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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Remake Our Life!

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Please note – the first episode of this series is an hour-long special. I will endeavor to keep the summary to a manageable level.

When the game company that 28-year-old Kyouya works for shutters its doors, he’s forced to move back in with his parents. Through a stroke of luck he meets Eiko Kawasegawa, a director at game giant SucceedSoft, and due to Kyouya’s vast skillset he’s able to land a pinch-hit job working on their 30th anniversary project. But the gaming landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and despite the reported involvement of members of the so-called “Platinum Generation,” (several well-regarded artists who graduated from art school at the same time), the 30th anniversary project is canceled, as is Kyouya’s contract. When he returns home yet again, he wonders if his life would be any different if he’d chosen to follow his dreams and attend creative arts school. But life doesn’t generally provide many second chances.

When Kyouya wakes up later, he discovers that he’s indeed been granted a second shot at life – he’s inhabiting his body from 10 years prior, only in this timeline he’s accepted the offer from “Oonaka University” to become a student. He goes to live in a shared house with three other students and learns quickly that the arts aren’t all fun and games. But a pep talk from Aki Shino, one of his roommates, gives him the strength to work toward learning his true talents.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Scarlet Nexus

Streaming: Funimation (the version I watched was the premiere version posted early on their YouTube channel, and includes a message from the Oral Cigarettes, the band who sings the theme song).

Episodes: TBA

Source: Game

Episode Summary: Yuito and his friend Nagi are about to join the ranks of the “Other Suppression Force” or “OSF,” who are individuals with psionic powers who defend the populace from invasion by Others, brain-eating entities that attack with little warning. Yuito was inspired to join because a member of the OSF saved his life when he was a child, but both his father and older brother are high-ranking members of the organization as well. As he navigates the entrance ceremony and meets the new comrades in his platoon, Yuito struggles with the knowledge that his psionic abilities are on the low end. Being the member of a well-known family certainly has its downsides when information like that gets passed-around.

As Yuito, Nagi, and the other recruits are sent out to handle an attack by several Others, Yuito is confronted by a situation that echoes his own so many years ago. He breaks rank to help rescue a straggling child, but when the situation becomes dire he’s rescued by Kasane Randall. Kasane feels very familiar to Yuito; they may have a history that Yuito just can’t put his finger on.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Sonny Boy

Streaming: Funimation (the version I watched was a limited-time free preview on their YouTube channel; the “real” release date is July 21st)

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Due to an unknown phenomenon, a school and several students have been transported into a black void. Without their teachers or the outside world to dictate what should happen, the student hierarchies begin to manifest themselves more strongly with the student council attempting to take control of the situation by creating rules and doling out punishments. Complicating this is the fact that a sub set of the students also developed super powers after arriving in the void world, and many of them aren’t inclined to listen to orders from their former peers.

As the void slowly consumes the building and the power struggle between the student council and the superpowered students plays out, Nozomi, a transfer student recently returned to Japan, and Nagara, a quiet, somewhat aimless guy, play out a very different, more emotional power struggle among themselves. Nozomi’s inclination to take risks and walk her own path may turn out to be the key to helping the group navigate this strange, new world.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 – Premiere List

Well, friends, it’s been a long journey but here we are, having taken a peek at all of this series fresh premieres. Included below are links to all of my First Impressions from this season. This list does not include any sequels (aside from a couple of pseudo-sequels) nor any series that are obviously aimed at kids, but should be otherwise comprehensive. I’ll keep this post pinned to the top of the blog for the next couple of weeks, but be sure to follow the blog if you so desire to be notified of any updates in the meantime!

86Backflip!!Battle Athletes Victory RESTART!
Blue Reflection RayBurning KabaddiCestvs: The Roman Fighter
Combatants Will be Dispatched!Don’t Toy With Me, Miss NagatoroDragon Goes House-Hunting
Fairy RanmaruFarewell, My Dear CramerFull Dive
HigehiroI’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years…Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood
Kiyo in KyotoKoikimoLet’s Make a Mug Too
Mars RedOdd TaxiOsamake
Pretty Boy Detective ClubSeven Knights RevolutionShadows House
SSSS.DynazenonSuper CubThe Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent
The World Ends With YouThose Snow White NotesTo Your Eternity
Tokyo RevengersVivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song
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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Kiyo and Sumire traveled to Kyoto after middle school to train as maiko, but Kiyo’s clumsiness meant that she wasn’t fit for the kind of graceful comportment required of the job. However, her talent for cooking has allowed her to stay on as the Maiko House’s live-in chef, where she still gets to support her friend Sumire as she furthers her training. Sumire’s talent and work ethic have caused people to start chattering – she may have the skills to become a once-a-century maiko. But Sumire’s work ethic has a downside – she’s been so busy with errands and practicing for her maiko debut that she hasn’t been eating well. Perhaps Kiyo’s squid mince, a dish from their days as natives of Aomori prefecture, will give Sumire the energy to keep up with her incredible drive to succeed.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Combatants Will Be Dispatched!

