i started writing this on 2025-09-04. whoops.
folks, let's be real. this month was pretty fucking awesome for anime. i mean, i watched some fucking absolute bangers. i don't think i did anything else except for read more Guimi Zhi Zhu, which has only continued to be amazing. i'm around 1000 chapters in now. this is gonna be the first (?) anime-only best of the month moments. gonna go for best tv anime and best movie and best ova
(tv) anime of the month
let's get something out of the way. i had a miserable experience watching Dark Gathering, which was thoroughly terrible. i also started Futari wa Precure: Max Heart which is just more of the first season for some reason! but i was graced with the opportunity to watch something that i ended up absolutely loving: Slayers.
Slayers NEXT is an incredible continuation to the first season, keeping the momentum high. where the first season fumbled a little bit at the beginning with an admittedly sort of weird arc and didn't really hit its stride until halfway through, this season was utterly insane out of the gate. i think the main reason for this is the fact that the whole cast minus one sylphiel is there from the start, with the addition of martina and, most importantly, the guy who just aura farms and/or fucks with the main cast for the entire first half of the show, xellos. big fan of him.
it's really nice to watch fantasy that isn't isekai, and it's even nicer to watch fantasy from the mid-90s. though the budget constraints are sometimes obvious, they do a good job saving their budget for the episodes that really need it and rely on hilarious gags to get through the episodes they didn't have as much money for. even when it's one of the latter kinds of episodes, it's honestly still really visually impressive, which is probably due to the background work being somewhat improved from the first season.
the only thing i was missing this episode was koyasu takehito, who was very present in the first season. but that's okay. he doesn't have to be in everything, even if i think it would be funny if he were. it's very amusing to me to see how prolific he was even back in the 90s, between this, utena, eva, and whatever else.
manga of the month
i also didn't read manga this month. returning to our regularly scheduled programming once i finish lotm. to make up for no manga of the month two months in a row, i'm gonna highlight my OVA of the month.
OVA of the month
i happened to watch a few OVAs in august, including the wonderful Call Me Tonight, which was hilarious, and the awful Itsudatte My Santa! (which is the official english title?? why), but most importantly, i watched Tetsuwan Birdy, also known as Birdy the Mighty
when you're like me and you spend a lot of time watching what can only be referred to as slop, sometimes a good, short OVA is what you need to pull you out of that slump. off the heels of a pretty rough july (which you would know if you read the last month in review), Tetsuwan Birdy saved me from further hell.
i think that with only a cursory glance at the description, it's the kind of show that, combined with a relatively low rating, appears to be problematic. the whole "sharing a body" between a woman and a high school boy is the kind of thing that would be really uncomfortable in the hands of a less capable writer. however, whether it was the author of the manga or the director of this OVA, they did a fantastic job making this situation not only never weird, but comedic in a good way. it restored a little bit of faith in me to know that there are people out there that can write gender bending stuff that isn't freak shit... especially watching this so soon after Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo, which was not as gracefully writen, to put it lightly.
moreover, it was also visually stunning. this is honestly expected from a 90s OVA, but it's not like this time period is guaranteed to have projects that look good, even if i think it often does. it's got some real style to it in its character designs, and it's extremely expressive. the backgrounds are also wonderful. it's stuff like this that has made me so interested in cel animation, and i really wish that there were projects out there today that didn't always have to rely on digital techniques. i understand why they do, but man, there's just something different and special about what could be accomplished with cel animation, despite its logistical shortcomings.
final thoughts
september is going pretty well right now and i'm about to continue watching Slayers. not sure what else i'll end up watching, but you can bet your ass Urusei Yatsura (2022) 2nd Season isn't winning.
i already ate dinner so my stomach is full and i will not eat more -lego jujutsu kaisen