Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic continues the everyday life of Oomiya Shinobu and Japanese-British friend, Alice Cartelet, and their group of funny and colorful friends. And… that’s pretty much the synopsis for the second season.

Shinobu did a homestay in Great Britain when she was younger and developed a fetish for blondes and an obsession on anything western culture despite her difficulty learning English. One day Shinobu received a letter from Alice Cartelet, a very close friend who she was staying with overseas. The letter says: “Shinobu! I’m coming to Japan!” Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic is in the same vein as Yuru Yuri, and Gochuumon Usagi Desu ka? featuring a group of girls going about their days.

The girls are all funny to watch and it’s another good example of comfy anime that you simply sit back, relax and don’t strain yourself with melodrama or a complicated plot. There are some yuri moments by the very timid Komichi Aya’s infatuation towards tomboyish Inokuma Youko, but I think the Engrish by Alice and the energetic Kujou Karen is the show’s defining feature. It’s kinda awkward for a supposedly English-born girl like Alice to speak weird English. To the seiyuu’s credit, she did improve in season 2.

Doma Umaru is a 16 year old girl who is the admiration in the entire school. She is beautiful, athletic, charming, polite, very kind, very intelligent, and perfect. However, when she’s at home with her big brother Doma Taihei, she is lazy, eats junk food, drinks cola like it’s water, plays video games and leaves every chore to her big brother. Despite being the laziest person on the planet, Umaru is still dependant on her big brother and she can be a great friend to everyone.

Think of Umaru-chan like Kare Kano but minus the offensive personality, romance and drama. Umaru is a total couch… uh… futon potato…? Anyway, Umaru isn’t totally hopeless because despite her lazy attitude at home and eats unhealthy food, she maintains her grades and is a good swimmer. The show has a huge cast of interesting characters that you can’t help but relate to.

Ebina is a very shy country girl who is nervous around everyone, but she’s quick to be friends with Umaru and Taihei. Kirei is a girl misunderstood by everyone, but she became Umaru’s friend through unconventional means and is now Umaru’s, uh, Komaru’s pupil. And despite being a salaryman with long work hours, Taihei finds time to take care of his lazy little sister… sometimes at the expense of burning a hole in his wallet because Umaru threw a fit because she wants the next manga issue.

My only gripe with this show is it’s brutal in tempting you to eat potato chips and chug lots of cola…

The Sakuradas is your typical family of eleven people living in the typical suburbs. However the head of the household is the king and each of the family members possess supernatural powers. In order for the children of the royal family to live a normal life, the king, Sakurada Souichirou, had his children attend school and do chores like everyday people and installed thousands of cameras around the city just in case.

The main plot, if it’s really a plot, is the king is going to pass the crown to one of his children and in doing so, his kids will work hard to win the hearts of the people. There’s somewhat a form of sibling rivalry here, but thankfully the anime didn’t push it further by stirring drama or conflict.

Each episode focuses on one or two of the nine kids, so each character has lots of screentime and development. I instantly fell in love with Akane and her, uh, camera shyness, and also found Shu to be a cool guy after watching his episode — which is arguably one of the cutest episodes.

Kohashi Wakaba is an elegant girl raised from a very wealthy family who has a fascination with the trendy “gyaru” subculture. The story revolves around Wakaba as she tries to adapt to the commoner lifestyle.

Wakaba*Girl episodes are very short to around 8 minutes and each episode revolves around Wakaba, her three friends Mashima Nao, Tokita Moeko and Kurokawa Mao doing various activities like girl talks, going to an ice cream parlors, etc. The visual presentation is very adorable with cute character designs, vibrant colors, and catchy songs.

There is nothing much going on, and with its short length, Wakaba*Girl is a good intermission anime between suspense-filled or drama-filled shows. This is what I did when taking breaks when watching Hibike! Euphonium and One Punch Man.

Ichinose Futaba is a newbie who is working her way to be one of the professional seiyuu or voice actors in the anime industry. Her career as a budding seiyuu starts after auditioning for an upcoming anime and made friends with fellow seiyuu Moesaki Ichigo and Kohana Rin. Sore ga Seiyuu! tells the story of three young seiyuus as they work their way in becoming professionals.

The show doesn’t accurately depict the life of a real-life seiyuu and it doesn’t really need to… or unless young people act this way in Japan. Anyway, what makes the show interesting is it depicts how the Japanese entertainment industry and gives you some interesting insights on what the seiyuu’s working environment is like. The show teaches you how a typical voice recording works like who are the people involved, and tells you several jargon. Oh and you get to see your favorite real life seiyuus in the anime! Yeah, it’s interesting.

For the character side of things, the trio are all fun to watch. Futaba, Ichigo, and Rin are seiyuus from different companies that ended up working together due to their natural chemistry. Futaba, ever so green, is way too concerned about her work like what the characters sound like in one situation and how would they react in another situation. Ichigo, uh, she’s an alien, and uh, strawberries and uh… Ringo, I mean, Ichigo is an eccentric young lass who, uh, loves strawberries… *ahem* And lastly Rin who has some insecurities despite being the most experienced in the group. They do encounter a lot of hardships, and thankfully the anime kept it light-hearted and fun.

