Koisuru Asteroid resembles Yama no Susume quite a bit in structure, just focused on geology and astronomy instead of mountain climbing. Though primarily an educational schoolgirl club comedy it also features a not insignificant number of dramatic subplots (usually relationship-related) that crop up periodically, the appearance of which are usually as much of a surprise to the show’s characters as the viewer.
While also focused on comedy, Isekai Maou features a pretty much equal amount of action and drama as well. This is a series I’ve been on the fence about pretty much since it was first announced due to its synopsis bringing to mind Shinmai Maou no Testament (which did not handle its erotic elements well), but turns out it’s more like a combination of Overlord and Hagure Yuusha. It’s shockingly well made for an isekai harem series, although the ecchi content certainly does veer into overwhelming/awkward/creepy territory more often then I’d prefer.
Speaking of comedies: I recently tried watching Nami yo Kiitekure… only to lose interest pretty quickly about halfway through the first episode. It was just overly weird. Setup, characters; all weird.
Asteroid in Love:
Maou Isekai:
Both of the Maou Isekai animated gifs are pretty inspired. They do as good a job of selling that series as the Asteroid in Love ones do of inducing vomiting. Nami yo Kiitekure does that possibly uniquely Japanese thing of presenting something straightforward and eternal in a manner which emphasizes unimportant occurrences idiosyncratic enough to distract from the main theme. Only pushing through the seeming weirdness (if one can stand to do so) will permit one to catch hold of the solid underlying themes. Accessing Nami requires some familiarity with and tolerance of the excessively emotional Japanese personality type. I… Read more »