Welcome to The Avocado’s weekly discussion of Japanese pop culture! The year of anime is coming to a close (almost), and that means I am behind on everything I’m watching! I don’t know why, but I always struggle to keep up this time of year, but even though I’m behind I’m feeling the pull to start looking back over the year so that I can prepare the all important super official list of all the things I loved in 2023! As I’m sure you all know, our very own The Pits will be starting soon (the first thread, Movies, goes up on the 14th; Anime will be up on the 18th; deadline for voting is the 27th) so the pressure is on to finish all the things and start ranking them. While there is a Pits for music, there isn’t one specifically for anime opening/closing songs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t share our favorites here! I was hoping to have an actual list ready today, but instead I just have one music video of one opening song that I enjoy (despite the fact that I’ve only had time to watch one episode of the actual show). If you’re watching The Apothecary Diaries you’ve already heard some of this song, but if you like it I recommend checking out the full song (and the fun video)!

Ryokuoushoku Shakai are having a great year, and their 2023 album will definitely be on my top 10 list. It’s been so fun seeing how much attention they’re getting now, and I hope they will continue to get new fans.

What are some of your favorite anime opening/closing songs from this year? Feel free to share a list or just a favorite or two! And I’ll try to share my list later today as well.

And, as always…

What have you been watching/reading/playing/eating/listening to lately?

Happy Wednesday! 🙂