It's time to talk about the enshittification of Crunchyroll
youtu.be/B-DX0Zolr6g

The first cour of Fire Force season 3 was a mess. It felt like it was going at hyper speed but also not much happened? The production was definitely rough in spots and left us both wondering how the heck they're gonna cover 80+ chapters in the next cour...

Thankfully some fantastic bits related to best boy Arthur are somewhat of a saving grace for this outing.

I hate it when great shows stumble and fall in their final lap to the finish. And it looks like Fire Force will be one of those cases. The first half of its third and ostensible final season is marred by uneven pacing and a severe drop in animation quality. What a bummer.

#171: A couple of mini reviews & then a lukewarm inferno with the first half of Fire Force Season 3. Enjoy!
#FireForce #fireforceanime #炎炎ノ消防隊
animebrainfreeze.com/2025/10/05/e...

Some details: It seems that for at least two new in-house subtitle releases (A Wild Last Boss Appeared 01, Kaiju No8 23), rather than the usual Aegisub the subtitles were created in "Closed Caption Converter", which cannot do styled on-screen text at all. CR work with Aegisub on left, CCC on right.

Bad news: Seeing some signs that Crunchyroll has chosen to go down the road of throwing away one of their major competitive advantages in favor of "compatibility" with other streaming services, despite the fact that it would take just a little bit of effort to have the best of both worlds. Uh oh...

It was neat to see the girls of LycoReco again, even if briefly. And unfortunately, GQuuuuuuX was a show that was neat in concept but had some missteps holding it back from bringing it all together in a satisfying way. Thanks to CC's friend David for joining us on the review!

Thanks again for David aka @giantrobolove.bsky.social for joining us on our massive review for GQuuuuuuX. That show turned out to be quite the mixed bag. Astonishing production values but a way too compressed story with a lack of focus and shallow characterization. We had a lot of fun dissecting it.

#170: Action appetizers with Lycoris Recoil mini movies & a giant robot spectacle with Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, featuring @giantrobolove.bsky.social. Enjoy!
#lycoris_recoil #GQuuuuuuX #ジークアクス
animebrainfreeze.com/2025/09/28/e...

Sometimes you just gotta rock out with your-- well, it would be uncouth of a person of culture to finish that thought, but the girls of Rock is a Lady's Modesty knew how put on a show. It was a great story with a fun cast and plenty of strong emotional hooks.

Vigilantes delivered more substancial fun than I expected from a My Hero Academia spin-off. It benefits from the smaller cast and a more episodic structure. If the main show didn't do it for you, this just might.

#169: High School Headbangers with Rock is a Lady's Modesty & chaotic street level justice with My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. Enjoy!
#rockisaladysmodesty #ロックレディ #vigilante_mha #ヒロアカ #heroaca_a #mha
animebrainfreeze.com/2025/08/20/e...

Lazarus had a cool premise of a search that spanned the entire globe with a cast of great characters. Sad to say that one of the main cast did kind of get a little ignored and the plot is a bit shaky toward the end, but it was overall still an enjoyable watch.

Lazarus had a lot to offer: Incredible visuals, a fantastic soundtrack and cool characters. The story started out strong as well, but tried to spin a few too many plates by the end, which lead to the wheels coming off in the last third. Still, I recommend checking it out regardless. It's a fun time.

#168: Hot summer premieres in the Sneak Peek & an apocalyptic scavenger hunt with Lazarus. Enjoy!
#LAZARUS_anime
animebrainfreeze.com/2025/07/17/e...

Sakamoto Days was a giant goof-fest filled with weirdo assassin shenanigans that wouldn't be out of place in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. The cast and production were great and I'm definitely looking forward to season 2!

also you can blame me for the episode title lol

Sakamoto Days was a thoroughly entertaining spoof on the John Wick genre of assassin movies. Fun action, colorful characters and a lot of great gags. Can't wait to jump into the next season hitting Netflix in a couple of days.

#167: Retired assassin goofs with Sakamoto Days & our picks for Best Anime of the Season. Enjoy!
#SAKAMOTODAYS #サカモトデイズ
animebrainfreeze.com/2025/07/06/e...

Übel Blatt's edginess bled through from the first moment to the final, but it was at least an entertaining ride with some fun moments sprinkled throughout. Now maybe if we could get Satelight to finish some of their adaptations...

Zenshu's concept of an animator getting transported to the world of her favorite movie was pretty damn engaging and lavishly animated.
Medalist is one of the best Sports Anime in recent time. An absolutely wholesome underdog student/teacher story and I can't wait to watch its next season.

#166: Otherworldy animation with Zenshu, violent vengeance with Übel Blatt and going for gold with Medalist. Enjoy!
#ZENSHU #全修 #UbelBlatt #ユーベルブラット #medalist #メダリスト
animebrainfreeze.com/2025/06/22/e...

I went to PAX East and played some cool stuff! So now my Steam wishlist is a bit longer than before... But I also started playing Doom 2016 and it's been great so far! We also discussed where we got started playing games and what games we enjoyed in the 8-bit era!