Category: First Impressions

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – The Great Jahy Will Not be Defeated

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 20

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The Great Demon Jahy was once the demon lord’s second-in-command, but when a magical girl entered the demon realm and shattered its mana crystal, Jahy suddenly found herself banished to Earth. Even worse, without her powers she takes the form of a child, so she lacks the presence she needs to order folks around. With a tiny shard of the mana crystal left, she’s able to retain her adult form long enough to hold down a service job, but even so she has difficulty making ends meet. Jahy’s come up with ever manner of excuse to keep from paying rent; unfortunately her landlord is also her boss’s sister, so she can’t keep up her ruses for long.

But perhaps living among humans might not be such a bad thing, even though Jahy can’t quite see things that way. At the very least, her boss cares about her and wants to see her healthy and happy. It’s just that, when you’re used to wielding nearly unlimited power, having to deal with human rules and customs is a huge burden. Hopefully she can find the other shards of the mana crystal soon and return to her rightful position!

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Battle Game in 5 Seconds

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Akira Shiroyanagi has become bored with life. He excels in both school and gaming to the point that he no longer feels the thrill of being challenged. That all changes when, while on his way to school one morning, he’s randomly attacked by a rather frightening man with animal-like reflexes and strength. Using some clever manipulation, Akira lures the attacker to an environment that allows him to rig up a trap and defeat him. But his victory is short-lived, as he’s approached by a purple-haired cat girl named Mion and shot on sight.

Akira awakens in an unfamiliar location, where he several other people are informed by Mion that they’ve been randomly-selected to participate in an experiment. To society, they’re good as dead. Now they’re ordered to serve as a focus group to test the various special abilities that they’ve been granted. Akira is granted a particularly odd ability, where his power is whatever he can get his opponent to believe it is. It’s something that’s incredibly difficult to use, but if anyone can make use of it, Akira can.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Mother of the Goddess’ Dormitory

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 10

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: After his family home was burned in a fire and his dad walked out on the family, rather than take advantage of any social program to get by Koushi decides the best course of action is to try to make his own way on the streets. Being a kid, however, it’s not easy to live independently, so when he’s offered a cushy job as the “dorm mother” of a problematic dormitory associated with the local women’s college, he thinks it may be a dream come true.

Unfortunately the residents are something of a handful. Mineru, the seemingly kind soul who invites Koushi to work at the dorm, is a mad scientist type who has an aversion to wearing clothes. On the other hand, Frey is a cosplayer who enjoys dressing other people up in costumes (whether they want to or not). Possibly the biggest hurdle is Atena, a young woman whose past living situations have left her with a fear of men (apparently even pre-adolescents). It takes a little time, but Atena tries to come to terms with her fears while also attempting to clean up the behavior of the other women for Koushi’s sake.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Night Head 2041

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga (there have also been previous TV and anime adaptations)

Episode Summary: In the year 2041, society has disavowed any depiction of the supernatural. Belief in ideas and entities that can’t be proven is criminalized by the government. The Special Weapons Enforcers work to root out illegal thought activities and arrest those responsible. When they’re assigned to capture a man purporting to be a psychic along with his followers, they assume this will be a straightforward mission, but when brothers Takuya and Yuuya begin to see oddities that the others on their team don’t, it suggests there’s something much stranger going on. Takuya then exhibits a strange power when he tries to rescue Yuuya from being hurt. A huge EMP wave is emitted and they’re suddenly faced with the prospect that the realities of their own minds and existences may not be quite as factually cut-and-dry as they may have assumed.

Meanwhile, brothers Naoto and Naoya Kirihara find themselves freed from the laboratory where they’ve been isolated for the past 15 years. Because they truly do have telekinetic abilities they soon discover that this unfamiliar world they’ve been separated from for so long isn’t the bastion of understanding and acceptance that they had hoped it may have become in the interim. While they’re able to leave their isolation with a few resources at their disposal, they’re about to enter a hotbed of prejudice in which their powers are decidedly unwelcome.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – The Aquatope on White Sand

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Original

Episode Summary: As Fuuka packs her things and prepares to head back to her childhood home, she realizes that this has become the depressing end point to a dream she’s had since childhood. She worked and sweated to become an idol, only to realize that she wasn’t meant for that lifestyle. After giving her blessing to a younger group member and putting in her resignation at her agency, she packs her things and calls her mother to coordinate her homecoming. By chance, however, Fuuka is distracted by an advertisement for a tropical Okinawan vacation, and feeling unsettled by the amount of fanfare the neighborhood group is putting into her return, she makes the last minute decision to head for warmer waters.

Upon arrival she doesn’t really have anything planned or anywhere to go, and dragging her luggage around in a tropical climate is sweaty work. After spending a night sleeping on a beach, she’s approached by a local tour guide and given some water and a few info packets. Fuuka chooses the local aquarium as her destination, and a 500 yen ticket grants her access to what she experiences as a magical world that lays bare some of her deepest insecurities. While there, she meets Kukuru, a young employee of the aquarium and learns that the power of this place is nothing new. But despite its beauty and magic, the aquarium is in danger of closing.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – The Dungeon of Black Company

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Kinji Ninomiya has finally achieved his ultimate dream. After investing his allowance and making money day-trading, he’s made himself into an independently-wealthy NEET. As he looks down from his penthouse apartment on the sorry masses below, though, he’s suddenly sucked into a gateway and deposited in a fantasy world that immediately sets him back to square one. This new world is run by mining demonite, and after Kinji takes out a loan it’s indentures servitude in the mines for him and many other unlucky souls. The mining company assures compliance by working its employees to the bone, and Kinji wants nothing more than to find a way to reestablish his lazy lifestyle.

