Category Archives: First Impressions

First impressions: Hana-Kimi a.k.a. the American stalker

Transferring to a school out of country is already crazy enough. Transferring just to meet your idol is insane behavior. A high jumper, too. Not even your standard idol, but just a really, really good athlete in what most would consider to be a niche sport. Look, no insult to any high jumper out there, but you’re obviously not competing with, say, baseball or soccer. When’s the last time I even watched an anime about high jumpers? Suzuka? Christ, that was two decades ago. Point is, I would have my kid committed to a mental facility if they suggested something as batshit crazy as crossing the largest ocean on the planet just to get closer to a boy. But that’s exactly what our protagonist Mizuki does, and her bestie is just so blase about it.

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First impressions: Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None

Another season, another dude gets kicked out of the adventurer’s party. Is this one riddled with anxiety? Does this one have a cripplingly low self-esteem? Or is he perhaps a wannabe chef? My point is, what makes this guy interesting enough to watch week in and week out? Well, he kinda looks like Kirito from a distance, so we’re already starting off on the wrong foot. But let’s get to it after the jump.

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Tamon’s B-Side Ep. 1: Never meet your heroes, but it’s okay if you’re an anime protagonist

Utage needs money to support her oshi, so she has a part-time housekeeping job. As luck would have it, she gets assigned to the home of Tamon, the oshi in question. Utage quickly learns, however, that her oshi is not quite as confident and outgoing in real life as he is onstage. They often say you should never meet your heroes, because, well, we’re all human. As such, even our biggest heroes are flawed. And boy, do I know it! I often get asked, “Who’s your role model?” I find it hard to answer that question, because so many people I used to respect end up being… well, for a lack of a better term, giant turds. I grew up watching Kobe Bryant and the Lakers win championships after championships. What happened? He was soon charged with rape. Was he ever convicted? No. But shhh, don’t tell Lakers fans this, but he probably did it. What about Clayton Kershaw? In his peak, he was practically a shoo-in for the Cy Young award every year! Unfortunately, he’s probably a huge bigot who’s just smart enough to know he shouldn’t be too open about it.

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The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess Ep. 1: Like looking into a mirror

Another villainess story, but this time, our protagonist wrote the damn thing. So maybe we can a little more meta than usual? Konoha has always been obsessed with the stories that you typically find in otome games. Y’know, tales where the heroine has hot guys drooling over her, but there’s always a bitter, jealous woman bringing her down. It’s just a harem but in reverse. Naturally, our protagonist grows up, gets a boring office job (only people who have known the soul-sucking corporate world would want to be isekai’d), dies tragically to a truck, and reincarnates into her own story as the villainess.

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