The original novels are a samurai-era period drama, but with lots of youkai, spirits, etc. This is supposed to be a "greatest hits" style compilation of the novels' best scenes, but to be honest it looked pretty generic to me. Nothing wrong with it, but equally nothing that shouted "YOU MUST WATCH THIS!" It's okay, though.

That was very weird. Definitely watching this.

Kate is a silhouette girl. She's black in a way that's got nothing to do with ethnicity, although that said it's easy to read undertones into this show's class-conscious Victorian/Edwardian setting. She looks like a girl-shaped hole in the air. We can see her clothes, her furniture, etc. but nothing of Kate herself inside her silhouette. Also, negative emotions make her emit soot. When she's properly upset, she blasts it out like a chimney.

Emiliko (although she's unnamed until Kate eventually names her late in the episode) is Kate's "Living Doll". She's a servant, but also the face that Kate doesn't have. So far, it's unclear what this means. Will they go outside together? That doesn't happen here, with pretty much the entire episode happening in the girls' rooms. (Kate's room is elegant and immaculate. Emiliko lives in servant's quarters.)

So far, the girls are still just getting to know each other... but this looks fascinating. Emiliko is excitable, modest and easily delighted. She's very likeable, but also uneducated and a bit of an idiot (which aren't the same thing). Kate is intelligent, calm and chilly, but also pretty nice to Emiliko. (She forgives breakages as if they're nothing, for instance, and never seems to get angry.) I'm looking forward to this, and to its second season the following year.

Shadowverse is a digital collectible card game from Cygames, available for iOS, Android, macOS and Windows. It also has a children's anime, but... yeah, well. It's a 48-episode series of game adverts, basically.

This (randomly chosen) episode starts with our 14-year-old heroine working as an idol. It feels like a dream! It's no dream! As it happens, though, it was actually a dream and she wakes up in a forest with an elf shooting arrows at a snake.

Extraordinarily, the rest of the episode then goes on something even duller than idols... a TRADING CARD GAME BATTLE!!!

The original manga ran for six years (1998-2004) and got a 64-episode anime adaptation in 2001-02. This isn't a sequel, but just another adaptation. (This time they'll know how the series ends!)

It is, though, a bit silly. Children of wildly different sizes are in the same class at school, with Manta (who looks about six) having classmates who appear to be of high school age. One of them is hot and has boobs. Another is huge, looks like a thug and goes around with his shirt hanging open. Then there's the gang of graveyard toughs led by Ryunosuke Umemiya, with a foot-long pompadour hairstyle and a 1970s disco king outfit with collars you could use for paragliding.

The episode starts with people in a hospital room getting ready to kill a baby when it's born. They lose the magical energy blast fight. Yes, against the baby. (And the Spirit of Fire that's protecting it.)

The show's about shamans who can communicate with the dead. There's a ghost samurai who long ago was ordered to kill his friend, which is a surprisingly good level of emotional content. The episode's okay, actually... but that's partly because the show hasn't yet found its shounen fight formula. It will.

It's on YouTube.

It starts with Edo era samurai... but "one man tries to change the era." By wearing an idol T-shirt. (I approve. Idols are better than samurai, although a perfect world would contain neither. Also, the bathetic reveal is amusing.)

After that introduction, the rest is a music video. This is fine.

A girl decides to go on a diet. It's her boyfriend's fault for being such a good cook! Well, maybe he can help her fitness and massage regime!

This is hentai, so I think you can guess where this goes... but it's a good-natured, happy episode and quite fun to watch. Chie and Rie are a likeable couple and there's even a body-positive message. "Personally, I love you with your big body. And then, I think we could give birth to a healthy baby."

A girl called Yayoi has just moved to the town of Shichigahama and she's not very good at tsunami evacuation practice. Her new friends all explain that 50 cm might not sound like much, but it's a big deal.

Then a ten-metre tsunami arrives.

It's quite good, for what it is. The plot's simple, obviously, but the characters work.

