A Peek Into The Spring 2025 Anime Season

Hey y'all, totally forgot this blog even existed. I won't make any promises of trying to be more active here, I simply don't know if I will be or not, but felt like posting here again so I shall. I mostly just want to talk about anime and stuff, more than I already do with friends, I really love anime a lot and want to talk about it more. Every season I always peruse the new anime coming out and add a boatload of them to my PTW list. I thought of doing a series of posts on this before but always forget about it, but not this season!

This is just my ramblings on some upcoming anime. This post will NOT include new seasons/movies/OVAs-of-franchises/remakes/etc -- though there are a lot of those coming out this next season too (like the Konosuba OVAs and the Maid Dragon movie -- which I do hope makes it to US theaters; I saw the Spy X Family movie in the theater and it was a lot of fun). All in all, I want to focus on new shows in these seasonal posts.

Just going to work through the Spring 2025 season top to bottom (order is meaningless outside of that), these are the shows that piqued my interest and some words about them. Also, I didn't watch any promotional materials, just going off of the MyAnimeList entries. Also, ironically it will probably be awhile til I watch these as I prefer to wait til a season has finished airing to watch it without waiting for new episodes.

As you'll see, this looks like an absolutely stacked season, added a ton of stuff to my PTW.

#1: Apocalypse Hotel
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59675/Apocalypse_Hotel

One of the main ones I'm looking forwards to. Robot girls in a hotel after humanity has died off, really interesting premise. Also hotels are an uncommon setting/theme, so I'm curious how it will play a role in the story. Looks quite interesting, certainly curious about it.

#2: Aru Majo ga Shinu Made
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59169/Aru_Majo_ga_Shinu_Made

I love witch girls, I also love emotional anime, and this new series looks like it combines the two. Witch girl who's slowly dying having to collect tears of joy to save herself, it's an interesting premise and has a lot of potential to be quite good. Also, curious how they'll combine these ideas -- witches and emotional dramas.

#3: Ballpark de Tsukamaete!
https://myanimelist.net/anime/60293/Ballpark_de_Tsukamaete

Ok, call me weird, but this is the anime of the Spring 2025 season that I'm looking forwards to the most. I love anime with odd settings and themes, and an anime focused on a concession girl at a baseball stadium most certainly fits the bill. I actually did little league baseball when I was a kid, I hated it then but now as an adult I have a weird affinity for baseball (I never watch it, but I like media based on it, like anime and video games). But(t) yeah, show looks based, cute baseball girl and interesting premise about baseball fans but not directly about the baseball itself. Reminds me of a Japanese movie I watched that was similar, was about the people in the stands and not the baseball itself, curious if this will be similar.

#4: Chotto dake Ai ga Omoi Dark Elf ga Isekai kara Oikaketekita
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59745/Chotto_dake_Ai_ga_Omoi_Dark_Elf_ga_Isekai_kara_Oikaketekita

Reverse tropes are interesting, and this is a reverse isekai -- cute dark elf girl from a fantasy world coming into ours. These types of reverse isekai anime tend to be fun and silly, and this one looks like it will include a healthy dose of ecchi as well (very welcome). Cute girls and fun premise, curious how it will play out!

#5: Danjo no Yuujou wa Seiritsu suru? (Iya, Shinai!!)
https://myanimelist.net/anime/52709/Danjo_no_Yuujou_wa_Seiritsu_suru_Iya_Shinai

First, something about the character designs in this makes me want to laugh. As for the actual show, looks pretty interesting, love polygon stuff I'm guessing from the synopsis on MAL. I do enjoy romcom anime, and this looks like a fun one with a nice setup.

#6: Haite Kudasai, Takamine-san
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59457/Haite_Kudasai_Takamine-san

Modern ecchi anime with a ridiculous plot involving powers to redo things at the cost of stripping clothes. I like ecchi anime, including the absurd ones, and this looks pretty fun. Curious what situations will arise with the show's main mechanic. Episode duration isn't available on MAL yet, but curious if this will be more diverse full-length episodes or shorts all about the specific gimmick -- really can go either way.

#7: Hibi wa Sugiredo Meshi Umashi
https://myanimelist.net/anime/60658/Hibi_wa_Sugiredo_Meshi_Umashi

Looks like a fusion of gourmet and CGDCT, but with a university setting. Curious if the university setting will play a significant role or not, college anime can be quite interesting when done correctly, and this looks cute. As with the previous entry in this list, I just can't tell if it will be full-length episodes or shorts, but I'm curious about it either way.

#8: Isshun de Chiryou shiteita noni Yakutatazu to Tsuihou sareta Tensai Chiyushi, Yami Healer toshite Tanoshiku Ikiru
URL too long, breaks formatting, just look it up on MAL.

Modern fantasy anime, which I'm actually totally cool with. Looks like a significantly less "edgy" Redo Of Healer, a show which I actually liked (especially since it was basically a modern take on old pink anime, but without the actual hentai). Considering I liked the setup of that anime, this one also looks interesting, and the idea of an underground healer is a nice premise. Some cute girls in it as well.

