Cocoa, Chino, and Rize are back to Rabbit House for another twelve episodes! Following up on the lively spring arc which capped off the previous season, Is the Order a Rabbit? BLOOM begins in the summer, which means fresh scenery, iced coffee, new work uniforms, and a trip to the town brocante (French for flea market… this show doesn’t do a great job of hiding its chuunibyou syndrome). Maya and Megu make their requisite appearances, along with Chiya and Sharo, and I couldn’t be happier to see everyone together again.

Ever since I watched the first episode on a whim a few years ago, GochiUsa has been a staple in my anime history. It was one of my first cute-girls-doing-cute-things shows and probably fueled my addiction to slice-of-life, for which I am forever in its debt. (In particular, Season 1’s Christmas episode lingers in my mind.) Still, the previous seasons left much to be desired. In particular, I wish they had cut down on the heavy-handed writing and invested some of those resources into the animation, which was uninteresting even by 2014-2016 standards. Our beloved cafe deserves better—and the first episode of Bloom is here to deliver. From the very first stills to the newly animated OP, this episode is brimming with life and light and color. It’s almost like walking into your living room to be greeted by a fresh new coat of paint. Cocoa and co. are as adorably idiotic as ever, but the new direction introduces a depth to their characters that I haven’t seen in previous seasons. I’m also looking forward to meeting Cocoa and Chiya’s classmates; they were announced a few weeks ago and featured in the OP at the end of the episode. Here’s to hoping Encourage Films can maintain this level of quality into the rest of the season!

Oh, and since I can’t resist, have some more screencaps:

Is the Order a Rabbit? BLOOM is available to stream on HiDIVE and Crunchyroll. Read our thoughts on all the new fall anime series, in addition to comments from our other writers, on our fall 2020 anime first impression master post.

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sleepminusminus

sleepminusminus lurks mysteriously in the dark corners of the anime world, occasionally peeking out to retweet something cute or clever. Online, he spends copious hours smashing keys in osu!mania and binging old slice-of-life shows. Offline, he ponders theology, mathematics, and everything in between.

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