It’s that time of the year again, so enjoy our First Impressions of the winter anime season that just started~

Since my most recent post is a full first impression of the first episode of Citrus, I guess I don’t have that much left to say other than YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES, THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!!

Okay, I composed myself again. So to put it in a less fangirly tone, let’s just say that the anime adaptation has thus far exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. When it comes to yuri anime, the quality of the animation, the quality of the voice acting performances, and, of course, the direction and pacing of this first episode, simply felt like something we haven’t gotten at all lately. It’s about time Citrus finally saves the day!

Read my full first impressions right here.

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Interesting… so far, I can’t really say much more. The episode had a rather slow start in my eyes, as all we saw was main girl Koizumi eating ramen, getting aroused by it, and being mean to pretty much everyone, especially best girl, Yuu.

So far, she seems a pretty flat and annoying character that is only driven by one thing – her love for ramen. Yeah, you could say the title let us predict that much, but I guess I still felt like there was just something missing. Well, then again, maybe it was just the fact that I don’t like seeing lesbian characters getting rejected. 😛

I kind of have this bad feeling that Yuu will only stick around for comedic reasons, which means that she’s the yuri character that only fulfills the purpose of always getting rejected by Koizumi to get people to laugh. Oh well, hopefully they’ll prove me wrong! Also, don’t watch this show when you’re on a diet. I’m crazy hungry after watching this…

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The first season of Dagashi Kashi was somewhat enjoyable for me, so checking back in for another season was a no-brainer.

There’s been a change in studios from the first season to the second, with production moving from feel. over to Tezuka Productions, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The slight alteration of character designs and coloring are the most immediate things you notice, but I don’t think those were problems to begin with, though, I guess things like that should have been expected (even if I prefer the first season’s visuals). Thankfully, the heart and soul of the series seems to remain intact, with all sorts of Japanese treats playing center stage, as well as Hotaru, one of my favorite characters of 2006.

It still kind of feels like they’re trying to sell you snacks, and I don’t think I liked the first season enough to ensure that I won’t drop this a bit later. So for me, Hotaru and Saya are the main reasons that I’m watching this anime, but since I’ve picked up so many shows this season, it might take a little more than that to keep me interested this time around.

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For a while now, I’ve been searching for a good horror anime, but instead, I’ve come across the likes of Yami Shibai, Kowabon, and Sekai no Yami Zukan, shorts that are anything but scary. Well, if the first episode is anything to go by, Ito Junji: Collection isn’t very scary either, but unlike the previously mentioned shows, at least it’s a full-length anime that seems to have some effort put into it.

The mood of the first episode is more along the lines of a dark comedy, and the quirky main character just killed any sense of tension for me. In fact, thanks to him, the episode was a lot funnier than I ever would have imagined. He was an entertaining character, though, from what I understand, this anime is a collection of stories, so I’m not expecting to see that much more of him. Later in the episode, another (short) story revolved around a girl who turned into a doll, and while that was more serious, it was a lot more forgettable than the main story, so maybe I wouldn’t mind him playing a recurring role…

It seems this show might take on a darker and more suitable tone in future episodes, so that’ll be something I’ll be looking forward to. Personally, I’d like something more along the lines of Another, Corpse Party: Tortured Souls, or Shiki, but at least this isn’t yet another season of Yami Shibai, so it should be enough to hold my interest for at least a while.

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Over the last several years, there have been a couple of romance anime that I’ve really loved—Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and Ore Monogatari!!—and even though those are romcoms and this show isn’t, this is an anime that seemed really intriguing to me. The first episode brought us a first look at the main character, Akira, who works part-time at a local restaurant and finds herself falling for the manager, a 45-year-old divorcee with a young son. She’s seventeen, so it kind of blows my mind that we’re seeing an anime centered around an age gap romance.

This was a very sweet and wistful first episode, as Akira takes the first steps toward acknowledging her feelings and slowly acting upon them. I really enjoyed the deliberate pacing, and coming from Wit Studio (Shingeki no Kyojin, The Ancient Magus’ Bride), the animation is obviously gorgeous as well. The first episode wasn’t drama-filled and had some light comedy to help brighten things up, and I really hope that things stay this way, because this was very charming and delightful to watch.

If done well, I’m a sucker for something like this, and I now have high hopes that this can become an enchanting look at how—regardless of age, gender, or any other factor—you can’t control who you love~

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Well, that just happened. This is the kind of show that you finish, sit back, then wonder to yourself: “What the hell am I doing with my life?”

