The Best and Worst Anime of Summer 2023

With the exception of Jujutsu Kaisen's return, this was an exceptionally quiet season for anime. A few hidden gems stood out from the rest, including Kaguya-sama director Mamoru Hatakeyama's intriguing mystery series Undead Murder Farce. I personally took the opportunity to finally catch up on a major blind spot in my viewing history (Vinland Saga) after the promising Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead fell victim to production woes. Below is the list of the editorial team's favorite anime series from this slim season, as well as our biggest disappointments.

Note: the commentary below may include spoilers.

Richard Eisenbeis

Best: Undead Murder Farce

Undead Murder Farce is an example of a show having just the right amount of crazy to be both interesting and entertaining. On one hand, it is a classic murder mystery setup. We have a private detective and her assistant, traveling from place to place, solving each largely self-contained mystery they come across. On the other, we have a story where a magic-wielding Aleister Crowley fights Sherlock Holmes in the home of Phileas Fogg (from Around the World in 80 Days) while a bayonet-wielding maid fights a vampire.

Of course, the most important thing to have in a story like this is chemistry between the detective and her assistant—and Aya and Tsugaru have this in spades. Both are incredibly cynical—one because she is an immortal severed head in a birdcage and the other because he is a monster-hunter doomed to become a monster and be hunted himself. However, while Aya is more deadpan in her humor, Tsugaru is much more slapstick in his approach—making for an entertaining running commentary no matter what case they're investigating.

Likewise, the mysteries in the series are good ones—and ones you can largely figure out alongside Aya if you pay attention to all the little details. Each has several good twists and turns—while the middle case has an excellent series of action scenes where each of our heroes is pushed to their limits.

If you like detective stories or classic tales of werewolves and vampires, this is the show for you. It has fantastic characters and clever writing that ensures every moment is as entertaining as the last.

Runner Up: NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a

A victim of two COVID-related production delays, NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a was left unfinished during its Winter 2023 season run—only for the final four episodes to be dropped all at once this season. Honestly, they were worth the wait and complete an already great anime.

Rather than being a direct adaptation of the game, Ver1.1a is almost a companion piece more than anything else. While it still tells the story of the game, there are numerous side stories woven in that are not present in the game. Some of these are about the machines—some of which develop something akin to consciousness and try to find a new goal in life other than fighting. Other stories are taken from other sources entirely—like the episode spent exploring A2's backstory as originally seen in the YoRHa stage play from 2014.

What comes from this is a series without a single human character—where both sides of an eternal war, machines, and androids, are struggling to understand human nature. Hatred, love, desire, pacifism, and religion—are just a few of the concepts explored by the robotic characters in the story. Yet, the question remains: can they even understand such things even as they attempt to emulate them? And if they can, wouldn't that make them just as human as any of us?

Ultimately, it's a fantastic anime that deserves a watch even if you've never heard of the original game before this. Just be warned—with this deep dive into the follies of humanity, you're unlikely to come out of this one with a smile on your face (or in your heart). But honestly, that's par for the course when it comes to the works of Yokō Tarō.

Biggest Letdown: Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Zom 100 started things off with an impressive first episode. It was a deep dive into the all-too-real life of an entry-level Japanese employee in a “black company.” It explored the pain caused by unpaid overtime, power harassment, and the generally horrible working conditions many people in Japan face. The episode was a parable comparing Japanese company life to the zombie apocalypse and determining that zombies trying to kill you all day, every day was the more enjoyable option. After all, at least with the end of human society, you could do whatever you wanted until you died. It's frankly an artistic masterpiece both in the plot and visuals.

Unfortunately, it's all downhill from there. Each episode after has our heroes stumbling from one zombie movie cliché to another—with them escaping time and again while everyone else dies. At the same time, the main characters are relatively static. Akira is extremely self-centered, with little to no sense of danger. Shizuka is hyper-serious and logical to the point that she focuses more on surviving than living. And as for Kenichiro, well, he's there to be comic relief and tear his clothes off once per episode.

The situation also begins to leave behind the grounded nature of the first episode and become more unbelievable for the sake of comedy. We have nonsensical things like a zombie firefighter whose hose is spraying fire instead of water or a zombie shark that can somehow run around thanks to the legs of the zombie divers he has eaten.

Things get a bit better in the truck stop two-parter (dealing once again with Akira's past and lasting trauma). Still, it feels like too little too late—especially given that the series has been delayed so often that we'll still be missing around a fourth of the episodes by the time the season ends. All in all, I wouldn't call Zom 100 the worst of the season or even a bad anime. However, as the saying goes, the higher you are, the farther you fall.

