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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka

Three years ago, alien invaders ravaged the Earth–until they were defeated by a group of young women blessed with powers from a mysterious source. The girls went back to their normal lives after vanquishing the ghastly monsters, but that time of peace is about to end. The same malevolent creatures have resurfaced, which means it’s time for the Magical Girl Special Ops force to head back to the battlefront and defend mankind. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Three years ago, alien life forms called Disas invaded Earth. An alliance was formed with a galactic entity, and magical girls (girls with the ability to join with spirits) became the planet’s best hope of defending against the alien menace. Asuka was one such magical girl whose efforts help to thwart the enemy. Though she’s left her fighting life behind she still feels the mental and emotional aftermath of the terrible experiences she had during battle.

High school is a different environment entirely, and while Asuka doesn’t quite fit in among her peers, she does eventually make a couple of friends who choose to help Asuka engage with her physicality (through track) and enjoyment of reading (through the literature club). Even when talks of re-forming a magical military squad start to trickle down to her, Asuka is adamant about living and enjoying this new, normal life – until a terrorist attack puts one of her new friends in harm’s way. The Disas may be long gone, but the world is still filled with crime, war, terrorism, and hatred; Asuka may have discovered a purpose worthy of bringing her out of retirement.

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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 Since then he’s become withdrawn and only really interacts with his editor – when he needs to.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 – 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 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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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – The Rising of the Shield Hero

Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe. He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: 2-cour (22-26 episodes)

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Note – the first episode is double-length (45 minutes).

Naofumi leads a relatively comfortable life, which he lives while indulging his otaku habits. One of his favorite activities (after spending all his money, that is) is checking out light novels from the library. On a particular day he discovers a book he’s never seen before, which describes 4 legendary weapon-wielding heroes. As he’s paging through it, a glowing light envelopes him and he finds himself drawn into another world. He’s joined by three other young men and discovers that they have taken on the mantle of the 4 Cardinal Heroes described in the novel. They learn from the local king that they were summoned to stop the prophesied “waves” of malevolent attacks that have already begun.

The four Cardinal Heroes enter the picture. Screencap from Crunchyroll.

Naofumi’s three companions seem to have familiarity with this scenario whereas he does not, and he soon discovers that they hail from alternate versions of Japan in which this story is part of a video game environment. Another bit of bad news is that the shield hero, which Naofumi represents, is generally reserved for poor and inexperienced players, since all the character class is good for is defense. Worse yet, word of Naofumi’s naivete has quickly spread, and no experienced adventurers want to join with him to form a party. After some protests he’s eventually joined by Myne, an attractive young woman. She shows him the ropes, helps him kill some low-level monsters, and even eats dinner with him. But the relationship turns out to be a set-up; Myne uses Naofumi’s trusting nature to rob him blind and frame him for a terrible crime.

Left without resources and essentially exiled without aid, Naofumi begins to learn more about the specific power of his legendary shield while contemplating his revenge. The experience has hardened him and he stops trying to make nice with anyone, including vendors to whom he sells his meager earnings. Without a partner on the offensive, leveling-up his powers is essentially out-of-the-question. Learning of his plight, a mysterious man offers him a way to gain a party companion, though it’s a particularly distasteful method of doing so.

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – The Price of Smiles

On a planet far from Earth, there is a kingdom full of smiling faces. Princess YÅ«ki is 12 years old, and about to enter a sensitive age in a person’s life. Everyday, she cries, laughs, and sometimes, her heart throbs with excitement. All the while, she lives merrily in the royal palace. Filling her days with color are her loyal vassals: her tutor Reira, Izana who assists in political affairs, the leader of the chivalry Harold and then, there is her childhood friend and aide Joshua. Stella is 17 years old and a capable, reserved soldier. However, she is always smiling for smiling is essential to living. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Princess Yuki, at the age of 12, has come of age and can now take a more active role in running her country in the place of her late parents. She’s a kind-hearted person and the new, expanded workload is taxing, but she seems to have a knack for decision-making that relies on her kindness and fondness for the people around her. One day she’s challenged by a member of the military order named Yuni. Though the questioning turns out to be a set-up and Princess Yuki impresses with her answer, her aide and childhood friend Joshua steps in and asks Yuni for a duel.

The duel takes place within a VR simulation, so nothing tangible is at stake; still, Joshua and Yuki prove that their close relationship is worth more than the number of soldiers on their side. After this, Joshua and company leave on a diplomatic mission to the border with Yuki’s message of friendship. But what Yuki doesn’t realize (and what the delegation hopes to keep from her) is that there’s a violent conflict raging. Can the delegation protect the Princess’s precious smile?

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2019 First Impressions – Boogiepop and Others

There is an urban legend that children tell one another about a shinigami that can release people from the pain they may be suffering. This “Angel of Death” has a name: Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real. When a rash of disappearances involving female students breaks out at Shinyo Academy, the police and faculty assume they just have a bunch of runaways on their hands. But Nagi Kirima knows better. Something mysterious and foul is afoot. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Keiji Takeda is in the city, waiting for his date, Touka Miyashita to arrive. She does, in fact, drop in, though dressed in black robes, ignoring Takeda completely, and aiding a disheveled, crying man while scolding the rest of the crowd for their insensitivity toward him. The next day, Takeda can’t get a hold of Miyashita at all, and with word of several runaways from their school, Takeda’s mind starts traveling to dark places. As the sun begins to set, he notices a figure up on the roof.

This rooftop presence has Miyashita’s face, but speaks with an awareness that feels otherworldly. They call themselves “Boogiepop,” an entity that only appears when needed and when the world is in danger. They warn Takeda of a monster, a “man-eater,” that poses a threat to humanity; it’s coincidental that Miyashita is the conduit through which Boogiepop was able to manifest. As Takeda wrestles with his ability to accept Boogiepop’s presence and Miyashita’s absence, he also becomes concerned that another student at the school may be the embodiment of the horror that Boogiepop has arrived to oppose.

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Autumn 2018 First Impressions – Shorts

The honeymoon phase is great!

Hello, friends! While I’ve decided not to tackle sequels this season for various reasons (lack of time being one of them, relative difficulty being another; I’d also rather not get Index or SAO fans after me), I wanted to poke around this season’s short anime.

Shorts are always kind of a mixed bag. While there are some shorts I’ve really enjoyed, their short run-time often feels like a sample rather than a meal. For the purposes of this post, I’ll be watching 2-3 episodes (or more) of each, so that I can ensure I’ll have enough material to work with. Though some anime series are accompanied by more gag-focused shorts, I’ll only be watching original short-form anime for this post.

Himote House

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Summary: Tae is about to experience one of her dreams – living in Tokyo as an adult. In order to make this dream a reality, she’s sharing a living space with three sisters and another former classmate. Tae is outgoing and has no trouble settling into the home, but there’s one minor detail that she didn’t know about ahead of time – in addition to their different personalities and style-sense, all of her new roommates also harbor within them special abilities. One can stop time, another can shoot energy beams, and there’s even a young woman who can duplicate the abilities of other powerful individuals. Tae feels like the odd-one-out… until she discovers a special ability of her own.

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