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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Girls’ Frontline

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Game

Episode Summary: After the horrors of World War III, Earth civilization is on the brink of collapse. Due to low population and the resultant labor shortages, much of the work has since been taken up by artificial android life forms called “dolls.” These dolls have found an important place within the military sphere, with Tactical Dolls or “T-Dolls” using their superior physical strength and other heightened abilities to fight battles that humans wouldn’t dare.

When the AI of an entire fleet of T-Dolls owned by the Sangvis Ferri company rebels against their human masters, a group of elite T-Dolls owned by Griffin and Kryuger investigates. What they find when traveling to a remote location to obtain some classified data from an old computer is a dangerous, extremely violent, and intelligent group of T-Dolls who give them a run for their money. After defeating a trio of heavy artillery models, T-Doll M4 is tasked with taking the retrieved data to safety. Meanwhile, back at their base, a new commander joins the organization.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Fantasia Sango: Realm of Legends

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Taiwanese RPG

Episode Summary: As a nation finds itself on the decline at on the cusp of war, the people find themselves vulnerable to attack from a much more supernatural force. The wangliang, vengeful spirits that prey upon the darkness in people’s hearts, begin to multiply and wreak havoc among the populace, and only warriors with very special skills are able to fight against their powerful dark magic. Unfortunately the 6th unit, which was comprised of such people, was wiped out under mysterious circumstances.

As the situation becomes more dire, the need for the 6th unit grows as well, and four warriors are chosen to comprise the group: Ying Ji, who can cast spells using ink magic, Xun Qiao, whose music draws forth the wangliang, Ding Yan, who has some connection to the former 6th unit, and Xiao Ling, who is a Gui Zhan – a warrior who draws power from the wangliangs’ miasma. Working together they help dispel a wangliang from a village who’s been singlehandedly defending his village from invasion, and the group gets a first-hand taste of the power wielded by a Gui Zhan.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tokyo 24th Ward

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Note: episode 1 is double-length.

Tokyo’s Far Eastern Special Administrative Region, also known as ward 24 was built on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, and has been seen in the past as a lawless region. Now on the cusp of being officially acknowledged, political tensions are high. One year previous, three childhood friends born in the 24th Ward are witness to a fire at a school, and afterwards go their separate ways until they’re reunited at a memorial service. All three are navigating life differently; Ran dabbles in guerilla protest art and hacking, while Kouki remains a rule-follower who everyone expects to go into politics like his father. But Shuuta has struggled in the year since the incident, wondering if the heroic goals he once had were just childish fantasies.

The three keep meeting by chance around town, and as they’re settling down to lunch all of them receive a mysterious phone call from someone who sounds like their late friend Asumi, who was lost in the tragic fire. The voice warns them of an impending accident in which their friend Mari will get stuck on the train tracks. Their choices are to reroute the train, causing it to derail and likely killing the 150 people onboard, or to let it continue on its current path, thus killing Mari. Asked to make the choice yet unsatisfied with both outcomes, the three young men use their know-how and physical prowess to achieve a solution that saves everyone. But who was the voice on the phone? And can it truly see into the future?

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Gaius is a powerful sorcerer, but his power has reached the limits of what the crest on his hand is able to accommodate. In order to hopefully gain the benefits of an additional fourth mark, he chooses to roll the dice and reincarnate into a new body. He’s reborn as Matthias, son of Castor, and he now bears his desired crest. The only issue is that, between his death and his current life, the world has changed quite a bit. His treasured crest is thought of as weak, and spellcasting is almost exclusively performed with incantations rather than quickly and without speaking (as Gaius/Matthias had been taught).

Matthias meets two friends, Alma and Lurie, who are preparing to take the entrance exam for a magic academy. Curiosity inspires Matthias to join them, and his incantation-less spellcasting draws the attention of the school headmaster. While their main campus has long since abandoned this type of magic, the headmaster at the secondary campus is interested in bringing it back as a skill – the only problem being that there’s no one around to teach it anymore. Enter Matthias, who’s recruited to do the job. A month later, when the two campuses are set to compete in a magic tournament, Matthias uncovers the fact that demons have infiltrated the main campus and poisoned the curriculum against teaching the type of magic that might allow human beings to defeat them.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tribe Nine

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Mixed media (also includes a smartphone game and webtoon)

Episode Summary: In Neo Tokyo, battles between youth gangs steadily got out of hand until in the sport of Extreme Baseball was instilled as the official conflict resolution method of record. Now these gangs, called “tribes,” battle out their differences on the baseball diamond (and the surrounding city, usually). Haru is a bullied kid who doesn’t feel like he has the strength to fight back against his tormenters, but a chance meeting with Taiga, a tuna fisherman with a desire to play Extreme Baseball, and Shun Kamiya, considered to be the Minato Tribe’s ace player, changes the course of Haru’s destiny.

