Tag: Spring 2021

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Osamake: Romcom Where the Childhood Friend Won’t Lose

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: Haru has fallen in love with the beautiful, talented, and smart Kachi-san. He’s even managed to develop a sort of rapport with her, after confessing to reading her published work. But just as he’s building up the courage to ask her out officially at the end of the cultural festival, he learns that she’s already dating someone – Abe, a handsome fellow student who’s just made his acting debut. How can Haru compete with that? He takes some solace in the arms of his childhood friend Kuroha, a spitfire with an older-sister personality at odds with her small stature. Kuroha has always loved Haru, and to help him deal with his troubles she proposes that they pretend to date in order to make Kachi jealous. But Haru might also have feelings for Kuroha that he can’t reconcile with this situation. And he’s also holding on to a trump card of his own.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – To Your Eternity

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 20

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Once there was an orb, sent to Earth, that transformed based on its connection to and stimulation by other entities. It spent time as a rock, as moss, and then took the form of a white wolf named Joaan belonging to a lonely boy living in a small hut among the desolate, snowy landscape. The boy is making plans to leave for “Paradise,” to follow in the footsteps of his fellow villagers. The boy and Joaan leave toward the South, following markings left by people who traveled that way previously. After a tragic discovery, they’re forced to head back, where the boy struggles with the encroaching loneliness. As the hearth fire dies out, the wolf Joaan transforms once more, into a boy.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – I’ve Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level

A truly just God.

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: Azusa is a 27-year-old office worker who keels over and dies one day from overwork. When she arrives in Heaven she learns that God has a soft spot for women, and Azusa is allowed to reincarnate as an immortal witch and live her desired “slow life.” The only monsters she encounters near her highland home are slimes, and she defeats around 25 of them a day to provide herself with money enough to live a modest life. Eventually 300 years pass in this manner, and a verification of Azusa’s strength reveals that she’s now maxed-out at level 99. This is an inconvenient secret that might spell the end of her lazy days at home, but of course rumors being what they are the news of her power soon spreads across the land. Eventually a dragon named Laika shows up at Azusa’s front door, and after a short duel accidentally smashes the home Azusa’s enjoyed for 300 years. Later, Laika returns in human form with repair funds and a request: she wants to become Azusa’s pupil and learn how to become strong like her.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Don’t Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Naoto’s only refuge is the peacefulness of the school library, but one afternoon he finds it populated by a group of extremely loud and chatty first-year girls. He attempts to get his work done and leave, but ends up getting picked on for his home-made manga. Three of the girls leave, but one girl with a devilish grin stays behind to torment him until he breaks down and cries. The next day while Naoto’s working on sketching in the art room, he finds that this girl, Nagatoro, seems to have taken a sick interest in teasing him. She does everything she can to get him to snap, which makes him recall some bad childhood memories of being bullied. It seems like, ultimately, what Nagatoro wants to see is her senpai actually get angry over something rather that hiding out in his shell. But is this what he wants? And is he actually starting to feel a little bit fond of Nagatoro?

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – 86

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 11 (a second cour has already been announced, however)

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: The Republic of San Magnolia has been embroiled in war with its neighbor, the Giadian Empire. As far as the public knows, this war is being fought using unmanned drones, ensuring no loss of life. But behind the impenetrable wall of propaganda exists a dark secret; the drones are piloted by people from the unacknowledged 86th district of San Magnolia, lower-class humans whose lives are considered expendable. Lena, a young member of the San Magnolia military who’s quickly risen through the ranks to become a Major, is given command of one of the more difficult-to-handle 86 units called the Spearhead Squadron. They’re commanded remotely using a mind-link technology called Para-RAID, and this technology carries with it some risks; the Spearhead Squadron has reportedly driven several of their handlers to quit, and perhaps cause one of them to die by suicide. Lena is one of the few individuals who chooses to see the 86-ers as people, but what is it about her that causes her to feel this unusual level of kindness?

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Battle Athletes Victory RESTART!

Camaraderie in action.

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Story Summary: When Kanata was young, she witnessed the crash of a spaceship near her rural home. Thrown from the ship was a young white-haired girl who implored Kanata to train and take her place in the tournament to decide the Cosmic Beauty. Kanata’s farming skills turned out to be a major boon during the qualifiers, giving her the strength to represent Earth in the finals. But after arriving at University Satellite, an orbiting city where the competition takes place, she discovers that not everyone is quite as friendly and outgoing as she is. Still, despite her lack of social graces, Kanata’s true and pure heart begins to win over her fellow competitors. She becomes roommates with Shelley, the competitor from Venus. After finalizing her registration, Kanata is surprised to see what she believes to be a familiar face among the students.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Shadows House

Kate and Emilico are like mirror images.

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 13

Source: Manga

Story Summary: High atop a hill in a mansion lives a noble family of Shadows. Each member of the Shadows family has a living doll that serves as their “face” because the soot they emit themselves obscures what they look like. Mistress Kate comes of age and receives her living doll counterpart, a bubbly, blond living doll with a bit of a clumsy streak. Though their personalities seem completely opposite, the doll’s genuine, kind attitude begins to grow on Kate. Kate finally decides on a name for the doll – Emilico, named after the heroine of a book Kate enjoys. It’s soon after that when Emilico notices other members of the family and their dolls, who may not be quite so friendly and outgoing as she.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Pretty Boy Detective Club

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: TBA

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: It’s all fun and games until you enter your second year of middle school, or so goes the deal that Mayumi made with her parents once-upon-a-time. Ten years ago on a family trip Mayumi saw the most beautiful star she’d ever seen, and it inspired her to want to become an astronaut. But she’s been chasing that dream since then and her parents want her to drop it. Now she’s only got a day left to figure out what it was she saw in the sky before she’s forced to forget about it. She encounters a beautiful boy who takes her to visit the mysterious “Pretty Boy Detective Club,” a legendary underground school organization that happens to be populated by some of the most popular (and beautiful) boys in school. They offer to help Mayumi find her lost star by literally recreating the circumstances of its discovery, and in the process convince her of the power of beauty.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Tokyo Revengers

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Takemichi feels as though his life peaked in middle school. In those days he was a member of a gang, had a girlfriend, and generally felt as though he belonged. In the ensuing 12 years, however, his life went off the rails. One day while eating chips in bed he hears the news that his former girlfriend and her younger brother were killed in an act of violence perpetrated by the Tokyo Manji gang, with whom Takemichi had some run-ins as a kid. As he’s waiting in line for the train, he’s pushed onto the tracks and his life starts to flash before his eyes – or, he soon realizes, he gets sent back in time. He re-experiences the fateful day in middle school when the direction of his life steered off course, and wonders why God would curse him to experience it all again. When he meets Hinata, his girlfriend at the time, and then her younger brother, he vows to try to make sure that they both survive.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – The World Ends With You

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Video Game

Story Summary: Neku wakes up disoriented in the middle of the Shibuya scramble crossing, only to quickly discover that no one can see him and he can’t be physically affected by other humans or moving objects. However, he’s not alone; after watching a human being literally erased from existence, he meets Shiki, a fellow player in the Reaper’s Game in which he’s been forced to participate. The players must survive 7 days fulfilling missions at the Reaper’s whim, and the only way they can achieve this is to work together and defeat creatures called “noise.” Neku is initially wary of trusting anyone else, but he’s also the only player with amnesia; after a couple of especially dangerous situations, his bond with Shiki proves to be invaluable and he chooses, against his cautious nature, to become a member of a team hoping to win their way out of the situation.

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