#9: Kakushite! Makina-san!!
https://myanimelist.net/anime/58833/Kakushite_Makina-san

Not the first show to do something like this, but I ain't complaining. New robot girl ecchi anime, this time is about a sex robot, which I can only imagine will lead to a lot of lewd and humorous hi-jinks. Curious how this show will play out, I can foresee it playing around with trying to keep her functions hidden, her showing her true form (this isn't even my final form!), and various predicaments. Looks cute and silly.

#10: Kanpekisugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru
URL too long, breaks formatting, just look it up on MAL.

Really interesting premise of a "too perfect" saint girl being sold off by her fiance to another kingdom. The plot synopsis really piques my interest, curious what the story itself will entail after that initial fiasco. Kind of hard to put my thoughts into words on this one, but I'm definitely looking forwards to it, looks interesting.

#11: Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59452/Katainaka_no_Ossan_Kensei_ni_Naru

Every season I seem to add a few of these modern fantasy anime to my PTW, there's just so many of them made that it's hard not to. Something about this one piqued my interest a bit, having a "past their prime" protagonist leading the party, curious how that will effect things and the story.

#12: Kijin Gentoushou
https://myanimelist.net/anime/49778/Kijin_Gentoushou

Something about this one reminds me of older demon-themed anime, so that drew me in right away. Also add bandaged eye loli to the mix and I'm sold. The anime doesn't have the drama tag on MAL, but just from the look of it and the synopsis, I expect some nice drama mixed with the action and adventure stuff. Curious looking show though, wonder how it will feel.

#13: Kowloon Generic Romance
https://myanimelist.net/anime/60083/Kowloon_Generic_Romance

I love anime with unique settings, and Kowloon most certainly fits the bill. I highly suggest doing some research on Kowloon (the walled city), it's fascinating and really bizarre, is really cool seeing an anime themed around it. Really curious how the setting will apply to the characters, and what it will actually look like animated. Show itself looks like a romcom, which I do enjoy, and the idea of a normal story in such a unique setting piques my interest.

#14: Lazarus
https://myanimelist.net/anime/56038/Lazarus

There's like two seemingly COVID-vaccine inspired anime coming out this upcoming season, and Lazarus is one of the two, and is also the anime from the upcoming season that I've seen people talk about the most. Pandemic horror was a cool thing before the actual pandemic, so I'm curious how this will play out, and is certainly interesting we're getting two anime like this next season.

#15: Maebashi Witches
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59744/Maebashi_Witches

Cute and fun looking anime, wonder if it will be a new long shoujo anime, I love those and would definitely be down for more of those being made. Whatever this show may be, I'm quite curious about it, reminds me of other anime I really enjoy so I'm quite curious about this one. Hoping it's one of those anime with tons of episodes, but a normal sized season would be good too.

#16: Mono
https://myanimelist.net/anime/58492/Mono

Haha the audio better be in mono, haha if there's a sequel it better be called stereo, haha. Jokes aside, this one is another standout for me from the upcoming season. I actually quite enjoy photography and obscure cameras, like I own an early digital camera that uses floppy disks and it's stellar af. This looks like a very enjoyable CGDCT anime with a fun theme, curious what will be displayed here. Also, quite like tho logo, branding, and overall look of this anime.

#17: Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de
https://myanimelist.net/anime/60377/Nazotoki_wa_Dinner_no_Ato_de

When handled well, detective anime can be amazing. I love a good mystery and seeing the characters collect clues and deduce things like motives, suspects, and so on. Happy to see a new detective anime being made (and yes, I know there's another detective anime coming out but it's a spin-off so won't be in this list). Happy that we're getting multiple anime of this genre, hoping they're good (one detective anime I dropped was total nonsense, hoping this isn't anything like that one).

#18: Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi
https://myanimelist.net/anime/58725/Ninja_to_Koroshiya_no_Futarigurashi

First, the idea of ninjas, assassins, and regular people in a comedy anime really makes me think of stuff like Kill Me Baby -- which is a must-watch masterpiece for all comedy anime fans. That said, this show's premise looks unique from that classic, with its own distinct personality and plot. Really fun looking anime, looks quite enjoyable and silly.

#19: Ore wa Seikan Kokka no Akutoku Ryoushu!
https://myanimelist.net/anime/60154/Ore_wa_Seikan_Kokka_no_Akutoku_Ryoushu

SF isekai? That alone makes this interesting, though I am a bit worried about those mechs in the images (always been very picky about mech stuff), curious looking show nonetheless. Protagonist at the lead of a galactic kingdom trying to do evil but having it constantly backfire is a fun premise, curious how this will play out, and again, having a sci-fi isekai is cool.

#20: Princession Orchestra
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59078/Princession_Orchestra

Everything I said about Maebashi Witches also applies here as both anime look incredibly similar. Hoping for an entertaining long shoujo anime, it certainly has that colorful and distinct look to it. Really happy to see more anime like this being produced, excited to watch it~!

#21: Rock wa Lady no Tashinami deshite
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59360/Rock_wa_Lady_no_Tashinami_deshite

One of the upcoming standouts for me personally, really excited about this one. Girls in a prestigious academy playing hard rock music and rebelling -- it's just so cool, really love the theme and really looking forwards to this one. I expect a lot of clashing, great music, and a punk spirit. Looks awesome, and girl band anime are cool (hence my obsession with K-On!). Have high hopes for this one.

