Score: A-

I didn’t expect this episode to be so good! This show wasn’t really on my radar to a serious degree. Although I probably should have expected it to be pretty good. David Production generally nails it with the series they adapt. And visually you can tell they were on their game as always. This episode had some great colours, good looking characters, and some absurd over the top action. If they keep this up the whole way through then this show will be a great spectacle on the visual side. But if the story and characters couldn’t hold it up then that wouldn’t be enough. Thankfully I’m feeling good about Takeru and Tsukimiya. Both of them have their charms and should be fun to follow as the story plays out.

I’ve got questions

What was up with that ending though? Clearly he didn’t end up exactly where he first arrived in that world. Tsukimiya wasn’t wearing a costume or anything. So at the very least it wasn’t during the show. But does that mean he’s waking up after they already met? Or is it before the show ever happened? Heck, maybe this is a situation where he’s being dropped into a parallel world. The latter might explain all the visions that Takeru has had of some Tsukimiya. Maybe he was gleaming into possible paths that may have led to them interacting. It would have a romantic destiny kind of vibe. No matter when he gets dropped into that world or in whatever context…they are destined to meet. Hard to say what the truth is yet. All I know for sure is that in any timeline he’s dumbstruck by how lovely she is!

Well that escalated!

The action was just amazing. If anything was a giving away David Productions being involved it was how well they handled the bigger action elements. You had people piloting supernatural shikigami and it all just fits into the same world. There’s nothing jarring between the simpler stuff like Takeru sitting around being given exposition about the world he’s in and Takeru turning into a super form to fight a monster himself. All feels like part of the same world and just draws you into it.

I’ll say this about the Oni…they are persistent. Takeru may not have finished off the core of the Oni he fought and that cost him dearly later. But it’s not like he was sloppy about it either. The amount of damage he did would make you normally think that he won. I thought he won. Even though I heard a bit about time rewinding after a defeat…I didn’t think anything of it when seeing the episode seemingly wrap up. Takeru had won, protected the girl, and now he could cele…oh god she’s dead. And then “oh god they are both dead!”These things are going to be the kind of threat you can’t take an eye off until it’s 100% over.

Hopefully a good lead

Takeru in a lot of ways will make or break the show. The “I never lose” delinquent style can work, but it could also be a bit much. Obviously not admitting defeat even after dying is very fitting for this situation where he very much is coming back after dying. But I could also see his opponents losing their minds over the pure childishness of it. If you lose…you lose! Admitting it doesn’t really matter after a certain point! But obviously it works for his character so it’s overall fine. I just hope that he remains a main character I can like and not one that gets to be a bit tough to handle. If nothing else I do respect him throwing everything he’s got into what he does. He gave it all to try and protect Tsukimiya. It didn’t work exactly…but the effort was legitimate.

The girl of destiny

I’m curious about Tsukimiya herself. She’s clearly this girl of destiny and someone that Takeru will always run into and always fall for. But there has to be more to her than just that. Her character needs enough agency and intrigue or she won’t be that engaging. But so far I think there’s enough hints to say that she definitely has things going on. There’s clearly a connection between her and the onmyouji. What that is…I have no idea. But she is likeable and clearly a capable person. I’m just curious what kind of role she’ll have in all that’s going on. At the very least she doesn’t share Takeru’s ability to walk around in that black mist freely. But it’s hard to say if even onmyouji can do it without their shikigami suits. His tolerance may purely be isekai related.

This alternate Earth might work for me honestly. I don’t mind the concept of mixing ancient Japan with modern tech like holograms. He’s clearly not simply going back in time here. It’s more like an alternate way Japan and the world could have ended up. One where technology boomed, but society/overall design philosophy doesn’t appear to have changed too much. There may not be more to it than “modern tech in ancient times”, but at the very least I kind of like this setting.

Certainly an interesting setting

This was a strong first episode. It went from a show I wasn’t sure about to one that I’m definitely going to keep an eye on. There were some great twists throughout this episode and a lot of questions. You have Takeru having had visions of encounters with Tsukimiya for a long time now. What were those? Views into possible timelines? Lot of questions about Takeru’s powers. Both his combat abilities and the time based powers. And Tsukimiya obviously has some secrets of her own. I’m not sure it can match the shock value of the main character and love interest getting killed right at the end of the episode (temporarily). But I’m excited to see where this is all going!