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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2021 New Anime – Premieres for Thursday, January 7th, 2021

So far I’m really enjoying the more chill pacing of writing reviews this season. It’s not that there are fewer premieres, it’s more that I’m holding myself to more realistic standards and not getting so stressed about being one person attempting to complete the work of several. Knowing that I’m trying to write a reasonable amount rather than word-vomiting the huge essays I had been writing about each new show has kept me from dreading the process. I can’t guarantee that there will never be word vomit, but I’m trying to keep it as a “sometimes” issue.

These premieres mark the end of the first week of the new year. It’s already been a wild ride, that’s for sure. There have been quite a few jokes about people deciding not to renew after their free 7-day trial… I for one am deeply hoping that the year will be looking up a little bit from here. At least I will try to enjoy some great anime!

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2021 New Anime – Premieres for Wednesday, January 6th 2021

Well, as I’m writing this it’s definitely been an interesting couple of days in the United States. To be honest, it took a day or two to get enough sleep to feel like I could pay attention to an entire anime episode and write coherently about it. I think there are some folks who can use media to escape from whatever happens to be going on; my anxiety is just too terrible to let up for 25 minutes so I can take in an anime episode. But I’ve been wanting to watch anime, so I’m going to give it a try and see how far I get.

Most folks will notice that the look of the blog has changed; while I wasn’t really planning to switch things up at this very moment, a friend let me know of some image compatibility issues that were showing up on the mobile site so I figured it would be a good opportunity to make a change to my very out-of-date theme. I may be tweaking things in the coming days, but this is pretty close to what I wanted.

Note: There is a small spoiler for Hortensia Saga in its review. It’s one of the main conceits of the series and if you’re looking closely enough you can identify it on your own (even though the show itself is not keen to call it out directly), but I know more than one person who missed it until participating in discussions afterward, so if you’d rather go in completely blind you can skip the second review in this post.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2021 New Anime – Premieres for Monday, January 4th 2021

Hello friends! So it seems the season has started in earnest now. I, for one, am excited to see whether anything I was excited about actually pans out. We’ll see!

I’m going to be prioritizing non-sequel material for the time being, as I’d rather get a handle on the unknowns rather than the familiar anime about which we’ve probably already made our decisions. Hopefully I’ll be able to carve out some time to talk about my favorite sequel premieres, too.

I’m attempting to group premieres together by premiere date; if a lot of shows premiere on the same date I may have to break some of them into multiple parts. I’m still testing out this change in format and hope to land on something that works for the long term.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2021 New Anime – The Early Bird Catches the Worm

You know, over the past year I’ve come to truly dislike the word “unprecedented,” because it’s been used time and time again to describe the utterly batshit state of affairs in the world today. And yet, here I’m about to use it to describe the roll-out of this most current anime season.

This season is an odd one for various reasons, perhaps the biggest of which is that it’s turned into kind of a catch-up situation for some series that were meant to have been broadcast sooner, but which were delayed due to the Covid-19 situation. Now we’re being delivered more anime than may have been anticipated, some of them extremely high-profile released. Another thing I’ve noticed is that there have been a few early broadcasts. This in itself isn’t that odd; the odd part is that the early broadcasts are available to us in the US, rather than on, say, Japanese Netflix or some other platform unavailable to us in the West.

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Previews Reviews

Winter 2021 Anime – What I’m Looking Forward To

Some of you may not realize how good it feels to be writing “2021” in a post header; some of you probably know all too well the sense of optimism and hope that comes along with it. Needless to say, despite the fact that we’re not out of the pandemic woods yet, I’m trying to be more “glass half full” about what the new year has in store for us all, especially when it comes to new anime. To be honest, I’m still playing catch-up with anime from 2020 – I have a cool super power where I can knock out a 1-cour anime series in a couple of evenings after work, but that power is exhausting and I need some recharge time in between, so I’m sure I’ll be working on completing this quest for a while. But I just can’t help but look ahead toward the new shininess on the horizon, so below are some anime series I’m looking forward to.

Note: There will be discussion of spoilers for some of the returning series, so please read at your own risk!

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Encountering Turbulence Atop a Witch’s Broom

This post contains spoilers for the anime series Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina. This series is available to Watch on Funimation’s streaming service in the US.

Last December, back when going to the movie theater was still a choice one could make on a whim, my husband and I decided to tag along with some members of the anime club who had planned a group viewing of the film Cats. We pretty much already knew what we were getting into; I’d read several reviews lamenting the truly weird design choices, mis-used A-list actors, and pressure that the animation team was put under to adhere to some unrealistic directorial choices. But I wanted to hang out with my friends, and going out to movies was at that time a pretty reliable way to see a bunch of them at once outside of anime club. The movie was definitely an experience, though I’d say the defining moment for me was near the end of the film where Judy Dench as Old Deuteronomy breaks the fourth wall, turning directly to the audience; I audibly gasped and hid my face (a friend of mine still teases me for this). For the most part, though, the adaptation was just a cavalcade of bad decisions and poor attempts at both humor and drama.

