Mononogatari 2nd Season

Updates:
-- started Post-season
-- added Clockwork Dandy Noodles awards
-- added Otaku Spirit best of

Updates:
-- Mid-season update: Otaku Spirit, ViniiTube, Echidnut, AH Brandon Reviews
-- added Chibi Reviews discussion of ZOM 100 production problems

=-=-=

This stack consolidates watch recommendations for Summer 2023 from several YouTube critics/commentators. URLs are frowned upon in stacks so go to YouTube and search if you want to watch the videos. Or you can watch them at this blog post:
https://myanimelist.net/blog.php?eid=900154

Mother's Basement (Geoff Thew) 1.32M subs: "Beat the Summer heat (and smoke) with the best new anime of the season!" MB only mentions his top 10 recommendations but includes a "bargain bin" with what amount to runners-up. In this stack, if MB is not in the description, then the show did not make his list. Returning or continuing shows are not included in his review. If you want to see his tier list for all shows, look for the Basement Life video noted below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YwoExo6hi4

Glass Reflection (Tristan Gallant) 582K subs: GR provides his first reaction to all the new seasonal anime in terms of whether he will be watching them: "Toss" those he is not interested in; "Hold" pending further judgment; "Keep" the ones to watch. GR watches at least the first episode of each show. Returning or continuing shows are not included in his review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZiu3gHb-eA

Garnt 477K subs: "I Watched EVERY Anime in Summer 2023". Garnt's rating system: "Must watch" for shows he will be watching for sure; "three episodes" for shows that catch his eye but don't yet rate a full season commitment; "one episode" for shows he will give a chance; "skip" for those shows he is not planning to watch. Garnt passes judgment based on the show description and trailer. The review video is a 38 minute edit of a five hour (!) livestream. A few of the shows were cut from the edit, presumably because they were rated Skip without much fanfare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-95z9B2pY4I

Gigguk 3.52M subs: "Summer Anime 2023 in a Nutshell". Garnt and Gigguk are the same person - I don't know the channels well enough to tell the difference. This video is a rundown of shows this season with often snarky commentary, but unlike the others supporting this stack, there is no systematic evaluation. I do enjoy the snark so I'll try to capture some of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfrZW6JVWvA

AH Brandon Reviews 59.4K subs: "What Will Brandon Watch Summer of Anime 2023". Brandon makes YouTube videos for shows that he enjoys watching and that pique the interest of his community. He will drop shows that either don't meet expectations or don't generate interest from his community. Brandon's subscriber count is modest compared to the others here, but his tastes and sensibilities are similar to my own so his review is included here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlZW-38sxiI

414Anime 151K subs: "DO NOT MISS These Summer 2023 Anime". 414Anime mostly makes listicle-type videos. Given his subscriber count, I guess people like these lists. His review doesn't include popular returning anime like Jujustu Kaisen. I will simply list 414Anime under the show if they make his list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI4rpLf1PPk

Animeology 182K subs: "Top 10 Best New Anime For Summer 2023". Animeology also mostly makes listicle-type videos. This review contains 10 shows in rank order: 1 > 10. For each show, I'll just note the rank order (not too sure how a Summer 2023 top 10 list exists without Bleach).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7ZAtaM2HU4

Basement Life (also Geoff Thew) 39.3K subs: "I Ranked EVERY Anime of Summer 2023". This is a side-channel for Mother's Basement. The MB review listed the top 10 in no particular order. This review is a tier list for *all* anime this season. In my opinion, this is a pretty good assessment across the board, but beware, this is a 56 min video. Tiers: Banger > Good > Ok > Mid > Bad > Trash. Thew uses "Trash" to mean a show could be real trash, but also could be "good trash" in that people with specific tastes might enjoy it. A nicely animated harem anime might qualify as "good trash". For each show, I'll simply note the tier level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teAfAC7U84s

I will interject in a few cases but for the most part, the focus is on the recommendations from the YouTube commentators.

=-=

Just eyeballing the consensus amongst the critics, these are the shows to watch, in alpha order.

Three returning heavy hitters:
* Bleach
* Jujutsu Kaisen
* Mushoku Tensei

Plus five new shows:
* Dark Gathering
* Reborn as a Vending Machine
* Reign of the Seven Spellblades
* Undead Murder Farce
* Zom 100

=-=-=- Mid-season Update -=-=-=

I'll add to this stack as more mid-season and post-season reviews roll in.

