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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Life With an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated Into a Total Fantasy Knockout

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Tachibana and Jinguuji have been friends since childhood, but couldn’t be more different. Jinguuji is tall, handsome, and good at everything, making him a target of affection from many women. Tachibana, on the other hand, is kind of a scrub. Now in their thirties, the two fear that they’ve become old men and might never find love. Of course, a complicating factor in this is that Jinguuji has never shown an interest in any woman whatsoever and only really seems to have feelings for Tachibana, though he won’t acknowledge those feelings as romantic. And Tachibana’s deepest secret is that, in an ideal fantasy world, he’d rather be a cute blonde woman.

As Tachibana is laying drunk on the sidewalk, a goddess of love and beauty appears to whisk the two men away to another land to become heroes. She also blesses Tachibana with his ideal feminine transformation, something which startles and dismays Jinguuji. The goddess also left them with a curse, forcing them to save the world if they want it broken. As the two navigate these strange, new circumstances, one thing is certain; their feelings toward one-another are anything but straightforward… or straight.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Sasaki and Miyano

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Miyano is a male fan of BL manga – a “fudanshi” in the parlance. This is something he generally keeps under wraps until he meets the rough-and-tumble Sasaki, who intervenes to stop a fight Miyano witnesses. Miyano is happy for the intervention, and even happier that Sasaki seems interested enough to appreciate the BL stories that Miyano loves (even if Sasaki is a bit freer with his attention that Miyano tends to like).

Sasaki, for his part, not only finds that he enjoys spending time with Miyano, but also seems to appreciate Miyano’s soft features and earnest nature. The longer that the two maintain their friendship, the closer that Sasaki is to coming to terms with the fact that his admiration is steadily becoming closer to affection. He eventually realizes that he has feelings for Miyano, but does Miyano reciprocate those feelings?

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – In the Land of Leadale

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: A certain woman on life support loses her life when a blackout causes the power to fail. Yet she awakens again one morning to sun pouring through an open window. Certain things feel very familiar, and she soon realizes that this world is the inside of a VR game called “Leadale” she enjoyed playing while in the hospital, and that she’s embodied the character she created, a high elf named Cayna. When she speaks with the innkeeper, Cayna learns about a few inconsistencies from her time as a player. The seven kingdoms have now become three, following the intervention of the world’s deities. Oh, and two hundred years have also passed since Cayna’s time as an active player.

As Cayna continues to get her bearings, she decides to travel to her avatar’s Silver Tower, a home base where she once kept her items (and also, apparently wreaked much havoc against other players in the past as the notorious “Silver Ring Witch,” a moniker that seems to have survived among the populace). There, the tower’s guardian scolds her for her absenteeism, and notifies her that her “son” came looking for her about sixty years ago, an interesting fact that she files away for later. On the way back from this outing, Cayna saves a man from a horned bear attack and brings the meat back to the village for a grand feast. Cayna still isn’t sure what incarnation of Leadale this might be, but it may grant her a second chance at life in a world that she once enjoyed.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tribe Nine

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Mixed media (also includes a smartphone game and webtoon)

Episode Summary: In Neo Tokyo, battles between youth gangs steadily got out of hand until in the sport of Extreme Baseball was instilled as the official conflict resolution method of record. Now these gangs, called “tribes,” battle out their differences on the baseball diamond (and the surrounding city, usually). Haru is a bullied kid who doesn’t feel like he has the strength to fight back against his tormenters, but a chance meeting with Taiga, a tuna fisherman with a desire to play Extreme Baseball, and Shun Kamiya, considered to be the Minato Tribe’s ace player, changes the course of Haru’s destiny.

When the Minato Tribe is approached by representatives of a rival group and challenged to a game, the laid-back Shun volunteers both newbies to help represent them on the team. Haru is terrified by the sort of power on display – Extreme Baseball allows the use of various enhancements to provide players with superhuman strength, and their current opponents are heavily invested in these sorts of tools. Haru is scared to step up to the plate, but some advice from Shun and the fact that his eyesight and reflexes are much better than most allows Haru to survive the inning while Shun cleans things up. Haru feels a change in himself, and decides to remain a member of the Minato Tribe (and its team) after all.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Orient

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The land of Hinomoto was a peaceful one, until the Oni arrived and began to rule over the human population. Certain humans – warriors called Bushi – fought back, but eventually lost to the greater power of the demons. Now over a century later, the Oni have become central religious and authority figures in the lives of humans, and the Bushi have been all but forgotten. However, Musashi and his friend Kojiro, having been told about the Bushi in secret as children, have resolved to revive the battle against the oppression put upon them by the Oni.

