May 3, 2024

My current fav is Apothecary Diaries…

My current fav is Apothecary Diaries - ancient China, court life, mysteries. Two seasons are out, more story in the light novels.

#anime I’ll rewatch:

ARIA - slice of life of a trainee gondolier on a terraformed Mars that’s like Venice. Several seasons as she and her friends advance their careers. Beautiful animation and scenery

Ouran High School Host Club - rich boys play hosts in a high school/academy club. Poor kid there on scholarship breaks an expensive vase and must play at being a host in order to pay off the debt. Fun and often silly show, but has some great heartfelt moments.

Heaven’s Official Blessing - Chinese gods and demons with a bureaucracy background. Only 2 seasons of the anime out so far (and each has an ending), but I read all the light novels and the full story is amazing.

Holmes of Kyoto - girl working at an antique shop in Kyoto. Owner’s son solves antique/forgery and appraisal-related mysteries. Light romance.

Natsumoto Yujin-cho - teen who can see spirits inherits a Book of Names and goes around giving the spirits their Names back, despite the danger of doing so. Several seasons.

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits - young woman is promised to a lord of the demon realm as payment for her grandfather’s gambling debt and opens a small restaurant at a hot springs inn. Two seasons with an ending.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to her Worst Enemy! - Groundhog Day premise but she’s chosen a different life (merchant, maid, herbalist) each time. I really enjoyed the fact she has decades of experience, yet still has the limited time in each loop to find out how to break it. First season just finished which has an ending, though there’s obviously more to the story. It’s based on light novels (and there’s a manga) if you want to read further.

Saiunkoku Monogatari / Cloud Color Palace - ancient China, advisors to a useless young emperor ask a girl to come to court to get him interested in running the country. Love her character (she does it for the money because her family has status but is poor) and the character design. Interesting politics and her very difficult journey in becoming the first woman to take and pass the test to become a civil servant. First season (39 eps) does have an ending. The second season doesn’t have an official English translation, and the DVDs that out there are English from the Chinese of the original Japanese, so pretty bad. Boyfriend is subtitling second season for me, so if you ever want to see that, let me know.

And there’s more, but they follow these kinds of themes, so if these don’t work for you, the others probably wouldn’t either. Hope you find something you like!