Hello and welcome back to First Impression Friday (totally did not just make that up right now)! It’s like I just came at you with a first impression mere days ago and yet here we are again! …
Nov 20, 2020 • Subscribe
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Taiso Samurai – Episode 1 [First Impressions]
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First Look: Taiso Samurai
Jotaro Aragaki is a 29-year-old widower and father who has devoted his life to gymnastics but is now staring down the barrel of retirement, having performed poorly over…
Taiso Samurai
Taiso Samurai is a sports anime about a gymnast in the twilight of his career who rekindles his love for the sport.
Taiso Samurai – Episode 11 [Final Impressions]
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Taiso Samurai – 07
「合宿ザムライ」 (Gasshuku Zamurai) "Training Camp Samurai" Who could have guessed that Leo wasn't actually a ninja this whole time?
Taiso Samurai – 04
「ザムライ娘。」 (Zamurai Musume.) "Samurai Daughter." Being the daughter of someone in the public limelight doesn't seem easy. Especially when said person has been the focus of negative press.
Taiso Samurai – 03
「決闘ザムライ」 (Kettou Zamurai) "Dueling Samurai" I could talk about how gorgeous the CGI gymnastics were. But I've always preferred to write up case studies into characterisation. So here goes.
Taiso Samurai – 08
「特訓ザムライ」 (Tokkun Zamurai) "Intensive Training Samurai" An exploration of personal crossroads, as characters ponder on choices regarding their respective futures.
Taiso Samurai – 09
「ニンジャ＆ザムライ」 (Ninja & Zamurai) "Ninja & Samurai" There are two kinds of injuries that affect an athlete's performance. The perceivable physical injuries. And invisible emotional strains that can be equally…
Taiso Samurai – 10
「決戦ザムライ」 (Kessen Zamurai) "Samurai's Decisive Battle" Now I'm really starting to worry about Leo.
Taiso Samurai – 02
「どん底ザムライ」 (Donzoko Zamurai) "Rock-Bottom Samurai" In MAPPA we trust.
Taiso Samurai – 01
「引退ザムライ」 (Intai Zamurai) "Retiring Samurai" I'm not a fan of samurais. Fortunately, despite the name, no actual samurais feature in the production of this series.
Taiso Samurai – 04 [Samurai Daughter]
Is Leo the stealth main character of Taiso Samurai? This episode certainly pointed in that direction, taking a prime opportunity for father-daughter bonding and making it a ninja-daughter…
Taiso Samurai – 05 [Battling Samurai]
Here’s another Taiso Samurai outing where the script sidelines Jotaro, who seems to be the main character in name only. Last week it was all about Leo and…
Taiso Samurai – 03 [Dueling Samurai]
Here’s a more conventional sports anime episode for you. Leo still refuses to take off his ninja headgear and Big Bird is still squawking up a storm in…
Taiso Samurai – 02 [Rock-Bottom Samurai]
I may have jumped the gun on this one, y’all. Taiso Samurai’s first episode was so strange that I couldn’t help but root for it, but the second…
Taiso Samurai – Episode 4
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Taiso Samurai – Episode 2
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Taiso Samurai – 05, 06
「親子ザムライ / 合戦ザムライ」 (Oyako Zamurai / Gassen Zamurai) "Samurai Father and Daughter / Battling Samurai"
Taiso Samurai – Episode 6
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Taiso Samurai – Episode 3
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Taiso Samurai – 11 (END)
「体操ザムライ」 (Taiso Zamurai) "Gymnastics Samurai" An unassuming series brimming with heart and soul, I can safely say thatTaiso Samurai is easily one of the most underappreciated shows from 2020, judging…
Taiso Samurai – Episode 9
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Taiso Samurai – Episode 8
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Taiso Samurai – Episode 7
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Taiso Samurai – 06 [Samurai Father and Daughter]
I’ve been opening these posts with some variation of, “I can’t believe Jotaro wasn’t the focus of this episode!” for three weeks now, so it’s about time I…
Fall 2020 First Impressions: Adachi to Shimamura, Kamisama ni Natta Hi, Taiso Samurai
Adachi to Shimamura Short Synopsis: The two titular high school girls skip classes and spend their time together. Mario’s review: Well, I didn’t really expect a slow-burn premiere…
Taiso Samurai – 7-8 [Training Camp Samurai/Intensive Samurai Training]
This is the end of the road for my full Taiso Samurai writeups. Cobbling together this post was like trying to build a bird house with a hammer…
First Impressions: The Gymnastics Samurai
Jotaro was once a successful gymnasts who’s won a number of medals and was famous for his samurai-like hairstyle. However, he currently deals with an injured shoulder and…
Battle of the Generations – Taiso Samurai
We are now into the second anime I managed to complete in Winter 2020. The subject of course, is my beloved sports anime but with a bit of…
Gibiate – 01 (First Impressions) – Samurai Pandemico
Okay, this might not seem like the best time for an anime about a goddamn pandemic, but there are times when battling literal monsters seems preferable to the current…
Samurai Jack (Season 5) // First Impressions
In the fifth and final season of Samurai Jack, produced by Williams Street and Cartoon Network Studios, 50 years have passed since where we last left off. The…
Healin’ Good Precure First Impressions
Today we are looking at the first two episodes of the latest entry in the long running PreCure franchise.