Gunawan

Best: Undead Murder Farce

As an adult, Fate/Zero was the first anime series that made me feel like 20 minutes passed like 5 minutes. Since then, there have been only a handful of titles that gave me the same sensation, including Thunderbolt Fantasy (seasons 1 and 3). This season, however, I got two titles. The first title is Ultraman Blazar, but alas, it isn't an anime, so I had to give this award to the second title, Undead Murder Farce. It is a supernatural detective story with a very intense detective aspect and equally engaging supernatural action aspect that somehow found a balance in my eyes and heart. I like detective stories, just not detectives from Japan. Somehow, this Aya Rindo came out of somewhere, rolled into my field of view, and enthralled me. She is very charming even though she is just a head. That head gets my full attention whenever she talks. You can't forget Tsugaru either, a seemingly barbaric fighter but also a charming storyteller.

The main selling point of the series is the strength of direction and source material. Any dialogue-heavy scenes pass as fast and enjoyable as the action scenes. The fight scenes in this series oozes style. When a character is said to be unique, they are unique in how they fight and present themselves. Episode 5 through 8 has been the best arc of this series so far. The inclusion of Sherlock Holmes, buffed up to keep up with the supernatural aspect of the story, who was also a delight. It also shows us that Aya Rindo is a high-level detective and strategist without dragging down the level of other intellectual characters. The climax of this arc, where the plot twists and actions take place, is presented in an amazingly engaging way. I couldn't get enough of Jack The Ripper versus Tsugaru. The conclusion of this arc is also very satisfying.

While the series has more than a few flaws scattered here and there, they only stood out a little. Whenever the story takes flight, viewers find themselves soaring with the characters, that is, unless detective stories aren't your cup of tea.

Worst: Helck

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Mashle last season, an anime that has One-Punch Man-styled storytelling, so I was hopeful for Helck. Expecting a macho fantasy humorous action series, I followed the series every week. My effort was paid for with lukewarm animations, not-so-funny humor, and flatline actions. It started with potential, but the slow pacing dragged it down too much. It also pains me when I find out that Helck would get 24 episodes while Undead Murder Farce only gets 13. I certainly hope that the story isn't stretched thin just for the sake of filling the quota of 24 episodes.

Helck can still redeem himself if the second half of this series could have a better presentation. Then comes the question of whether I could finish watching this series. I'm ten episodes in and already considering dropping the series there.

Nicholas Dupree

Best: Undead Murder Farce

In a season where even the shows I liked could get bogged down in underwhelming or meandering plotlines, Undead McMurderface was a respite of delightful consistency. Every arc, every episode, practically every scene was always riveting, regardless of what was going on. Whether Tsugaru was having a bloody death match with a half-Oni Jack the Ripper, annoying his companions by reciting a rakugo bit ad nauseum, or just having the mechanics of a door explained to him, it was always attention-grabbing because of this show's boundless personality. The characters are simple but compensate by being fun to follow, delivering clever and charming dialogue buoyed by the dynamic direction that keeps even the talkiest of scenes gripping.

Moreover, it's a mystery series that understands the flair and excitement of the genre, shifting from locked room murder to elaborate jewel heist to ritualistic serial killings across its runtime and handling each with a deft hand for detail and suspense. Every arc is a bit like trying to figure out a magic trick before it goes off, where even if you don't guess the answer by the end of things, it's so much fun – and so well constructed – that it's rewarding to rewatch earlier episodes and pick up on all the subtle hints and clues that were setting it all up. Likewise, its Monster Mash approach to character and worldbuilding makes for a lot of schlocky fun, be it Arsene Lupin and the Phantom of the Opera stealing from Phileas Fogg or Sherlock Holmes exchanging fisticuffs with Aleister Crowley. It's a compulsively watchable show that effortlessly combines the strengths of all the genres it's mashing up – playful, macabre, tragic, thrilling, weirdly horny on occasion – and easily the standout of the season.

Runner-up: Synduality: Noir

This one, on the other hand, is just for me. Much as I enjoy the big, long-established mech franchises like Macross and Gundam, part of me is always going to yearn for the days when original, off-beat mech anime were abundant. Synduality: Noir scratched that itch for me this season, delivering a laidback, goofy romp that occasionally breaks out into well-animated robot fights but more often indulges in wacky antics from the side cast rather than developing into a darker or more serious plot. It has all the pacing of those mid-2000s titles that had the luxury of two or more seasons and is content to build up a messy love polygon around its protagonist rather than making a B-line straight for the “real” plot. That might frustrate some viewers – since, at the time of writing, it's unclear if this does have more than one season to work with – but it has been a ton of fun for me. Did we strictly need an entire episode about Kanata getting dragged to a high-class brothel? No, but I don't much care because I was too busy laughing at our masked antagonist(?) introducing himself by proudly proclaiming his virginity in the waiting room. It's that kind of goofy antics that made me love director Yūsuke Yamamoto's previous work on Aquarion Evol, and it kept me happy to come back to this one week after week. It also has the best OP of the season, and it's not even close.

