Hey guys! The reason that the impression reviews have been delayed these last two days is because I’ve been having a hard time deciding what exactly to review. I mean, there’s so much kickass fantasy and action going on this season that everything seems centered around the same themes and similar playing fields.

I decided to go with Tokyo Ravens because not only is the animation high budget, the character designs really stuck up to me after the opening episode and I haven’t seen good a spiritual magic world anime in a while. It came out earlier on Tuesday and because of second episodes from Kyoukai no Kanata and Kill la Kill, I didn’t get to it till Friday and I sorely regret it because it’s really good. The two main characters, Harutora Tsuchimikado (voiced by Ishikawa Kaito) and Natsume Tsuchimikado (voiced by Kana Hanazawa start out as childhood friends, we see an innocent and really well executed prologue before throwing us into the driving beats of the opening song which, in my opinion, really reflect the supernatural genre that the anime fits into.

Harutora, though part of the prestigious Tsuchimikado family in the world of spirits, exorcism and magic. The next Omnyo mage is about to be chosen and despite his friend Hokuto’s goading, he doesn’t want to get caught up in the familial traditions and duties that comes with the Omnyo… besides, he’s not even a spirit seer (which means he must be lacking in some sort of power). Instead, the girl of the name family, Natsume, is the one being prepped to take over as the Omnyo mage. For now, as of the end of the episode, Harutora’s only been edged slightly into the world of the supernatural when he gets approached by the youngest prodigy of the Twelve Divine Generals – Suzuka Dairenji (voided by Ayane Sakura).

The cast is so great!! The animation in the action, magic and combat scenes are STUNNING! My favourite part of the production however, has to be the fact that all the character designs are uniquely NEW (well, other than Harutora’s friend who looks strangely like Klein from SAO). The few pieces of instrumentals from the score samples in the background of episode 1 already have me hooked to the palette behind the anime’s main soundtrack. Classic action, fantasy and supernatural fans will be very pleased with the first episode of Tokyo Ravens (as am I). I can’t wait to see how Harutora gets pulled into Natsume’s world and I am SO EXCITED to see the appearance of other characters. (Also secretly looking forward to some romance between Natsume and Harutora??)

Thank you guys so much for reading. I hope you’ll all give Tokyo Ravens a watch. More first episode impressions to come!

– Cloudy

What are you pondering today?