Otaku Spirit 14.4K subs: "Does Japan Love Your Favorite Anime? Summer 2023 Anime Ranking!" Contrasting anime popularity in Japan and the West using popular ranking systems and sites such as MAL and Anilist. I added the mid-season rankings for the top 10 on MAL and Anilist to the appropriate shows. I skipped the long-running and carry-over shows on the MAL "Top Airing" list (why is Eminence in Shadow still on the Top Airing list?). The other lists OS cites are: Anikore (Anilist equivalent), Akiba Souken, NicoNico Video (Japanese YouTube equivalent), and Dimora (weekly TV rankings). I don't read Japanese so I am going strictly and only by what OS says about these sites. He doesn't cover every ranking so if he doesn't talk about it, it is "n/a". A show that doesn't have a ranking was not mentioned at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0eFWSpLRUw&t=201s

ViniiTube 1.06M subs: "Top 10 Best New Anime of Summer 2023". This is a mid-season Top 10 list of the best non-sequel shows. ViniiTube mostly produces listicle-type videos. The anime are described in order from 10 to 1, 1 being best. I've noted the placement in the appropriate description.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrbFBAfVx1s

Echidnut 241K subs: "Ranking the Best Anime in Summer & Spring 2023 (Tier List)". Tier list using TierMaker. Standard tiers: God > S > A > B > C > D. I only noted tiers for the Summer shows.

=-=-=- Post-season Update -=-=-=

Otaku Spirit 17.1K subs: "Best Anime of the Summer 2023 Season!". Top 10. "... unfortunately this season where we've seen a really big gap between the good and the bad."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqJp0ZqHwm0

Clockwork Dandy Noodles 719 subs: "Top 3 Summer Anime 2023! Summer Anime Awards!". More than three awards but I only noted the Top 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jchk3BbYXRA

I watched all of these anime during Summer 2023

Top anime (in my opinion)

New in Summer 2023

Top 1. LV1 MAOU TO ONE ROOM YUUSHA after winning against the demon king, the hero party consisting of 4 people retires, while the others are successful, the MC is unemployed, but behind the comedy story there is a dark story, the MC is not even considered by the public and there is exploitation. done by the state, because of that, one member of the hero's party rebelled and became an enemy of the state. The demon king rises again but looks buffoonish and is better than humans and lives in the MC's house
Top 2. DARK GATHERING, after the supernatural incident that happened, ML locked himself up in his house, when ML decided to leave the house and live a normal life he taught ML's childhood friend's cousin, aka death kid, instead he was taken to horror places, targeted by demons only ML, The horror atmosphere in this anime is great
Top 3. DEKIRU NEKO WA KYOU MO YUUUTSU, about a cat who takes care of its owner, anime SOL which is relaxing but doesn't make it boring to see the characters' behavior

Sequel: it's hard to choose top 1 among these 4 anime because I think they're all good
Top 1. LINK CLICK S2, still one of the best donghua I've ever watched, to solve the case, Cheng Xiaoshi (mc with black hair) can enter the photo by getting into the person taking the photo while Lu Guang (mc with white hair) watches and directs xiao shi (it should be like that but because of the ending of s2 I'm doubting your strength)
The S2 case is related to the villain. There are lots of plot twists, the plot is unpredictable and it's really interesting to discuss, the cases are always sad and they're similar to real life, every episode's ending always has a cliffhanger, plus there are still several mysteries that haven't been revealed and maybe they will be discussed in S3 ( It's probably the season finale, but because this is an original anime, there are no spoilers for the sequel in any way)
Top 1. JUJUTSU KAISEN S2, adaptation of the manga, Gojo's past arc and Shibuya arc
Top 1. BUNGOU STRAY DOGS S5, adaptation of the manga n continuation of s4, Armed Detective Agency vs Decay of the Angel
Top 1. BLEACH TYBW part 2, adaptation of the manga and continuation of part 1, Shinigami vs Quincy

Movie: DETECTIVE CONAN MOVIE 26, this movie is related to the Black Organization

Completed Series:-

Notes: I have definitely watched/read the anime/manga that I give a rating
I will not give a rating below 5, Rating 5 for me = 1, >8 = recommended
if it's not good for me, the status "Dropped" and no rating

Top Anime Opening songs of Summer 2023 (in my opinion)
1. Spiral by Longman (Mushoku Tensei II)
2. Song of the Dead by KANA-BOON (Zom 100)
3. Ao no Sumika by Tatsuya Kitani (Jujutsu Kaisen S2 Gojo Past Arc)

Top Anime Ending songs of Summer 2023 (in my opinion)
1. Wasurenagus by GReeeeN (Ai No Idenshi)
2. Akari by Soushi Sakiyama (Jujutsu Kaisen S2 Gojo Past Arc)
3. Static by Saji (Helck)