What can I say about Hibike! Euphonium? It’s made by Kyoto Animation, the studio that made one of most well-made shows in the industry like Kanon, Clannad, K-ON!, Hyouka, Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. Each show boasts very high production values leading to superb animation, storytelling and characters. Hibike! Euphonium is no different… actually Kyoto Animation is so consistent with their art style nowadays, it’s sometimes hard to tell which character belongs to what show. HIbike! Euphonium is about the struggle of dealing with the past, friendship, finding love, reaching for your dreams, and the love for music.

I sorta see Hibike! Euphonium like a better version of K-ON! with actual emphasis on the music club like it’s not just a static setting for the characters to interact in. Back in junior high, euphonist Oumae Kumiko had said something that shouldn’t have said and swore off music and enters high school for a fresh start. Unfortunately for Kumiko she ended up being surrounded by people interested in the school brass band, and there Kumiko encounters Kousaka Reina, a friend back in junior high.

To makes matters worse, the brass band Kumiko joined is in disarray, scarred by the past. With their new adviser Noboru Taki, they’ve set their goal to enter the national band competition, but with a band scarred by the past, reaching the nationals is going to be a very daunting task.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, but in Koufuku Graffiti’s case: The way to earn friendship is through their stomach. The anime tells the story of Machiko Ryou, a middle school girl living by herself. She has a knack for cooking and made friends through her cooking. If Umaru-chan made you want to eat potato chips and cola, Koufuku Graffiti will make you crave for food every time you watch it.

The story is pretty simple enough: Ryou makes friends through her cooking and the anime is good at making your mouth drool with very detailed eating scenes that’s very erotic to look at. Fans didn’t nickname the show “Food Porn” for nothing.

Takanashi Souta has a strange obsession of liking things that are small like dolls, little girls, and even water fleas. On a snowy day, Souta bumps into Taneshima Poplar, a girl of his senior who has a childlike height. Poplar was looking around in search for new workers for the restaurant. Souta has taken a liking to Poplar due to her small size and agreed to work at Wagnaria. There, he meets the colorful cast of memorable characters as they work together to keep the restaurant running. Welcome to Wagnaria!

The show is not limited to watching them work in the restaurant. Since this is a Slice of Life show, there are side stories that flesh out each character. I highly recommend you watch the first two seasons or otherwise you’ll miss out one of the great moments this anime has to offer, and you’ll miss out on some great development between Souta and the girl with androphobia, Mahiru. A lot of Slice of Life shows are usually about a group of young people in a school setting, and it’s rare to see a show about the everyday lives of the people working in a family restaurant.

Yuru Yuri is centered around the daily lives of Akaza Akari and her friends Toshinou Kyouko, Funami Yui, and Yoshikawa Chinatsu. The group of friends form the Amusement Club — a club with activities that consist of basically lazing around and doing random fun activities.

After the anime changed studios, Yuru Yuri S3 had gained ‘comfy’ status. The colors are more subdued and the pacing is no longer hectic, so if you watched the first 2 seasons, you’ll find the change a little distracting. But as soon as you adjust to the pacing, Yuru Yuri S3 is still the same funny show that will still give you genuine laughs. Like every slice of life shows, the characters are great with their colorful personalities that either compliment or conflict with other characters. This often leads to very funny memorable situations.

There is little need to watch of season 1-2 of Yuru Yuri because they’re stuck in a timeloop and stuff hardly changes. Don’t ask. However, if you want to know these characters more, it is recommended you watch season 1-2 first.

Hoto Cocoa arrives at the cafe Rabbit House at a small Europe-esque town, expecting rabbits. Cocoa actually lives and works in that cafe, and along the way she meets new friends, new challenges and a brand new life.

GochiUsa, or Order Rabbit as I like to call it, tells the story of Cocoa and friends. Again, this is a Slice of Life show, so there is no actual plot to worry about. You just watch these girls go about their daily activities. The show has 5 main characters that are so adorable and funny, it’s hard not to not like them. There’s Cocoa, the clumsy air-head with a sweet tooth, Chino, the soft-spoken girl who sometimes find Cocoa annoying by her insistence on being called "big sister,” Rize, the mature-looking girl who has an interest in guns and secretly loves to wear cute dresses, Ujimatsu Chiya, the well-mannered yamato nadeshiko who works at another coffee shop, and Kirima Sharo, the often stingy and hardworking girl who somehow is having trouble with her finances.

I recommend you don’t skip S1 because, yeah, you’ll miss out on important (i.e. cute) moments. Oh and this show isn’t just cute, it’s very funny. So funny in fact that I had more laughs watching Is the Order a Rabbit than Umaru-chan.

There you go!