh? Oshi no Ko continues the amazing deep dive into the world of entertainment careers in this next season by turning the spotlight on theater, which let me tell you appears to be a whole lot different in Japan. More people tend to enjoy plays in Japan than America which leads to higher budgets, which leads to higher quality, which draws in more people. The cycle ends up with a ton of people watching those anime stage plays that previously I never understood. Apart from learning a ton about it, we also touch on some other key elements like adapting a manga. Oh, and we resolve the entire main driving force of the plot (at least temporarily) too. It’s a pretty jam-packed season that didn’t disappoint fans of the first. Now, I must admit I live in fear as it continues. Why? Well Ruby seems like she really wants to find and marry her doctor that tried to save her in her previous life as a cancer patient. As we know, that’s our boy Aqua. I’m really hoping that doesn't end up going anywhere. Normally if some weird relationship occurs “hey, it’s anime baby” but this show is so realistic and down-to-earth otherwise that to me it’d feel completely out of place.

Tower of God Season 2

Hands down the worst anime of the season I witnessed. Horrendous pacing that's so fast you don't care about a single member of the cast. A generic and bland artstyle that completely removes the unique visual appeal that season one possessed. Lame animation that turns every action scene into a low-octane brawl where the hardest part is staying awake to see it happen. Wacky plot points that arise out of thin air and feel out of place. There is absolutely nothing I enjoyed about this shit show apart from the OST, and I'm pretty sure that's because a lot of the OST was recycled from season one. What the hell happened to this? This was supposed to be the manhwa adaptation that made a name for the Korean comic industry and showed off that manhwa adaptations are worth viewing too. Season one did exactly that. Season two feels like a Japanese hit piece of why no other race should even bother attempting to make material for an anime. I wouldn't recommend this to my enemies. If you watched season one and hoped to see a great continuation of the adventure... I'm sorry.

Suicide Squad Isekai

I don't understand the hate for this show. It received a fair bit of negative attention and reviews, coming in at only 65% on Anilist. People seemed to expect... a good story? Solid character development? Meaningful relationships? FROM A SUICIDE SQUAD PROJECT??? I came in expecting some hype action and dumb comedy, and that's what this production delivered. In fact, MAPPA did a fantastic job of making each Squad member stand out during combat with vastly different fighting styles. You could see a black silhouette of Harley Quinn and know exactly who was in combat based on her stick shadow's movements alone. Add in some funny interactions amongst the Squad villains and it made for a relaxing ride that didn't take itself too seriously. I got what I came for and I recommend this one for anyone who has been missing out on some good fights lately. The squabbles between Harley and Kitana were especially awesome. If for some wild reason you expected this to have a strong narrative, uh, go ahead and skip it.

Shoushimin Series

Ah yes, the "wasted potential" incarnate. They had every possible opportunity to turn this into a unique and wonderful mystery show and they fumbled the bag. The outline here is that two weird kids (one who gets too into revenge and one who gets too into mysteries) are trying to become ordinary people. And they need a shit ton of help because they are not even close to ordinary. They talk and act like robots, so much so that it becomes hard to care about either one on a character level. By the end of the season they reached a big disagreement, but I really didn't care if it was resolved or not because I don't care about these weirdos. Which is a good thing, because hell no it isn't resolved. The season ends on a COMPLETE cliffhanger with plot points wide open. To tell you how open I'm talking, neither me nor Kinky even realized we reached the end. We both tuned back in the next week to see another episode, only to realize the damn thing was already over. Season 2 was immediately announced but I really don't want to have to sit through another installment. The whole time I was hoping this was a story about aliens or animals-turned-human learning to act human through solving mysteries and conundrums. Instead I'm left believing it's really about two weird kids who learn... well I don't know what the message would be since we didn't resolve shit.

