Category: Anime Reviews

Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Takt op. Destiny

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Part of a multimedia project which includes a game.

Episode Summary: One fateful day a black meteorite fell to Earth and unleashed the D2, creatures who hate the sounds that humans make, especially the beautiful harmonies to be found in music. Now, playing any sort of music runs the risk of attracting swarms of D2, so there are many people who no longer even remember what music sounds like. But just as humanity began to lose all hope the Conductors and Musicarts appeared, using the power of music to defeat the D2.

Takt and Cosette are a partnered Conductor and Musicart, although their ability to work well together is somewhat lacking. Their de facto handler, Anna, does her best to wrangle their disparate personalities in service of a shared goal – to reach New York so that Cosette can be “repaired” by the Symphonica there. Their journey eastward is bound to be dotted with challenges, not the least of which is their ability to effectively combine their powers and achieve their goals as one.

Continue reading “Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Takt op. Destiny”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Muteking the Dancing Hero

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Offshoot/remake of Tondemo Senshi Muteking

Episode Summary: Muteki arrives in Neo San Francisco to live with his grandmother and doesn’t have a lot of money in his wallet. But what he does have is a good sense of rhythm, something which both allows him to save an old lady crossing the street (using dance!) and also draws the eye of a man named DJ who is, unsurprisingly, a DJ. DJ develops a bit of a fascination for Muteki, who isn’t very happy for the attention from such a strange source. DJ’s obsession with analog sound technology is also a bit against the grain – Neo San-Fran is also the home of a famous tech company with its innovator CEO (literally named “Ceo”).

Muteki is excited to attend a local music event after finding out about it from a flirtatious waitress, but as the main act takes the stage it’s immediately clear that something strange is going on once a giant monster attacks. DJ comes to Muteki’s rescue and provides him the power of Muteking, a transforming hero on roller skates. Once the situation is resolved, Muteki finally reaches his grandmother’s house, only to discover that DJ has already “infiltrated” her home.

Continue reading “Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Muteking the Dancing Hero”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Waccha PriMagi!

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: TBA

Source: Related to PriPara, based on an arcade game series.

Episode Summary: Matsuri is a huge fan of Jennifer, the previous PriMagi champion. She wishes that she had the courage to compete to become a PriMagi superstar, but that dream seems to be nothing but a far-off possibility until a magical being named Myamu arrives through a mystical portal from her magic-suffused world and pegs Matsuri as a potential PriMagi competitor.

Matsuri is initially weirded-out by Myamu, whose forward nature and blathering about the differences between the “Treasured” (those who can use magic) and the “Earthly” (those who can’t) is creepy. Yet, Matsuri just can’t let go of her dream, and once she realizes the true extent and importance of that dream to herself she rushes to submit her application to the PriMagi competition. Luckily she seems to have the inherent gift of performance required by such competitors, and her initial success helps Myamu regain some use of her magic powers. But Matsuri isn’t the only person vying for this distinction, so what sort of challenges might she face in the future?

Continue reading “Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Waccha PriMagi!”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Mikado is a bookstore employee with a strange affliction – he has the power to see the dead, and he’s continually haunted by creepy, threatening apparitions. Enter Hiyakawa, an exorcist whose methods are somewhat unconventional. Hiyakawa involves Mikado in an exorcism, which is so intense that it leaves Mikado unconscious. When he awakens, Hiyakawa nearly demands that Mikado come work for him. Their souls happen to be very compatible, he says, and this bodes well for the possibility of combining their powers.

Mikado is apprehensive, because he wants nothing to do with the ghosts he’s been trying to avoid. The actual act of exorcism, however, turns out to be somewhat erotic, and Mikado is eventually won-over. Eventually Hiyakawa is contacted by the local police to aid them in the search for the remains of several missing and murdered women, and Mikado soon learns what sort of power he and Hiyakawa can wield if they allow their souls to combine.

Continue reading “Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Mieruko-chan

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Miko is a seemingly ordinary girl whose daily life would be familiar to most. She wakes up, goes to school, spends all day in class, and then takes the bus back home again. As uninteresting as that may seem, Miko’s days are defined by one very specific quirk of hers – she’s able to see and sense apparitions all around her, wherever she goes.

It’s all that Miko can do to keep herself from running away screaming at every turn, but she has come up with a way to cope – as long as she doesn’t acknowledge these supernatural beings or let on that she can see them, she believes that they’ll eventually leave her alone. However, keeping up this act may be more than she’s able to bear.

Continue reading “Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Mieruko-chan”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 Premiere List

It’s only as I’m starting off Autumn season reviews that I’ve realized I never managed to put together a handy-dandy Summer compilation post. Since I’m hoping to go back and do these for all the seasons that I’ve covered in the past at some point, I figured it was better late than never.

At this point I’ve already finished a few of the series on this list, and there will likely be some writing about them showing up soon. The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace was definitely something worth talking about. I also completed The Duke of Death and His Maid, though with a second cour of that to come I’ll probably wait to say more until the story is complete. Kageki Shojo!! was also such a wonderful experience, but I’ll have to figure out if I feel equipped to say more about it than just wordless squeeing.