Taiso Zamurai (First Impression)
“Year 2002. Japan’s gymnastics world was once strong. Former Japanese representative Shoutarou Aragaki (29), who devoted his time to gymnastics, was unable to perform as expected. Even …
BAM! – Is Tower of God GOOD? : First Impressions
Okay but is Tower of God worth watching? Let’s talk about “Oh honey”, bae, and The Rock…
Ansatsu Kizoku | First Impressions: So far so good.
Ansatsu Kizoku or Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru, has offered an interesting twist, you'll can be reborn under the condition that you kill the…
The World's Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat
The Gymnastics Samurai – Fall 2020 Anime First Impressions (Spoiler‑Free)
A surprising mashup of genres, "The Gymnastics Samurai" was the last of the three of our Fall 2020 First Impressions to air in English.
Seasonal First Impressions: SENGOKU YOUKO is Good, Thank God
The second Satoshi Mizukami manga to get an anime in two years thankfully fares much better than its older sibling The Lucifer & Biscuit Hammer.
Kanojo mo Kanojo – 01 (First Impressions) – Good Faith Violation
Saki and Nagisa seem like nice people and are very cute, coming straight form the Quintessential Quintuplets school character design—not surprising as Tezuka Productions and director Kuwahara …
The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) | First Impressions | Demo Review
Rather than bringing fairies to the modern world, ‘The Good People’ takes modern players to the fairy world…
Lycoris Recoil – 01 (First Impressions) – Girls, Guns, and Good Coffee
This episode opens on Tokyo at dawn, something I’ve had the privilege to experience (thanks, jet lag!): calm, quiet, peaceful, before the hustle and bustle of the morning…
Manga First Impression: The Elusive Samurai
The Elusive Samurai is the newest series by Yusei Matsui, creator of Assassination Classroom. Instead of a science fiction series set at a school, The Elusive Samurai is…
Episode 713, “Ridiculous” (with @MerphyNapier)
On this week’s episode of The One Piece Podcast we have hosts Zach , Ed , Steve & Alex for our recap of the Skull Dome-shattering One Piece Chapter…
The Ridiculous Sakura Trick “Controversy”
I’ve seen in quite a few places (MAL, Facebook, Twitter) that there seems to be a heated argument regarding the anime adaptation of Sakura Trick. Detractors tend to…
Platinum End ep 9- Ridiculous
Platinum End is well... There's no easy way to say this, it has some issues. Let me tell you what I thought about it.
Episode 713, "Ridiculous" (with Merphy Napier)
On this week’s episode of The One Piece Podcast we have hosts Zach, Ed, Steve & Alex for our recap of the Skull Dome-shattering One Piece Chapter 1044! This week we have special guests Stephen Paul (translator…
Episode 713, "Ridiculous" (with Merphy Napier)
On this week’s episode of The One Piece Podcast we have hosts Zach, Ed, Steve & Alex for our recap of the Skull Dome-shattering One Piece Chapter 1044! This week we have special guests Stephen Paul (translator…
First episodes run, first impressions.
I usually don’t like talking about an anime series or making an opinion about an anime until I’ve watched the first season or at least 12 episodes of…
First Impressions 2
So, here we are again: round 2 of my rundown of the first episodes of the newly aired TV anime this fall season. I haven’t watched all of…
First Impressions – Deaimon
I have a soft spot for any Kyoto-based anime, for obvious reasons. Read more