Author: Jessi Silver

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tales of Luminaria: The Fateful Crossroad

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 2

Source: Smartphone Game

Episode Summary: The Empire has enjoyed the benefit of a device called the Piliar, which draws forth mana from fossils within the Earth. Because of this, they reap the positive effects of almost limitless power, medical advancement, and food production. But the dark side to this is that the mana drain has had a terrible effect on many smaller surrounding communities, leaving them unable to provide for themselves and creating many refugees in the process.

Leo, Celia, and their instructor Lisette, have been coopted into the fight for the fate of the world, using their prowess in battle to help escort a scientist and his specially-modified key to the Piliar in order to stall its operation and reverse its negative effects. Unfortunately there are multiple factions after this key, including Hugo, who was once one of Leo’s closest comrades. When Hugo comes out victorious and utilizes the key in the Piliar, however, they all discover that they were simply the pawns of a much larger, and much darker, force.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Girls’ Frontline

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Game

Episode Summary: After the horrors of World War III, Earth civilization is on the brink of collapse. Due to low population and the resultant labor shortages, much of the work has since been taken up by artificial android life forms called “dolls.” These dolls have found an important place within the military sphere, with Tactical Dolls or “T-Dolls” using their superior physical strength and other heightened abilities to fight battles that humans wouldn’t dare.

When the AI of an entire fleet of T-Dolls owned by the Sangvis Ferri company rebels against their human masters, a group of elite T-Dolls owned by Griffin and Kryuger investigates. What they find when traveling to a remote location to obtain some classified data from an old computer is a dangerous, extremely violent, and intelligent group of T-Dolls who give them a run for their money. After defeating a trio of heavy artillery models, T-Doll M4 is tasked with taking the retrieved data to safety. Meanwhile, back at their base, a new commander joins the organization.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Fantasia Sango: Realm of Legends

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Taiwanese RPG

Episode Summary: As a nation finds itself on the decline at on the cusp of war, the people find themselves vulnerable to attack from a much more supernatural force. The wangliang, vengeful spirits that prey upon the darkness in people’s hearts, begin to multiply and wreak havoc among the populace, and only warriors with very special skills are able to fight against their powerful dark magic. Unfortunately the 6th unit, which was comprised of such people, was wiped out under mysterious circumstances.

As the situation becomes more dire, the need for the 6th unit grows as well, and four warriors are chosen to comprise the group: Ying Ji, who can cast spells using ink magic, Xun Qiao, whose music draws forth the wangliang, Ding Yan, who has some connection to the former 6th unit, and Xiao Ling, who is a Gui Zhan – a warrior who draws power from the wangliangs’ miasma. Working together they help dispel a wangliang from a village who’s been singlehandedly defending his village from invasion, and the group gets a first-hand taste of the power wielded by a Gui Zhan.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tokyo 24th Ward

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Note: episode 1 is double-length.

Tokyo’s Far Eastern Special Administrative Region, also known as ward 24 was built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, and has been seen in the past as a lawless region. Now on the cusp of being officially acknowledged, political tensions are high. One year previous, three childhood friends born in the 24th Ward are witness to a fire at a school, and afterwards go their separate ways until they’re reunited at a memorial service. All three are navigating life differently; Ran dabbles in guerilla protest art and hacking, while Kouki remains a rule-follower who everyone expects to go into politics like his father. But Shuuta has struggled in the year since the incident, wondering if the heroic goals he once had were just childish fantasies.

The three keep meeting by chance around town, and as they’re settling down to lunch all of them receive a mysterious phone call from someone who sounds like their late friend Asumi, who was lost in the tragic fire. The voice warns them of an impending accident in which their friend Mari will get stuck on the train tracks. Their choices are to reroute the train, causing it to derail and likely killing the 150 people onboard, or to let it continue on its current path, thus killing Mari. Asked to make the choice yet unsatisfied with both outcomes, the three young men use their know-how and physical prowess to achieve a solution that saves everyone. But who was the voice on the phone? And can it truly see into the future?

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Site News Uncategorized

January 23-29, 2022 Week-in-Review

Another week, another little bit of anime writing. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get around to more episodes this week; I was hoping to get finished with them before the end of the month, but now I’m not sure that’s likely to happen. All the same, the delay is for kind of a positive reason – we’ve finally gotten in the majority of the furniture we were looking for to put in our upstairs living room, allowing us to move our other furniture downstairs to create a basement entertainment area. And for people who aren’t experienced in moving a lot of furniture around, well… it can be very exhausting.

