Month: January 2019

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Kemurikusa

A story about three sisters struggling to survive in a desolate world surrounded by decaying buildings and red fog. The story revolves around Rin, a girl with an updo. There’s also Ritsu, the big sister who has cat ears and is always calm, and Rina, the innocent, cheerful one dressed in a maid’s costume. Just what is it that these sisters are after in this mysterious world? – Amazon

Streaming: Amazon Prime Video

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Rin and her sister Rinako are out on a dangerous search for fresh water. They happen to find a hidden pool of it in an abandoned ship that’s been grounded on their island. They have little time to celebrate, because they’re constantly being hunted by the gigantic red bugs that fill the air with toxic fog. Rin dispatches one, but Rinako isn’t so lucky; though she takes one out on her own, her injuries are too severe and she fades away. Rin must take this bad news back to big sister Ritsu and the remaining four Rinas waiting back at home.

Ritsu uses her power to siphon the water into their holding tank, bringing all manner of debris with it. Soon they hear a splash and discover a very strange-looking bug swimming in the tank. This bug can talk, calls himself “Wakaba,” and almost looks human, but the sisters are cautious. Rin attempts to dispatch him by using one of their special leaves, but the glowing green power only seems to heal this strange creature. When another bug attacks, Wakaba tries to prove he isn’t a threat by leading Rin to its hiding spot. Even so, Rin doesn’t know what to do about him and finds herself confused.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Meiji Tokyo Renka

On the night of a crimson full moon, high school girl Mei Ayazuki, lured by the magic of mysterious magician Charlie, enters into a box. When she awakens, she’s in Tokyo during the Meiji Period. The lost and confused Mei is aided by Ougai Mori and Shunso Hishida, who take her in their carriage to the Rokumeikan, a lavish ballroom full of powerful high officials. where she meets historic figures such as Kyoka Izumi, Otojiro Kawakami, Yakumo Koizumi, and Goro Fujita. In this world, during the “Misty Hour” between sundown and sunup, “mononoke” appear. Those who can see them are called “Tamayori,” and Mei herself possesses this power. As she navigates an unfamiliar life, romance begins to bloom between Mei and these men — and the power of the tamayori will only strengthen their bonds. She may choose to never return to her original time. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Visual Novel

Episode Summary: Mei Ayazuki is a consummate loner. As a child she had many friends but as it turned out, her ability to converse with ghosts and spirits put a barrier between herself and others. Now she spends most of her time alone listening to music and blocking out the strange voices who sometimes speak to her in the dark. With her headphones on, Mei wanders onto a festival grounds and finds herself the volunteer in a magic show. As she steps in a magic box that will supposedly cause her to disappear, she feels a strange, relaxing sensation flow through her body.

Mei awakens in the middle of a park, and no sooner does she get to her feet than she’s nearly run over by a horse-drawn carriage. A handsome man steps through its doors and offers her safe passage to his destination; though Mei is disoriented, she has trouble refusing, especially since she can’t really remembers where she lives. She finds herself at a grand ball, and as the names of some of the young men at the party begin to make their way around to her, she realizes that they’re all somewhat famous writers. They in turn seem to be fascinated by her ability to speak to ghosts. What could be the mechanism behind this time slip, and can Mei ever find her way home?

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – My Roommate is a Cat

A shy novelist adopts a cute stray cat and starts to slowly open himself to the world. Both his and the cat’s point of view are included in each story. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Subaru is a novelist whose parents recently passed away in a tragic accident. Since then he’s become withdrawn and only really interacts with his editor – when he needs to. One day, while visiting his parents’ grave, a stray cat leaps from the shadows and pounces on Subaru’s sashimi, and the author has an epiphany: his next novel will feature a murder mystery where a cat is the culprit!

