Tag: Crunchyroll

Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Battle Game in 5 Seconds

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Akira Shiroyanagi has become bored with life. He excels in both school and gaming to the point that he no longer feels the thrill of being challenged. That all changes when, while on his way to school one morning, he’s randomly attacked by a rather frightening man with animal-like reflexes and strength. Using some clever manipulation, Akira lures the attacker to an environment that allows him to rig up a trap and defeat him. But his victory is short-lived, as he’s approached by a purple-haired cat girl named Mion and shot on sight.

Akira awakens in an unfamiliar location, where he several other people are informed by Mion that they’ve been randomly-selected to participate in an experiment. To society, they’re good as dead. Now they’re ordered to serve as a focus group to test the various special abilities that they’ve been granted. Akira is granted a particularly odd ability, where his power is whatever he can get his opponent to believe it is. It’s something that’s incredibly difficult to use, but if anyone can make use of it, Akira can.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – Battle Game in 5 Seconds”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Night Head 2041

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga (there have also been previous TV and anime adaptations)

Episode Summary: In the year 2041, society has disavowed any depiction of the supernatural. Belief in ideas and entities that can’t be proven is criminalized by the government. The Special Weapons Enforcers work to root out illegal thought activities and arrest those responsible. When they’re assigned to capture a man purporting to be a psychic along with his followers, they assume this will be a straightforward mission, but when brothers Takuya and Yuuya begin to see oddities that the others on their team don’t, it suggests there’s something much stranger going on. Takuya then exhibits a strange power when he tries to rescue Yuuya from being hurt. A huge EMP wave is emitted and they’re suddenly faced with the prospect that the realities of their own minds and existences may not be quite as factually cut-and-dry as they may have assumed.

Meanwhile, brothers Naoto and Naoya Kirihara find themselves freed from the laboratory where they’ve been isolated for the past 15 years. Because they truly do have telekinetic abilities they soon discover that this unfamiliar world they’ve been separated from for so long isn’t the bastion of understanding and acceptance that they had hoped it may have become in the interim. While they’re able to leave their isolation with a few resources at their disposal, they’re about to enter a hotbed of prejudice in which their powers are decidedly unwelcome.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – Night Head 2041”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – The Aquatope on White Sand

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Original

Episode Summary: As Fuuka packs her things and prepares to head back to her childhood home, she realizes that this has become the depressing end point to a dream she’s had since childhood. She worked and sweated to become an idol, only to realize that she wasn’t meant for that lifestyle. After giving her blessing to a younger group member and putting in her resignation at her agency, she packs her things and calls her mother to coordinate her homecoming. By chance, however, Fuuka is distracted by an advertisement for a tropical Okinawan vacation, and feeling unsettled by the amount of fanfare the neighborhood group is putting into her return, she makes the last minute decision to head for warmer waters.

Upon arrival she doesn’t really have anything planned or anywhere to go, and dragging her luggage around in a tropical climate is sweaty work. After spending a night sleeping on a beach, she’s approached by a local tour guide and given some water and a few info packets. Fuuka chooses the local aquarium as her destination, and a 500 yen ticket grants her access to what she experiences as a magical world that lays bare some of her deepest insecurities. While there, she meets Kukuru, a young employee of the aquarium and learns that the power of this place is nothing new. But despite its beauty and magic, the aquarium is in danger of closing.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – The Aquatope on White Sand”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – D_Cide Traumerei the Animation

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Part of a multimedia project.

Episode Summary: One of Ryuhei’s darkest childhood memories is witnessing the death of his brother under mysterious circumstances. Now in high school, he practices boxing and enjoys a relatively normal life. That all changes when, one dark evening, he’s bitten by an animal in an alleyway, and after that has an extremely vivid dream in which his senses and abilities are heightened and he’s pitted toe-to-toe against malevolent creatures.

But this is all just a weird dream, right? Ryuhei believes so until he’s out walking the city streets and hears some strange, yet familiar terminology being spoken aloud by some kids racing into an alley. Following them he finds a strange porthole that no one else seems to be able to see. As he tries to decide whether to follow the gateway or not, the decision is made for him as terrifying, animalistic entities spill out into the real world. His ability to see these things would typically mean he has the power to stop them, but it takes loads of hassling from the two blond-haired youngsters (or are they?) actually fighting the creatures for Ryuhei to truly come into his own power. After he defeats what’s called a “Desaria,” he learns that it’s somehow the product of human corruption. The victim’s body is marked by a strange symbol – the same symbol found near Ryuhei’s late brother’s body many years ago.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – D_Cide Traumerei the Animation”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Peach Boy Riverside

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Sally is a former princess whose longing for adventure saw her leave her quiet castle in the countryside in search of stimulation in the outside world. One day during the course of her travels, she discovers Frau, a member of the Harefolk community, whose rabbit-shaped visage betrays their status as a demi human. Sally’s experiences with demi humans is essentially nonexistent, so she’s somewhat surprised and disheartened to find that most people harbor a deep prejudice against them. Even though they have some ability to speak and Frau in particular is very loyal to Sally, they’re still shooed away at every turn by villagers who fear the worst.

