rewatching csm season 1 in 2025 was an interesting experience for a multitude of reasons, but mainly in realizing just how good of an adaptation it is.
Back in September of 2022, when I had started watching anime proper and was just getting acclimated to my tastes and preferences in the medium, there was one show on the seasonal horizon that immediately caught my eye. This lavishly animated, hauntingly beautiful looking series that was so unlike anything I had seen back then. The muted score, naturalistic color palette, the volume of the character designs, it all felt so novel to a younger me who barely had an inkling of the breadth of the medium. Fast forward to the show coming out, and it was everything I could have hoped for and more. I adored the direction, the emphasis on quieter moments, the frenetic and visceral fights, the horror of the world and the toll it took on its characters, all rendered with exquisite character animation, and a beautiful presentation to boot. I liked it even more so narratively, since I went on to read the entirety of the manga and rest of Fujimoto's works right after. But there was something odd g...