HINAMATSURI – Episode 1
Cute without being precious, somber without being grimdark, and refusing to take itself too seriously, Hinamatsuri is thus far a surprisingly fun take on an old (and frequently unpleasant) premise.
Reviews Category
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Magical Girl Site – Episode 1
About a quarter of the way through this premiere the frail, put-upon protagonist stumbles upon a cute stray cat, which is her only friend. “I wonder how long it’ll be til that cat dies,” I thought idly, because that’s the kind of show this is.
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Gurazeni: Money Pitch – Episode 1
Have you ever wanted to watch a sports story about financial anxieties and retirement plans? Then have I got a series for you!
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MEGALOBOX – Episode 1
Do not stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
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Tada Never Falls in Love – Episode 1
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with telling a familiar story if you tell it well, and so far TadaKoi is telling it very well.
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Dances with the Dragons – Episode 1
Dances with the Dragons is a high-concept fantasy anime with an element of political intrigue, which means about half of this first episode is basically impenetrable. That said, I’m interested in what looks like the core behind the initial nonsense.
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LUPIN THE 3rd PART 5 – Episode 1
Here’s the problem with being a longtime fan of something: you start to notice when things are getting phoned in.
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Real Girl – Episode 1
Real Girl has… issues. A lot of them. So much so that it’s hard to figure out exactly where to start.
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Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These – Episode 1
As the latest installment in a franchise that’s been a juggernaut since the 1980s, the new LOGH anime has big shoes to fill. As for how the premiere looks on its own, your opinion is likely to be determined by your patience for dialogue.
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Gundam Build Divers – Episode 1
To understand Gundam Build Divers, you need to understand where it comes from.
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Kakuriyo -Bed and Breakfast for Spirits- – Episode 1
The supernatural husband genre has deep folkloric roots all over the world, so it’s unsurprising that it’s a narrative that appears over and over again. There’s no getting around the fact that it’s pretty inherently problematic. And yet, I thoroughly enjoyed Kakuriyo -Bed and Breakfast for Spirits-.
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Fist of the Blue Sky: Regenesis – Episode 1
What I know about Fist of the North Star after watching this premiere is that I feel the intense solidarity of knowing an old franchise you love has gotten an incredibly garbage update.
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Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Episodes 1-2
Any anime can have an outlandish concept that sounds ridiculous on its face, but it takes work to really sell those ideas beyond a single punchline. It’s not clear if Pretty Derby will get there or sink into being a plain old “cute girls do the sports” anime, but it’s certainly got style.
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GeGeGe no Kitaro – Episode 1
We included GeGeGe no Kitaro on our premiere list with the understanding that, if it was a kids’ show, we wouldn’t actually cover it. After watching it, I’d say it’s probably closer to “kids’ show” than “not a kids’ show”… but y’know what? It’s right on the edge, it’s pretty fun, and I’m trapped inside of my apartment because ice is falling from the sky in April. So screw it! Let’s do the dang thing!
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Anime Feminist Recommendations of Winter 2018
The cozy winter season has come to a close, so now it’s time to take a look back at the shows the team most enjoyed snuggling up with. Grab your penguins, your mummies, and your Pompompurins and gather ’round the campfire, AniFam!
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Magical Girl Ore – Episodes 1-2
“Anime comedy about genderplay” is a phrase that raises about eight billion red flags, and for good reason. I can’t say that Magical Girl Ore is entirely a refreshing break from that shit tradition, but there’s enough here to get its hooks in me.
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2018 Winter Three-Episode Check-In
We’re continuing the informal three-episode “check-in” roundtable that we started last season, this time with the long list of promising Winter 2018 titles.
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2018 Winter Premiere Digest
Another season of premieres watched and reviewed! Now that we’ve gone through every new show, it’s time to get ’em all in one room and see how they measure.
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Beatless – Episode 1
Beatless feels largely like a pastiche of genre conventions and other series that came before it.
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DARLING in the FRANXX – Episode 1
This has the potential to challenge cultural and gender norms. It also has the potential to be a queer-erasing mess of cliches. And while I want to believe it’ll be the former, I can’t shake the feeling it’ll wind up being the latter.