#22: Shiunji-ke no Kodomotachi
https://myanimelist.net/anime/58131/Shiunji-ke_no_Kodomotachi

Romcom love polygon possible harem anime? Cute characters, fun plot setup, nice bright aesthetic, looks like an enjoyable watch. Pretty diverse looking cast (from what I can tell). Something about this one just looks very fun, and like a 2020s spin on an early 2010s set of tropes, which is definitely cool.

#23: Summer Pockets
https://myanimelist.net/anime/50694/Summer_Pockets

Another potential banger and one I'm quite looking forwards to, really reminds me of all of those VN adaptations the industry used to produce. Nice looking cast, beautiful artwork, and very cool setting (a small island with only 2000+/- inhabitants). I love stuff like this, and although I do think it should've aired in the Summer considering the title and summer theme, Spring is close enough, a wonderful looking anime for sunny days.

#24: Uchuujin MuuMuu
https://myanimelist.net/anime/60401/Uchuujin_MuuMuu

Comedy anime with a cool art-style and an alien cat? Looks fun, so sign me up. Really curious how it will be with the whole appliance theme, can't even begin to imagine what kind of jokes this show will have trying to fuse together alien cats with random household appliances, but it certainly sounds interesting, so will check it out~!

#25: Witch Watch
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59597/Witch_Watch

First, a witch/mage girl with a human familiar makes me immediately think of Zero no Tsukaima, the show itself looks different though, but interesting to see that same idea repeat so many years later. Anyways, pretty fun looking anime with a nice looking cast. Curious how it will differentiate it from the human familiar anime that came before it.

#26: Your Forma
https://myanimelist.net/anime/55995/Your_Forma

The other seemingly COVID-vaccine inspired anime, and this one, to me at least, looks a bit more interesting than Lazarus (though I do want to watch both of them). Interesting to see recent events seemingly inspire new stories, curious how it will play out, and with both of these, really hoping they're better than Western COVID-inspired media.

#27: Zatsu Tabi: That's Journey
https://myanimelist.net/anime/55514/Zatsu_Tabi__Thats_Journey

Another upcoming anime that I'm really looking forwards to, absolutely love the modern adventure theme of a girl exploring and meeting people and seeing various sights. Ever since I was a kid I loved the idea of just setting off for adventure (mostly Pokemon inspired fantasies), and I have done some "walking missions" before around San Francisco. Anyways, very interesting looking anime, really excited about it~!

#28: Virgin Punk
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59848/Virgin_Punk

Last but not least, one of my most anticipated for the upcoming season. I absolutely loved A Kite and consider it a must watch, so more of that is insanely exciting to see. Although I predict it might not be as brutal (or as pornographic), I'm still really excited to see it, really curious about this and love to see 90s style anime being made in the current era.

[REVIEW] Anime & Video Game OST Listening List 2: PSYCHO-PASS Complete Original Soundtrack

 

Source (Anime): PSYCHO-PASS
Composer: Yugo Kanno
Year (of original media): 2012
Genres (partial): Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Electronic-Rock-Classical Fusion, Classical, Techno, Psytrance, Breakbeat, Dark Jazz, Dark Ambient, IDM, Illbient
Additional Info: Soundtrack for season one of the anime, the later seasons have their own soundtrack albums. Official release.

PSYCHO-PASS is an anime series that started in the early 2010s, its a very cool take on the police/detective anime genre, placing it in an updated and sleek cyberpunk universe in the near future, where cops basically have guns equipped with a dystopian social credits system. I feel that normally stories like this are told from the perspectives of common folks, revolutionaries, or even criminals, but PSYCHO-PASS flips the script, having it be from the perspective of law enforcement. Its a very cool show, and an anime with such a specific setting and theme, it needs an equally specific OST to really help push its universe and vibe, and this OST certainly nails it.

This is very much my kind of OST, I absolutely love OSTs with this very specific dark and suspenseful sound that fuses electronica, orchestral, and rock; its one of my favorite OST styles out there, and Kanno does it so incredibly well here. Hard electronic dance beats ranging between techno to breakbeats, combined with a bevvy of electronic bass-lines, synth leads, and sounds; it gives the music a really energetic and futuristic backing. These elements are then combined with amazing orchestral compositions, the OST is very string heavy, with strings playing notes from the highest to lowest octaves and everywhere in between; it has a very cinematic approach to melody/harmony/structure/arrangement as well; everything has this awesome tension and action sound, perfect for a suspense anime. The rock elements are amazing too, awesome riffs helping to define which songs are for the action, and which songs are for the suspense. Sometimes other instruments are included as well, such as piano.