That’s something easier said than done; money leaves his hands to pay back his loan just as quickly as he receives his paychecks. He works 16 hour days with no days off. But a lucky discovery gives Kinji an idea, and he manages to rope a fellow laborer Wanibe into the scheme. But as they take a shortcut to the lower level of the mine, they’re confronted by one of its guardians – Rim, a hungry dragon. Not to be deterred, Kinji makes a deal with her – if she doesn’t eat them both and promises to defend them from even scarier creatures, he’ll ensure she’s well fed. That becomes a failed scheme, as does another major manipulation that takes advantage of some magic items and Kinji’s coworkers. Kinji’s ideal NEET lifestyle seems farther and farther out of his reach with each passing day.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – D_Cide Traumerei the Animation

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Part of a multimedia project.

Episode Summary: One of Ryuhei’s darkest childhood memories is witnessing the death of his brother under mysterious circumstances. Now in high school, he practices boxing and enjoys a relatively normal life. That all changes when, one dark evening, he’s bitten by an animal in an alleyway, and after that has an extremely vivid dream in which his senses and abilities are heightened and he’s pitted toe-to-toe against malevolent creatures.

But this is all just a weird dream, right? Ryuhei believes so until he’s out walking the city streets and hears some strange, yet familiar terminology being spoken aloud by some kids racing into an alley. Following them he finds a strange porthole that no one else seems to be able to see. As he tries to decide whether to follow the gateway or not, the decision is made for him as terrifying, animalistic entities spill out into the real world. His ability to see these things would typically mean he has the power to stop them, but it takes loads of hassling from the two blond-haired youngsters (or are they?) actually fighting the creatures for Ryuhei to truly come into his own power. After he defeats what’s called a “Desaria,” he learns that it’s somehow the product of human corruption. The victim’s body is marked by a strange symbol – the same symbol found near Ryuhei’s late brother’s body many years ago.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Peach Boy Riverside

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Sally is a former princess whose longing for adventure saw her leave her quiet castle in the countryside in search of stimulation in the outside world. One day during the course of her travels, she discovers Frau, a member of the Harefolk community, whose rabbit-shaped visage betrays their status as a demi human. Sally’s experiences with demi humans is essentially nonexistent, so she’s somewhat surprised and disheartened to find that most people harbor a deep prejudice against them. Even though they have some ability to speak and Frau in particular is very loyal to Sally, they’re still shooed away at every turn by villagers who fear the worst.

And they do have some reason to be fearful, at least in a general sense; the world has been under attack by giant monsters and ogres, and it’s simply an unfortunate reality that this fear of being brutally murdered has perverted into hatred for other races. Even when Frau uses their power to defeat an ogre, there’s very little convincing the villagers who witness it. After defeating the ogre, Sally and Frau are taken into custody by the local knight captain, Hawthorn, but despite his own suspicions he warms up to them quickly. As Sally and Frau seek repayment for their troubles in the form of dinner, the city is brutally attacked by a high ogre and her companion. After witnessing this destruction and watching Frau attempt to fight the ogre alone, Sally enters a sort of trance and comes into some buried physical abilities that are a sight to behold. She may be travelling in search of a boy born out of a peach, but her own special powers are nothing to sneeze at.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Drug Store In Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Reiji Kirio was formerly a salaryman, but now he lives a quiet life as a pharmacist in a fantasy world alongside a friendly ghost and a werewolf. His claim to fame is his ability to create potions and medicines that actually taste good in addition to being effective. Once a local shop starts selling his energy potion, his fame spreads far and wide and things aren’t quite so quiet any longer.

This fame sometimes leads to Reiji getting involved in situations for which he might not be entirely qualified, as assumptions about his expertise mean that, to many folks, he’s the man with all the (medicinal) answers. He accepts a request from a young man whose girlfriend has been reacting in an extreme way every time he interacts with other women. Though relationship counseling is outside his purview, Reiji identifies that her paranoia is likely due to a lack of sleep, so brews a special tea that allows those who imbibe it to feel calm and sleep better. There’s never a truly dull day at this pharmacy, though it’s leaps and bounds more chill than the rat race ever was.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Makoto Misumi leads a decent life. He’s good at archery and his parents are pretty interesting people. But it’s his parentage that ends up causing him problems when the gods come to collect on a debt. It seems that Makoto’s parents came to Earth from another world, and in exchange they offered up the thing that meant the most to them. In this case that means their child, and if Makoto doesn’t go along with the transaction then his sisters might be forced into it in his place. At the behest of the god Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, Makoto is transported away to visit the goddess of this mysterious other world. Unfortunately the goddess is extremely unimpressed by Makoto, and banishes him to the far corners of the other world with only the ability to read, write, and speak the various languages of other races.

Fortunately Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto also secretly helped to protect Makoto with his power, so he isn’t completely helpless. Makoto learns this when he defends an orc girl named Ema from a giant wolf and completely obliterates it. He also seems to have a knack for magic, which comes in handy when he confronts the dragon that’s been causing grief for Ema’s people. The supposedly invincible dragon, Shin, finds herself outmatched. She offers to make a mutually-beneficial contract arrangement with Makoto, mainly because his memories of his previous life are so fascinating to her. Though he may have been banished to the far edge of the world, Makoto’s group of companions is slowly but surely growing larger.

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