Tag: Tokusatsu

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Shikizakura

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Kakeru Miwa was the lone survivor of a major disaster in Obara 8 years prior. Now in high school, his class is set to attend a museum exhibit commemorating the rebuilding of Obara. On the way to meet up with his classmates, he encounters a beautiful (and very lost) young woman named Oka in need of some directional assistance. As he peels off to help her find her way, the rest of the class views the images and relics of past destruction on display.

When Kakeru finally arrives, he can feel that something is wrong. His inner voice speaks to him in harsh tones, questioning why he was the only person who survived the disaster. As he struggles, terrifying beasts start to spill into the room and he’s nearly eaten. Luckily a group of individuals dressed in futuristic armor, along with Oka, arrive to fight back against these horrors. An accident causes Kakeru to fall to a lower floor, where he finds himself face-to-face with a real oni, one who inhabits a similar super suit. As the other struggle, Kakeru rushes into the fray, mentally battling with this oni as he uses its power to fight back. As he helps the team to a messy victory, Kakeru believes he’ll be asked to join their team, but the others question his trustworthiness.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – SSSS.Dynazenon

Just another quiet day…

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Story Summary: The world is peaceful on the whole, but in the lives of its inhabitants, there is discord. Minami is a girl with the reputation of being a tease. She asks boys out and then drops them like yesterday’s garbage, leaving in her wake a trail of hurt feelings. Her friend warns her to stop making promises she can’t keep, but Minami’s noncommittal answer tells the whole story. Meanwhile, Yomogi, an earnest kid, meets a strange man underneath a bridge. This oddball, who calls himself Gauma and claims to be a “kaiju user,” is starving, and it’s Yomogi’s leftovers from lunch that rescue him from that fate. Gauma vows to repay the favor. The opportunity comes a few days later when Minami hones in on Yomogi as her next target. Gauma can’t stand to see his new “friend” get toyed with, but whatever words he has for Minami get put on the back-burner when a kaiju starts attacking the city. Gauma’s rantings about kaiju and such turn out to be more real than anyone may have suspected, when he draws forth an entity called “Dynazenon” to fight back against the kaiju. Minami, Yomogi, and a bystander are suddenly embroiled in the fight of their lives.

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First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2018 First Impressions – SSSS.Gridman

Yuta Hibiki awakens with amnesia and the ability see things that others cannot. He first encounters a Gridman in the reflection of his friend Rikka Takarada’s computer and it tells him to “Remember his calling,” but Yuta doesn’t understand what this means. Later, in the distance, he sees an extremely large monster but it doesn’t move. It’s only when Yuta gets to school that the two sightings make sense: a monster attacks and the hero Yuta saw in the computer screen pulls him within the computer and transforms Yuta into a giant hero named Gridman. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Yuta Hibiki wakes up in his classmate Rikka’s living room remembering nothing about who he is or why he’s there; he learns that Rikka discovered him collapsed on the street outside her home, and is a bit irritated by his continued presence. What’s more worrisome is that Yuta has started to hallucinate; he sees an image of a costumed hero called “Gridman” on a monitor of one of Rikka’s mother’s old computers. No one else can see the mysterious Gridman, so Yuta decides to play it off as well as he can. After Rikka does some detective work to find out where he lives, she walks Yuta home.

Yuta learns that his parents are out of the country, so tries to take care of himself as best he can. His friend Utsumi picks him up the next morning and makes sure he gets to school. All seems relatively well considering the circumstances. But Yuta senses the shadow of a beast lurking around the town’s horizon; yet another image that no one else sees or acknowledges. As the day turns to evening, though, the beast awakens and begins to tear into the city. Yuta hears a voice in his head and he makes his way back to the old computer in Rikka’s home where he sees Gridman. Yuta is pulled into the computer and joins with Gridman to fight the kaiju, ultimately tearing the robotic creature apart. This unorthodox way of defending the city appears to be Yuta’s destiny, but the workings of this partnership, as well as the roles Rikka and Utsumi might play, are still a mystery to all.

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