Subaru brings the cat home and starts to take care of it while continuing to indulge in some of his bad habits as a writer – neglecting sleep, forgetting to eat, and generally just losing touch with reality until the completion of the manuscript. When he passes out from exhaustion, the cat’s presence turns out to be a blessing. In the aftermath, he finds out that he might have eaten some of the cat’s food in his dire state. The cat, for their part, can’t understand why this particular human is so strange.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Wataten! An Angel Flew Down to Me

Miyako Hoshino is a shy college student and otaku. Miyako’s younger sister Hinata, who is a fifth grader, has a classmate and friend named Hana. When they meet, Miyako falls for Hana at first sight. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Miyako is a college student with a talent for baking and sewing cute cosplay outfits for herself and her younger sister, Hinata. One afternoon, Hinata brings home a friend – Hana-chan – and Miyako is suddenly at a loss for words. Though her otaku nature has always left her shy around strangers, seeing Hana gives Miyako a serious case of the butterflies. Hana, on the other hand, is skeeved by Miyako’s behavior.

Miyako decides that she wants to become friends with Hana, and begs Hinata to invite her over to the house again. Hana happens to be very food-motivated, so Miyako offers her sweets in exchange for her mere presence. This forces Hana to override her strong self-preservation instinct. Miyako eventually convinces Hana to try on some cosplay, which turns into an impromptu photo session. Eventually, Hana decides that she can put up with Miyako’s… eccentricities if there are enough baked goods involved.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – The Promised Neverland

Emma, Norman, and Ray are the three most brilliant children the Grace Field House has produced in decades. Unlike in a typical orphanage, they, and their fellow children, eat well and are given an intensive education. However, despite living in a peaceful environment with fun games and a caring mother, there’s something not quite right. When six year old Connie is “adopted” by foster parents, she forgets her favorite stuffed rabbit, and Emma and Norman sneak out to return it to her. When they arrive at the scene, the two realize exactly why they had always been isolated from the outside world. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll, Funimation, Hulu, and HIDIVE

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Emma, Ray, and Norman are three orphans at Grace Field House. Kind-hearted Emma loves all the other children deeply as members of the only family she’s ever known. They’re cared for by “Mom,” a kindly young woman who ensures their safety. The children spend their days learning and playing together among the fields and forests. However, they’re forbidden from approaching the gate or the fence that surrounds the property, because of untold dangers.

When Conny, one of the younger children, is adopted into a foster family, the other children wish her a tearful goodbye and ask her to write them letters before Mom escorts her to the world outside. Emma realizes that Conny left her favorite stuffed animal, and she and Norman rush to return it to her. As they approach the open gate, however, they discover something so terrible that, as the traumatic images begin to settle in, they realize that their only option is to plan an escape for themselves and the other children.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Dororo

During the 1470s after the Wars of Onin and Bunmei in the Noto Peninsula of the Hokuriku District, Hyakkimaru, who lacks as much as 48 body parts, obtains a fake body and eliminates 48 monsters that were made from his body to retrieve his missing body parts. – ANN

Streaming: Amazon Prime

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Sixteen years ago, a local lord made a pack with Hell’s demons to obtain power and prevent more famine from befalling his lands. In exchange, upon the birth of his firstborn son, the baby’s body parts were stolen, leaving only a skinless, barely-living husk. The midwife tasked with disposing of the infant takes pity on it, setting it on the river in a boat before being attacked and devoured by a demon, who seems to have a keen interest in the child.

As the years pass the world continues to be filled with conflict and war. A young “entrepreneur” named Dororo makes a meager living selling fraudulent wares while trying to stay ahead of the local authorities. One day Dororo bothers the wrong guys and they’re nearly murdered for it. Dororo is saved by the appearance of a terrifying demon who eats their attackers, and then saved from the demon by a silent, somewhat unusual-looking man with katana blades hidden within his prosthetic arms. Stranger still, after the man dispatches the demon, the mask covering his face falls away to reveal new skin growing over his exposed flesh.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Mob Psycho 100 II

“Mob” is a boy who will explode if his emotional capacity reaches 100%. This boy with psychic powers earned his nickname “Mob” because he does not stand out among other people. He keeps his psychic powers bottled up so he can live normally, but if his emotional level reaches 100, something will overwhelm his entire body. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama has an after-school gig working for Reigen Arataka, an exorcist of questionable talent with an eye toward making a profit. Otherwise, he’s an unremarkable boy who happens to have access to some of the most powerful telekinetic abilities most people have ever seen. However, Mob’s friend Mezato has reason to help (force?) Mob to overcome his bland existence. Without his knowledge, she’s positioned him as the leader of a budding psychic group, and she needs for him to take on a more impressive stature so that her ruse doesn’t fall through. This is easier said that done, however. Mob makes a run for student council president, but freezes when it’s his turn to speak, destroying Mezato’s dreams.