As Musashi is processed through the school system, however, he appears to lose sight of his goals in the face of the relentless propaganda machine. He can’t find it within himself to outwardly make waves by professing his goal to become a Bushi, and he eventually graduates with the rest of his class and takes up his post as a miner. When Musashi meets Kojiro in secret, Kojiro refuses to believe in his resolve, partly to help ensure his friend doesn’t suffer the difficult life of a Bushi. But when Musashi and his classmates learn the truth about the Oni, it’s Musashi’s secret weapons practice and unwavering goal to fight against their oppressors that ultimately saves them. He and Kojiro make amends and once again set their sights on sharpening their swords and eliminating the Oni.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Love of Kill

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Chateau Dankworth is a young bounty hunter executing hits on behalf of a larger organization. One day while out on a job, she encounters an assassin named Ryang-Ha Song who immediately becomes smitten with her. His persistent advances eventually lead to him helping Chateau locate and neutralize her bounties. Ryang-Ha seems to be searching for something more substantial in compensation, though Chateau clearly finds him off-putting and only tolerates his constant phone messages in service of the “bigger picture” she operates within.

One day, Chateau’s agency is contacted by a client who plans to offer a substantial amount of money toward the capture neutralization of a certain hit man who managed to kill several high-ranking members of an Asian-based criminal organization. That bounty turns out to be none other than Ryang-Ha himself. Now Chateau must wrestle with the prospect of obtaining a substantial bounty, all the while figuring out how to handle her very dangerous romantic pursuer.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Slow Loop

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: When she’s stressed out Hiyori spends her days near the ocean, fly fishing like she learned from her late father. Her meditative silence is broken one day, however, by a girl attempting to leap into the frigid March ocean. Hiyori uses her wits to help avert disaster, and she spends some time fishing with this girl, named Koharu. Koharu is impressed by Hiyori’s way with a fishing rod, and is even more impressed when Hiyori prepares fresh rock fish sashimi right there on the wharf. Hiyori feels drawn to this outgoing girl, and their meeting turns out to be more than just a chance encounter; Hiyori’s mother and Koharu’s father are planning to marry, which will make the two girls sisters.

After their families are joined and Koharu and her father move into Hiyori’s and her mother’s home, some of these big changes begin to make Hiyori feel withdrawn. Yet Koharu’s bright personality seems to be just the thing to help draw Hiyori back out of her shell. Koharu’s enthusiasm toward learning to fish certainly doesn’t hurt, either. As the two new sisters start the new school year, their future looks bright.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Futsal Boys!!!!!

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Mixed Media Project (including a smartphone game and live-action matches).

Episode Summary: Haru Yamato couldn’t have cared less about Futsal, until he happened to catch a bit of the U-18 world cup in which Tennouji, a player from Japan, pulled out one of his special moves. Now remaking himself in Tennouji’s image (or at least getting into the sport) has become a goal of Yamato’s. On his way to his high school entrance ceremony, a seemingly-ill-fated shortcut brings him face-to-face (though upside-down) with Seiichiro Sakaki, whose Futsal skill is definitely top-tier. The two successfully use the game to dissuade some bullies from picking on a group of kids.

But Sakaki is a bit of a one-man show, and therein lies the issue; though he and Yamato want to join the Futsal club at their school and find themselves in a pickup game fending off bullies once again, it’s clear to the more experienced team members that his lack of willingness to work together with others may become an issue. Can Yamato’s youthful spirit and willingness to have fun possibly break through Sakaki’s hard, selfish shell?

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Rusted Armors

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Multimedia project, including a stage play and Manga

Episode Summary: As war rages amongst the feudal lords all around them, the expert gunsmiths of the Saika village are defended by a group of powerful warriors who wield a selection of powerful special treasures called “Armors.” Among them is Magoichi, a warrior who arrived at the village with no memories, clutching one such Armor. Though the Armors allow those who own them to defend Saika village, their existence also draws the ire of the enemy toward the villagers more and more.

One day the village comes under attack once again. All of the lookouts are killed and the individuals holding the Armors suddenly find themselves overwhelmed and outclassed. Magoichi faces off against the leader of the enemy armor and quickly finds himself at death’s door. Just then he sees the flash of a sword as a mysterious man dressed in white comes to his rescue.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – World’s End Harem

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 11

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Five years ago, Reito went into cryogenic sleep in order to wait out a cure for Cellular Sclerosis, a currently incurable disease. This occurs, inconveniently, just as he confesses his feelings to his childhood friend and fellow researcher, Erisa. He leaves a token with Erisa so that they can reconnect after he’s awoken from stasis, but as he slumbers the world transforms into an inhospitable and broken place.

After the MK (“Male Killer”) virus quickly obliterates the male population of Earth, society begins to crumble and deteriorate. For reasons that are still being studied, Reito’s Cellular Sclerosis treatment makes him immune to the ravages of the MK virus, and as one of 5 known men in his same position, the potential for his offspring to carry that immunity makes his sperm cells a precious commodity. In order for the Human Race to survive, Reito must help repopulate it. But the only woman that’s on Reito’s mind is his childhood friend, Erisa. Thus, he’s given an ultimatum – he can try to find Erisa, but in the meantime he’ll be faced with many other women who are passionately focused on obtaining Reito’s seed.

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