The whole blend of everything gives this OST the exact sound it needs. Hard hitting dance beats and techy electronic elements give it the futuristic and urban edge, it conjures up thoughts of futuristic, yet a bit grimey, cities, with the dance grooves being the beat of the city. That combined with all of the cinematic stuff gives it all of the tension and suspense it needs for a soundtrack, especially for a show as tense as PSYCHO-PASS; and the guitar just makes it all the more action packed. This is far from the only thing that this OST offers though, as it has a lot of tricks and styles up its sleeves. For example, some tracks take these same ideas but slows them way down, into cool IDM slow jams, but still fully functioning tension cues, whilst still keeping that urban vibe. Some tracks also include acoustic guitar (with some of it being other instruments I believe, some of it sounds too worldly to be a guitar imo). The track Hanzai Yuugi is an excellent example of this slowed down formula, and such a cool mix of sounds, dark atmospheres, dissonant orchestral stabs, Middle Eastern sounding guitar, but then also stuff like 808 cowbells; its awesome and such a good example of how OSTs often combine many different genres into one song. Something that I really liked in the OST was the use of spoken dialogue in the music, it really reminds me of the soundtracks Taku Iwasaki does (and his OSTs are amazing, so that's certainly a good thing).

The OST isn't just electronic-rock-orchestral bangers, it also has a lot of very nice songs of other styles as well. There's full on orchestral songs here, ranging in intensity and emotion, with some of them sounding quite sad and contemplative. Some of these classical tracks have very full and lush compositions, whilst others are more sparse. At times tracks are harmonious, others more dissonant, and some evolving between the two as they progress. There's some arrangements of regular classical music on here as well which are very well done, and the traditional sound gives a nice contrast to the rest of the soundtrack. There's cool ambient/dark ambient songs on here too, I really love the specific sound tension cue dark ambient has, and its done in such a cool manner here. A mix of strings, deep bass pulses, slow tempos, electronic sound design, and often the inclusion of strings, guitar, heavy cinematics, and other elements (a pipe organ even makes an appearance here).

In addition to these styles discussed, there's some other stuff too, like a bit of dark jazz which is very cool, especially when mixed with the musical concepts established elsewhere in the OST. Some of the jazz tracks were more playful as well, whilst still keeping a serious feeling (if you watch dark/serious anime, then you'll get the vibe that I'm talking about). Some of the jazzy songs include other styles too, such as hip-hop rhythms, and sampling, giving it a really awesome sound. I love it when OSTs include urban elements, so the hip-hop elements were really cool. As commonplace with multi-CD OSTs, the first disk is more hard-hitting stuff, and the second disk is the more cinematic, downtempo, and lowkey stuff (but in this case, a lot of the jazz tunes are on this second disk as well). The second disk covers all of the same ideas as the first disk, just in a more subdued manner, better for quieter moments in the show.

Something that was especially enjoyable for me when giving this OST a deep listen was that I could hear a lot of stuff that I learned in university. A lot of the techniques we learned for how to make tension cues appear here, such as all of the droning, bass pulses, and mix of electronic and classical elements. There's lots of cool stuff as well, such as the various ostinati with the strings, and all of the references to classical minimalism that occur throughout the OST (classical minimalism is very different than electronic minimalism). Even the mix of avant-garde techniques and sounds in traditional music was covered here, with many songs deploying experimental and abstract electronic sounds in their compositions, with one brief moment even bordering into noise at a moment. Overall, the OST has a very distinct sound that really nails the expected atmosphere for the anime. Its incredibly consistent as well, with the whole OST really feeling like one coherent fleshed out sonic universe.

Mini-album art review: I love the cover art of this OST album. All of the clean black makes the cover have a really sharp look to it which matches the show. I especially like that the background has drawings in it and wasn't left plain, the white line-art on the black background looks really nice. Awesome central artwork on the front cover as well showcasing some of the characters. The greenish teal and white borders are nice too, especially that teal, is a good pop of color (and also helps to represent the guns in the anime). I actually like how the cover is devoid of text as well, keeps it really clean looking.

Links:
Album streaming link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ngHC9G8LyW3x1sbTyRH4GqI4UVJMqzl2I

Himeko's favorite tracks playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvB4ha5o455uJDpvnMnSI1TKTWDQzVvYL

VGMdb page: https://vgmdb.net/album/38314

MAL page: https://myanimelist.net/anime/13601/Psycho-Pass

Complete playlist of favorite tracks of OSTs covered in this listening list: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvB4ha5o455szOdif2qihz4henIPBvhtJ

[REVIEW] Anime & Video Game OST Listening List 1: Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji Original Soundtrack

 

Source (Anime): Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji
Composer: Hideki Taniuchi
Year (of original media): 2007
Genres (partial): Alternative Rock, Gothic Rock, Downtempo, IDM, Punk, Post-Rock, Metal, Ambient, Dark Ambient, Classical
Additional Info: Soundtrack for season one of the anime, the second season has its own soundtrack album. Official release.

