Tag: Crunchyroll

Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – FreakAngels

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 9

Source: Webcomic

Episode Summary: 6 years after the apocalypse, Britain’s citizens live out a hardscrabble existence amongst the rubble and ruin. While most folks simply try to get enough food and clean water to live out their lives, this world is also populated by 12 individuals with certain psychic gifts, called the “Freak Angels.” Their benefits vary, but they’re all powers of the mind. Despite that, though, their users often find themselves bickering amongst one another rather than collectively joining forces for anything constructive.

After an encounter that resulted in the death of her brothers, Alice enters White Chapel in search of the Freak Angels – and of revenge. What she learns is that her memories were likely tampered with, and that a man named Mark, whose relationship to the Freak Angels seems strained at the very least, may be responsible. The Freak Angels call a meeting – quite the task considering that getting them to tolerate one-another in one room is a feat in-and-of-itself – but soon find themselves under attack and on the defensive. As their hideout crumbles all around them, it seems this issue with Mark may be an even bigger deal than it appeared to be at first blush.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – FreakAngels”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Delicious Party Pretty Cure

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA (but these series generally run for a full year or so)

Source: Sequel of long-running franchise

Episode Summary: Yui Nagomi is an active girl who’d be right at home on the soccer team, but the reason she participates at all is for the delicious rice balls to be had afterward. As a resident of Oishiina Town she has her pick of delicious foods from around the world, and Yui wouldn’t have it any other way; as the daughter of a restaurant owner and someone who appreciates a scrumptious meal, she’s definitely in the right place.

When Mari, a citizen of the Cookingdom, arrives in Oishiina Town in search of some missing recipeppi fairies, they soon encounter Yui who revives them with some food. But not far behind are members of the gang who’ve been trapping the recipeppis and using them for their own dastardly ends. Yui gets wrapped up in the battle, and there she transforms into Cure Precious, a hero powered by the energy of delicious food!

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – Delicious Party Pretty Cure”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Salaryman’s Club

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Mikoto Shiratori is a former high school badminton star whose doubles career was derailed after a traumatic incident during a match. As an adult he’s played on the corporate team for a large bank, but only as a singles player and with not nearly as much success. After yet another loss, he’s let go from both the team and his job. As he heads back to his parents’ home with his tail between his legs, he gets an unexpected call from the Sunrise Beverage Company looking to recruit him to their company and corporate badminton team.

What Mikoto thought had been a major stroke of luck turns out to have some… caveats. The senpai providing him with job training is a free-spirit named Tatsuru, who first appears to Mikoto face down in a park after a late-night workplace outing. After spending a day with the guy, Mikoto finds out that the intention was to have them both be partners on the badminton court as well – as the two halves of a doubles team. Their coach just happened to omit that little detail. Mikoto’s participation in this ploy comes down to the result of a single’s match between himself and Tatsuru, and while Mikoto’s skill at anticipating his opponent’s moves proves formidable, Tatsuru’s skills and experience come out on top. Now forced to make good on the wager, Mikoto’s sour mood has only just started to rev itself up.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – Salaryman’s Club”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tales of Luminaria: The Fateful Crossroad

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 2

Source: Smartphone Game

Episode Summary: The Empire has enjoyed the benefit of a device called the Piliar, which draws forth mana from fossils within the Earth. Because of this, they reap the positive effects of almost limitless power, medical advancement, and food production. But the dark side to this is that the mana drain has had a terrible effect on many smaller surrounding communities, leaving them unable to provide for themselves and creating many refugees in the process.

Leo, Celia, and their instructor Lisette, have been coopted into the fight for the fate of the world, using their prowess in battle to help escort a scientist and his specially-modified key to the Piliar in order to stall its operation and reverse its negative effects. Unfortunately there are multiple factions after this key, including Hugo, who was once one of Leo’s closest comrades. When Hugo comes out victorious and utilizes the key in the Piliar, however, they all discover that they were simply the pawns of a much larger, and much darker, force.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tales of Luminaria: The Fateful Crossroad”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tokyo 24th Ward

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Note: episode 1 is double-length.

Tokyo’s Far Eastern Special Administrative Region, also known as ward 24 was built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, and has been seen in the past as a lawless region. Now on the cusp of being officially acknowledged, political tensions are high. One year previous, three childhood friends born in the 24th Ward are witness to a fire at a school, and afterwards go their separate ways until they’re reunited at a memorial service. All three are navigating life differently; Ran dabbles in guerilla protest art and hacking, while Kouki remains a rule-follower who everyone expects to go into politics like his father. But Shuuta has struggled in the year since the incident, wondering if the heroic goals he once had were just childish fantasies.

