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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Cinderella Nine

Newly-minted high schooler Tsubasa has a plan: she wants to start a girls’ baseball team at Rigahama High. Unfortunately for her, instead of going through proper channels, Tsubasa lets her enthusiasm (and maybe her friend Tomoe’s words) carry her away, and she charges onstage during the club presentation assembly to make her call for members. Although her homeroom teacher supports her efforts, and despite getting two potential members in the form of super-shy Ukita and slightly-leery Nozaki, the student council remains opposed to the team. That’s not going to keep Tsubasa down, though – the girl’s nothing if not enthusiastic and devoted to her dream. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Smartphone Game

Episode Summary: Baseball is an uncommon school sport for girls, but Tsubasa aims to change that by forming a team at her high school. She commandeers the entrance ceremony to advertise this venture, drawing all of the wrong kinds of attention. She does, however, catch the eye of Ukita, a shy girl with an interest in baseball, and Nozaki, a girl with an uncomfortable past in team sports. Though both girls are apprehensive, the circumstances align and they join Tsubasa and her friend Tomoe for an informal practice session and pickup game near the river.

Truth be told, neither girl has the skills of a practiced baseball player, but they both show potential. Once Nozaki learns that she can play left-handed, her throws start to impress. And though Ukita definitely needs to work on her confidence, she has a lot of heart. When they play a game against a group of younger kids, all the girls start to get a sense of how fun baseball can be. The camaraderie, the cheer of the audience, and the sound of the ball hitting the sweet spot of the bat is addictive. Perhaps this club might have a chance at success.

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World

Takuya Arima lost his mother when he was very young and his archaeologist father in a much more recent cave-in, so he now lives with his stepmother Ayumi, who manages an unpopular construction project near the archaeological site his father had been studying. Strange events, including accidents and unexplained lightning strikes, have been happening, but things get personally weird for Takuya when first a bizarre relic and then a treatise on parallel worlds gets shipped to him, apparently from his deceased father, all at the same time that a new transfer student arrives. Stranger still, he briefly meets a naked, elfin-eared girl at a time and place specified by his father, while one of father’s research associates demands the relic he has at gunpoint and insists that his parents are alive but somewhere else. After more lightning strikes lead to an apparent time-and-space shift, no one else present at the incident seems to remember it the next day. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: 26

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Takuya recently lost his father, though considering the circumstances he’s dealing with it fairly well. His dad was a researcher who died doing what he loved, which is about as much as anyone could ask for. In the meantime, Takuya passes his time being the class goofball and engaging in lewd talk with some of the women whose paths cross his (including his teacher).

Takuya receives a couple of packages that say they’re from his late father – they contain a strange object and a book that speaks of strange things like parallel dimensions. A new transfer student warns Takuya that the construction project headed by his stepmother is treading in dangerous territory, which turns out to be true; in addition to strange earthquakes and lightning strikes, Takuya discovers that it’s also a focal point for his father’s research when his father’s research assistant confronts him there. He also encounters a mysterious elf-eared girl, and his connection with her (as well as the strange bejeweled object left to him by his father) initiates some sort of warp. When Takuya wakes up the next morning, no one seems to remember what occurred the night before; is it memory loss, or something more extreme?

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Fruits Basket

After a family tragedy turns her life upside down, plucky high schooler Tohru Honda takes matters into her own hands and moves out into a tent. Unfortunately for her, she pitches her new home on private land belonging to the mysterious Sohma clan, and it isn’t long before the owners discover her secret. But, as Tohru quickly finds out when the family offers to take her in, the Sohmas have a secret of their own–when touched by the opposite sex, they turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu, and Yahoo View

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga, as well as a previous anime adaptation.

Episode Summary: Tohru’s living situation is a bit… complicated. After her mother passed away in an accident, she went to live with her grandfather. Now her grandfather’s home is being renovated, so rather than cause problems for one of her friends by asking to live with them for a few months, Tohru has chosen to take all the burden on by herself – by living in a tent in the woods and supporting herself through her part-time job. By accident, she learns that her tent sits on the property of the Soma family, and Yuki Soma (her class’s “prince”) walks with her to school when Tohru discovers the location of their family home. This gets Tohru in trouble with Yuki’s fan club, but luckily Yuki turns out to be more down-to-earth than his social status may imply.