And they do have some reason to be fearful, at least in a general sense; the world has been under attack by giant monsters and ogres, and it’s simply an unfortunate reality that this fear of being brutally murdered has perverted into hatred for other races. Even when Frau uses their power to defeat an ogre, there’s very little convincing the villagers who witness it. After defeating the ogre, Sally and Frau are taken into custody by the local knight captain, Hawthorn, but despite his own suspicions he warms up to them quickly. As Sally and Frau seek repayment for their troubles in the form of dinner, the city is brutally attacked by a high ogre and her companion. After witnessing this destruction and watching Frau attempt to fight the ogre alone, Sally enters a sort of trance and comes into some buried physical abilities that are a sight to behold. She may be travelling in search of a boy born out of a peach, but her own special powers are nothing to sneeze at.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – Peach Boy Riverside”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Drug Store In Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Reiji Kirio was formerly a salaryman, but now he lives a quiet life as a pharmacist in a fantasy world alongside a friendly ghost and a werewolf. His claim to fame is his ability to create potions and medicines that actually taste good in addition to being effective. Once a local shop starts selling his energy potion, his fame spreads far and wide and things aren’t quite so quiet any longer.

This fame sometimes leads to Reiji getting involved in situations for which he might not be entirely qualified, as assumptions about his expertise mean that, to many folks, he’s the man with all the (medicinal) answers. He accepts a request from a young man whose girlfriend has been reacting in an extreme way every time he interacts with other women. Though relationship counseling is outside his purview, Reiji identifies that her paranoia is likely due to a lack of sleep, so brews a special tea that allows those who imbibe it to feel calm and sleep better. There’s never a truly dull day at this pharmacy, though it’s leaps and bounds more chill than the rat race ever was.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – Drug Store In Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Makoto Misumi leads a decent life. He’s good at archery and his parents are pretty interesting people. But it’s his parentage that ends up causing him problems when the gods come to collect on a debt. It seems that Makoto’s parents came to Earth from another world, and in exchange they offered up the thing that meant the most to them. In this case that means their child, and if Makoto doesn’t go along with the transaction then his sisters might be forced into it in his place. At the behest of the god Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, Makoto is transported away to visit the goddess of this mysterious other world. Unfortunately the goddess is extremely unimpressed by Makoto, and banishes him to the far corners of the other world with only the ability to read, write, and speak the various languages of other races.

Fortunately Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto also secretly helped to protect Makoto with his power, so he isn’t completely helpless. Makoto learns this when he defends an orc girl named Ema from a giant wolf and completely obliterates it. He also seems to have a knack for magic, which comes in handy when he confronts the dragon that’s been causing grief for Ema’s people. The supposedly invincible dragon, Shin, finds herself outmatched. She offers to make a mutually-beneficial contract arrangement with Makoto, mainly because his memories of his previous life are so fascinating to her. Though he may have been banished to the far edge of the world, Makoto’s group of companions is slowly but surely growing larger.

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Rio is an orphaned boy living in the slums, biding his time until he can find the means to avenge his murdered mother. One day after experiencing a fever, he begins to remember his former life as Haruto Amakawa, a 20-year-old college student in Japan who was killed in a tragic bus accident. Rio’s past and present lives begin to intermingle when, after an odd encounter with a group of women from the palace, Rio returns to find the group of bandits he was living with murdered. It’s at that point that his innate magical ability awakens, and he’s able to channel his former martial arts training to help rescue the kidnapping victim the bandits had recently brought home.

Rio’s ragged appearance and his proximity to the crime make him the prime subject once the victim, Princess Flora, is retrieved by her companions. After undergoing a round of physical torture, it’s only Flora herself who can manage to clear Rio’s name. This grants him an audience with the king for his heroism – but what might an orphan boy from the slums have to say to the country’s monarch?

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles”
Categories
Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Girlfriend, Girlfriend

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: After years of knowing each other, Naoya asks his childhood friend Saki to go out with him. Their relationship is very… competitive and passionate, mostly due to Naoya’s extreme sincerity. Naoya may seem like an uncomplicated man, but his situation becomes uncharacteristically messy once a second girl, the quiet Nagisa, also confesses her love to him. Naoya is taken, but Nagisa is so incredibly cute. What’s a guy to do?

Naoya’s answer is to beg Saki to let him date both her and Nagisa, and after some protracted begging she relents. The three then begin living together under one roof (Naoya’s parents are out of the picture). At first things don’t seem half bad – Saki hates chores and Nagisa’s a great cook. But when the discussion turns toward the girls’ sexual expectations, suddenly they find themselves in the middle of another blow-up argument. Is this an arrangement that can actually work?

Continue reading “Summer 2021 First Impressions – Girlfriend, Girlfriend”
Categories
Anime Reviews Reviews

Odd Taxi Episode 13 – Truth

Well, friends, we made it. This journey is nearing its end. I’m both happy to be here with the final episode of Odd Taxi in hand, and incredibly sad that the experience of watching it is now coming to a close. I’ve been finishing series here and there over the last week or so; my partner and I just knocked off Super Cub last night, and that journey was its own style of satisfying. SSSS.Dynazenon was great, fully living up to and even surpassing its predecessor in many respects. Fairy Ranmaru was… well, it was something, all right. But Odd Taxi has been the one anime on my list that, week to week, I’ve looked forward to the most. Perhaps because I’ve got a bit of a furry streak, but definitely also because it’s been one of the sharpest-written, most satisfying anime series I’ve had the pleasure to watch in real time.

I don’t want to waste too much time with introductions, so I’ll leave things at that. Below are my posts about previous episodes. I may also write about the series as a whole if I have some time, but I think I’ve captured most of my thoughts fairly well from week-to-week so I might let things simmer for a while before that happens.

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10
Episode 11
Episode 12

Continue reading “Odd Taxi Episode 13 – Truth”