Tag: Sequel

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Lupin the Third: Part 6

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 25

Source: Original story: part of a long-running franchise

Episode Summary: One morning in London, Lord Faulkner returns to his place of business as usual. As he enters his office, he removes a poster from the wall, rolls it up, and slides it into a hidden compartment in his cane before returning to the front door. Later that day, as he’s about to leave a café, Faulkner finds himself surrounded by the police with their guns drawn. They’re on to him – he’s not actually Lord Faulkner, who’s already been detained for questioning at Scotland Yard. This Lord Faulkner is actually French spy Albert d’Andresy in disguise, whose plan to steal this poster was thwarted by none other than Sherlock Holmes himself.

As Albert tries to make an escape and ends up shot in the shoulder, he’s approached by none other than Lupin the Third, in town to steal the very poster that Albert briefly had his hands on. As they leave the city center Albert reveals some details regarding a longstanding situation with an entity called the Raven. Meanwhile, Holmes and Lily, his adopted daughter (and wannabe assistant) deal with an explosion at Scotland Yard and its aftermath. As Lupin returns meet up with Fujiko, he also crosses paths with Holmes. As it turns out, the two seem to have a history together – one that involves Lily.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean

Streaming: Netflix

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Jolyne Kujo’s life seems to be over at the ripe old age of 17. After taking the blame for a hit and run accident she didn’t commit, as well as for the disposal of the resultant body, she finds herself sentenced to serve hard time in Florida’s Green Dolphin Street Prison for 15 long years. As it happens, her defense lawyer and her (ex?) boyfriend Romeo, the actual driver of the car, colluded to have her take the fall in exchange for some financial kick-backs.

Jolyne learns this after pricking her finger on a strange amulet left to her by her father, Jotaro. After the injury, she seems to gain some strange abilities – super hearing, a sense of the future, and control over a blue thread that springs from the wound on her finger and seems to obey the will of her emotions. Whatever the source of this power, Jolyne knows one thing for sure – there’s no way she’ll sit and rot in prison for 15 years.

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Anime Reviews Reviews Short Takes

Spring 2021 – A Couple of Sequels

Though I’ve attempted to branch out over the years in terms of what I write about here, I think I’m still somewhat known for my first episode/premiere reviews of anime. In the past I’ve struggled with this, and tended to go back into hibernation after finishing those first impressions because I just had no idea what to do with myself after my quest was complete. Now I’m making more of an effort to put into words the anime-related thoughts that come to my mind on a regular basis.

That said, this isn’t a post with any sort of deep reflection on what I’ve been watching. But I did want to make some space to talk about a couple of the sequels I’ve been looking forward to this season, and some of the aspects of those episodes that I look for when coming back to a series after a long hiatus.

Note: I’m also planning to watch the second part of Moriarty the Patriot, but since that was more of a split-cour situation, I felt it didn’t really warrant any additional attention at the moment.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – KONOSUBA: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World – Legend of Crimson

The Crimson Demon village that Megumin and Yunyun are from is facing a threat that could mean it’s ending. Kazuma and his gang follow Yunyun, who returns to the Crimson Demon village intent on saving it when they are faced with their greatest threat yet. – ANN

Availability: Theatrical Release

Episodes: 1 Film

Source: Light Novel

Review: Note: This review contains some plot spoilers for the film.

Sometimes it’s good to go outside your comfort zone; in other cases, it’s good to be reminded why your comfort zone exists in the first place. I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the Konosuba movie recently. To be honest, the extent of what I know about the series comes mostly from memes, gags, and general fandom osmosis, because the original anime adaptation was released when I was at a low point and I never found the time to go back and catch up with it. I assumed it wouldn’t be too difficult to get my bearings, especially since it’s difficult not to have some passing familiarity with the main characters and their foibles at this point in the anime fandom game. That, and when the cold hits in Minneapolis there’s really not that much else to do than join your local fandom friends in a fun indoors activity, so why not?

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – W’z

Yukiya is about 14 years old. He spends his time DJ-ing alone. Due to his father’s influence, he’s listened to house music since he was young, and he uploads videos online. He wants to convey something to someone. He wants to be recognized, and become important. But getting hurt is scary. One day, while trying to get more views, he does something that can’t be undone. And he sees a live broadcast from “that world.” Yukiya believes he can’t do anything alone, but that he could accomplish something if he were doing it together with someone else. – ANN

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 13

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Yukiya is a middle school student with a modest amount of e-fame as a masked DJ “W’z” (pronounced “wise”). He wants to attend a music-focused high school next year, but his father is deeply opposed to the idea. His father has always told him never to hold hands with others. This may be because, when he does so, Yukiya has the ability to enter into an alternate, mysterious dimension; a dimension that could very well hold danger for him and others.

Yukiya confesses to his friend Haruka that he feels stuck, languishing without the kind of online views and fame he’s seeking. Haruka’s positive attitude encourages him, and he invites her to embark on a potentially game-changing move with him. As night falls, Yukiya sets up his DJ equipment in the middle of the city, then asks for Haruka to hold his hand; this transports them into a dimension of color and beauty. Yukiya’s stream starts to light up and things are going well, but then the couple is joined by several other duos who are after a particular goal.

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First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2018 First Impressions – Sequels, Shorts, and Stuff

Now that all the available first-run anime has been taken care of, I thought I might do a compilation post of all the sequels and miscellaneous short anime available this season (at least those which can be had legally at the time of this writing). Some of these are sequels I’ve been anticipating quite a bit, and some of them are sequels of series that I’m not familiar with – there isn’t anything that’s a short that’s not also a sequel, and it appears that there wasn’t really any “stuff” (what I call anime made for kids that won’t hold much interest for most adult viewers) to speak of this time. I know my providing commentary on something I have little context for will be controversial to some readers, but I plan to approach it from the angle of whether I would want to go back and watch the previous episodes or not. Apologies to anyone who feels that I’m misrepresenting any series here; I imagine I’m not the only person in history who’s approached longer-running anime this way, though.

It goes without saying, but there are likely spoilers for every series written about here; if you’re not caught up on your favorites, you’re likely better off waiting until you have time to get up to speed. Also, I skipped Overlord III because it seemed more like a split-cour continuation rather than a true sequel… and I watched about three minutes of it and had no idea what was going on!

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