Unexpectedly, Mob receives a love letter in his locker. When he meets its author, Emi, behind the school, she says that she was so impressed by the courage it took him to get on stage for his aborted speech that she’d like to go out with him. The two spend a week together before Emi lets on that this was all a ruse. As Mob starts to walk home, he discovers Emi being bullied and uses his powers to reassemble the manuscript the other girls tore into pieces. Emi is impressed by his kindness, and makes a pledge to be truer to her own feelings.

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Anime Reviews Film Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – The Night is Short, Walk on Girl

A bold young lady and her university colleague have an incredible adventure as they explore the wild and vivid Kyoto night life. – ANN

Release: Limited Theatrical Release. Available on disc from GKids January 29th, 2019.

Episodes: 1 (film)

Review: Please be aware that this review contains spoilers of the film.

There are some who say that the college years are the best years of a person’s life. While I disagree with that for the most part and wouldn’t trade my adulthood away for anything, I do believe there are certain things you can only get away with doing in your early 20’s. For me, those things involved staying up to all hours and then stumbling to class in the morning with no permanent consequences, eating all sorts of ridiculous junk food, and packing 8 or 9 people into one hotel room when traveling to out-of-town anime conventions. Looking back, it’s hard to see how my body and spirit were able to tolerate those things, but now that I think about it there was probably a little bit if youthful magic involved.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Pastel Memories

Akihabara is a mecca for otaku culture everywhere. But that culture is on the decline due to a mysterious affliction causing widespread memory loss. Izumi and her comrades hatch a plan to restore lost memories and return “Akiba” to its former glory. – HIDIVE

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 12

Source: Smartphone Game

Episode Summary: Izumi and her coworkers at the Rabbit Shed Shop cafe in Akihabara are some of the few remaining folks who remember what their area was like at the height of the fandom boom. After a strange fog descended on Akihabara one day, most of the manga magazines stopped publication and this created a domino effect where the many colorful book stores, video game arcades and maid cafes of Akihabara shut down for good. When they discover that a previous customer was looking for a particular favorite manga series, the cafe employees tear through their storage area to find a copy. Unfortunately, they only have multiple copies of volumes 2 and 5; not very useful if someone would like to read the entire series. After being joined by some of their compatriots, they all embark on a quest to find the missing volumes at the few remaining used book stores in Akihabara.

It takes some digging, but they manage to find most of them, except the all-important first volume. When everyone’s back at the cafe mulling over their options, another three employees appear out of the blue, having vanquished a memory virus threatening to destroy the very existence of a favorite piece of media from the past. When a new virus threatens the manga series they’re attempting to reassemble, Izumi herself offers to go and ensure that this treasured memory is not lost.

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san

A skeleton named Honda works in a bookstore. Hilarity ensues daily in his work at the shop’s manga counter. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12 (11-minutes apiece)

Source: Manga

Review: This review may contain spoilers for the series.

Everyone’s life experiences are different, but if I could name one thing that’s been relatively consistent among the people I know, it’s that they all have some experience working in customer service. Whether, like me, it’s something they did during high school and college to help pay for school or other needs, or whether it’s work they do today, it’s an experience we can all bond over.

When I was in high school thinking of applying for a part time job, I had a mental hierarchy of what I’d like to do. I definitely wanted to avoid food service if I could; I have a weird aversion to getting greasy and wasn’t keen on slinging fries. I ended up working for nearly 7 years at a big-box discount retailer which, like just about any service job, was a good learning experience that taught me the joys and challenges of working to help customers.

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