Ok, so I've been wanting to do this one for awhile now, a listening list of soundtracks. Considering I literally work doing soundtracks, it should come to no surprise that soundtracks are one of my absolute favorite styles of music, specifically those used in anime and Japanese video games. They add so much to the media that they're applied to, yet are often overlooked despite many soundtracks being excellent as standalone music. This is the first post of this listening list, so I will try to lay some groundwork here for my intentions with it and how it will function. If possible, I will want to try to cover actual published collections of works (whether those be digital uploads and/or physical media). This isn't always possible though, so sometimes I will have to use fan-made uploads/playlists; this information will be under "Additional Info" at the top of the posts. If possible, I will also include where the OST can be streamed, as well as a playlist of my favorite tracks from it (all links at the bottom of the post). When I list the composers, I am listing the main composers of the actual OST; not the composers for any anison that are included on the album (and I wont be covering these included anison, I am focusing solely on the BGM here). Additionally, these will be full on reviews, so expect longer posts. Additionally, this isn't like normal listening lists where its to explore a discography, its more just so I can be a nerd about OSTs, as well as an excuse to deep listen a lot of OSTs (I love them, and I also study them to improve my own OSTs). I do not believe in negative music reviews, nor rating music, so you will see none of that here.

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji is an insanely good anime from the 00s, seriously the best gambling media ever made, and one of the most captivating suspense anime that I've seen. For those who haven't seen it, its about a down and out young man who finds himself in extreme debt, and having to duel it out with gamblers and an enormous crime syndicate to try to gamble his way to financial freedom. The show is absurdly in-depth, and is just awesome. Anyways though, the soundtrack is by one of my favorite anime composers, Hideki Taniuchi. Their work is insanely good, also doing a lot of the music for Death Note (one of my favorite OSTs), as well as the other high-stakes gambling anime, Touhai Densetsu Akagi. Their soundtracks are iconic, with a really unique sound that always stands out, mixing alternative rock, electronic dance music, IDM, punk, ambient, metal, and more; often with a very noticeable gothic overtone to it that gives it such a cool sound. I absolutely love their approach to soundtracks, and the stuff they make is always insanely good.

For me, the tracks that stand out the most are the guitar heavy tracks, whether they be brooding gothic alternative rock, or more upbeat punk-ish tunes, they all absolutely slap. The songs are full of absolutely incredible riffs, Taniuchi has such a knack for really gripping riffs that pull you right in and give the shows they compose for such cool atmospheres. I really love urban sounding OSTs, often urban elements are like, hip-hop or jungle (which I do love), but to give it a rock-based urban sound is really cool. Lots of these tracks have repeated melodic and harmonic motifs, accompanied by both acoustic and electronic drums (that play both rock and dance music rhythms, one song even has a disco/house groove that hits hard with the uplifting rock guitars). Other tracks shift through a variety of ideas, giving it a nice evolving sound. I really love their guitar heavy approach, with many songs having several layers of guitars, both all doing their own thing, but in total harmony as well; and no matter how busy it gets, it never becomes messy/disorientating/anyotherbadthingforanostunlessitsintentionalofcourse.

In addition to the rock tunes, are more electronic focused tracks, these are awesome. Moody chords and melodies played on really nice sounding synths, as well as traditional instruments like piano, strings, and guitar. The melodies and harmonies are often accompanied by drums, often in the IDM territory (something else that I love about their soundtracks, all of the IDM influences). These tracks really remind me of old Autechre stuff at times, it hits that exact same form of melancholy to me, and I love it. One of the tracks too opens with the same chord of Mu-Ziq's Twangle Frent (I wonder if it's intentional, as they have re-purposed IDM motifs in OSTs before). In addition to other music similarities, one of my favorite tracks on the album, Child's mind, begins with an awesome downtempo IDM post-rock thing very akin to B. Fleischmann's album, The Humbucking Coil, before crescendoing into thick and emotional post-rock chords (reminding me of some of Otomo Yoshihide's soundtracks). There's a lot of killer tracks on this, but one I want to point out too is Man racetrack, both the title and the music is so incredibly sinister and foreboding, its such a hopeless sounding track, is so befitting of the anime.

Now, that's the disk one of this album, and it has a whole other disk. The second disk largely consists of the more downtempo, ambient, contemplative, and score type music (some of this is also on disk one, but it seems to be the main focus of disk two). A lot of this second disk is made up of tension cues, full of tense string clusters, and a lot of intentional dissonance, and is for more hardcore OST fans as there's a lot of pure production music here. Often these strings are accompanied by other elements, such as techno or IDM percussion, as well as piano and electronic pads. There's a lot of heavy horror elements here as well, I love the foreboding sound. I love the unique approach to leitmotif as well, instead of using a melodic idea, it often has processed vocals saying sound effects (such as zawa), which is a common element in the anime itself, it fits so nicely. This side of the album does have some rock tunes as well, but typically more experimental and atmospheric than disk one. There's a lot of ambient songs on here too which are really cool. The standouts for me on disk two are the foreboding tension cues that include percussion, these are really well done, and quite cool. The album in general, and especially the second disk, also features some alternate mixes/versions of tracks; is always neat when they include these as not all soundtracks do. There's some sound effects on here interestingly as well (sometimes composers have to step in on SFX work, but its not always included in albums). All in all, this is an amazing soundtrack for an amazing anime.

Mini-album art review: I always think the covers for OSTs are really interesting, and they have a wide range of designs. I quite like the cover art on this OST, the facial expressions are a trademark of the anime, so Kaiji front and center staring down the viewer works really well. I also like graphically dense OST covers (like a larger central image, as we have here), especially with a big logo, just looks nice, and the clean artwork is really good.

