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Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – Given

Ritsuka played guitar but has lost interest in the instrument. One day, he meets Mafuyu, who is holding a broken guitar. Ritsuka unwillingly starts teaching Mafuyu the guitar, but when he hears Mafuyu’s voice, things suddenly begin to change for Ritsuka.ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 11

Source: Manga

Review: Note: this review may contain mild spoilers for the anime series.

When I was in high school I played flute in the concert band. I enjoyed it so much that I even took outside lessons and participated in the annual solo competitions put on by the area schools. I didn’t have a great time in school overall, but being able to express myself through music is one of the better memories I have of that time in my life. I came to the realization at some point that when your emotions operate outside what other people are willing to tolerate on a regular basis, it’s life’s other more artistic avenues that serve as an alternative outlet for those complicated, powerful feelings.

Given is the story of a budding relationship between two high school students, a tale it heartily accomplishes through sensitive, slow-burn character development. But it’s also a peek into the life of someone dealing with trauma and the shame that seemed to crop up in its aftermath. Unsurprisingly, it’s music that seems to tie everything together.

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2019 First Impressions – Part 6

Well folks, it looks like we made it to the end of this season’s new anime (well, excluding shorts and sequels… of which there are a ton this time!). While I’d say it hasn’t really been a mind-blowing season so far, it’s at least been kind of interesting. But I’m getting ahead of myself – there are still a few more new series to take a peek at before passing any major judgments.

And this is probably something that I should have said at the outset, and definitely bears repeating – these are just impressions based on 1 episode, so by definition can’t necessarily speak for the entire series. However, one thing I always look for is potential, whether that’s the potential to entertain or the potential to offend, and that’s something that can often be gleaned just by determining how a series puts its best (or I suppose first) foot forward.

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2019 First Impressions – Part 5

Well folks, now that J.C. and I are finished with convention prep for like… maybe a week or so (we have another one coming up in early November… why do we keep doing this to ourselves?), I’ve got time to hopefully finish up the Autumn seasonal first impressions. I should note once again that these posts don’t include the (many, many) sequels airing this season, nor the Netflix-only series since they’re on their own schedule (at least in the United States). I may do a small sequel round-up at some point (though I don’t intend to review any sequels I’m not familiar with), but that will depend on time and motivation.

In any case, there appear to be six series left to look at, so to avoid awkward-sized posts I’m going to split them up into two groups of three. Look for part 6 sometime in the next couple of days (once I sleep off my convention bad habits).

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Conventions

Anime Fusion 2019 – Panel Materials

Hi all. By this point in the weekend, J.C. and I are finished with our panelist responsibilities at Anime Fusion. We made a conscious decision to cut way back this year, mostly out of a sense of self-preservation. It’s been a year full of personal ups and downs for both of us, and we didn’t want to overwhelm ourselves with convention prep and an overly-ambitious schedule. In any case, below are the panel materials from out one substantial panel this year, Shiny New Anime. If you’ve followed us for a while you’ll like not find much new here; we update the panel on a rolling 12-month basis, so we really just added some stuff from recent anime seasons and took out a few things that were older.

Just a note about the information included in the materials. Firstly, feel free to take these and re-purpose them, just provide credit back here (while the materials themselves aren’t mine per se, it does take a lot of work to compile summaries, cut clips, and watch the series enough to have an opinion of them in the first place). Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, if an anime series you like hasn’t been included, don’t take it as a personal affront; J.C. and I are two people with opinions, and there are many other people in the world who likely share your love for something that we didn’t include. We are just people with limited time who like to shine a spotlight on shows we personally enjoyed, so please take that in the spirit it’s intended.

Let me know if the links are broken or if there are any other issues, and I’ll try to resolve it.

Shiny New Anime Hand-out
Shiny New Anime PowerPoint Presentation

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Conventions

Anime Fusion 2019

Hi all. I know this is a bit (very) belated, but J.C. and I will be at Anime Fusion this weekend. We’ve deliberately elected to put on less programming than usual since our year has been really full and we’ve been busy. Below is where you can see us this weekend!

