Ruri likes bright, shiny things. So when a crystal pendant catches her eye at the shopping mall, she begs her mom for an advance on her allowance, dancing on the spot and whining like a three-year-old, though she’s probably more like thirteen. When mom tells Ruri that grandpa used to come home with those “pointy… Read More First Impression: Ruri Rocks
A college freshman named Mako watches a cooking show on her phone. She loves food but is extremely shy and timid and can’t bring herself to venture into crowded restaurants alone. Later, on campus, three college girls seek to register a Food Culture Research Club, but they need a fourth member to be allowed to… Read More First Impression: Food for the Soul
A stunning montage of some of the best photorealist shots anime has to offer invites us to contemplate the forested pathways of a mountain shrine, as a gentle score and birdsong lull us into a restful state. A young woman climbs the stone steps, flushed with exertion. Cut to the Kadokawa HQ, where 18-year-old mangaka… Read More First Impression: Zatsu Tabi (That’s Journey)
A high school girl stumbles into a flower shop designed by Shaft Studios and is met with a blue rose, a fast-talking pink-haired girl, the promise of a song, and…a fight among the employees? Just what exactly is this place? Cut to the outside world. Yuina, she of the pink hair, is the kind of… Read More First Impression: Maebashi Witches
Kitahara Jo is looking for a star—a racer that fans can see themselves in and cheer on to victory in the world of uma musume or horse girl racing. But he’s probably not going to find her out in exile at the regionals, right? Meanwhile, it’s the first day of school at Kasamatsu Tracen Academy,… Read More First Impression: Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray
Disaster strikes for Minami when the mobile game she was so invested in gets hit by the dreaded end-of-service notice. Encouraged by her friend to find a club to join, she tries several, but her lack of physical skills discourages her from sticking with any of them. While looking for something out in town to… Read More First Impression: Sorairo Utility (TV)
An adorably small Shima Rin gets off the train at a countryside station to meet her grandfather. No, this isn’t the latest installment of Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, it’s actually a flashback sequence running through Rin’s mind as she goes on another of her solo camping trips. Back in 4th grade, her grandfather gave… Read More First Impression: Laid-Back Camp Season 3
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