Welp, here’s the first batch – Run with the Wind, Reincarnated as a Slime, and Girl in Twilight. Hit the jump and let’s chat!
Run with the Wind / Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru
This one seems like it’s going to interesting… Already we have a lot of conflicts going on. On top of the main one, will Haiji be able to convince everyone to run… It looks like there’s quite a bit of interpersonal stuff going on too. And what’s going on with Kakeru? He used to be a somebody (a well-worn trope in sports anime), but he isn’t anymore. And he’s something of a shady character to boot – not only losing a wad of money gambling, but seeming to easily take to thievery to support himself. If he’s in any kind of moral dilemma over this, there’s no signs of it so far. Or is his reclusiveness a sign of that? I look forward to finding out.
I also like that we have a nicely balanced cast of college aged characters without being too tropish. But, if you know me, you also know that such a large cast gives me pause… They’re had to handle well. That they’ve set up two unquestionably front-and-center characters gives me hope on that front. With the show slated to be two cour that gives them plenty of time and material to work with.
Prognosis: Tentatively tagged as a solid keeper. There’s a lot going on that I want to learn more about.
This is also the only show so far with a real probability of being an “us” show rather than just a “me” show. Girl in Twilight is an outside “maybe” if it has any major surprises.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime / Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken
Sigh… Right off the bat Slime is looking and acting terribly generic. Dragged out death of a protagonist we barely know? Check. And he’s a virgin who has never had a girlfriend? Check. And they tell us this multiple times? Check. The background is explained in excruciating detail? Check. And it’s explained in-game mechanics? Check…
I mean seriously, I’m having a hard time saying anything about the show because pretty much nothing actually happens. It’s all background and it’s all dragged out exposition. It’s all the worst parts of all the bad isekai I’ve ever seen neatly distilled into a single episode.
Prognosis: Not good Maynard, not good. Unless it really wows me – I give it one more ep, at best two. I just don’t have the time or interest.
The Girl in Twilight / Akanesasu Shoujo
One the surface, Twilight seems to fall somewhere in the isekai spectrum. (Nothing I’m aware of in the genre’s definition forbids travels between the worlds.) That the world is parallel rather than different is something of an unusual twist though… It’s an old sci-fi trope, but one I haven’t seen before in an anime.
The first episode leaves us with a lot of mysteries to chew on… Where did the crystal the Chloe found come from? I don’t think it’s presence was happenstance. Asuka-653 immediately recognizes the other girls are from 633… and insists they return there. She obviously knows something of dimensional travel. (And so does the girl we see a flash of at the end – she seems to be a native of Asuka-653’s world. Is she a counterpart to one of the other girls?)
Lot’s of questions… Not many answers. That’s what a first episode is supposed to do after all! :)
Prognosis: I find it hard to put my finger on why… But for the moment, I’m curious and Twilight has me interested enough to tune in next week.
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That’s it for me so far… (Bunny Girl Senpai and Between the Sky and Sea have both dropped but I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet. No spoilers!) What have you see so far? What are your thoughts on these shows? Drop a comment and let’s chat!
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
I’m not sure what I’ll be checking out, aside from SAO most likely. Of what’s here, Slime seems to be getting a lot of hate but the first episode really sounds like setup and not much else. There is some positive buzz around the manga for being a bit innovative so it may just need an episode or two to get going. I’ll at least give it a look.
Not sure on the others but you have me pretty interested in the first one.
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Yeah, Slime definitely looks like it needs an episode or two to get traction. It’s just that I’m irritated enough at the genre that patience is difficult.
Run with the Wind is definitely worth checking out!
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I can get that. Isekai has continued to run a bit rampant. Hopefully it does pick up and manages to be worthwhile.
Good to know, I’ll try and give that a watch this weekend :)
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So far all of these are possible watches for me but I’m not sold on any of them after their first episode. I have already dropped Between the Sky and Sea. That first episode was painful. However, Bunny Girl Senpai is probably my stand out so far and the show I’m most interested in of the first episodes I’ve watched.
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It’s a rare anime that really wows you in the first ep… With just a few moments thought only two (Euph and YuYuYu) spring to mind for me (though there are undoubtedly more).
I’ll have a great deal to say about Sky and Sea in my next first impressions post. (Sneak peek: I dropped it too.)
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That seems pretty much the consensus from people who’ve tried it. I haven’t read a review of it yet that is actually positive, though I’ll keep looking because there’s almost always one.
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Isaac (iblessall) was pretty high on it on Twitter… But that’s about all I’ve seen. TBH, I finished the ep right before sitting down to reply to comments so I haven’t seen anything other than Twitter one-liners.
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Run Like the Wind in an undisputed winner for me. Excellent sound direction, which I normally never notice (Ping Pong comes to mind), excellent character designs, good set-up, and unlike you I actually like huge casts. I also like the non-linear piece of narration, where we re-wound to see the first meeting from the other point of view. I wish they had called the show “The Wind Blows Strong”. What’s wrong with that?
I liked Slime. The stab attack was rather random, but I found the main character rather likable. They did overplay the I’m-a-virgin line, which also confuses me, since the opening suggests that most of the characters in the show are going to be male. I’m not getting harem vibes at all, especially since our main character’s going to take a female form (it seems), for whatever reason. I loved the little touches, like our slime going nuts on the flowers, because he’s bored and that’s the only thing he knows how to do with his body. My 3D-phobia, photosensitivity and motionsickness didn’t like the reincarnation sequence: I hope there’s not too much of that. And I just loved the tsundere Dragon – that body language was hilarious. It’s got a light touch, and looks like it could be fun. I fully expect regular eye-rolls, and I doubt it’s going to be anything out of the ordinary. But I’m definitely in.
The Girl In Twilight bored me to tears. I don’t exactly know why; I think it’s the execution more than the story and the characters (who seem to be all right). The show seemed incredibly life-less to me. I forced myself to the first parallel world section, saw the yellow snowbunnies (they’re Youkai angry at people pissing into pristine snow, aren’t they?) turn rabid, and they started to look more abstract than scary. Then I saw main-character 2 appear, and about then I opted out. I really can’t tell what it is about the show that bored me, but I never once got into it, and all the while I was asking myself what’so bad about this? Static eyes? Lack of animation? I don’t know.
Seen a few others, but I’ll wait until the first impression posts are done with.
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I’m glad you enjoyed Wind, I know it was your most anticipated show. Speaking of that, Great Passage (the novel) popped us as available for checkout/free reading on my Kindle, so it’s sitting in my queue. But it’s not due back for a year and the mound of research books on my coffee table are due back next week…
Twilight I can see that. Other than the combat scene it was awfully low energy… But the rest of it made up for that (for me at least).
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Out of these three I’ve only watched Run with the Wind and I liked what I saw. The cast is huge with ten characters but I’m hoping they can make it work considering the big hurdle is convincing nine members to take part in the marathon. Can’t wait to see who the worst runner from them is. I do agree with you about Kakeru. Exactly what type of guy loses all his money on gambling and then steals and makes nothing of it. But, I think I’m more interested in Haiji and his past at the moment.
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It’s not impossible to gracefully manage a huge cast, it’s just rarely done well… But you’re right, it does have a good setup for character roulette and done right that can good. I did enjoy their interactions though, they didn’t just leave them sitting like stuffed dummies when Haiji wasn’t interacting with them.
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That’s true. I’m hoping they do a good job because each character seems so different. Same here, I like how they broke off into smaller groups and started talking about their own interests. That lit major is me. I’ll recommend the books but probably won’t let you borrow my copy 😂
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