Somewhat related to recent experiences, I’d like to take this opportunity to remind folks of how I handle comments at this blog. You can read the details in the site’s FAQ, but the major points are that there are several terms I’ve designated (which I’m not going to share) that immediately send comments into moderation. I also don’t publicize comments that are hostile toward myself or other commenters, or which argue in bad-faith or try to mischaracterize points that I or other commenters are attempting to make. Take that as you will.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The Secret Society Agastia is one of several evil organizations operating throughout Japan. Many of the other groups have recently met their demise when pit against local heroes, and Agastia needs to come up with some winning monster design to help quell their own heroic interloper, Divine Swordsman Blader. Enter Miss Kuroitsu, a researcher in Agastia’s Monster Development Department, with her group’s latest extremely well-thought-out and absolutely not last-minute monster design.

In reality, Miss Kuroitsu and the Doctor she works alongside are constantly operating at a budgetary and energy deficit, crunching to put together monster proposals that are subsequently picked apart by the other members of Agastia. Their most recent project, a lupine creature called Wolf Bete, seems to have been created within the relative luxury of plenty of development time until Agastia’s leader, Akashic, demands a much cuter design at the eleventh hour. This causes some… conflicts between Wolf Bete’s mind and body, but this new design may turn out to be an advantage against the sexually-inexperienced Divine Swordsman Blader.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Police in a Pod

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 13

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Kawai is on the verge of quitting her job as a police officer. It was the only civil service position that she could qualify for, and that in itself is no way to choose a career. Just before she submits her resignation, however, she’s partnered with Detective Fuji – a beautiful, if somewhat unorthodox, officer who’s been demoted into the position. Kawai struggles to see how Fuji’s attitude toward their work has somehow managed to survive the near constant verbal abuse they both receive from people who get caught in their traffic raids and other arrests.

After a very unusual (and enlightening) interrogation session with a local thief, and a safety presentation at at nearby elementary school, Kawai begins to see the facets of her job that she didn’t previously appreciate. While it’s true that issuing citations on a regular basis sometimes cultivates an adversarial relationship with members of the public, there are always those who take those citations to heart and try to change their behavior for the better. Maybe Kawai can hold off a bit on submitting that resignation.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: In the world of Ark Earth Online, a group of mages, deemed the “9 Wise Men” distinguished themselves from the pack by gaining power and fame – in spite of many players who preferred a simpler, more straightforward playing style. Danblf was one such mage, named the “One Man Army” due to his incredible summoning abilities. When the mage kingdom he and his IRL friend established becomes a fresh target, he travels to the battlefield and dispatches the attackers on his own.

After the battle, however, Danblf disappears completely from the face of the game. In the meantime, a beautiful young woman awakens wearing Danblf’s robes and with the ability to wield a small amount of his power. Who is this mysterious woman, and might she have anything to do with Danblf’s disappearance?

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Site News

January 16-22, 2022 Week-in-Review

This past week was a very busy and productive week for me, here at the blog. I had a couple of days off, so I managed to plow through quite a few first impressions in a relatively short amount of time. However, I realized quickly that that sort of productivity comes with a price – burnout. I spent so much time in my chair writing that I didn’t use my time away from work to actually… not work. Rookie error! So now I’m planning to try to come in for a softer landing by spacing the remaining reviews out a little bit more. My goal is to be done with these prior to the end of January, which, with not very many left to write up, should be do-able.

I got around to a wide variety of episodes last week, which was definitely helpful. I used some of the very basic research I typically do before watching something to try to space out series with similar genres or stories (rather than just doing them all in general order of release like I typically tend to do). I think that made the process much more pleasant.

Check out the links below to see if there’s anything you’ve missed, and thanks as always for reading!

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – My Dress-Up Darling

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Wakana Gojo lives with his grandfather, a craftsman who creates the Hina dolls used to celebrate the Hinamatsuri holiday. Ever since he was a child, Gojo harbored a deep love for the craft and the beauty of the dolls, a passion that resulted in the loss of a childhood friendship. Since then he’s spent all of his energy focused on honing his craft rather than trying to make friends, because he’s become sensitive about revealing his love for creating Hina dolls.

One day, after his grandfather’s antique sewing machine breaks, Gojo brings some of his doll costumes to school to work on them in the home economics classroom. As he’s enjoying the luxury of a modern sewing machine, the door swings open and in walks Marin, Gojo’s very beautiful and popular classmate. When she sees him using the sewing machine, she’s nearly ecstatic and asks to show him something. What she reveals is an in-progress cosplay she’s been working on that could definitely use some… finesse. Gojo critiques its shortcomings, but also admires Marin’s commitment to her goals. When she asks him to help her realize her dreams of embodying a favorite character, Gojo feels inspired to help her, and happy that he may have found someone to share his skills with who won’t make fun of them.

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