After completing a day’s work at her after-school cleaning job, Tohru sneaks back to her tent in the dark. Coincidentally, Yuki and his cousin Shigure are also wandering their property, and suddenly Tohru’s secret is out in the open. Conveniently, the Soma boys are slobs, and Tohru has a knack for cleaning – it seems like the perfect match for them both. She’s invited to take the empty room on the Soma home’s second floor. But when the ornery Kyo drops in to pick a fight with Yuki, the family’s odd secret is revealed. If the family members come into contact with someone of the opposite sex, they transform into the various animal members of the Chinese Zodiac!

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Senryu Girl

Nanako Yukishiro is a girl who can only communicate what she wants to say by using senryū (a poetry style similar to haiku more focused on humor). Eiji is an intimidating but kind boy who is a member of the school literature club. The pair have cheerful everyday interactions through 17 syllables. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and HIDIVE

Episodes: TBA (12 minute episodes)

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Nanako is a girl of few words, but those she does share are chosen very carefully. She expresses herself through Senryu poetry, a form that, much like haiku, is presented in 5-7-5 syllable format. While this can create some awkward situations (Nanako especially has trouble when asked a lot of questions in short succession), her friends understand her choice not to speak and enjoy her skill at sharing her thoughts and feelings in this unique way.

Nanako belongs to the poetry club with Eiji, a boy who’s often misunderstood as a bully with a scary attitude. His countenance is sometimes considered frightening, and his attempts at interacting with people are often thwarted due to this problem. He doesn’t seem to have much trouble getting along with Nanako, and the two make a cute pair. In fact, perhaps the two may have feelings for one another… but will they ever be able to properly express them?

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu

Bocchi Hitori, a girl with extreme social anxiety, has had only one friend throughout elementary school. When Bocchi learns they’ll be split up after graduation, she makes a promise to her: “By the time of my middle school graduation, I’ll make friends with everyone in my class.” And if she can’t do it they won’t be friends anymore. But Bocchi has a hard time talking to people. When she gets nervous, her legs cramp. She can’t look other people in the eye. She doesn’t even know how to make friends. Every way she thinks of to make friends ends up failing. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Bocchi is exceedingly shy, so when she and her elementary-school friend end up at different middle schools, she feels like her life might be over. Her friend tasked her with forging relationships with all of her classmates, but it’s a goal that seems impossible; Bocchi is unskilled in conversation, and anything more emotionally-complicated that that is surely off the table.

When her half-baked plots to avoid fulfilling her friendship quota go awry, Bocchi resigns herself to a school life of loneliness and isolation. Against all odds, though, she manages to find opportunities to interact with Nako-chan, the girl sitting in front of her in class. Nako first seems standoffish, but her inherent kindness gives Bocchi the opportunity to open up, and suddenly a new friendship begins to blossom between the two.

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Ao-Chan Can’t Study!

When Ao was in kindergarten, she smiled ear-to-ear as she told her classmates how her father (a bestselling erotic author) chose her name: “A as in apple and O as in orgy.” That day still haunts her ten years later as she studies with a single goal in mind: get into an elite university and achieve independence from her father once and for all. She has no youth to misspend and no time to think about boys until her classmate, “King Normie” Kijima, approaches her with a shocking confession of love. She tries to lose Kijima, but he just can’t take a hint and as her mind runs wild with impure thoughts, she realizes her father has totally influenced her. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and HIDIVE

Episodes: TBA (13 min episodes)

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Ao’s life changed forever once she realized that her name, chosen by her father (an erotic author), referred to an “O-face.” Having grown up in an environment where her one male role model was a lecherous old man, Ao decided to point her efforts toward her studying, thus providing her a way to escape her family once and for all. In school she does everything she can to earn top grades, avoiding any kind of socializing.

What she doesn’t realize is that Kijima, a popular boy and the only person who really tries to talk to her, has feelings for her – a fact she discovers after bringing Kijima his school uniform in the nurse’s office. Ao believes all men to be lecherous perverts with one thing on their mind, but despite her best efforts, she can’t seem to get her mind off of Kijima.

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Mix: Meisei Story

26 years after Meisei High conquered the Kōshien, a promising pitcher-catcher battery was formed in its middle school by the Tachibana step-brothers, Touma and Souichirou. – ANN

Streaming: Funimation and Hulu

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: 26 years ago, Meisei High School did the near-impossible – they managed to win the nation-wide high school baseball tournament held at Koshien Stadium. In the ensuing years the school never made another play at the title, and the school’s fame and ambitions cooled. The Tachibana brothers, born 10 minutes apart on the same day (but who aren’t twins), seem to have an obvious synergy with one-another, along with a keen interest in baseball. Even as young kids they had a goal in mind to one day reach Koshien.

