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God is Dead – The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace

This essay contains plot and thematic spoilers for the entirety of The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace. I would suggest a blanket Content Warning for the series due to its inclusion of violence, religion, rape and pedophilia.

Read my First Impressions HERE

I’m once again at that point where I’m playing clean-up with my anime seasonals in a mad rush as I find myself with a huge new batch of current series I’d like to watch more of. It’s the constant struggle of someone who watches way too much anime. Often when I’m in this hyperdrive mode, I find myself drawn back toward the anime series which I initially had ambivalent feelings about. I’ve always been that kind of person who pushes her favorite foods to the side of her plate in order to enjoy them last, so I suppose that this makes some sort of sense.

The Summer 2021 season had plenty of series that featured intriguing story elements and themes, but which were also hamstrung by some missteps that made them a little harder to love. The most iconic of these, to me, was The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace, an action series with a lot of cool visual style and a total banger OP, but also an off-putting reliance on some particularly violent and grotesque story elements. And yet, as I was settling in to play a little anime catch-up in preparation for letting myself continue some of the entries from Autumn, Idaten was the one series that I couldn’t get off of my mind.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Build-Divide -#000000 Code Black

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Multimedia Project (created alongside a card game)

Episode Summary: In Neo Kyoto, one’s place in the world is ruled by the game Build Divide and by the King who sits atop it all, there to grant the wildest wishes of the top players. A mysterious young man named Teruto meets a young woman named Sakura in an alley after she’s attacked by a wandering thug. Teruto seems to have possession of a set of Build Divide cards but has no idea where he got them or why.

Curious, Sakura challenges Teruto to a match, explaining the rules of the game as they play. But fragments of memories remain in Teruto’s mind and he suddenly recalls the true depth of the power he wields in his own two hands. As he defeats Sakura, she decides to put all her faith into his ability to usurp the King. But the King may be prepared for his return.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Faraway Paladin

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Will only has vague memories of his former life; the bits and pieces that he can recall speak to an aimlessness that he once believed would doom him to hell. When he awakens in a temple as a baby, surrounded by three undead figures, he believes that this has come to pass. However, Mary, Blood, and Gus are actually kind and mostly harmless, choosing to raise Will together.

As Will grows, he learns fighting and hunting from Blood, magic (for which he seems to have a particular aptitude) from Gus, and many of life’s smallest (but often most important) lessons from Mary. But each of these individuals seems to carry a hidden sadness that Will is only able to perceive on the most basic level, and they’re reticent to share any details of what is likely a very painful secret with Will, beyond that they made a deal with the god of the undead to remain on earth after death. As he gets older his curiosity starts to get the best of him; when he follows Mary to one of her daily prayers, Will comes away with dire injuries. But through the experience he learns of Mary’s persistence and piety and he grows closer to her.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Sakugan

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Gagumber and Memempu are a father-daughter pair who are constantly at odds with one-another. Despite being a kid, Memempu is extremely precocious and a genius inventor; it’s her goal to become a Marker – an adventurer who explores the underground labyrinth connecting the various remaining human colonies that exist beneath the planet’s surface. Gagumber, despite being a bit of a goofball, still has his fatherly responsibilities to think about, and he doesn’t want his only child to run off and be needlessly killed by one of the terrifying kaiju roaming outside their city’s protective dome. The result of this is that the two consistently find themselves butting heads.

But Memempu has been seeing a mysterious place in her dreams, a white tower above the surface surrounded by beautiful fields. During a visit from Lynda and her father, both current Markers, Memempu receives a mysterious package that suggests her dream might be real. As she begs her father to let her go on a journey to find this place, the city is attacked by kaiju breaking in from outside. Despite the terror of the situation, Memempu still longs to explore. Gagumber decides that there’s only one thing for a father (and retired Marker) to do – go along on his daughter’s journey in order to protect her.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Muv-Luv Alternative

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Game Series

Episode Summary: In 1973, aliens launched an offensive from the moon. The BETA as they came to be called, have since slowly spread out across the planet, killing humans and erecting hives in their wake in order to facilitate more destruction. Military units across the world have done what they can to try to hold back the BETA forces, but the aliens’ strength seems only to increase and the human population continues to diminish. The Western half of Japan has slowly been taken over by BETA, and in 1998 they are now in danger of taking over the rest of the country.

