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Cinderella Gray Season 1 Part 1 stood out because of its first six episodes and non-traditional Uma Musume story structure. Overall, this is a slightly disappointing second cour, but it remains more interesting than the Pretty Derby series in stakes and presentation. The animation quality is noticeably lower than in the first half of the season. However, it loses its uniqueness after those six episodes, and this season struggles to establish meaningful stakes before a race.

In its core, Uma Musume, like most sports anime, is about girls finding their reasons for racing. Cinderella Gray is more of an exception to the first three seasons of ... Uma Musume in its more serious tone and competitive portrayal of racing. There are fewer running gags and joking around. The series's emotional beats are also slightly less formulaic, less spontaneous, and more varied than the Pretty Derby series. The greatest example is in season 1 when Oguri Cap was forced to reconsider whether she should win first place and pursue her dreams of going national to race even stronger horses, or lose the race to remain in Kasamori, where her friends are. Her desires are conflicting, and she cannot just win the race to solve the conflict. For almost the first time in Uma Musume history, the solution to the conflict is not simply winning a race. Oguri Cap is forced to actively think about her desires. Sadly, after Oguri entered the national stage, the conflicts again devolved to be less interesting.

Other than interesting conflicts, Cinderella Gray's initial premise is cool in that a prefectural Uma Musume makes her way to the national stage. Don't want to spoil, but the upcoming third cour / second season season may have more plays on the prefectural to national horse setting. That is something worth looking forward to. Anyways, the setting was also able to deviate from the formulaic Uma Musume formula of one big race after another seen in the first three seasons of the anime. However, the second half of part 1 was a return to the more formulaic racing of one big race after another. With that, it includes Uma Musume feeling depressed about losing, either due to a personal desire to win or carrying the hopes of others who believe in them. Sometimes, they are sad because of both reasons. While that is a compelling premise, if that has already been done repeatedly in the same series's past with other horses, a repetition without much variation is not very intriguing to existing fans of the franchise.

Another possibly disappointing factor is that Oguri Cap, the protagonist, has less of a presence in this season. Other horses take more of the center stage. Granted, other Uma rivals getting screentime could potentially lead to more interesting character relationships and interactions. However, the variety of horses all getting a little screen time and backstory results in none of the horses standing out (especially the international horses that are all relatively flat Uma Musume, except the heavily marketed Obey Your Master). Oguri herself suffers from a lack of interesting motivation in this series as well. Her silly and generally unexpressive character results in her not expanding much on her backstory of initially not being able to walk at birth. During interactions outside of races, she seems to like only eating, which is fun. However, this fun gag backfires in making Oguri a flat character in the midst of other flat characters, so there are hardly any characters with interesting depth. Tamamo Cross is a cool rival, but her backstory is not much deeper than others, either, except that the stakes for her are a bit higher.

The biggest missed opportunity is in not making the Oguri Cap's mother or Tamamo Cross's childhood running coach (the local landlord) a character. They are shown to watch Oguri and Tamamo's races, but they almost never even talk. It is strange because they are a big, big part of these two Uma Musume's backstories, yet they are supposedly not important characters in those two characters' lives. The show has the two girls show basic filial piety, yet never do they never have an actual conversation with these two crucial characters. How did Oguri Cap's mother feel about giving birth to Oguri Cap? How did she feel when Ogrui can't walk? What led her to ceaselessly massage Oguri's legs? How did she manage to feed Oguri for all these times? A solid half episode with some more good interactions between Oguri and her mom would be awesome.

Against all odds, this show is not about incest, depending on how you look at it... It is about a little sister who likes games and anime about incest. Ridiculous in its premise, Oreimo actively acknowledges the awkwardness of the situation through meta comments from the brother and sister, addressing the thoughts of the possibilities of incest in the viewers’ minds. However, the anime leaves it vague as to whether the connection between the brother and sister is a familial one or a romantic one. I will walk through the first episode to address the duality of the viewing experience and possible ethical dilemmas people ... may feel towards this anime.

Kirino and her brother Kyou are not on good terms despite living together, in a middle-income Japanese suburban house, for a long time and being of the same biological parents. Kyou is portrayed as a high school protagonist who desires a plain, simple life, well reflected in his possible romantic love for Manami, his childhood friend and high school classmate. Kirino is a perfect middle school girl by all measures: ace track and field athlete, beautiful in appearance, admired by classmates, and even a fashion magazine model. By chance, Kyou, the brother, discovers that someone in his household owns a copy of an eroge, an erotic galgame/visual novel. During family dinner, he tests the waters by asking his family about anime. Their father solemnly reprimands otaku culture and the harm it causes to children’s education. At this point, Kyou could tell from Kirino’s reaction, her sudden silence, and her lack of eating during dinner, that the game belonged to her.

Ok, at this moment, I will need to address that there are several camera shots that can give imagination to fetishization about incest/siscon. These camera shots focus on Kirino dressed in pajamas and exposing a lot of skin. Naturally, though, one would dress without much care around their family member, and Krino is characterized as one who likes to stand out in dress and academic achievements. Nonetheless, the show does serve those her for incest well in this respect, but notably, these shots are rarer in upcoming episodes.

