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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Shenmue the Animation

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 13

Source: Video Game

Episode Summary: Ryo is an accomplished student and well-known as a martial artist. The training he received from his father allows him to lead his high school’s Karate club to victory. When Ryo returns home to his father’s dojo, however, he notices a conspicuously open door and finds his father fighting a losing battle against a man dressed in striking green kung-fu robes. The man blames Ryo’s father for an individual’s death, all while demanding the location of a mirror his father possesses. After learning its location, the man dressed in green finishes off Ryo’s father.

The aftermath of this incident is confusing – who was this man and why did he label Ryo’s father a killer? Some folks around town suspect the Chinese Mafia based out of the port of Yokohama might be to blame. It turns out that Ryo may not have known his father as well as he may have thought. As he begins to put the pieces together, Ryo finds himself under attack again, though this time his father’s teachings and wisdom prove invaluable. Rather than continue on to college as he’d planned, Ryo decides to use this time to learn more about his father’s dealings and perhaps gain more insight into his family’s past.

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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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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2021 First Impressions – Full Dive

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: 10 years ago VRMMO games reached the peak of realism. However, since people play games to escape reality, it was decided that games should go back to being more game-like. In the ensuing years those games lost much of their popularity. However, that doesn’t stop Hiro, a former member of his high school track team who now spends most of his time gaming, from seeking after the most recent installment of his favorite VRMMO series. After coming up short on funds, he ends up at a shady game store where a bubbly-yet-cunning shopkeeper named Reona dupes him into buying a completely different, older game with his hard-earned funds. Hiro loads it up anyway and is initially pleased with how realistic it is – until he finds he can experience pain and then accidentally kills an NPC. When he finally encounters Reona inside the game, she’s upset to discover that Hiro’s in-game title has already become “Best Friend Killer.”

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Game Reviews Opinion Personal Reviews

Threads Reconnecting: A Discussion of Supergiant’s “Hades”

Note: This post contains thematic and story spoilers for Supergiant Games’ Hades. If you’re thinking about checking the game out, I highly suggest you do so! Then feel free to come back and let me know what you think.

It’s difficult to resist the urge to refer to 2020 as a lost year, because for so many of us it feels like the culmination of a lot of bad decisions and missed opportunities. For me personally, it was a time period defined by stress without a healthy outlet. I couldn’t attend conventions and see friends, I could really go on vacation, I suffered an undercurrent of fear that something might go awry with my or my husband’s employment situation… and that’s even aside from the relentless thumping of day after day of exhausting election news. It was bad enough for long enough that I couldn’t even get myself to watch anime. For some, their hobbies are an escape; something that lets them settle into a pleasant state of mind and forget about the outside world. For me, it’s kind of the opposite in that I have to be in a certain state of mind to be able to focus and enjoy something.

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