Links:
Album streaming link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kk4FDj_1cJlGTOM0XmEwr5NEw0g9LuECM

Himeko's favorite tracks playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvB4ha5o455tLV9TRcZP52cjnh5lWUXbU

VGMdb page: https://vgmdb.net/album/27021

MAL page: https://myanimelist.net/anime/3002/Gyakkyou_Burai_Kaiji__Ultimate_Survivor

Complete playlist of favorite tracks of OSTs covered in this listening list: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvB4ha5o455szOdif2qihz4henIPBvhtJ

Anime That I've Been Watching (10/14/2022 - 10/29/2022)

 

It was fun doing the first post of this, so might as well do another. Stress and anxiety prevented me from watching as much as I would've liked, but still watched a pretty decent amount. As before, the order is chronological, I do tend to bounce around shows though, so its chronological to first episode watched during the time period (the dates in the title). As its October did watch some things that fit the mood of the season, as well as finally exploring more historical (and revolutionary) lolicon anime. As before will include some neat anime trivia and such in these.

Tezuka Osamu no Don Dracula
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=4853

This is the anime that's sampled in my new song DRACULA DISCO (listen here: https://soundcloud.com/himeko_katagiri/dracula-disco ). Don Dracula is a pretty interesting show for many reasons. The first is that the show was incredibly short lived, it got cancelled after a mere eight episodes, and a lot of Japan only ever got half of that. This is an oldschool gag anime though, and in the 80s these would often run quite long, at least 40 or so episodes, but many being far longer (such as Dr. Slump and Urusei Yatsura). The show too really stands out aesthetically, its from the 80s but looks incredibly 70s, and this 70s anime styled Western interpretation of Dracula in a goofy 80s gag anime is such a trip to watch, yet it totally works. I actually had started this anime before my previous anime post, but finally got around to finishing it recently. The first few episodes were pretty rough, but the rest of it was actually pretty good if you're into old gag anime. Its whole aesthetic and vibe, combined with being binned so quickly, make it a pretty interesting watch. Also, it has a cute vampire loli.

MM! Specials
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=9581

I watched MM! a looong time ago, its a really fun femdom themed ecchi anime, so totally up my alley. I never got around to watching the specials though, and finally did. They're a mix of voyeuristic shorts as well what feels like outtakes from the main anime. There's no story here, its all just pure fan service, but I enjoyed them.

Bishoujo Comic Lolicon Angel: Mitsu no Aji
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=3649

Ok, finally got around to starting to watch these. First of all, for hentai, I watch a lot of hentai as normal anime, and there are a lot of hentai which really are legitimate anime, such as La Blue Girl and Dream Hunter Rem. When I talk about hentai here, it will only be stuff I'm watching as regular anime. Lolicon Angel, along with a few other OVAs, are some of the first ever hentai OVA ever made, and are also some of the first lolicon hentai animations ever made as well (also yes, early hentai OVA had a lot of lolicon, this was during the "lolicon boom"). The OVA itself is very cool from a historical standpoint, but it doesn't offer much. Is very cheap looking 80s art, and no real story or anything, just some sex scenes strung together of people trying to locate some stolen money. The carousel scene though was hilarious. If you want to explore historical lolicon animation then watch it, but if you don't then don't.

Jashin-chan Dropkick X
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=42994

Watched the new Jashin-chan season (this is the 3rd season now, but I won't spoil anything). I watched the Mame Anime alongside it but there's not much to comment on for that. I enjoyed the new season, but I feel it was the weakest season so far, still good, just not as good as the first two. It felt a lot less extreme, Jashin-chan still got injured/killed a decent amount of times, but it wasn't the constant gorefest slapstick comedy of the first two seasons, and a pretty sizeable amount of this season was more slice of life. There was also a pretty long arc where it suddenly became a tourism anime showcasing various parts of Japan, I know some folks didn't care for this but I didn't mind it. What I did mind though is that the new vampire girls barely appeared, I was really looking forwards to the vampire loli!! Vampire girls are ultimate!!

PriPara
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=23135

PriPara is one of my favorite anime ever and I'm already super far into it. I was taking a break from it for awhile though as I recently watched a ton of it when I got sick awhile back, but finally back to it. Only watched a bit but I love this show so much. Also, was funny it was a Christmas episode, super poor timing for that. This reminds me I want to write a post about these really long anime, I should do that sometime.

Dr. Slump Movie 09: Arale-chan N-cha!! Wakuwaku Hot no Natsuyasumi
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=7158

I've been slowly watching the Dr. Slump "movies" (out of order), and since its October, watched the 9th movie as its Halloween themed. As with many of the Dr. Slump movies, its basically just a glorified episode, but it was a fun watch regardless. It really hit that classic Halloween vibe, and I loved seeing 80s anime interpretations of classic monsters.

This is a bit of a tangent, but that reminds me Dream Hunter Rem had an old school anime interpretation of Frankenstein's monster as well, but their one doesn't stand out as much to me as the one in Slump. Also, if you haven't seen Dream Hunter Rem, watch it now, its one of my all-time favorite anime ever made.

