Yep

Update: I'm halfway into Fujimoto's Anthology

Dropping this down to a 6/10

I do have to give Shinji Somai props on his oners though, specifically by how restrained they are. He has an uncanny talent in knowing exactly where to just leave the camera rolling. Minutes can pass without any fancy trickery, letting the actors and set do the talking.

That said, HOLY SHIT was this a good choice to end on. Whereas Vol. 1 had more of a contest on what you’d rank as your favorite, saving the best for last is valid when you’ve got something that shouldn’t even be possible in such a major franchise.

Some of these get a cool character design, but how they implement the Star Wars elements into their stories either feel half-baked, stretched-out, or in the case of Ninth Jedi deliberately held back to save room for the full series it’s getting.

That said, my favorite ending might actually be the Fox's Wedding aka the Bad End. While it does surrender Hinako to the whims of her husband much like her mother, that sense of compromise is something I can see hitting close to home.

This convo hits hard too.

The true ending definitely gave the most closure, particularly regarding Hinako's family trauma and the fox prince's role in this story. The Shu route did feel like the most cop-out ending next to the 1st route, so I appreciate the toughest ending to get actually addressed this.

I did 😁

At first I thought maybe it was just animation as a whole, and gaming definitely still had big releases (shout-out to Animal Crossing).

But aside from Blood of Zeus, the cartoons I saw trending at the time were mainly S2s to these series. 2021 was when new fandoms spawned.

Despite a title fitting for a recruitment ad, this takes the Boy-goes-to-war story and heads in the opposite direction. It shows how even without a gun, a soldier can become someone people will make songs about.

Can't believe Gal & Dino is 5 years old. That's ancient in internet years.