Noriko frequently dreams of another world, an alternate universe of green hills and vast forests, and of a golden bird flying through. But when the bird shows up in reality, Noriko chases after it and finds herself transported to the world she’s dreamed of, except this universe has dangers she hasn’t imagined: monstrous creatures who will eat humans and, unbeknownst to Noriko, nations who want to capture and use her; she is apparently the prophesied “Awakening,” a key to unlocking the Sky Demon and unleashing its immense power. But she’s found first by a capable and kind warrior, Izark—though what his plans are remains to be seen.

Despite growing up on “old school” manga and anime, I haven’t found many of the recent reboots to be very accessible. And they have been coming strong, with recent examples including Red River and this season’s Magic Knight Rayearth reboot. But fundamentally, I find it hard to watch a series that was written with an 80s or 90s audience in mind transferred to the modern day. That’s why I was so surprised to find that I enjoyed the first episode of From Far Away—and I liked it a lot. Adapted from a 90s shoujo manga, it retains all the qualities you expect from such a series—the clumsy scatterbrained heroine, pretty boys with long faces, isekai that is mythic and connected to prophecy, and much more. And it works! Noriko herself could come across as obnoxious—she’s pretty helpless, cries occasionally, and screams all the time, but I found her quite lovable. I can’t wait to see her interact more with Izark, with whom I imagine she’ll be drawn to but have an adversarial relationship with as well. I appreciated how there was this hazy kind of blur applied to the animation whenever we moved points of view, which helped emphasize not only the different languages the two main characters were speaking, but the different worlds they’re from. The ED was also excellent—dark and mysterious—and the perfect way to end an episode that concludes on a surprisingly chilling reveal. There’s a lot of promise here; I hope Studio Deen will continue to navigate this tricky path between old-school and new as well as it did in episode one.

From Far Away can be streamed on Crunchyroll.