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2020 First Impressions – Jujutsu Kaisen

Don’t go eating fingers you picked up off the ground…

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Manga

Summary: Yuuji is a high school student with an enviable amount of strength and ability in sports, but rather than join a sports team, he’d rather hang out with the Occult Research Club. It means he can leave school grounds at a reasonable hour, which is important because he spends that extra time visiting his dying grandfather in the hospital. One afternoon, after beating the track-and-field coach at his own games, he rushes away to buy flowers and put them in his grandfather’s room. His grandfather gives Yuuji some advice – do what he can to help people, or else end up dying alone. Unfortunately this fate comes to pass for his grandfather, who then passes away.

As he’s leaving the hospital, Yuuji is cornered by a man named Fushiguro who’s been hanging around the school grounds in search of a cursed object that he believes Yuuji might have. Unfortunately, Yuuji gave it to the upperclassmen in the Occult club, and they’re unsealing it as they speak. They rush to the school, but it’s too late – a lower-level (but still dangerous!) curse has discovered their folly and is now attempting to supplement its own power by consuming the cursed object. Fushiguro tells Yuuji to stay behind, but Yuuji feels he has it within his power to help his friends, so he rushes into the fray. Though he’s able to save the other club members, he finds himself about to be eaten by the creature. He then pulls one last, desperate maneuver and gives himself the finger – by literally eating the cursed finger. This gives him the power to destroy the curse, but has the added terrible effect of turning him into one. Will Fushiguro have to take him out?

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2020 First Impressions – Tonikawa: Over the Moon for You

Fly me to the moon…

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Summary: When Nasa Yuzaki was born, his parents named him something that reflected their aspirations and ideals for him, and since then it’s followed him like a curse. Other people chuckle because it reminds them of the space agency “NASA.” In order to live with this burden, Nasa throws his heart into studying and training his body, his goal being to distinguish himself and overshadow his own name. Things are looking good for him until he sees a beautiful girl walking down the street one snowy evening. As he crosses the street to meet her, he gets hit by a truck. His body is a wreck, but he absolutely must know they mysterious girl. Delirious with pain, he asks her to date him. She agrees – but only on the condition that they get married. This is the last thing Nasa remembers before falling unconscious.

After his recovery, his school aspirations don’t seem quite as important. Nasa decides to go to work instead, and lives modestly on his own. One day he hears a knock on the door – it’s the girl he was so smitten with, and she’s come to collect on their promise. She introduces herself as Tsukasa, provides a marriage registration certificate, and leads Nasa to the prefectural office in order to legally formalize their union. While this is all moving incredibly quickly, Nasa seems powerless to resist (nor does he seem interested in doing much resisting). Tsukasa entered his life like the mysterious Princess Kaguya, and unlike the Emperor and Woodcutter, he’s not going to let this woman go.

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2020 First Impressions – King’s Raid: Successors of the Will

The demons return after a century long slumber…

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 26

Source: Game

Summary: A century ago, the Kingdom of Orvelia quelled a demon invasion. Since then, the country has been peaceful, and that’s the only world that apprentice Knight Kasel knows. His biggest concerns are whether he’ll complete his apprenticeship with his mentor, the Knight Clause, and whether his dinner (usually something like cooked spider that would make most folks turn up their noses) will upset his stomach. His friend, a local priestess named Frey, is one of the few people with whom he shares these feelings.

But the nobles of Orvelia are beginning to hear rumblings of a new demon invasion at the borders of their country. There’s some disagreement about how to deal with this, but one rogue noble offers a suggestion – hire the mercenary group Black Edge, comprised of Dark Elves willing to fight for a price. Unfortunately, racism against Dark Elves runs deep in Orvelia, and the other nobles aren’t convinced about letting them fight on behalf of the nation. The Dark Elves also have their own goals; as a reaction to the suffering inflicted upon their people by the humans of Orvelia, they’re out to seek revenge. With demons now responsible for taking out an entire Orvelian scout party, what choice will the country ultimately make?

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2020 First Impressions – Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Summary: As a young girl, Elaina reads stories of a traveling witch’s adventures. She asks her parents if she can become a witch too. If she studies hard and tries her best, her mother says, then she might become a witch someday. Elaina works hard and practices her skills, then becomes the youngest student ever to pass the magic exam. She just needs to find a witch who will take her as an apprentice so that she can be acknowledged as a full witch within society. Unfortunately, the local witches aren’t interested in dealing with a young prodigy, and Elaina worries that she’ll never complete her training.

She’s tipped off to the existence of a mysterious new witch who’s taken up residence in the local forest – Fran, the Stardust Witch. Elaina assumes she’ll have the same trouble with this newcomer, but surprisingly Fran offers to take her on as an apprentice. Elaina looks forward to honing her skills even further, but as the weeks go by her only tasks seem to be running errands and dealing with Fran’s immediate needs. Just as Elaina is about to flip her lid, Fran challenges her to a duel. Elaina is handed a quick defeat, and it’s then that she learns the truth; Fran was hired by Elaina’s parents to teach her a lesson about humility and learning to deal with and accept failure. Now that Elaina has felt failure firsthand for the first time in her life, the Stardust Witch can begin to pass on her teachings in earnest. After a year, Elaina has nothing more to learn and is acknowledged as Elaina, the Ashen Witch. Some time later, she sets off on a journey, much like the witch who inspired her as a child.

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