An evacuation order has already been issued as the Japanese military begins to detect movement at the bottom of the ocean near the city of Sadogashima. Because of their loss of life, they’re forced to use rookie pilots to man the Tactical Surface Fighters – mechanical armor that allows close-combat. Unfortunately, despite the passion of the soldiers, the sheer number of BETA, including several fortress-class entities with the power to break down the giant walls protecting the people inside, overwhelm them and they’re forced to evacuate. Sadogashima becomes the site of the 21st BETA hive.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The World’s Finest Assassin

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: The world’s finest assassin completes his final mission with efficiency and the utmost effectiveness, providing a model for the protégé he’s been forced to drag along by his governing agency. But the mission doesn’t quite go off without a hitch – the duo is spotted by a military drone on their way from the job site and are forced to make other escape plans. It’s during the night that the assassin proves why he’s the best – he’s quieted his emotions and never trusts anyone.

As the day dawns, the two arrive back at base and are provided tickets to Japan; here the assassin will begin a new life training others like him within the organization. But betrayal is in the cards and the plane flight ends almost as quickly as it began, with all aboard being killed as part of the organization’s plot to silence their finest. But the assassin’s frustrated soul is grabbed by the goddess, who offers him a tantalizing deal in exchange for his help in a certain matter. He’ll be reborn in another world, one of fantasy and magic, with his memories and skills intact if he promises to use those skills to murder the world’s Hero.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew it, My Life Had it Made

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Seiichi Hiiragi is the target of his class’s bullying, and when a literal god decides on a whim to transport the entire class to another world, this doesn’t change. While his classmates buddy-up into parties and arrive in a local castle town, Seiichi ends up in the middle of the wilderness. Despite his luck stat starting at “0,” though, he seems to have at least a bit of it on his side; he happens to find a “fruit of evolution” on the ground which he eats to fend off starvation. Though it tastes terrible, it seems to set the stage for his future success.

The mechanics of this new world are awfully game-like, and somehow Seiichi finds himself defeating monsters, gaining more skills, and “evolving” – a painful process where his body actually physically changes. Gone is the heavy-set kid he once was, replaced by a more average physique. After several months, word of his power gets out, and Seiichi is suddenly confronted by Saria, Kaiser of the clever apes. She immediately seems smitten by Seiichi’s show of power, and though she fights to kill, Seiichi’s survival skills win out – and win Saria’s heart in the process.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Takt op. Destiny

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Part of a multimedia project which includes a game.

Episode Summary: One fateful day a black meteorite fell to Earth and unleashed the D2, creatures who hate the sounds that humans make, especially the beautiful harmonies to be found in music. Now, playing any sort of music runs the risk of attracting swarms of D2, so there are many people who no longer even remember what music sounds like. But just as humanity began to lose all hope the Conductors and Musicarts appeared, using the power of music to defeat the D2.

Takt and Cosette are a partnered Conductor and Musicart, although their ability to work well together is somewhat lacking. Their de facto handler, Anna, does her best to wrangle their disparate personalities in service of a shared goal – to reach New York so that Cosette can be “repaired” by the Symphonica there. Their journey eastward is bound to be dotted with challenges, not the least of which is their ability to effectively combine their powers and achieve their goals as one.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: Mikado is a bookstore employee with a strange affliction – he has the power to see the dead, and he’s continually haunted by creepy, threatening apparitions. Enter Hiyakawa, an exorcist whose methods are somewhat unconventional. Hiyakawa involves Mikado in an exorcism, which is so intense that it leaves Mikado unconscious. When he awakens, Hiyakawa nearly demands that Mikado come work for him. Their souls happen to be very compatible, he says, and this bodes well for the possibility of combining their powers.

Mikado is apprehensive, because he wants nothing to do with the ghosts he’s been trying to avoid. The actual act of exorcism, however, turns out to be somewhat erotic, and Mikado is eventually won-over. Eventually Hiyakawa is contacted by the local police to aid them in the search for the remains of several missing and murdered women, and Mikado soon learns what sort of power he and Hiyakawa can wield if they allow their souls to combine.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Fena: Pirate Princess

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Fena Houtman drifted ashore on a certain island many years ago. Orphaned and alone, her prospects were limited. About to make her debut as a sex worker, her unusual looks mark her as a particularly prized conquest and the highest bidder is a man known to be particularly indulgent of his libido. But this is all a part of Fena’s not-particularly-well-thought-out escape plan; passage on a ship off the island costs money, and money is difficult to come by for people like her unless they’re willing to manipulate from the hands of those who have it.

What Fena doesn’t realize is that her hazy past is about to come into sharp focus. She’s intercepted by two elderly men who she eventually recognizes younger and more svelte attendants from her childhood. Though their sense of direction is flawed they eventually manage to leave the confines of the city and head through the woods toward a waiting ship. But when a group of bandits attacks and attempts to kidnap Fena, she’s saved by a mysterious armored man. Could this man, whose dark eyes shine in spite of his helmet, possibly be Fena’s long-lost friend?

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