As students of Meisei Middle School, they find that baseball team ambitions are somewhat lacking. Still, there are a few talented students chomping at the bit, and Touma and Souichiro Tachibana make an obviously talented pitcher-catcher pair. Could this be the latent beginning of a new era for Meisei?

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – Kimetsu no Yaiba

Since ancient times, rumors have abounded of man-eating demons lurking in the woods. Because of this, the local townsfolk never venture outside at night. Legend has it that a demon slayer also roams the night, hunting down these bloodthirsty demons. For young Tanjiro, these rumors will soon to become his harsh reality. Ever since the death of his father, Tanjiro has taken it upon himself to support his family. Although their lives may be hardened by tragedy, they’ve found happiness. But that ephemeral warmth is shattered one day when Tanjiro finds his family slaughtered and the lone survivor, his sister Nezuko, turned into a demon. To his surprise, however, Nezuko still shows signs of human emotion and thought. Thus begins Tanjiro’s request to fight demons and turn his sister human again. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Tanjiro is a hard-worker and loves his family. As the new year approaches, he plans to sell as much hand-made charcoal as he can so that his mother and siblings will have enough food to eat for the celebration. He leaves for town in the morning, sells his wares (and uses his keen sense of smell so solve a few minor mysteries for the townspeople), only making his way back up the mountain as the moon rises. The old widower living along the mountain path warns of demons roaming the mountain at night, and convinces Tanjiro to stay the evening.

In the morning, Tanjiro arrives home to a horrific situation – the smell of blood lingers in the air and the bodies of his family are sprawled throughout the property. The only person left alive is his sister Nezuko, but she’s in poor shape. Tanjiro carries her through the snow to see a doctor, but when she awakens it’s clear that she’s undergone a horrible transformation. Nezuko has gained an extreme amount of strength and a lust for blood, and attacks her own brother in her rage. She’s gained the blood of the demons who attacked her family, and her senses have gone haywire. Tanjiro believes that his sister still exists somewhere, and he’ll do whatever he can to heal her of this demonic affliction.

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First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2019 First Impressions – We Never Learn: Bokuben

Yuiga is a student who is aiming for a scholarship because he comes from a poor family. His school gives him a condition: he can have a recommendation for a scholarship if he tutors his two beautiful classmates to help them get into the schools of their choice. Ogata may be a science genius and Furuhashi a literature prodigy — but Ogata is aiming for a liberal arts school and Furuhashi is aiming for a science school. And they’re both clueless outside their fields of expertise. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Yuiga isn’t the best student, but he studies hard and has high aspirations. When his principal offers a scholarship recommendation in exchange for Yuiga’s help tutoring some fellow students, Yuiga jumps at the chance. When he discovers that these students are none other than Ogata, a mathematical genius, and Furuhashi, an eloquent writer, he’s puzzled.

As it turns out, while the two have their talents, their passions lie within the subjects that they find more challenging. Yuiga invests a week in teaching them, but when their scores don’t improve he tries to call it quits. It’s only after learning each girl’s reasoning for trying to go outside their comfort zone that Yuiga recalls his father’s wisdom regarding learning and talent.

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Spring 2019 First Impressions – Kono Oto Tomare! Sounds of Life

Takezō is the last remaining member of the Koto club, a club dedicated to the traditional Japanese string instrument. If he doesn’t find new members, the Koto Club will be terminated. One day, Takezō is alone in the club room when a student barges in and demands to join. The student is delinquent Chika Kudō, a boy who even scares delinquent upperclassmen at other schools. – ANN

Streaming: Funimation and Hulu

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: As the last remaining member of the koto club, Takezo is in a tough position. If he doesn’t find some new recruits, the long-running club will be disbanded. However, the koto club room has been infested with ruffians and bullies and Takezo’s insistence that they leave has turned him into their target. When Chika Kudo, a delinquent whose history precedes him, tries to join the club, Takezo won’t accept it. This leaves Chika to use his threatening aura in order to get his point across.

Takezo soon learns that Chika’s reputation is unwarranted and the result of a grave misunderstanding by both the police and other adults. When history repeats itself and Chika is blamed for an attack on Takezo and the koto club room, Takezo insists on speaking the truth. This provides Chika a pathway to koto club membership, though his shaky relationship with Takezo may need as much nurturing as any musical ability.

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