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: The evil organization Kisaragi has nearly fulfilled their goal of taking over the Earth, so they’ve set their sights on various other Earth-like planets next in order to keep their momentum going. With a literal roll of the dice, Kisaragi leadership chooses Agent Six as their representative for this important mission. He seems like an odd choice as he’s irredeemably horny with a lowly number of “evil points” (having spent them all on dubious purchases), but it seems some of the folks in the upper echelons may have a soft spot for him. Agent Six is transported to his destination alongside Alice, an android with the body of a young girl and a deadpan attitude. Almost immediately they get on good terms with a high-ranking local Knight named Snow and Princess Tillis, whom Snow serves, but it turns out that those two are both generally looking out for their own best interests in life and not expressing any sort of altruistic intent. However, Agent Six and Alice repair an artifact important to the country, and thus Tillis hires the two as her personal guard – making Agent Six Snow’s new supervisor.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Super Cub

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: Koguma lives alone and doesn’t have much money or any friends. Her hours pass by wordlessly as she spends the day at school and then rides her bike home. But she’d give almost anything not to have to huff and puff up the hill on a manual bike, and when she notices some classmates riding to and from school on scooters, she decides to check out the local bike shop. Almost every new scooter and motorbike for sale is way outside her meager price range, but the old shop owner shows her a refurbished model – an old Honda Super Cub he’s willing to sell her for 10,000 yen (around $100). She takes him up on the offer (once she’s gotten her license, of course), and suddenly a whole new world of freedom opens up to Koguma. Getting to school is no longer a chore, and she can ride to the convenience store without the same hassle of a bicycle. But she still has some lessons to learn about her new motorized companion; luckily the user manual can help with some of that.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Cestvs: The Roman Fighter

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Story Summary: As young Emperor Nero ascends the throne, a young boy named Cestvs is enslaved and brought to Rome to enter the brutal world of slave boxing. Cestvs has a slight build and by all accounts he should be easily-defeated, but specialized training by Zafar, himself a former slave boxer, helps him to make the most out of his speed and reaction time. Cestvs’ master promises freedom to any of the slave boxers who win 100 fights, so Cestvs has a sharp uphill climb through the fists of some of the most brutal fighters to achieve his goal of escaping slavery. But his greatest challenge may be in Ruska, son of one of the Emperor’s military leaders, and a master of hybrid hand-to-hand combat.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Osamake: Romcom Where the Childhood Friend Won’t Lose

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: Haru has fallen in love with the beautiful, talented, and smart Kachi-san. He’s even managed to develop a sort of rapport with her, after confessing to reading her published work. But just as he’s building up the courage to ask her out officially at the end of the cultural festival, he learns that she’s already dating someone – Abe, a handsome fellow student who’s just made his acting debut. How can Haru compete with that? He takes some solace in the arms of his childhood friend Kuroha, a spitfire with an older-sister personality at odds with her small stature. Kuroha has always loved Haru, and to help him deal with his troubles she proposes that they pretend to date in order to make Kachi jealous. But Haru might also have feelings for Kuroha that he can’t reconcile with this situation. And he’s also holding on to a trump card of his own.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – To Your Eternity

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 20

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Once there was an orb, sent to Earth, that transformed based on its connection to and stimulation by other entities. It spent time as a rock, as moss, and then took the form of a white wolf named Joaan belonging to a lonely boy living in a small hut among the desolate, snowy landscape. The boy is making plans to leave for “Paradise,” to follow in the footsteps of his fellow villagers. The boy and Joaan leave toward the South, following markings left by people who traveled that way previously. After a tragic discovery, they’re forced to head back, where the boy struggles with the encroaching loneliness. As the hearth fire dies out, the wolf Joaan transforms once more, into a boy.