This weekend would have been the weekend that I attended CONvergence 2022, a local media convention that takes place in my area every Summer and which I really look forward to every year, but unfortunately my spouse tested positive for COVID a couple of days beforehand so we both ended up spending the weekend at home. While we assumed we’d end up getting hit with it at some point – because we’re under 50 we didn’t qualify for this most recent round of boosters and my previous booster was back in October 2021 – it kind of sucks that it picked this weekend to make its appearance. Luckily we’re both basically fine; I actually haven’t tested positive at all this entire time, and hubby seems a lot better today as I’m writing this, but we’ve isolated from one-another in the house just to be safe. Not being able to hang out together as normal has probably been the most frustrating aspect of the entire situation, honestly.
The unexpected free time did give me a chance to catch up on some anime writing, though admittedly I probably could have done a bit more if I hadn’t also been trying to make progress on a couple of knitting and crochet projects as well. Having multiple plates spinning at once is just how I operate the best, though. I’m essentially done with seasonal first impressions – late as usual, but at least they’re done now. I’m still trying to decide whether or not to touch on some of the short form series from this season, especially since one of them runs a quarter hour per episode which is a length I’ve usually reviewed in the past. I suppose I’ll see what I have the time and motivation to deal with.
Now I’m finally in the headspace where I feel like I want to catch up with watching some of the series I thought I might want to watch a little bit more of. I watched a little bit more of Lycoris Recoil yesterday; some of you may recall that I tried to watch the second episode a while back and fell asleep (because I was trying to watch anime on my phone in bed which never works). I watched through episode 4 yesterday, which seems to encompass the first “act” of the series in which the main point is the two leads kind of getting to a point where they’re on the same page in regards to their job philosophy. I’ll be interested to see where things go from here.
I’m going to try to make some more standalone posts covering certain series around their halfway points going forward to fill out the dead space that tends to exist after I get done reviewing first episodes. I think I might give off the illusion that I just don’t watch any full series at all, because I’m pretty terrible about writing about them after their opening moments. But I do watch quite a bit and often have thoughts about them. So I’m trying to make that more of a priority.
Below are the posts from the past week. Let me know if you’re watching any of these and what your thoughts are!
- Summer 2022 First Impressions – Parallel World Pharmacy – A pretty decent entry into the surprising subgenre of isekai pharmaceutical fiction. I liked how the protagonist actually seemed to be dealing with some pertinent emotional issues in his previous life that caused moments in his new one to resonate a bit more. It seemed to justify itself as specifically an isekai fantasy rather than just a regular fantasy story with some tacked-on reincarnation or video game elements.
- Summer 2022 First Impressions – Shine Post – I’d hoped that because this idol story was based on a book that it might do more to differentiate itself from some of the more game-like entries into the genre, but the first episode feels very familiar. The character animation does “shine,” however.
- Summer 2022 First Impressions – Uncle From Another World – This story of an otaku plucked straight out of the very early 2000’s was very funny from the outset, and the fact that it follows someone returning from the world of isekai power fantasy provides a nice twist. The potential romantic sub-plot provides enough intrigue to give this one a second look.
- Summer 2022 First Impressions – The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious – While parts of this episode give off some weird vibes (I’m not into the adult maid and the child protagonist blushing around one-another constantly), I’m definitely kind of interested in what secrets Lilith may be holding on to.
- Summer 2022 First Impressions – Fuuto PI – Action anime and Tokusatsu series seem like natural siblings, and this first episode is a great example of how that might manifest. The animation and style are great, and the writing captures the tone of tokusatsu well.