Worst: Reign of the Seven Spellblades

As always, there are probably more objectively terrible series this season, but the one that disappointed – and frustrated – me the most was this shockingly tedious return of the magic school subgenre. Spellblades started feeling like a fanfiction with the serial numbers hastily filed off, but that was part of its charm in the early days. It had many ideas and character dynamics it wanted to play with in its very familiar school of witchcraft and wizardry, and something was endearing about how it was cribbing from its influences. Yet, with each new episode, it became clear that the writing was not up to snuff when it came time to execute those ideas. It started by bringing up weighty and serious topics like demi-human rights before abandoning those hard questions to focus on the dull main character's secret revenge plot line, only to also forget about that and stumble into a half-baked battle tournament that was swiftly interrupted by yet another, unrelated conflict. It's just a mess, tossing in new characters and concepts whenever it thinks of them without developing the ones it's already introduced.

The real nail in the coffin is the show's misguided insistence that it's built up a lovable cast of misfit mages to follow through those meandering plot points. Despite setting up its central six characters in the first episode, the show's cast is woefully lopsided, with Oliver soaking up the bulk of screen time and plot relevance like the boy-shaped sponge he is. Everyone else is either left to half-abandoned character arcs or, in the case of Guy, being half-hearted comic relief without even a shred of narrative dignity. Yet despite this being the Oliver show with everyone else on the other side of the “feat.” note, the writing is convinced they're stalwart friends whose bonds have endeared us all to them. The biggest sign that this show had missed me was when our heroes mentioned being at the school for six months, and I balked because it felt like it had been about two weeks with how little rapport they had. The final result is a scattershot plot filled with puddle-shallow heroes facing cartoonishly evil villains who are convinced it's deeper and heavier than it is.

Christopher Farris

Best: BanG Dream! It's MyGo!!!!!

I already put out a too-long review technically breaking down and evaluating why It's MyGO works as well as it does. So here at this end-of-season celebration, which has turned out to be the best entry in one of my favorite series ever, you'll forgive me if I go ahead and gush: God is It's MyGO good! It's remarkable how dialing up the toxic sharpness of the band girls it focuses on turned out to be the right direction to help this series define itself. The writing of characters like Anon and Soyo embraces their selfish and petty impulses, making them that much more entertaining to follow. They suck, and I love them. Watching them be brought together by the too-good Tomori is satisfying because we understand that they deserve each other, for better or for worse, in carrying this band forward for the rest of their lives. The big and small ways they engage as a group define the energy of It's MyGO. Taki winds up adopting the matcha-addicted stray cat of a person that is Rāna. Soyo pointedly looks miserable every time she gets herself up on stage to perform. It's all friggin' great.

You wanna know a secret, though? It's not just that It's MyGO was so good, but what that goodness allowed to happen. I got to cover the series as part of a column with my co-writer, Steve, and watch him get sucked into the show. I saw more people on my social media feed posting (increasingly feral) fanart and reactions to It's MyGO as it was airing than I had for any prior BanG Dream! anime. As great as the show was, it was being able to have this reinvigorated interaction with the series overall that made me fall in love with It's MyGO, as well as BanG Dream! itself, all over again. I don't know that it got big enough to qualify as a sleeper hit. Still, enough people were coming along on Yuniko Ayana's wild ride to make it an experience that I have yet to get watching previous shows in the series. And it wouldn't have happened if It's MyGO hadn't turned out as outstanding as it did. And now, not only am I eagerly anticipating that Ave Mujica follow-up anime, but I know several other people who are as well.

Runner-Up: Undead Murder Farce

So the much more expected sweep of the season then, naturally, comes to us courtesy of Mamoru Hatakeyama. Look, I made clear before this started that I'm an utter mark for anything the director of Kaguya-sama: Love is War does and this story of creeps, clues, and craniums delivered. Hatakeyama brought everything I associate with his A-game, including anachronistic mixed-media indulgences and references to rakugo. His careful sense of staging and pacing communicates the central detective story component. It's great in how far it goes towards making Murder Farce's arcs the kind of mystery stories that impressed me with the level of craft that goes into composing solid mysteries.

For all the praise I can heap on Hatakeyama for directing the show, everything behind that is no slouch. The original story this series is adapting is cut from strong cloth, with the tight logic of the mysteries contrasting cleverly with the more absurd elements: We get to see Professor Moriarty assembling his literary Legion of Doom. There's a gang of specially-abled insurance agents, each with increasingly ridiculous code names. There are crisply choreographed fight scenes and antics that lead to the show's severed head heroine to be ignobly yeeted through the air at least once per arc. Undead Murder Farce is an anime that lived up to the lofty, ludicrous expectations I had for it based on its pedigree, turning out to be one more feather in Hatakeyama's increasingly ostentatious cap. Also? A real contender for OP of the year.

The Silently Screaming Void, The Abyss That Doesn't Even Bother To Gaze Back: Am I Actually the Strongest?