I’m partly through several more series – The Case Study of Vanitas, Fena: Pirate Princess, and Sonny Boy. Each definitely has their charms although the one I’m most gung-ho about finishing is definitely Sonny Boy. I’m also planning to blast through a few more before a convention coming up in a few weeks – The Aquatope on White Sand (despite the fact that it won’t be finished by that point), Re-MAIN, and Remake Our Life. Though with the new season now in full gear and new episode reviews coming up starting soon, I’m definitely going to have to work to carve out the time (if only I weren’t making myself so busy on the weekends, but I’m kind of making up for lost time in that regard).

Anyway, links to all Summer 2021 First Impressions are below. As usual, I’ve used their official US English language titles (or something close to it). What Summer series did you end up enjoying?

The Aquatope on White SandBattle Game in 5 SecondsThe Case Study of Vanitas
D_Cide Traumerei the AnimationThe Detective is Already DeadDrug Store in Another World
The Duke of Death and His MaidThe Dungeon of Black CompanyFena: Pirate Princess
Getter Robo ArcGirlfriend, GirlfriendThe Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the KingdomThe Idaten Deities Know Only PeaceKageki Shojo!!
Life Lessons With Uramichi-OniisanMother of the Goddess’ DormitoryNight Head 2041
Peach Boy RiversideRe-MAINRemake Our Life
Scarlet NexusSeirei Gensouki: Spirit ChroniclesSonny Boy
Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Selection Project

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 13

Source: Multimedia project

Episode Summary: Ever since she was young and bedridden in the hospital, Suzune Miyama has admired the Selection Project idol Akari Amazawa. Years later, Suzune has the opportunity to compete as one of her region’s representatives during the 7th season of Selection Project. However, Suzune isn’t alone; she’s joined by talented girls from around the country who are all vying for the same distinction.

As the regional finals near their conclusion, the competitors are all asked to sing a final song – Akari Amazawa’s debut single, as a tribute to her after her untimely death in an accident a few years prior. Suzune’s pure voice is striking, but as the song nears its climax, she nearly passes out on stage. Whether this is what prevents her from winning her group is debatable, but she leaves the competition to walk home, defeated. But is this truly the end of Suzune’s quest to follow in Akari’s footsteps?

Continue reading “Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Selection Project”
Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

A Little Respite with “Poketoons”

Recently, I posted an essay that I’d been working on for a while. I don’t blame you if you missed it; it didn’t really get the traction that I expected, and at such a length and dealing with the subject matter that it did I probably shouldn’t be surprised that it came and went without much fanfare. Often the writing you’re really proud of doesn’t hit the same way that some one-off “just for fun” type post does; It’s just the nature of posting your writing on the internet. In any case, after spending a lot of energy reliving some heavy material (and writing, editing, and re-editing it), I found myself in the mood for something a little bit lighter. Lucky for me that a very cute clip of animation happened to grace my Twitter timeline and I headed over to YouTube to chase after its source.

Continue reading “A Little Respite with “Poketoons””
Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Heike Story

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 11

Source: Novel

Episode Summary: Biwa witnesses the murder of her blind father at the hand of the powerful Heike clan, thus leaving her an orphan. Yet it’s a member of the Heike, the subdued, practical Shigemori, who apologizes for the crimes of his brethren and identifies a similarity between himself and Biwa. Both possess a heterochromic eye which has granted them psychic powers. Shigemori is cursed to see the spirits of the dead all around him, but Biwa’s eye allows her to see the future.

Shigemori chooses to adopt Biwa and raise her alongside his own sons; Biwa’s father had disguised her as a boy to help her survive, and she has no interest in living as a girl, so this arrangement is helpful. Yet, despite his kind overtures, Biwa refuses to tell Shigemori the one thing he’d truly love to know – what will finally bring downfall to the Heike clan, and can he help prevent it? As the clan begins to grow bloated with its overwhelming power and corruption creeps in, can either Shigemori or Biwa truly do anything to stop the Heike’s fall?

Continue reading “Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Heike Story”
Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Playing in Another’s Sandbox – “Wonder Egg Priority” and Finding Personal Meaning in Messy Storytelling

As I sit here once again looking forward toward a new anime season (October is coming up faster than you think, friends), I find that more than anything about to show up on my streaming services in the coming weeks, I’d rather look backwards. Several weeks ago the long-awaited (and troubled) finale to the Winter 2021 season anime Wonder Egg Priority was released, and while I was looking forward to finally being able to watch the remainder of that story, my weak, indulgent nature exposed me to some of the internet blowback it was getting. On the whole it hasn’t been particularly complimentary to the work. I gave myself the luxury of a few days away to allow the furor to calm before I watched the episode myself.

I should really say “episodes,” because I’m perpetually behind and I heard about the delay of the finale before I’d gotten around to watching the 12th episode. I figured that it would be helpful to have a bit of a lead-in rather than attempting to go in cold after months of waiting. Whether that was a better choice or not I can’t say; at the very least it kept me from having to wait and hope for weeks on end without knowing the outcome. Needless to say, after watching the episode(s) I ended up on an emotional journey that I didn’t entirely expect.

Continue reading “Playing in Another’s Sandbox – “Wonder Egg Priority” and Finding Personal Meaning in Messy Storytelling”