Winter 2024 Conclusion + Awards

 [First Surprise 😉] Seasonals is a section on this blog focused on analysis of releasing anime. But the season is over now, and we should say a proper goodbye.

In Winter 2024 I watched these shows:

We are not saying goodbye to...

Dungeon Meshi

You can expect more Dungeon Meshi "content" in Spring 2024 Seasonals. We will include it down in the awards, but only unofficially.

Overall feeling

Winter 2024 was the first season I took such a dive deep into. I started watching seasonals in Summer 2023 and I really loved the shows I watched - but I didn't finish any of them on the clock. Then I speedrunned Fall 2023 in one week, watching anime I didn't even want to and not watching anime I did want to. It was a hectic time for me!

Winter 2024 is special. It's special in a way I watched it, it's special because it was the first time I blogged about it and it was special because it taught me a lot! (Thought I guess I should be learning different things, not this.)

This season, I got back to my roots - watching a yaoi/BL was a special experience for me. Just like when I used to watch them at the start, I had my cringey moments, but the romance was just... so different to heterosexual romances. I was able to watch something historical, thought I got burned. I realized I should trust my gut about picking certain shows - in good and bad way.

Keeping up was hard, and it made me remember how hard staying on the clock is. Mostly when a lot of show air in the same day and it... becomes a lot. But not being able to binge has good and bad sides, both. Waiting, or having to wait sometimes kept me on my toes. And while I wasn't always fair to some shows, they were raw emotions. 😂

We all know what I watched. But what about the stuff I didn't watch? Here are some:

The reasons vary: movies didn't come out yet, some anime I added to my list too late, some I simply forgot about. I will watch them though, once I will be able - and I will update you through Anime Wrap-Up as usual!

What I didn't mention?

I did get into Yami Shibai last minute, but I also watched the special to Odekake Kozame. It was just one short collab animation, so there wasn't much to talk about.

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I took a lot of screenshots, got a lot of opinions on AniList, Discord and of course, I have a lot of my own opinions. Let's rank the anime I watched!

ANIME RANKED

We are ranking Seasonals in two ways.
The first way is a scale from 1 - 10, score they received as a series overall.

The second way is naming a "winner" and "looser" of the season. This time we are crowning these two shows:

The winner of Winter 2024 would definitely be Dungeon Meshi. However, as it's not finished airing, we can't really predict how it will turn out. For that reason, and that reason only it's not the crowned winner.

Instead, I was deciding between Gushing Over Magical Girls and Cherry Magic! The thing that made me decide was 1) bias, 2) Gushing had it's dark moments I do not feel comfortable with. It takes a wonderful second place. Still, it was a great show and it deserves love & attention. In third place, I'd place Pon no Michi.

As for worst three places: Metallic Rouge takes first place. While the anime itself was not so bad, I hated what it became. I mentioned this before, but once again - I didn't know if I should or shouldn't pick it up. But I was promised sci-fi lesbians. What I got was a half-baked story that didn't know what it wanted to be. It takes the "worst anime" because I was the most disappointed. Second place would go to Gekkan Mousou Kagaku for being AWFUL. I hated it from the first episode, I lost all hope, I have no idea why I continued watching it. The story was okay, but the execution was bad. And the last third place goes to Meiji Gekken: 1874 for ruining what could be one of the best shows of the season.

Screenshot Hall of Fame

Gallery of screenshots. I had gallery full of screenshots and I posted all of them on my Instagram account. We won't go through every single one, of course, but we are going to take a look on my favorite screenshot from all the shows.

In the usual fashion, the order is:

Hime-sama, "Goumon" no Jikan desu ('Tis Time for "Torture," Princess)

There were a lot of screenshots I could have used because this anime looked really incredible. But I decided to go with Tortura because she was so adorable and... it was my face when this anime finally ended.

Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete (Gushing over Magical Girls)

Again, a lot of choices here. But most of them are NSFW and I can't post them here or anywhere. I went with Utena's new form because that was the moment when I was the most hooked and when I realized just how much I love this show.

30-sai made Doutei da to Mahou Tsukai ni Nareru Rashii 

(Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!)

While still having a lot to choose from, I faced a whole another problem here. That being, some screnshots looked shit. I hated them, and I was wheezing from laughter.

I went with this kiss, because it was from my favorite episode.

Metallic Rouge

I took only one (1) funny screenshot from this whole show.

Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon)

Okay, now this was hard. This was hard as hell. I could have picked anything from fights, maybe even food screenshot, I could go with any other character. But if you followed my blog, you know just how much I am obsessed with Senshi. 

Gekkan Mousou Kagaku (Delusional Monthly Magazine)

This is how I would describe this whole show.

Majo to Yajuu (The Witch and the Beast)

I know this should probably come with a warning, but when I saw this, in the most twisted way I thought: wow this is.. art. It's disturbing, but the message of that episode will stick with me for a while. Very, very pretty.

Pon no Michi

Easy pick! All the girls in one shot!

Yubisaki to Renren (A Sign of Affection)

I love Oushi and this was the moment my jaw fell to my chest. This moment, this line was SO powerful and so important... I am not going to read the manga, but I wish Oushi the happy ending he deserves.