This season, my esteemed editorial overlords elected not to assign any outright bad or hate-watch-worthy anime. Or maybe y'all were so underwhelmed by the pickings this go-around that you couldn't even find any worth voting in for reviews. That's theoretically great, but it did mean that to fill out something for this selection (and have some more series reviews to contribute once the season was up), I had to go looking for junk. No longer is suffering inflicted on me; now, I actively choose to dig my own grave.

One show I ended up giving a glance was this middling monument to all the worst parts of the medium right now, Am I Actually the Strongest?. I'd previously checked out the manga iteration of this insipid isekai light novel. I knew precisely what I was going into, and that's why I was here. How can I be sure my critical facilities are adequately calibrated to appreciate masterworks like MyGO and Murder Farce if I don't tare the scales every now and then?

And yet Am I Actually the Strongest? even fails at that, as all it can muster is one of the most nothing anime I've yet seen in a genre predisposed to be nothing. Much of the productive premise is predicated on the main character desperately wanting to do as little as possible despite his obligatory overpowering. That might be a funny joke, but then the show echoes his utter lack of ambitions with the most limp, listless presentation of any of its material. He has barrier magic that can do anything without explanation because they don't care. He needs to hide his identity to protect his family, so he starts wearing a knockoff cosplay of Zero from Code Geass because they don't care. They spend over three episodes milling around on the plot of him not wanting to go to school because they don't care. I watched all the available episodes of this thing, and I still couldn't tell you this main dude's name because I don't care. It's a placebo of a program, the sort of show that would be on at your grandmother's when you walked in because she's one of those people who leaves the TV on at all times—background noise. Remind me next season to avoid isekai even in the name of courting crap because at least other genres out there can manage to suck in interesting ways. Why are we even here?

Rebecca Silverman

Best: My Happy Marriage

This was everything I could have wished for as a fan of the original novels. My Happy Marriage's anime adaptation captures the quiet pain and beautiful romance that the books (both the novels and the manga adaptation) encapsulate, ensuring that we fully understand Miyo as a person and how what she's been through has shaped her. To modern eyes, she could have come across as too self-effacing, too meek, and yes, women of the early twentieth century often were taught to behave that way. But Miyo's inner strength has been eroded by her family's abuse, making her think she's worthless. She's a Cinderella without a fairy godmother, at least at first. That doesn't mean that she doesn't yearn for something more. It means that she thinks she doesn't deserve it.

Miyo's story is part romance, part journey of self-discovery, and those are two genres that are blended expertly here. Her love story with Kiyoka can't take off until she can convince herself that she's allowed to love him and receive his love in return, making this a very interior tale for her. However, Kiyoka isn't framed as a savior prince, and that's a major point in the show's favor. He's supportive (at least, once he realizes what's going on with her; Prince Surly is a better moniker for him at first), but ultimately, it's up to Miyo to save herself on an emotional level. That later translates into her taking a more active role in helping Kiyoka, which helps offset the earlier scenes of her excessive submissiveness. Both she and Kiyoka grow through their relationship, and that's both very rewarding to see and a lot more progressive than almost any of the early Cinderella variants the story references. (And those references and some to Sleeping Beauty are beautifully done.)

The anime does tone down some of the harsher elements of the print versions, particularly when it comes to Miyo's erstwhile friend/would-be suitor, but that's okay because it still gets the most critical parts of the story right. The plot lives and dies on Miyo and Kiyoka's mutual growth and budding relationship, enhanced with the gorgeous art and beautiful animation, and it helps that the show stuck to adapting only the first two light novels, which allows the plot to maintain a good pace. My Happy Marriage is what we think of when we imagine fairy tales (which is much nicer than the actual tales in most cases), and it does it with a quiet aplomb that makes it a standout.

Runner-Up: Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts

Another solid adaptation, Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts may not be particularly subtle regarding equality and racism. Still, it does both them and the love story justice. While the show's first half was about Sariphi working to be accepted by prickly chancellor Anubis and his ilk, the second half delves into how Leonhart choosing a human queen affects the world at large and how people are dealing with that. Some take the fact that Leonhart and Sari are in love to be a sign of the king's weakness, and that comes with unprecedented challenges to the throne, with at least two major ones making up the main action. The threats come from people who make assumptions about a king who would marry outside beastkind, and the story handles their prejudice well. In both cases, we can understand why they would want to be the king in the first place, and although they both tell themselves that it's about Sari or perceived injustices, what it's about is Fenrir and Set themselves. Both would-be usurpers want the power to prove that they're worthy people, and it becomes clear that it's not power that gives Leonhart his sense of self-worth; it's Sari and his relationship with her. He was a good king, to begin with, but being with Sariphi helps him to feel like one. But she's not just a tool to prop him up any more than he's a means for her to achieve power; Sari's a person in her own right, acting according to her beliefs, which is, of course, what rubs the beast supremacists the wrong way. She and Leonhart upending biased beliefs in everyone they encounter, and that's a crucial message. It isn't subtle, but with characters as good as Lante and Amit to support the protagonists, it doesn't need to be. Honestly, I may have named this my runner-up based on Maalo's cuteness alone, but the plot and people speak for themselves. Worthy of the manga it's adapting, this is an excellent story whose good message doesn't feel like an after-school special.