Kamikado Misato's a professional athlete of international standard, but who has a bit of an attitude.

"You're in good condition as always, Misato," says her trainer.

"Would you stop stating the obvious? And please stop calling me by my first name. It's gross."

"S-sorry, I'll make sure not to do that."

She walks on him masturbating while sniffing her used underwear. She even sees him ejaculating. Amazingly, it turns out that he has a magic voice that can make her believe anything. (Just her? All people? It's unclear.) I'm sure you can see where this is going.

It's unpleasant. We're supposed to sympathise with the trainer because Misato's abrasive, but... uh, no.

Bad CGI models. I look at them and I don't care. They can't act. Their facial expressions look like Barbie dolls and they do spooky weightless ghost running.

Otherwise, the show's an anime homage to tokusatsu, i.e. Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, etc. The action scenes are lovingly animated. A shrine maiden vapourises monsters in a boy's fantasy-world dream, then later the monsters invade reality. There's a class trip to Nagoya City Museum. An unintelligent girl needs help with directions. Nope, sorry, don't care. I wasn't particularly into this genre to begin with.

University students play tennis. Some of them have a bit of an attitude, e.g. "you will grovel before me."

The episode really is just a big match. If you like tennis, you might enjoy this.

The problem with this one is the characters' ages... but this first episode also happens to be light and charming.

Kasuga is fascinated by boys. She's excited by the fact that her classroom contains 16 penises and 32 testicles. "I want to see what a boy looks like down there!" One day, her friend Kobayashi unwisely makes a bet. Whoever scores more on their next school test can give the other an order! Kasuga jumps on this opportunity, studies like crazy and ends up scoring 100%. Mind you, Kobayashi does too, so they agree that they can both issue one order.

Kobayashi requests one of Kasuga's erasers. She's a bit bemused, but complies.

Kasuga orders Kobayashi to get his dick out. He's gobsmacked and refuses, but relents when she starts crying and saying she hates him. The episode's rather nice... but I'd still suggest avoiding it, because they're both a bit young.

If I'd seen this show in 2017, you couldn't have kept me off it. Seasons 1-2 of Show by Rock!! are magnificent.

Unfortunately, though, I've just watched Show by Rock!! Mashumairesh!!, i.e. Season 3 from 2020, so I'm bracing myself for mediocrity. I think this 4th season is a team-up of all characters so far, although so far the boy bands haven't appeared. Mashumairesh!! (sigh) get more screen time than Plasmagica (who are underwhelming). Ruhuyu overuses her catchphrases and becomes annoying. The irresponsible driving contest and egg-president can piss off. I wanted to throw the episode against a wall when we meet the cops who can't find any evidence of a GIGANTIC FLYING MONSTER CHASING OUR HEROES THROUGH THE CITY. Are they blind? Is this a ghost town? Jesus wept.

Theoretically, I'm encouraged by the return of Takahiro Ikezoe (director) and Touko Machida (writer) from Seasons 1-2... but the evidence of ep.1 isn't good. I'll watch the season, of course. It's Show by Rock!!. But I've parked my expectations in the basement.

Sitting together at a family restaurant are a widower (Shouji), his tiny daughter (Kana) and a drunken woman (Minami) who's trying to go incognito by wearing a hat. It's a busy time of day and the restaurant had no free tables. The best they could offer was a table that only had one person sitting there already.

Shouji brought Kana here to see a stage performance by "Uta no Onee-san", a children's entertainer. Unfortunately, it got cancelled. Kana loves "Uta no Onee-san", who means a lot to her at a difficult time... and hearing that story will mean a lot to Minami. All this I enjoyed. The cast are very likeable.

...but this is hentai, so Minami goes back to Shouji and Kana's hotel room and... well, you can guess. At least they keep their hands off each other until Kana's asleep in bed, though. The episode's first half is charming and the hentai scene is inoffensive, but the transition's a bit abrupt. Nonetheless, I'll keep going. (The series even has a second season.)