Back to the story, Kirino immediately tries to steal the game back from her brother’s room without permission. However, her brother notices and prevents her action, demanding a proper explanation. She grows angrier and asks an indirect question about how his brother would feel if he discovered she is into these eroges and is an otaku. He said he would not judge. Late into the night, Kirino calls him to her room for life advice by getting on his bed… instead of a normal person, and maybe shaking him away on the side. A secret shelf full of eroge, anime DVDs, and merchandise is revealed by Kirino. And everything is related to incestuous relationships between a big brother and one or multiple little sisters. Kyou is shocked by this absurd situation but does not judge Kirino. His real-life, usually aloof little sister appreciates his acceptance and wishes for help in coping or expressing her passion for this shunned hobby. No one at her school, in her family, or even her friend groups knows about her secret, absurd obsession. Her first step is to get his brother up to speed on her favorite eroges and shows… Throughout the 12 episodes, Kirino, with the help of her ordinary brother Kyou, explores and grapples with her hobby and relationships.

Oreimo walks a fine line between actual incest and a drama of siblings growing closer thanks to eroge. It is up to the viewer to interpret this show however they want. It chooses to lean into incest to attract a guaranteed, dedicated group of fans, but it maintains a genuine, valuable story of not just an otaku, but a female otaku, not even a fujoshi, reconciling her hobbies with her social life. Thankfully, in the modern day, anime and comics and these more nerdy subjects are becoming popularized, so the social stigma against those who like these forms of media is not as regarded against. However, there is still a difference between typical anime and an eroge. Kirino IS INTO PORN GAMES. That is hard to accept, especially when a middle schooler likes it, but clearly, she sees a line between her fetishes (not even necessarily sexual fetishes) and reality. One can still thrive even if they are an otaku. This is even better portrayed in real life nowadays, with many furries being prominent scientists (i.e. one of the scientists who invented the COVID vaccine being a furry). Again, there is a line between being a furry and having a fursona and being sexually attracted to furry things, but this is similar in the strangeness society usually views these individuals with rarer hobbies. Although some hobbies are socially frowned upon, that does not mean the person with the hobby is “weird” or “bad” or even incapable of functioning in society, although there could be a higher chance that an anime-lover is a shut-in compared to an athletic student.

One last ethical qualm to be addressed is Kyou’s (probable) sexual attraction to middle-schoolers. He is in the second year of high school, so an eleventh grader in an American education system, and he has several times definitely gawked at Kirino’s friends, who are almost all in 9th grade, which is the last year of middle school in Japan. The age gap is not actually that significant, but this show can also be seen as a pedophilic harem anime. The show even addresses that through a gag in the later episodes, at the idea of Kyou’s harem, in one of the more powerful scenes in this season.

In this defense of the show, the moral or ethical qualms one may have with Oreimo, or My Sister Cannot be This Cute, are addressed through a more platonic interpretation of the story, but a person with stereotype can easily see this show the other way. The show is designed to be seen as either platonic or romantic, even both. The characters may even be confused about their own feelings at times, and what even differentiates a biological family member from a complete stranger? Oreimo is too modern a show to plead innocence when writing about a brother navigating his relationship with a little sister who likes little sister porn. Oreimo is not Tale of Genji in the 13th century, which also has a lot of incest. The show can be viewed as tasteful and comedic, but also, understandably, disgusting and sinful.

Personally, a lot of my enjoyment is derived from seeing whether or not this show is actually about incest or not, and again, it can be interpreted both ways. The sibling dynamic is portrayed quite nicely, though dramatized at many points due to this being an anime, dramatic in nature. I highly recommend this show and would rate this higher, probably if I did not feel that I should not like this show due to social pressures.

Jujutsu Kaisen has a bad ending: it is rushed, no doubt about it. Its best part is its fights. The characters abilities are varied and interesting, and with a non-restricting power system, there are almost always surprises to the ways characters develop their skills. Jujutsu Kaisen can be likened to a sports match: the audience knows a little about the characters' backstories but not too much, and the outcome is pretty unpredictable. There is not much depth to Jujutsu Kaisen, so it is only the fights that is interesting. It was fun when the everyone was hyped about this series, but without the hype, it ... is painfully mediocre, even bad.

The hardest part is that the characters are not relatable: they do not seem real. My Hero Academia does a great job of allowing the audience to imagine themselves being within a world with heroes, but Jujutsu Kaisen has never bothered with that sadly (it is set in modern-day Japan but one is often at a loss of how the normal public would react to events). This series seems only interested in having characters fight it out, and the characters' motives are never explained very seriously or with depth. Hence, it is even more saddening to see the ending not give sufficient closure to the already depthless series. Though, naturally, the hardcore readers can derive many subtle messaging from this series; meanwhile, the average reader may be blown away by the captivating fights; alas, it is only the few like myself that would not recommend this series.

Steins Gate is a masterfully suspenseful anime with a tight-knite story. It has a slow first two episodes, but after that, the story soars to its real heights. It is normal to not understand what is happening at the beginning, but the average person paying attention should be able to understand all the logic by the end. Lovable characters and a sense of discovery for the viewer are the strongest points of Steins Gate.

The characters are the strongest parts, and it accomplishes in establishing and reflecting, to an extent, the complexity of every single person in the world — people experience joy, sadness, anger and ... all emotions. The time traveling aspect really allows the viewer to experience all there is to know about the setting. Although some characters are relatively flat and probably are more nuiansed in the game (not sure though), the main story is portrayed masterfully in this anime adaptation.

You may wonder why a 9? That's because I don't like the time traveling ethics and reasoning in this anime.