Worst: Sweet Reincarnation

While my two best are solid adaptations of their source material, that might be Sweet Reincarnation's downfall. Based on an impressively long light novel series, this may be sticking too close to its books because we don't get much of anything in twelve episodes beyond setup. Even if we cast aside how heavy a sugar sculpture would be to crush someone, the plot isn't nearly invested enough in young Pastry's goals of becoming a world-renowned pâtissier in his new life. There's baking, yes, but most of the series is taken up with political maneuvering and the fact that Pastry is a nine-year-old with memories of his past life, making him seem preternaturally gifted regarding current events. Political plotlines are fine and dandy, but we were promised a show about baking sweets in another world. Please don't bait-and-switch that with a standard isekai plot about warring factions in a pseudo-Medieval kingdom.

In all fairness, this does get a bit more into the baking stuff towards the end. That's what makes me suspect that this is adapting the early parts of the books too closely because it feels like Pastry has to engineer world peace to accomplish his baking goals, which is fine when you have unlimited pages. But it works less well when the promised plotline is buried under it, and when it also looks bland and takes a lot of animation shortcuts, it ends up with something that feels distinctly underbaked.

James Beckett

Best: Undead Murder Farce

The first arc of Undead Murder Farce was already pretty good. If you tell me that we've got a cast of loveable, supernatural weirdos that go solving locked-door vampire murder mysteries like this were Anne Rice's Knives Out fanfiction, I'm already sold. As fun as the blood-soaked vampire family feud that Aya, Tsugaru, and Shizuku romp through, though, it was the following two arcs that really got me jumping onto UMF's hype bandwagon. Introducing the intensely shippable pair of The Phantom of the Opera and Arsene Lupin to an Aya Rindo/Sherlock Holmes crossover was, in and of itself, a genius move. But to bring in an entire rogues' gallery of Victorian-era baddies, like Jack the Ripper, Carmilla the Vampire, and even freaking Alistair Crowley? Friends, I was frothing at the mouth for more with every passing moment. If that weren't enough, then the show saw fit to transition into a moody, rural werewolf hunt, and it's a setting that gives me so many of those good old-fashioned folk-horror vibes that putting Undead Murder Farce at the top of my seasonal list was essentially an inevitability. Did any other shows give us a badass, gun-toting murderer who constantly finds herself landing into subtextually homoerotic battle-flings with crazed vampire seductresses and a harem of killer werewolf girls? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Runner-Up: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

If you ask any manga fan on the street, they'll likely tell you that the still-in-progress Shibuya Incident Arc is what we should be the most excited for in this all-new season of Jujutsu Kaisen. That may be true, but man, it'll be hard to top some of the highs that we already got to experience in the miniature flashback arc that explored more of Gojo and Getou's tumultuous history together. If the inherent tragedy and compelling drama of the pair's doomed partnership weren't already worth the price of admission, then the show's upgraded production values and aesthetic sensibilities would undoubtedly do the trick. The first season already kicked ass, to be clear, but newcomer director Shōta Goshozono has managed to surpass the excellent work that Sunghoo Park did for the first season and the Jujutsu Kaisen 0 film by incorporating all of the lessons and tricks of the cinematic trade that MAPPA perfected with their masterful Chainsaw Man adaptation. In the past, JJK was a series of amazing fight scenes and funny gags strung together with mostly decent but largely forgettable exposition dumps. Now, though, nearly every sequence of every episode is given a sense of palpable weight and emotion, making the whole story sing in a way it never really could before. The show is still dragged down by that clumsy and needlessly complicated exposition from time to time, but it is still the best version of JJK that we could ask for, and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

Worst: Zom 100's Production Woes

I did myself a favor this season and didn't go out of my way to watch more than the contractually obligated number of episodes for any show that I didn't like, so as much as I'd like to rant and rave about Studio GoHands' crimes against art and humanity, they have escaped my wrath this time around. Instead, my “Worst of the Season” award goes not to a show that I hated but to the unfortunate circumstances plaguing the production of a series I enjoy very much. Zom 100 is hardly the first anime of recent years to suffer from horrible behind-the-scenes issues. Still, it makes me feel a little cursed that this is the second time in a single year that a show I'm reviewing has crashed so hard that a full quarter of its season has just been kicked off the broadcast schedule completely. It's doubly bad for BUG FILMS' optics that their series, which is so dedicated to exposing and critiquing Japan's well-publicized issues with its workplace culture, is seemingly falling victim to the same old problems that have brought down so many anime before it. Hopefully, we'll be able to experience the conclusion of Zom 100 sooner rather than later, lest the show wind up being one of the most sadly ironic cautionary tales in the industry's recent history.

Steve Jones

Best: BanG Dream! It's MyGo!!!!!

