Episode 24 (28 Sep.) is over 5 months into its run, which ends in 3 months. Maybe a minor slate clean for the final stretch; there's a sense they got sick of making contrivances to keep a minor part of the setup. That it goes out to show all the toys to the kids makes the "sod this" vibe stronger.

Both fronts of the 1st half of Episode 22 (14 September) have a general goof-off summer vacation vibe. In this particular case it feels like storyboarder &/or animators were allowed to be indulgent & a bit loose with the look of the show.

Which brings a bit of whiplash in how the villain goes lol

Thank you very much.

I will keep these games in mind, yet cannot promise I'll get around to them any time soon. My backlog is quite large, and organizing time to get through much of it has been a challenge.

Funnily, it didn't remind me of NieR Gestalt, whose fishing was a touch annoying, but insignificant in the face of the greatly enjoyable whole

Still, its all side diversions. Never played a dedicated fishing game, but Im willing to cast my net

Do you keep track of those? If yes, what are the best?

As anime at the time tended to be, Borgman has kept a base floor of animation quality; it still looks fine overall, though that episode does have a 3-second crow-hop loop that looked a little goofy.

On Episode 18 (17 August) they start adding a "prelude" to the mech-ing up sequences. They're only about 9 seconds long; more likely so they'd have less to animate from scratch each week.

Maybe the storyboarders were having timing issues? So far no episode feels badly paced.

#16 does have a nice clapboard transition it uses twice during a comedic montage. I'll make an animated GIF of it... someday.

Nearing the halfway mark, the signs of weekly turnaround wearing on staff are starting to show. Episode 14 is rougher in animation quality than the norm; 16 a bit less so, but paired with a dumb monster of the week (deadly sniper who partway through only shoots in close range after slowly walking).

The aforementioned animator, Shin Matsuo, went on to be character designer on 闇の司法官ジャッジ (Judge) & 影技～SHADOW SKILL, where some characters have those traits on display.

episode 13 (13 July): action-focused Aikawa joint w some key revelations of the wider story. Has flashes of Concrete Revolutio.

Art-wise, all hair has more volume + lower eyelashes painted on thick. No other episode had the same animation director as this; deliberate choice to make it stand out?

episode 12 (29 June)

Split screen video calls were common in sci-fi then, but were standards for junior high/middle school art classes so high that kids could churn out anime cel-grade background paintings?

Episode 10, like episode 4, was written by a 22yo Sho Aikawa; both of them stand out as leagues more pensive than the usual for this series, when you'd expect more since it takes place in the shadow of a catastrophe.

He juggled script duties for the whole thing with 2 others. Only penned 8 total.

Meanwhile, episode 10 (aired 15 June) has a brief Legend of Zelda adventure as "3D Movie" (i.e the Holodeck from Star Trek) + a Japanese Sega Master System with NES Advantages as museum display, that plays an alien-heavy After-Burner-a-like.

The peculiarities of this near future continued in episode 7 (aired 25 May). Doraemon is a toy of the past, while a game is displayed picture-in-picture alongside a video call. In 1 hand the future turned out near exactly as shown here, on the other, its proven the immortality of such mascots.

meant to keep track of everything else she ended up liking that didn't seem up her alley at first. The big ones that stood out were Oppenheimer (balked at length & subject matter but once she actually saw it, she enjoyed it) & The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (might be an all-time fav of hers now)

Today Turning Red came on TV. She was only going to watch a bit while waiting for something to finish, but got hooked as soon as the ancestral stuff came up & enjoyed it all the way through the end.

Surprised me a bit at first, but I quickly realized it has plenty that would click with her.

...and animators decidedly plant this would-be future of 2030 squarely within the realities of their time in culture, technology & grasp of foreign languages.

That I came across a would-be contemporary event in this story was 100% unexpected.