When the Minato Tribe is approached by representatives of a rival group and challenged to a game, the laid-back Shun volunteers both newbies to help represent them on the team. Haru is terrified by the sort of power on display – Extreme Baseball allows the use of various enhancements to provide players with superhuman strength, and their current opponents are heavily invested in these sorts of tools. Haru is scared to step up to the plate, but some advice from Shun and the fact that his eyesight and reflexes are much better than most allows Haru to survive the inning while Shun cleans things up. Haru feels a change in himself, and decides to remain a member of the Minato Tribe (and its team) after all.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Orient

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The land of Hinomoto was a peaceful one, until the Oni arrived and began to rule over the human population. Certain humans – warriors called Bushi – fought back, but eventually lost to the greater power of the demons. Now over a century later, the Oni have become central religious and authority figures in the lives of humans, and the Bushi have been all but forgotten. However, Musashi and his friend Kojiro, having been told about the Bushi in secret as children, have resolved to revive the battle against the oppression put upon them by the Oni.

As Musashi is processed through the school system, however, he appears to lose sight of his goals in the face of the relentless propaganda machine. He can’t find it within himself to outwardly make waves by professing his goal to become a Bushi, and he eventually graduates with the rest of his class and takes up his post as a miner. When Musashi meets Kojiro in secret, Kojiro refuses to believe in his resolve, partly to help ensure his friend doesn’t suffer the difficult life of a Bushi. But when Musashi and his classmates learn the truth about the Oni, it’s Musashi’s secret weapons practice and unwavering goal to fight against their oppressors that ultimately saves them. He and Kojiro make amends and once again set their sights on sharpening their swords and eliminating the Oni.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Love of Kill

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Chateau Dankworth is a young bounty hunter executing hits on behalf of a larger organization. One day while out on a job, she encounters an assassin named Ryang-Ha Song who immediately becomes smitten with her. His persistent advances eventually lead to him helping Chateau locate and neutralize her bounties. Ryang-Ha seems to be searching for something more substantial in compensation, though Chateau clearly finds him off-putting and only tolerates his constant phone messages in service of the “bigger picture” she operates within.

One day, Chateau’s agency is contacted by a client who plans to offer a substantial amount of money toward the capture neutralization of a certain hit man who managed to kill several high-ranking members of an Asian-based criminal organization. That bounty turns out to be none other than Ryang-Ha himself. Now Chateau must wrestle with the prospect of obtaining a substantial bounty, all the while figuring out how to handle her very dangerous romantic pursuer.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Rusted Armors

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Multimedia project, including a stage play and Manga

Episode Summary: As war rages amongst the feudal lords all around them, the expert gunsmiths of the Saika village are defended by a group of powerful warriors who wield a selection of powerful special treasures called “Armors.” Among them is Magoichi, a warrior who arrived at the village with no memories, clutching one such Armor. Though the Armors allow those who own them to defend Saika village, their existence also draws the ire of the enemy toward the villagers more and more.

One day the village comes under attack once again. All of the lookouts are killed and the individuals holding the Armors suddenly find themselves overwhelmed and outclassed. Magoichi faces off against the leader of the enemy armor and quickly finds himself at death’s door. Just then he sees the flash of a sword as a mysterious man dressed in white comes to his rescue.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Sabikui Bisco

Streaming: Funimation and Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: After a disaster destroys Tokyo and turns it into an inhospitable desert, people begin to die from a mysterious illness known as the “Rust.” It slowly overtakes their bodies until it reaches their hearts. There are theories regarding how the illness is spread, some of which involve the assumption that strange plagues of mushrooms (and the mushroom keepers who create them) are somehow responsible. The most notorious of these mushroom keepers is Bisco Akaboshi, who spreads terror using his bow and arrows to produce giant mushrooms.

Doctor Milo Nekoyanagi maintains a residence in the slums where he tends to the impoverished locals while also using connections to obtain contraband mushroom material in order to search for a cure for the Rust. His motivations seem rooted in kindness, but they have a selfish angle as well – his sister Pawoo is suffering from the disease. One evening, none other than Bisco makes his way into the city to wreak havoc, causing the pavement to burst forth with mushrooms with every strike of his arrows. But he seems focused on one mission in particular – to seek out Doctor Nekoyanagi.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Digimon Ghost Game

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Digimon Franchise

Episode Summary: The internet is abuzz with rumors regarding a Sewn-lip Man; a hologram (or perhaps a holographic ghost) that terrorizes people and steals their time, leaving them as aged husks. Hiro Amanokawa brushes them off as urban legends, but the previous mysterious disappearance of his father has left him somewhat unsure of what might be real or imagined. When Hiro and his friend break into their school auditorium to investigate the rumors, they soon discover just how real the chatter about the Sewn-lip Man actually is.

As Hiro returns to his dorm room in the aftermath of being attacked, he discovers a set of strange flash drives that appear to be compatible with a set of digital wrist devices left behind by his father. When he plugs them in, he finds himself face-to-face with an image of his father, who’s somehow managed to convert himself into a digital entity. Hiro’s father provides Hiro with Gammamon, a digital monster that Hiro is asked to consider as his “brother.” Gammamon turns out to be handy when the Sewn-lip Man, who reveals himself as “Clockmon,” appears in Hiro’s dorm room. Gammamon turns out to have some specific resilience to Clockmon’s time-stealing attack, and along with Hiro’s support is able to defeat Clockmon – for now.

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