This was about as random an anime as I’ve ever seen, and I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it probably wasn’t this. Your Name., Pokémon, and Kemono Friends are but a few of the spoofs found in the first episode, which I didn’t find all that funny, but it was so strange that I couldn’t take my eyes away. Another headscratcher was how this show was listed at twenty-three minutes per episode, and while it certainly was that long, it was just a ten-minute episode repeated twice, with the second half being the exact same as the first, just with different voice actors. Curious…

The first episode of Pop Team Epic was just one huge meme, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t entertained by it. I can see this growing old very fast, yet I can also see this show becoming a mindlessly weird time where you just turn off your brain and enjoy the cringe. We’ll just have to see which one it is.

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For me, I’m usually not the biggest fan of slice of life anime that primarily take place at school. They’re often so similar that it starts to feel as if I’ve seen this many times before, and since there’s almost always little to no actual story, there isn’t a whole lot separating one show from the next.

After checking out the first episode of Slow Start, I feel like many of the same things can be said about this anime. This seems like your typical slice of life anime that throws all sorts of moe at you, and while this was certainly enjoyable to a degree, it’s pretty nondescript, and I’m worried that I’m going to eventually lose interest and end up dropping this. There are no shortage of cute girls (especially pint-sized Kamu), however, they all seem kind of bland to me.

I don’t think it’d be too surprising to see some yuri subtext eventually creep into this show—with the most likely pairing being Kamu x Eiko—but even this doesn’t entice me enough to think that this show will be any better than average. Anyway, we’ll see how things play out, and I hope this will end up being better than I’m expecting.

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Looking at the slate of shows that I’ve picked up this season, there’s a noticeable lack of action anime, save for Toji no Miko. Coming into the season, I thought that this title looked fairly promising, and after the first episode, maybe I shouldn’t have been as optimistic as I once was. Neither the toji versus aradama battle early on, nor the swordfighting competition later on, could keep this from feeling surprisingly generic.

With an all-female cast that battles supernatural abominations, Toji no Miko reminds me a little bit of KanColle, but while that anime had plenty of charming characters, the first episode of this one didn’t do too much to inspire as much confidence in the cast. Said cast seems to be pretty large, so there’s clearly potential here, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the main protagonist, Kanami, ends up being outshined by a few other girls (like Hiyori or Sayaka). She strikes me as one of those leads that ends up being completely forgettable, but it’s only the first episode, so I don’t want to rush to conclusions just yet.

Lastly, since there are so many girls, the possibility of some yuri moments is something that’ll probably keep me watching for a while, even if the overall quality of the anime doesn’t improve going forward. Whether it’s Kanami and Mai, Kanami and Hiyori, or some other girls that we haven’t seen as much, that would go a long way towards making this seem more interesting to me. This series should at least get a little better, with or without any subtext, but my first impressions left me wary and uncertain that this will turn out to be anything more than mediocre.

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The first episode of this show was premeired behind closed doors at Anime Expo 2017, and ever since then, I’ve been patiently waiting for us plebs to finally get a chance to watch it. Now that I have, it’s easy to see what the hype surrounding this anime is about, and even though it’s still very early, the hype might be justified.

Earlier I mentioned that Koi wa Ameagari no You ni was gorgeous, and while that’s true, Violet Evergarden is on a whole nother level. But that’s stating the obvious, so let’s just talk about something else. At first glance, it seems as though this anime is far from just a pretty face. The story—which revolves around lifelong soldier and “weapon” Violet finding her way after a great war that saw her lose both her arms—seems well-poised to be a touching story about love and loss, and considering how good this first episode was, I’m stoked to see how things develop over the next few months.

The year barely started, but it’s already looking like Violet Evergarden is going to be one of the best anime of the year. KyoAni gets a lot of shit from people, but they’ve historically made some really good anime over the years, and on the heels of 2017’s stellar Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon, this could end up being one of their best works yet.

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Unfortunately, the name of this anime isn’t Yuri Camp, nor is it Yuru Yuri Camp. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, so far, I think this is a pretty enjoyable slice of life. This season seems to have a couple of niche subgenres covered, with an anime about ramen, and now, an anime about camping. I’m not really an outdoorsy person myself, but this show almost makes me want to go buy a tent and explore the great outdoors.

Calm and serene, the first episode was about as pleasant a time as you can ask for, and even though only a couple of characters play major roles, the cast looks fairly promising. I don’t want to get my hopes up for any yuri subtext, so it helps that this might be enjoyable enough for me to embrace it nevertheless. If you’re into cute girls doing cute things, this might be worth a look, and even if that’s not exactly your bag, this looks like it could still be a cheery and endearing way to pass the time this winter~