Ochamegami Monogatari: Korokoro Pollon
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=3136

Ok, finally watched this, this is another historical lolicon anime. It was made by Hideo Azuma, one of the most influential people in the anime industry who never gets talked about. The dude invented lolicon back in the late 70s. Obviously loli characters existed before then in shoujo and kids shows, but he's who really turned lolicon into a thing and elevated the lolis to greater heights. This obviously permanently changed anime, with tons of lolis appearing in all kinds of shows across genres, eras, and audience demographics, as well as whole lolicon orientated anime coming into existence (and this is just talking anime, don't forget the likely thousands of eroge and other otaku media with lolis, as well as lolicore). Anyways, the man is absolutely legendary publishing lolicon doujinshi all the way back in the 70s, and my favorite genre of music wouldn't exist without him.

He has produced two anime, Pollon and Nanako SOS. I still need to watch Nanako SOS, but I did finally start Pollon. Pollon is another 80s gag anime with a unique setting, it takes place in ancient Greece and follows Greek gods, with the main girl Pollon wishing to become a goddess. The show is top notch 80s gag anime, I love the unique setting, the pacing, and the jokes, its a really awesome show. Sadly only a bit of the anime seems to be subbed currently, I've watched raws before but I still prefer subs as my Japanese is still rather limited. I only have a few episodes left of what's available, but its a really awesome show. Additionally, you can really see his old school 70s shoujo influences in the designs and artwork, its really nice. Also yes, you can see him sneak in some lolicon stuff into the show, based.

Rosario to Vampire Capu2
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=4214

I talked about this one before in my previous post, finally finished it. Was pretty fun and much better than the first season, Kokoa really elevated the show with her vampire loli charms and the general energy and comedy she introduced to the show. Its just a dumb 00s harem ecchi anime, but the heavy focus on vampire girls and pantsu is based.

Zekkyou Gakkyuu
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=15891

Three one minute horror shorts with a very Halloween-y vibe. Show was very vague and honestly didn't offer much, felt more like one of those animations that are made to just promote a manga, and I'm pretty sure that's what this is.

Yume-iro Pâtissière
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=6586

I've been wanting to start some more long anime to gradually/casually watch, and ended up starting this one. I only watched a little bit of it, the personality of the show was different than what I expected and wasn't much in the mood for it at the time of watching, will return to it when it fits my mood. Also, anime with non-bootleg McDonald's. Which reminds me there's a yuri manga that got in trouble for real McDonald's, only MgRonald's is real.

Minami-ke
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=2963

I started this back in 2016 but got caught up in other shows and never finished, finally got back to it this week (and decided to just restart it, despite still remembering what I already saw). I remember this show was recommended to me by ファズファゲット, he said it was similar to Ichigo Mashimaro. Ichigho Mashimaro is total perfection and hard to stack up against, but Minami-ke is quite good and it actually is rather reminiscent of Ichigo Mashimaro, just not as loli-centric (but still has lolis). Also, one of the girl's literally wears the same shirt as Miu sometimes, also interesting how my favorite characters from each show did this.

First I thought maybe they were by the same person, I looked, and aren't. I have yet to go through writers and directors and stuff yet, but there has to be some kind of reasoning for this, they are both by the same studio so that might be it, but I feel like there could be more. Either way though, its a fun anime and has a surprising amount of seasons, I still have a bit left of season one though, but will def keep watching.

Also, I have to address the elephant in the room, its insane how much she looks like my wife Azusa. I somehow never considered anime doppelgangers existing, but wow, this is proof of that, its crazy how much they look alike.

Anime I've Been Watching (9/11/2022 - 10/2/2022)

 

Lolita Catacombs is basically just a place for me to ramble about nerdy things, so might as well talk about the anime that I've been watching the past few weeks. I didn't watch much this week though since was busy with music and video games instead, but was watching quite a bit the previous two weeks. MAL history goes as far back as 3 weeks, so guess I'll do these posts like every 2 - 3 weeks, wont be weekly. These will be listed in chronological order of first episode watched, but I tend to bounce between shows. These aren't reviews or anything, just thoughts, and is much inspired by Abra's blogs. I also watched an assortment of shorts and such that wont be listed here.

Virtual Star 2000
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=22561

I found this one awhile back and finally got around to watching it. This was after over a week of being super sick where I was just binging stuff like PriPara, PreCure, Powerpuff Girl Z, and so on, so needed something that was really leftfield to prevent a burn out (if I watch too much of a similar idea/the same thing I will get annoying burn out). Anyways, this was hardly really a show, was mostly just music videos in dated CGI and super cheesy 90s dance music. Old CGI anime are cool, if you want to watch one with an actual story I suggest Malice@Doll. There are some other related anime to Virtual Star 2000 but I haven't watched them yet.

Tetsuwan Birdy
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=566

I used to watch 80s and 90s OVA anime constantly, its been quite some time since then so picked out Tetsuwan Birdy to watch. This was a pretty fun 90s sci-fi show with a space cop and a lot of body switching and stuff. It was weirdly slow for an OVA, but I enjoyed it, also the main girl's hair is interesting with the old Trix yogurt split going on. This anime actually got a reboot/remake in the 00s, but I don't know when, or if, I'll watch that.

