No argument, you’re 100% accurate especially about the WARNING, spoilers: almost all of the harem members ( which is what I was hinting at with regards to other “tropes” ). They especially are paper thin, and are one of things I like least in genre. A few of them are more developed, and of course the WN and LN give them more, but generally they each get a very minor arc and then they’re just background.
GATE thus the JSDF fought there is indeed somewhat similar, with the supporting members (winking at spoiler above) often being there on a quite limited pretext. Again, I prefer the translated WN/LN to the anime, being much further along in the story and deeper developments of the background and motivations of all sides of the conflict.
A few thoughts about some anime not already mentioned:
Best ‘Old School’ anime: Yu Yu Hakusho. Similar to Trigun, it requires some grace at the beginning as the first few episodes are full of tropes and the story takes a bit to get going. But it’s truly one of the best of all time. Many other anime have copied this one, not the other way around.
Best Serious Anime: Monster. Whew, this one is a ride. Child abuse, murder, and the antichrist? A skilled brain surgeon risks (and loses) everything to save a young boy shot in the head. But then years later he discovers who the boy actually is.
Criminally Underrated: Tiger & Bunny. I initially avoided it because it looked like trash. Great story with solid character development.
@What_Exit Is not the first person I’ve heard complain about Demon Slayers style. That being said I personally think it’s one of the best current animes there is
I highly recommend Planetes. It’s a… Workplace drama? In the future? Honestly, I don’t know exactly how I would describe it, but it’s probably #2 on my list of “things I’ve watched recently” behind Frieren. Coming in at #3 would be 86.
This may be a kind of random question, but… in the anime/manga “The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today” the main characters are a quasi-loser named Fukuzawa [福澤] and her big overgrown cat called Yukichi (諭吉). I get the reference, all right, but I feel like I am missing something. Why that guy in particular?