That's right, it's MyGO, the dark horse candidate that came out of nowhere and dashed past all the competition with its incredible commitment to gaslight-gatekeep-girl bossing. I suppose, however, to longtime BanG Dream!ers, this probably feels like a natural culmination of the franchise. The expressive 3D modeling and direction could have only been achieved with the experience and refinement gained from prior seasons. The prickly narrative and characters were built on the backs of the other bands overcoming their obstacles. And, perhaps most importantly, after helming the anime for over half a decade, writer Yuniko Ayana finally felt comfortable enough to go hog wild with an entire cast of disaster girls constantly at each other's throats in both the threatening and romantic senses. She's the voice who helped steer Flip Flappers, so she knows a thing or two about Yuri and getting weird with it.

The soap opera's caliber emotional extravagance stands out in part due to its dissonance with BanG Dream!'s bubbly exterior, but it'd be wrong to ascribe MyGO's prominence solely to the shock factor. The anime is rather slow going at first. The third episode is what truly breaks the mold, as we witness in first person the frustrations that fuel lead singer Tomori's passionate lyrics about her struggles to connect with other people. It's a bold and almost experimental swerve in style, and it sets the tone for a series that homes in on the barriers people build around themselves and the rough sledgehammers they use to try to break through to others. This results in a ton of rubble strewn throughout MyGO's path, and it creates an emotional landscape more complicated than anything I would have expected going into the 4th season of a rhythm gacha tie-in anime.

I know plenty of people have stressed this already, but you need no familiarity with any part of BanG Dream! to pick up what MyGO is lying down. All you need is the sophistication to appreciate messy girls being awful to each other in ways that range from amusing to tragic. My favorite character became my favorite character after she smoothly schmoozed her way into meeting her ex-bandmate, only to drop to her knees, clinging to her skirt, and beg like a pathetic worm for her to revive the band. Before this, she text-bombed her before googling how to tell if someone had blocked her. It's textbook toxic breakup behavior, and that realness—that unvarnished desperation—makes MyGO a monumental melodrama and my pick for best of the season.

Runner-Up: Undead Murder Farce

This was the perfect anime to whet my appetite for another Halloween season. Undead Murder Farce is an ostentatiously directed plate of pulp horror bursting with banter and mottled with macabre monster mysteries. It's a tremendous showing from director Mamoru Hatakeyama, who only keeps improving. It boasts strong character voices and propulsive narratives from original author Yugo Aosaki. It takes a well-trodden Victorian setting and a cast of public domain favorites and injects them with enough unique globetrotting flavor to stand out both visually and thematically. Moreover, it's just plain fun. I'm partial to my highfalutin talkies—and with its frequent wars of wit, that's a fair description of Undead Murder Farce—but this adaptation wraps all of the ridiculousness, trashiness, and eroticism of its premise in the most loving of embraces. It's like cradling a severed head in a golden birdcage.

Worst (but honestly still pretty good): TenPuru

Look, I'm not touching any of the interminable isekai iterations, and our new “This Week in Anime” format means I'm not sifting through as many bottom-of-the-barrel dregs for column content, so this season I only really watched series that were interesting to me. That's good for my emotional health but bad for these wrap-up features. Nevertheless, TenPuru easily slots into my pick for Worst. It's an obnoxious harem comedy with tons of misfired jokes, even more misfired boob and butt shots, and a few distinguishing factors outside of it feeling like it was made in 2003, not 2023. Therein also lies its subtle genius, however. TenPuru feels less like a harem comedy and more like an archaeological relic, and approaching it as such reveals more layers than the facade would indicate. It's surprisingly sophisticated in its execution. Many harem anime, for instance, suffer from a fundamental disconnect between the ambitions of the protagonist and those of his flock of fawning babes. Consequently, the wish fulfillment factor suffocates any sense of enjoyment from the characters or the narrative. In TenPuru, though, everyone is equally dumb and horny, and everyone attempts to use the precepts of Zen Buddhism to become less dumb and horny. They all fail. It's all great.

Dusting this relic with my little brush reveals other nice facets as well. Masayuki Akasaka gives a tour-de-force performance as our hero, Akagami, with his pleasant baritone providing depth and conviction beyond the dudes you usually find in these roles. Akagami is genuinely likable! The show's commitment to stupidity also extends to its conflicts, which reach for complete absurdity and are better for it. Its sincere grasp of silliness lends the occasional attempts at sincerity some unexpected potency, too. The horndog antics are always front and center, but as the season progresses, the camaraderie between the temple dwellers becomes compelling in its own separate way.

Well, this isn't much of a “Worst” writeup if I spend most of the word count praising the show. The sad part is that I could go on, too. That doesn't mean TenPuru isn't trash, but it's trash with a sense of craft that I can appreciate. Maybe you will, too.