BUCCHIGIRI?!

Another easy pick. This was one of the best jokes the show produced...

Meiji Gekken: 1874

I had no idea what to pick, because I only took screenshots to shit on this show. (Well, that is a half-lie.) But I think she is pretty enough to be included, so we are including her!
In the end, I liked her the most in the story, I think.

For some show, it was really really hard to pick out one good screenshot, or the funniest. I took over 30 screenshots from Dungeon Meshi. But some shows (surprisingly even Yubisaki to Renren) didn't have much moments I wanted to save forever.

Recommendations

If you haven't tried it out yet, you should definitely check out:

Pon no Michi

If anything, this series is underrated. It is not perfect by any means, but I think that the anime that deserves to be seen is popular enough. Pon no Michi is a great Slice of Life + CGDCT show that mix games, cooking, beach episode and funny jokes all in one!

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Awards!

And now, let's give the shows we did pay attention to some "awards". They mean nothing, but let's do it anyway!

We already picked the best and worst anime of the season, so let's skip that and go for

BEST main character

Utena Hiiragi from Gushing Over Magical Girls gets the award for our best main character. Of course you might argue that she didn't have that much of a character development but I say even coming out of your shell is a character development.
Congrats, Utena! You captured my heart!

WORST main character

This award goes to Gorou Satou from Delusional Monthly Magazine. His catchphrase was annoying, he was dumb as a rock and I hate everything about him. Following him would be the prince, Jirou, because oh my god...!

Congrats!

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BEST supporting character

Oushi Ashioki from Sign of Affection congratulations! You are the best supporting character. I am not sure if you fully deserve it, but you deserve something nice in life, and this is my way of giving it to you! Enjoy it and have fun in life!

WORST supporting character

Yuuta Rokkaku from Cherry Magic! gets this award fair and square for annoying the hell out of me with his voice. As a person, he isn't too shitty, but I can't overlook how he made my blood boil.

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BEST girl character

Maomao from 'Tis Time for Torture, Princess was the most adorable girl this season, she was perfect! Maomao deserves all the love she can get!

WORST girl character

This award goes to a special girl, for making me uncomfortable with her incestuous love for her brother. Mahoro Jin from BUCCHIGIRI?!, congrats!

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BEST boy character

Did you expect anything else?? The winner is Senshi from Dungeon Meshi!

WORST boy character

This award was the hardest to name. But I decided to go with Buhei Hiramatsu from Meiji Gekken: 1874. Mainly because it was the only anime unused, but then again for what he did and who he was. Hated that guy's guts.

Music awards:

BEST opening

I was dying so hard here, trying to choose from all the better songs, and then I realized, this is my award system, I can give two of them!

The first place does definitely belong to BUCCHIGIRI'S Sesame by Kroi. It sounds good, the mix of almost Arabian music and Japanese language blends sooo well and it's a good song overall.

Give our winner a listen here:

But the second one, I needed to mention was Soumonka by Sokoninaru. Really good opening for Maho to Yajuu. 

WORST opening

I cannot believe this song has a whole 3 minutes. I cannot believe they put this out and thought "yeah, banger". I cannot believe they HAD TO PUSH THAT STUPID CATCHPHRASE IN... sorry, too emotional.

Our winner, and overall looser, goes to the cast of Gekkan Mousou Kagaku for their song (you will not believe me) Overscientific! that will haunt me forever and ever.

Please, spare yourself.

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BEST ending

This one was pretty tough! I love BUCCHIGIRI?! 's ending a lot, Pon No Michi has a great song as well, even Gekkan Mousou Kagaku's ending is a bop! 

In the end, it was between 'Tis time for Torture and Metallic Rouge. 

    

I am sitting here to this day, wondering who to crown but it's only fair to give the award to... Scarlet  by DAZBEE from Metallic Rouge. Congratulations!!

WORST ending

I am so sorry to do this. While the song nor artist themselves are bad, I just can't listen to it. My ears hurt, the voice is not sitting with me and I can't bring myself to listen to the full song... snowspring by ChoQMay from Yubisaki to Renren gets this award... 

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(Special award)

Best Insert song

Laios' siren song was hilarious, the VA did a great job putting his whole heart into signing and I was laughing so hard I almost fell from my chair. 

How did it do?

I totally forgot about this!

The anime with the most best episodes:

We have a tie of 5 top episode placements between Dungeon Meshi & Cherry Magic! which is not surprising at all.

While Dungeon Meshi deserves it, Cherry Magic got in the lead because of it's charming personality.

There is no third place in this category, as those two took the lead.

The anime with the most worst episodes:

Another tie, grabbing all three places. Gushing Over Magical Girls, Metallic Rouge and Delusional Monthly Magazine all placed three times for the worst episode of the week, and all of them were deserving.

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I am working on reviews as well! This post is already long enough, and reviews have their own separate column on my blog. So if you are interested, I will start publishing them soon!

However, three shows didn't get to have a review - for different reasons. For them, I'll just do a quick one right here. (And maybe one day they will get their full review!)

Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me! Please do share your opinions on Winter 2024 and your experience down in the comments! I'd love to heart them!