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Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Review

Good morning! There won’t be a new first episode review today (and likely not tomorrow either) because I’m helping to run and monitor an online event taking place all day today. But if you haven’t had a chance to read my First Impressions for this season yet, here’s a short review of where we’re at so far.

Mars Red – A theatrical (literally) tale of vampires slowly infiltrating the world of Taisho-era Japan. Atmospheric and artful, but can the series maintain that atmosphere?

Koikimo – A misguided attempt at comedy which pits a high school student against an adult stalker. Not for sensitive viewers.

Joran the Princess of Snow and Blood – A pulpy alternate-history urban-fantasy type series about a young woman with supernatural powers helping to defend a corrupt shogunate. Intriguing set up and nice visuals, but hard to tell if there’s depth to back that up.

Those Snow White Notes – A music-focused drama that plays it fast and loose with emotions and convenient story contrivances, but which features some enthralling musical performances.

Burning Kabaddi – A sports series featuring Kabaddi. Does a good job of introducing the sport, but the atmosphere is undermined by annoying characters.

Stay tuned for further reviews as they come! The pace ought to pick up from here since I’ll be finished with two events that have taken up a lot of my time as of late.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Burning Kabaddi

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Tatsuya thought he’d left sports behind after middle school. Irritated by the cliquish-ness he encountered as a soccer player, as well as by the undue pressure forced on him by adults, he decided to drop sports all together and reinvent himself as a live streamer. His fan count has yet to reach the double-digits, but Tatsuya remains optimistic. His dreams are interrupted, though, by a first-year named Azemichi, who knocks on his door and begs him to join the school kabaddi club. Tatsuya’s “no sports” policy is challenged once there’s a little blackmail involved, so he’s convinced to check out the club, if only once. One thing leads to another, and the combination of strategy and physicality that kabaddi demands is more interesting than he would have thought. After losing a bet, Tatsuya is forced to become a member of the team.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Those Snow White Notes

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Story Summary: When Setsu’s grandfather and shamisen teacher passes away, Setsu loses his will to play the instrument. His feeling of emptiness prompts him to leave home for Tokyo, where he has no plan and no place to stay, but where hopes to rediscover what his own true sound is and to play the shamisen again. He ends up living as a guest in the studio apartment of a hostess named Yuna, whose quest for show business fame has encountered yet another dead-end after a failed audition. She feels like nothing more than a wallet in support of her boyfriend Takuto’s musical aspirations, and her boyfriend is ungrateful about it. When Yuna and Takuto break up, this causes disarray that threatens one of Takuto’s live shows. It’s Setsu, who’s only just begun to try playing shamisen again, to smooth over the performance. As Yuna leaves town in pursuit of her own goals, Setsu is suddenly approached by a rather terrifying woman.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Joran The Princess of Snow and Blood

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Original

Story Summary: In this alternate history, it is the 64th year of the Meiji era. The Tokugawa Shogunate controls resources and technology, exerting authoritarian rule over the country. There are, of course, groups working in the background to bring about the fall of the regime – as well as those tasked with ensuring its survival. Sawa Yukimura works for an organization called Nue, a group of executioners working on behalf of the government to put down any possible rebellions. Yukimura’s goals are more personal, however; after her brother was murdered by one of the dissident groups, she uses her considerable power in hopes of obtaining her revenge.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Koikimo

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Ryo Amakusa is an attractive businessman (and a known womanizer), but he finds most of the women around him to be tiresome and annoying. One morning he nearly falls down a staircase on his way to work, but is snagged by his collar at the last moment by a high school girl. Later that day Ryo discovers that this girl, Ichika, is his younger sister Rio’s friend when he meets her again at their apartment. That’s when the “fun” begins. Ryo becomes infatuated with Ichika, because she doesn’t fawn over him like the adult women he encounters at work and on the street. “By chance” the two keep encountering one-another and Ryo’s persistence doesn’t seem as though it will wane, much to Ichika’s distress. In Ryo’s case, “no” means “keep bothering her until she changes her mind.”

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Conventions Special Features

Anime Detour Online 2021 – Panel Materials

Hi friends, both old and (potentially) new. If this post is visible then I have already completed presenting duties for Anime Detour Online – at least when it comes to panels that actually have accompanying materials. I hope things went out without a hitch, but if they didn’t, here’s my presentation for you to watch on your own without any technical difficulties.

I’ve also included the presentation from the previous time we did Shiny New Anime, which would have been back in October 2019 (so long ago, in the before times). If you’re interested in what anime we were talking about back then, well, there’s your answer!

Please note: These presentations contain embedded video, and are quite large. They may take a minute or two to download. They also may only play in the full version of PowerPoint; I’m told that the videos don’t do so well in Google Slides or whatever it’s called.

Anime Detour Online 2021 – PowerPoint

Anime Fusion 2019 – PowerPoint

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Mars Red

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 13

Source: Stage Production

Story Summary: Major Maeda returns to Tokyo after several months and is assigned to the task of interpreting whether a captured vampire might somehow be recruited as an ally in tackling the country’s quickly-emerging vampire crisis. Misaki was an actress, killed in a freak accident during a rehearsal, then mysteriously revived as proven by the stigmata on her tongue. Her mind appears to be frozen in place at her time of death, as she portrayed the titular character in “Salome;” her communication is mostly limited to recitations of lines from the play, though she seems to take an occasional direct interest in Maeda. Maeda encounters a mysterious, youthful actor named Deffrot before learning that Misaki has escaped her confinement. He encounters her just as she speaks her final soliloquy and allows herself to be burned to ash in the morning sunlight.

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Personal

Anime Club no Densetsu: The Tale of the Buzzing Fansub Tape

People seemed to enjoy my previous reflection on my time in anime club, even though it became more a stealth examination of the complicated emotions that come from wanting to belong to a group. I hope folks didn’t mind a little bit of a bait-and-switch. This time, though, I’d like to talk about something a little bit lighter, though I can’t promise that my musings won’t wander a little before the end.

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Special Features

The S1E1 Top 10 Anime of All-Time, no Take-Backs

Now that it’s no longer April 1st, I figure I’d be clear that this is meant to be a funny gag and not at all indicative of what I find “best,” though I do unironically love Inferno Cop and think it’s a very fun way to spend an hour or so of your time. As for everything else… I’ll leave that to you to decide.

Hi everyone! I thought today would be a great day to talk about some of the best anime ever made, because who doesn’t love learning about great anime? I know my taste is the best on the internet, so this ought to stand for all time as the definitive best-of list out there.

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Categories
Personal

Seasonal Previews and Why I’m Terrible at Them

Me, about a week ago: “Wait, crap, the new anime season is about to start!”

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to get into a rhythm with my anime writing, and I think, compared to some, eh, historical periods of time around the blog, I’ve been doing okay. I achieved my goal of writing first impressions of all the new (non-sequel) series from Winter 2021, kept up with several of them for a least a few weeks, and naturally let ones drop off as I lost interest. It was pretty much an ideal situation for me, as I see it. I also had time to write a few longer-form, more philosophical posts, and that made me happy even though I suspect they tend to be a little uncomfortable to read and thus of less interest to people just looking for information on new anime (which is fine).

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