Caitlin Moore

Best: Undead Murder Farce

It's been a weak season, so when I think of the best anime of summer 2023, only one title comes to mind: Undead Murder Farce. In the wrong hands, this playful mystery series could have been a real drag: it's heavily dialogue-driven, with only short bursts of action every few episodes. The protagonists, Shinuchi Tsugaru and Aya Rindo, are like the world's worst couple to hang out with, peppering every conversation with inside jokes while trying to one-up one another with almost every exchange. Half the secondary characters reference European literature: Sherlock Holmes, Carmilla, Arsene Lupin, and so on.

I can't speak for the original novels, but I know well from experience that good prose doesn't necessarily turn into good anime since the things that make the two media work are vastly different. Luckily for us, Undead Murder Farce was handled by one of anime's most visually creative directors: Mamoru Hatakeyama, whose skill for matching dialogue with visuals is unmatched, even daring in a time when the market seems to demand anime adaptations to be as stolidly literal as possible. Under Hatakeyama's direction, the protagonists' banter snaps and sparkles, with Tomoyo Kurosawa and Taku Yashiro's excellent performances acting as a catalyst to spotlight their chemistry. The mystery plots are consistently engaging, as the scripts and storyboards capture the essential balance between offering the audience all the necessary clues and misdirecting them. The action sequences, though infrequent, have a lot of impact; in fact, they have so much impact because they're so infrequent.

Plus, you know, it's just plain fun. I would call it a “romp,” but that's not quite accurate since some pretty heavy stuff is happening in the background. After all, Aya is an immortal disembodied head, and Tsugaru was turned into a half-oni against his will, and without his contract with her, he'd end up losing his mind and turning murderous sooner than later. But they're determined to have a good time while searching for the man who did this to them, whether it involves jump-scaring people when a head in a birdcage starts talking to them or tormenting your companions by reciting the same rakugo performances for the umpteenth time. Frankly, I don't blame Shizuku for wanting to kill him.

Worst: Horimiya: The Missing Pieces-

To get the proper experience, heave a sigh as you read that header. The adaptational choices for the Horimiya anime have baffled me from start to finish, presented in a way that best highlights the series' flaws instead of its strengths. The first anime series skipped over all the lovely little slice-of-life moments, rushing to cover the manga's 14 volumes in 12 episodes by only depicting key points in Miyamura and Hori's relationship. It was… unflattering to Hori, to say the least. When Horimiya: The Missing Pieces- was announced, I said, “Weird approach, but at least now people will get to see that Hori isn't just a shrew all the time.”

And that did happen… kind of. Many chapters showing Hori's sweeter side and Miyamura's more assertive moments were adapted. However, the writers chose to arrange these stories by theme instead of chronologically, meaning that all of Hori's worst moments were grouped together and reinforced people's feelings about her being a controlling bully to Miyamura, rather than this being a pair of teens entering their first relationship and feeling things out in messy, complicated ways that occasionally cross the line. It even had me, a long-time fan of the manga, pondering whether their relationship is abusive when you get down to it.

The episodes focusing on other characters were more of a mix. Yanagi is a delight, and I love any excuse to spend more time with his character; on the other hand, their predatory teacher could have been removed entirely, and nothing of value would have been lost. The fragmented nature of the narrative further reduced its impact, as any sense of character progression or growth. The best thing I can say about -the missing pieces- is how the catchy opening marries the visuals with the song, following along with the beat and emotional swells.

I can only hope that Miyamura and Hori decide not to get married because I can only see a messy divorce in their future.

Monique Thomas

The Best: Undead Murder Farce

Dang, I don't know how he does it, but director Mamoru Hatakeyama got me AGAIN. Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū, and now Undead Murder Farce are all excellent, dynamic, and witty series that deserve to be called some of my favorites. Once is enough, but three times in a row is practically criminal. They will draw chalk outlines over my body as I lay motionless on the ground, trying to fathom just how one anime director could be so talented.

Undead Murder Farce was a particular bullseye for me, as it's not only one of my favorite directors, but the premise combines many of my favorite things and plays them off stylishly and effortlessly. It's a melting pot of monsters, mysteries, and references to classic literature. I have a soft spot for sleuth stories, and Undead Murder Farce is right up my alley in terms of having enough winding tension and unraveling chaos at the drop of a hat, followed by some catchy jazz tunes. Plus, Mamoru Miyano plays loveable classic thief Arsene Lupin; what's not to love about that?

However, anime is a collaborative effort, so I can't compliment one person without crediting his cohorts. First is the gang at Lapin Track working on the animation; next is writer Noburu Takagi, who also did the series composition for the anime adaptations of Baccano!, Durarara!! and In/Spectre, making him right at home on the line up of people responsible for making me love anime. Lastly, I also have to give props to the original author, Yugo Aosaki, who I could call the mastermind in this scenario. Great art and direction would be nothing if the characters, mystery, and world of Undead Murder Farce weren't already clever, fun, and engaging. I'm unsure how they got away with it, but I call Undead Girl Murder Farce a perfect crime!