Friday, October 18th

11:30pm – 12:30am – Anime By Numbers Trivia Game in Panel 2
It’s our anime trivia game where you don’t really need to know anything, just be a good guesser! All answers are numbers, and it’s a team event.

Saturday, October 19th

4:00pm – 5:00pm – Shiny New Anime in Panel 1
Our annual survey of the anime we really enjoyed from the past year. If you attended this at CONvergence there’s not a whole lot of new material, but we’re happy to see you if you decide to attend!

I will likely not be at the convention late on Saturday or at all on Sunday, since I’m trying to save some time for myself (and to post more updates here!), but I suspect J.C. will be there longer (he’s there now, while I’m still at work… don’t tell anyone!)

You can check out the full convention schedule HERE!

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Anime Reviews Reviews

Anime Review – Astra: Lost in Space

In the year 2063, travelling through space has become commonplace. Eight students from Caird High School, along with one child, set out for a school camp on a nearby planet. However, the students are then mysteriously transported 5,000 light years away from home, with no way to call for help. Aboard an abandoned spaceship they call the Astra, these nine students slowly try to make their way back and figure out why they were transported in the first place.ANN

Streaming: Funimation and Hulu

Episodes: 12 (episodes 1 and 12 are double-length episodes)

Source: Manga

Read my first impressions here!

Review: Note – This review may contain minor plot spoilers for the series. Because this show presents major revelations in its second half, I’ve done my best to only speak as generally as possible.

Despite the fact that many fans my age were introduced to anime through the iconic science fiction titles that trickled their way over to the West in the early years, it feels as though it’s been quite a while since the sci-fi genre has really been front-and-center. While the surge in slice-of-life anime in the early 2000’s has certainly provided me with many favorite series, and the current popularity of isekai stories is starting to bear more fruit for fans of my tastes, sometimes I just get nostalgic for stories about space travel and the intrepid spirit of humanity. Astra: Lost in Space, a recently-concluded series from this Summer, does a real bang-up job of scratching that itch.

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2019 First Impressions – Part 4

So far I think my new system for first impressions has been working out pretty well. Even just plugging along on the weekends, I’m more than half done with the new series already (excluding continuations and sequels… of which there are seemingly a whole ton this season). I’ve even had time to finish watching some of the stuff from last season that I wasn’t able to make time for, which likely means there’ll be some more series reviews on the horizon.

Just to reiterate, the intention of writing shorter reviews at the outset is to give myself more time to follow-up and write on other topics as well. Hopefully this will lead to a more robust blogging landscape around here.

Content Warning: The Blade of the Immortal review includes some violent imagery in the screen captures that accompany it.

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2019 First Impressions – Part 3

It’s the most interesting time of the year in my home state, where the weather can whip-lash between 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) and sunny, and 30 degrees F (-1 degree C) and snowing in a matter of hours. Right now we’re in the snowing portion of the week, and with my partner gone for the weekend and a lack of motivation to leave the house, it’s time to dig into a few more first impressions!

Note: This post contains some mildly NSFW screen shots.

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2019 First Impressions – Part 2

It’s time for another round of seasonal previews! We certainly uncovered some interesting ones in the previous post, but none that I’d necessarily qualify as “gems.” What will this group have in store for us?

By the way, If any readers have opinions on how many premieres to include per post, please feel free to provide some feedback. Is 5 too many, or just the right amount? Let me know in the comments if you like, or I may post a poll at some point.

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2019 First Impressions – Part 1

A new anime season is a great time for a fresh start. I mentioned previously that I was planning to switch things up here at the blog, and this is the first step in that project. My goal will still be to write a little bit about all the anime premiere episodes, but the format is going to be a little bit different. I plan to group batches of episodes together and to provide more succinct impressions. Series that I find more interesting, or that seem like they might prompt some interesting discussion, will then get stand alone feature posts where I might watch a few more episodes for a broader and more nuanced picture.

With all that out of the way, let’s dig into some of the Autumn premieres!