Cream Lemon: Lemon Angel
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=3205

Finally watched this, it was in my PTW for a million years. This is one of those short episode shows, but from the 80s, and based on the real world idol group Lemon Angel. I really enjoy Lemon Angel, and I can go on endlessly about kayoukyoku idol pop, but Lemon Angel was quite an interesting group. Back then a lot of idols were still trying to be seen as pure maidens, no boyfriends allowed, you know the drill. Well that wasn't always the case though, as you had erotic idols of the 70s like Reiko Ike and Yukiko Kuwabara, you also had ones in the 80s (though usually not quite as pornographic). When I think of the 80s ones I think Lemon Angel and an armpit fetish idol who's name escapes me right now.

Lemon Angel were interesting as they really tried to appeal to the lecherous otaku market which was really developing now in the 80s. This ecchi anime was created, and a few computer games for a variety of Japanese PCs were developed as well (up into the 90s even!). I have sadly yet to play any of these games, but they look super cool, so some images:

Its pretty neat too how you can see their anime versions are very different in the 80s release as it just barely pre-dated the anime. Anyways though, the actual anime was sadly rather sub-par. Its basically over 30 episodes of just the generic "sad romance" stories found in idol music videos of the period, but with lots of nudity and scenes of the girls masturbating. A few episodes really stood out, like the one that was a parody on ecchi action OVAs of the period, but a lot was just so-so. I mostly watched this here and there over the weeks, a few episodes in the morning, then some scattered throughout the day. Also, if anyone remembers the old DJ Nonstick Cookware mixcloud, a Lemon Angel was/is in my kayoukyoku idol mix on there.

Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai!
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=11763

I actually dropped this one. I was hoping it was going to be like Keijo!!!!!!!! or Ben-To, but it wasn't. Basically its just ryona fetish porn, and that's it. I'm fine with adult anime like that, since a lot will have cool stories, awesome old art, and so on, but this just felt really pointless to watch. I dropped it pretty early on.

Slayers: The Motion Picture
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=536

Slayers Next
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=535

Combining these into one section. I watched season 1 of Slayers earlier this year and absolutely loved it, is such an awesome 90s fantasy show (I live for stuff like this). I tend to watch things in chronological order of release, so next up was the first movie, which is a prequel. The movie was an absolute blast, I really enjoyed it, and Naga is such a funny character that I'm surprised she's not used more in the main anime. Slayers Next is the 2nd season, I only watched a bit, same fun as before but I'm really early into it still. The new enemy girl with the drills is cute. Also this reminds me I really need to play the Slayers Sega Saturn game I have.

Ishuzoku Reviewers
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=40010

This show got a ton of hate when it came out, but I think that's mostly due to newcomers not experiencing a proper ecchi anime yet. This was quite an awesome ecchi anime, I feel over the years the ecchi anime market gradually became replaced with isekai shows, so its really nice when we get new ecchi anime (and them bringing on an ecchi show with a fantasy setting was pretty smart considering how popular isekai are). This is basically a show for folks who like monster girls, so if you liked Monster Musume, this is def worth watching. Also, the main girl is a futanari, super based, and very cool futas are finally entering normal anime world. The show is a pretty intense ecchi show as its a group of goons reviewing brothels, but they weirdly don't have a lot of classic monster girl types, like lamias. There are though like a million different monmusu featured, which was cool.

Mahoutsukai no Yome
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=35062

I still have a few episodes left on this, and I've also been watching MahoYome alongside it. Its a very cool show though, and it tries to do a lot with blending mystical slice of life, drama, romance, and even action (with a pretty decent amount of blood at times). Its doing a lot but totally makes it work, and I really love that some of the episodes gives me some Aria vibes, but like, in the UK and with magic and demons and stuff. I also really love it when anime use real world locations that are outside of Japan, it always gives it such a unique vibe, and I really love the whole English countryside thing they have going on here. I still have to get around to finishing this show, only a few episodes left, but really liking it so far.

Rosario to Vampire Capu2
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=4214

I watched season 1 earlier in the year, and finally got around to watching season 2. I honestly would've stopped watching after the first season, but Kokoa is so cute I had to give the second season a try, and I'm happy that I did as its been much better than the first season so far. I didn't really like the whole pattern and forced drama of season 1, but season 2 so far has done away with all of that and just lets the show be dumb ecchi, just like it should be. Also, watching Rosario to Vampire is part of my mission of finally watching some of the classic ecchi anime that have been sitting in my PTW for a literal decade now. I only have a few episodes left, and it being spooky month is a good time to be watching. Also, I really love that special Halloween-y look anime stuff does, like Soul Eater and such, always has looked awesome to me. Also, VAMPIRE GIRLS ARE ULTIMATE AAAAAAA

Hataraku Saibou Black
https://myanimelist.net/anime.php?id=41694

Remember that show years ago with the loli cells and stuff and it totally blew up for awhile? This is that but dark. I remember watching the first season of the original shortly after it finished airing and it was like, alright, felt very confused to me. I'm very early into this Black version, the dark spin on the concept is quite cool (and also cool that it hearkens back to when anime would sometimes have alternate versions and such, keeping the tradition alive). That said though, despite being so early in, I am already seeing some of the same things that I disliked about the original cropping up, so will see how it goes.