Runner-Up: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

This summer was a seasonal drought. Jujutsu Kaisen's second season stood out as the only big name to hold off in the battle against boredom, and despite lacking the usual competition, it didn't hold back. I knew from manga readers that the current story arc would be packing punches, going from Satoru Gojo's tragic flashback to the rallying called “Shibuya Incident.” Still, no warning could've prevented the pain, ow!

Even when stacked against heavier opponents, JJK always had great action, probably some of the best I had seen in a long time, and plenty of bonus appeal driven by the comedy and characters. Equipped with the hottest trends, wisecracks, and show-off stunts, like the savviest city-slickers, JJK knows how to draw your attention even in a busy crowd. However, there's more to anime than being hip. Subsequent outings have proven that JJK can do more than follow trends by honing its style. The second season walks in, strutting a more serious and mature tone and pulls it off. As this season is two cours, it feels risky to call the match early, but JJK holding the stage primarily by itself certainly makes it a strong contender.

MrAJCosplay

Best: Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Zom 100 is the type of show I like watching after a long and exhausting week of work. Some people get their energy from a cup of coffee, but I get it from high-octane adrenaline, bright, exciting colors with blood-pumping voice acting, and energetic music…alongside actual blood. In a world where the zombie apocalypse genre has been beaten to death so badly that it might as well be a zombie on its own, Zom 100 manages to change just enough for things to feel fresh and exciting. When I glanced at the original manga and looked at the previews for the series, I didn't think it would lean heavily into the dark and foreboding atmosphere that the setting usually invites. Instead, Zom 100 does the opposite since the everyday monotony of being a corporate adult is where you feel like a real zombie, and fighting for your life is when you end up feeling alive.

The characters we come across are incredibly likable, the stakes are present without being used too cheaply, and the comedy is absolutely on point. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Zom 100 makes a zombie apocalypse look fun, and I can't remember the last time I said that for other zombie franchises except for maybe some video games. The biggest downside to Zom 100 is that it's so incredible that it can never keep to a consistent weekly schedule as the season has been plagued with numerous delays. That is very much a shame. I wish the state of the industry would fix the prevailing problems it's had for…decades at this point, but that is a discussion for another day. When you take the show on its own merits and manage to watch most of, if not the entire thing, what we are left with is an exhilarating ride that makes you wish you could quit your job in the middle of the apocalypse.

Runner-Up: Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

I know this is an obvious choice, but can you blame me? Jujutsu Kaisen has easily made its way into the hearts of everybody as one of the de facto shōnen of the past couple of years and for a good reason. Its characters are likable, its world-building is interesting, and its drama is weighty. The franchise finds an effective balance of keeping things fun and exciting while not making everybody feel absolutely invincible. Even if your character IS invincible in the practical or power scaling sense like good old Gojo, that doesn't mean they can avoid the tragedy of others or the world falling apart.

This season gives us insight into the history of characters that we only got glimpses of in season one, particularly Gojo and Geto. My biggest complaint about the season is that it's weird that we keep jumping all over the time at seemingly random intervals throughout the franchise. However, when you find your bearings about how old everybody is and what time you're in, it's hard to avoid getting swept into everything. The animation is probably just as if not more impressive than what we saw before, thanks to the simplified design aesthetics, and I swear the soundtrack sounds much more dynamic than before. Even when tragedy strikes, I can't bear to look away even though I know I will feel hurt by the end. There's probably a sick part of me that almost looks forward to getting hurt because that just shows how invested I was in everything.

Worst: The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses

Jesus Christ, that was boring. I love how this show became so infamous with its insane production and oversaturation of style, only to completely drop off the face of the planet. I remember so much hype for this adaptation because everyone fell in love with the gorgeously animated previews. But all I was doing was sitting down, wondering why so much effort was being given to a relatively bland and vanilla slice of life. That might sound harsh, but I read the first five volumes of this series, and let me tell you, barely anything happens in it. When something DOES happen, it never justifies the ludicrous amount of leaps needed to buy into the premise of a girl being so absent-minded that she forgets her glasses almost every day despite being completely blind without them.

Much like the manga, there's not much here outside of the occasional sweet moment. I will credit that there are some times where the overly lavish directing does enhance what few emotional beats are here, particularly when we get towards the end. The problem is you have to sift through a plodding and dry narrative to get to those points, just like in the manga, except this time, you also have to swim through the equivalent of visually overstimulating vomit. I don't know what the intention or vision for this series was outside of “make it look pretty, I don't care how.” What are these camera angles? Whose perspective should I follow in a show about a girl who can barely see? I stayed committed after the first couple of episodes because my over-analytical brain wanted to try to see the meaning behind the camera. I should've stuck to my initial gut instinct and not wasted my time. Many shows fall short because their production doesn't make things visually exciting, but The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses swung so hard that it let go of the bat and gave me a concussion. I may not have been in love with the source material, but I'd rather read all of it from beginning to end in one evening than waste almost six hours marathoning this show.