Past Seasons

I gave Tomo-chan Is a Girl! one episode. It is decent, but not good enough to keep me watching.

Also, I dislike the male lead, Junichirou. Based on his interactions with their mutual friend Misuzu, I don’t think he is dense. But that just makes the fact that he does not acknowledge Tomo’s feelings much worse.

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I also tried The Quintessential Quintuplets. I enjoyed it more than Tomo-chan, so I have watched up to episode 10. However, I don’t really like the latest development in the show. It is rather cliche, and the male lead, Fuutarou, has been fumbling it so badly.

I don’t get the praise others have for Fuutarou. He is not spineless and trashy like other romance / romcom / harem protagonists. However, he can be pretty selfish at times which is a turn-off.

I hope that the last two episodes can salvage the show, but I don’t have high hopes for it. I may not continue with season 2.

Edit:

I have watched the last two episodes and with that, I have completed season 1.

The bad: The animation staff has clearly not skied before.

The good: In hindsight, it was such an obvious twist (which has been teased multiple time previously!), but I still fell for it.

It’s entertaining enough, so I’m giving it a 7 / 10.

This Season

I have watched 2 episodes of Umamusume: Cinderella Gray - it is so fucking hype!

I don’t usually watch sports shows, but I have noticed that the protagonist is always the underdog who overcome all odds to achieve greatness. It is a very standard plot, but if the execution is good, I don’t mind giving it my time.

Umamusume: Cinderella Gray’s first two episodes certainly delivered, so I will be continuing with it.

Edit:

After binging it, I am all caught up. This is yet another Medalist, and I foresee it being among my top anime.

I have so many questions regarding the Umamusume universe though.

Like, why does the winner need to do a little dance after the race? Where did this tradition come from? At least it is more entertaining than having them sing their national anthem I suppose.

Why are there only horse girls? Where are the horse boys?

Why is running all that they do? What about other track-and-field events like the jumps? How about other sports that use the legs like cycling, skiing, etc? I guess martial arts would be out because they can probably kill others with their kicks.

Lastly, I wonder what is Oguri Cap’s mother’s backstory. The hair accessory that Oguri Cap is wearing is from her mother’s racing days. However, the past narrative is that gray-haired horse girls can’t run. I bet the mother was involved in some way.

Anyway, this anime is fantastic, so much so that I moved Umamusume: Pretty Derby from “Dropped” back into “Plan-to-watch”.

With this, To Be Hero X has competition for my top new anime of the season.