The three keep meeting by chance around town, and as they’re settling down to lunch all of them receive a mysterious phone call from someone who sounds like their late friend Asumi, who was lost in the tragic fire. The voice warns them of an impending accident in which their friend Mari will get stuck on the train tracks. Their choices are to reroute the train, causing it to derail and likely killing the 150 people onboard, or to let it continue on its current path, thus killing Mari. Asked to make the choice yet unsatisfied with both outcomes, the three young men use their know-how and physical prowess to achieve a solution that saves everyone. But who was the voice on the phone? And can it truly see into the future?

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tokyo 24th Ward”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The Secret Society Agastia is one of several evil organizations operating throughout Japan. Many of the other groups have recently met their demise when pit against local heroes, and Agastia needs to come up with some winning monster design to help quell their own heroic interloper, Divine Swordsman Blader. Enter Miss Kuroitsu, a researcher in Agastia’s Monster Development Department, with her group’s latest extremely well-thought-out and absolutely not last-minute monster design.

In reality, Miss Kuroitsu and the Doctor she works alongside are constantly operating at a budgetary and energy deficit, crunching to put together monster proposals that are subsequently picked apart by the other members of Agastia. Their most recent project, a lupine creature called Wolf Bete, seems to have been created within the relative luxury of plenty of development time until Agastia’s leader, Akashic, demands a much cuter design at the eleventh hour. This causes some… conflicts between Wolf Bete’s mind and body, but this new design may turn out to be an advantage against the sexually-inexperienced Divine Swordsman Blader.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – My Dress-Up Darling

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Wakana Gojo lives with his grandfather, a craftsman who creates the Hina dolls used to celebrate the Hinamatsuri holiday. Ever since he was a child, Gojo harbored a deep love for the craft and the beauty of the dolls, a passion that resulted in the loss of a childhood friendship. Since then he’s spent all of his energy focused on honing his craft rather than trying to make friends, because he’s become sensitive about revealing his love for creating Hina dolls.

One day, after his grandfather’s antique sewing machine breaks, Gojo brings some of his doll costumes to school to work on them in the home economics classroom. As he’s enjoying the luxury of a modern sewing machine, the door swings open and in walks Marin, Gojo’s very beautiful and popular classmate. When she sees him using the sewing machine, she’s nearly ecstatic and asks to show him something. What she reveals is an in-progress cosplay she’s been working on that could definitely use some… finesse. Gojo critiques its shortcomings, but also admires Marin’s commitment to her goals. When she asks him to help her realize her dreams of embodying a favorite character, Gojo feels inspired to help her, and happy that he may have found someone to share his skills with who won’t make fun of them.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – My Dress-Up Darling”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Gaius is a powerful sorcerer, but his power has reached the limits of what the crest on his hand is able to accommodate. In order to hopefully gain the benefits of an additional fourth mark, he chooses to roll the dice and reincarnate into a new body. He’s reborn as Matthias, son of Castor, and he now bears his desired crest. The only issue is that, between his death and his current life, the world has changed quite a bit. His treasured crest is thought of as weak, and spellcasting is almost exclusively performed with incantations rather than quickly and without speaking (as Gaius/Matthias had been taught).

Matthias meets two friends, Alma and Lurie, who are preparing to take the entrance exam for a magic academy. Curiosity inspires Matthias to join them, and his incantation-less spellcasting draws the attention of the school headmaster. While their main campus has long since abandoned this type of magic, the headmaster at the secondary campus is interested in bringing it back as a skill – the only problem being that there’s no one around to teach it anymore. Enter Matthias, who’s recruited to do the job. A month later, when the two campuses are set to compete in a magic tournament, Matthias uncovers the fact that demons have infiltrated the main campus and poisoned the curriculum against teaching the type of magic that might allow human beings to defeat them.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Akebi’s Sailor Uniform

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Komichi Akebi is looking forward to starting junior high school at her mother’s alma mater, in part because it means she’ll finally get to wear a sailor uniform like she’s seen in her mother’s old photographs. Komichi and her mother pick out fabric at the fabric store so that her mother can sew together a uniform just for her, with each detail just perfect. When it’s finally finished and Komichi gets to try it on, it brings tears to her eyes – her dream is finally coming true.

Her world comes crashing down during the entrance ceremony, when Komichi learns that the uniform for the school changed to a blazer some years ago, making her the odd one out. Though she gets permission from the school principal to wear her uniform (since it was the school standard at one time and the principal seems to have some nostalgia for it), she struggles with how much attention her decision might potentially dump into her lap. But some unexpectedly wise words from her little sister convince her to keep wearing the uniform, and when the first day of school rolls around, it turns out that it might be the perfect icebreaker, as well as an opportunity to display Komichi’s strong will and integrity.

Continue reading “Winter 2022 First Impressions – Akebi’s Sailor Uniform”
Categories
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.

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