Mayonaka Punch

This one could have been amazing, but it ended up being okay. I was hoping for way more time spent on the group’s adventures with YouTube, and I mean the real adventures. Dealing with wacky editing software and low budgets, suffering through fighting the algorithm, trying to schedule collabs with people that don’t turn out to be pedos, you know the REAL challenges of a YouTube career. Instead we get a few moments here and there that touch on the problems that arise during content creation and the other 90% of the show is memes and some character building. At the end of the day I did end up enjoying the group dynamic and several of the comedy bits took me by surprise in terms of making me chuckle. Is this something I’d recommend for anyone who missed it though? Not really. The main stake in the plot is treated as a “haha just kidding” finale conclusion and you won’t learn much from the character growth except “hey be honest with yourself”. Overall a cute ride for those who hopped on… that’s about it. If you want an actual analysis of social media careers, stick to Oshi no Ko.

The Elusive Samurai

The undisputed dark horse in the season as far as I’m aware. If this went under your radar I don’t blame you at all, but take one look at the unique styling combined with the gorgeous animation and you’ll realize this was nothing to sleep on. The series followed a somewhat loose historical storyline and since Japanese history (like any history) can sometimes feel like being beaten over the head with a book, I was worried I’d be lost in the time period and clans. Fortunately this show does a good job of sticking to the basics, and again this is a very loose interpretation with a ton of supernatural abilities and moments mixed in. I really don’t have anything to complain about. It was super enjoyable watching the young Elusive Samurai and his generals try to overcome strong enemies with unconventional techniques and tactics. And when we do get down to business and squabble, it has some of the most gorgeous conflicts of this anime batch. The ending pretty much wraps up the current arc, but the main bad guy is in no way defeated. It’s very much a “please read the manga” ending in terms of overall plot but you won’t walk away feeling cheated out of a satisfying conclusion. I hope this gets renewed down the road.

Too Many Losing Heroines!

 I picked this up late based on Kinky’s recommendation and boy oh boy did I make a solid choice (of listening to someone else’s choice). This series follows a guy and his “harem” of three girls, except we’re breaking the harem stereotypes by dishing out depression and sadness. Each girl receives her own arc, and uh spoilers but none of them end up in the regular old happy relationship. This was another super-realistic atmosphere alongside Oshi no Ko where life doesn’t always end up with the nice guy and the cute girl getting together. Instead there’s a ton of growth and self-reflection as the squad learns what it means to lose in life’s game of love. If you want a “romance” that isn’t afraid to break the mold a bit (plus with an animation budget not typically expected for a show of this genre) this is worth going back for too. The ending wraps up all the current arcs but still doesn't resolve any overarching journey (similar to The Elusive Samurai) so I am once again begging the studio for a season two. Don’t think you’ll be completely cucked by an abrupt ending though. Oh… and with the cast this production provides in mind, its got a solid variety of “waifu of the season” material.

Alright everybody, time to wrap up because anime is an endlessly growing medium and now we don’t even get breaks between seasonal content anymore. One finishes and it’s already time to move on to the next group for Fall 2024. You know that just like always we’re gonna say hello to them bad boys… but I’m afraid we’ll be doing that together, separately from now on.

This will be WakeUpSnooze’s last article. As the diehard readers of the blog may have noticed, I’ve kinda been on my way out for a while now with a few sporadic articles here and there, no time to respond to comments or engage in discussion, and no energy for longer research articles. As it turns out, getting a “real job” will do that to a blogger! The blog itself hasn’t been performing that great either compared to what it costs to run. I won’t say any spoilers but you may want to prepare for some other changes coming down the pipeline to Doujins.com (especially as we approach the end of the year). For now though, it’s time to take my leave.

I’d like to thank everyone who tuned in to my articles, most importantly the long ass ones like this series that really probably shouldn’t even be on a doujin site. I mean, we got pages to fap to not novels to read. Still, for some reason this anime review series of mine performed pretty well all things considered and I’m appreciative of those who repeatedly returned to chat and discuss anime. The truth is, after eight years of blogging for this site, I don’t have much left to talk about in terms of doujins or hentai. I’ve said all there really is to say, at least from my perspective. I’m sad that I won’t be able to bring the latest news or more seasonal reviews to you all, but it’s not like I have the resources available to put in the effort I used to anyway so perhaps it’s for the best. Thank you again to the blog readers who stopped by on this journey, new faces and old veterans. I’m feeling pretty tired on this fine evening. I think Snooze is going to sleep for a long, long time.

What anime did you watch this season? What anime do you plan to pick up next? Did you enjoy this series? Let’s say goodbye in the comments below!