Sasaki to Pii-chan

Sasaki and Peeps is definitely something. This anime tries to be so many things all at once: a supernatural, a fantasy, a slice of life, a gourmet, etc. To be brutually honest, I don't think this show knows what it wants to be. The main selling point behind Saski and Peeps is the fact that the MC, Sasaki, travels between his world and the fantasy one, thanks to his Peeps, his magical pet. This anime is at its best when the two worlds actually have some benefit to one another, whether that be Sasaki taking his business expertise from the real world into the fantasyone, or when he uses the magic he learns in the fantasy one to fight other magicians in the real one. Outside of that, Sasaki and Peeps struggles to balance the plotlines that happen in the two worlds. There's very little cohesion in this show, which leads to awful pacing since the writing has to just pull stuff out of its ass in order to move things along. Sasaki and Peeps really feels like if someone took two completely different anime and clogged them together without putting in the effort to justify the contrasting themes. It's not bad, but it could've been better.

Sasapi came out the gate with one of the most original pilot episodes I’ve seen, implementing aspects of 4-5 different genres, a cool magical system, a talking bird, hot girls, I was wowed. Sadly, it never really matched those highs again. Still, I enjoyed it for what it was and would recommend it. There’s definitely more than enough to separate it from your run of the mill fantasy seasonal. It does have a fun cast of characters and an interesting world, it just felt underutilised at times and chaotic. Sasapi doesn’t really do anything new. Just recently, we’ve had shows like Roukin8 that featured working ageMCs going back and forth between worlds to make money selling goods. But, Sasapi is the first show to have that element mixed with magical girls, a secret government organisation and science fiction. While it sounds crazy, all of this stuff just really works in the confines of the story. The problem is the show introduces so many concepts that it has trouble balancing them all. Some cool characters like Hoshizaki or the neighbour girl get introduced and then kind of fade away as the show goes on, which is a shame because they were the best parts for me. That’s done in favour of a political negotiation arc in the isekai world, which I personally could not care less for. I’m not sure if this was just how it was in the books or an issue with the adaptation, but it felt like it needed 3-5 more episodes to really do justice to everything, either that or reduce the time spent in that arc. The story is at its best when it focuses more on Sasaki and Pii taking on magic users on earth with the government agency and selling stuff to the other world on the side. Sasaki himself is a cool character. He’s not a generic degenerate otaku, but just a regular salaryman who’s standing still in life. Not able to advance up the ranks in his company or get a raise, he’s stuck in a cycle of overwork and exhaustion until he finds magical talking bird , Pii in a pet store. Their relationship is the cornerstone of the series and I liked seeing them come to understand one another and support the other’s weaknesses. Despite coming from different worlds they’re able to form an unbreakable bond over mutual pain and good old chateaubriand steak. The slice of life moments with them are authentic and tender. It reminded me a lot of a buddy cop dynamic which I’m a big fan of. The production values also took a step back after the premiere episode. It was an hour long premiere and you could tell a ton of time went into it. But the action scenes after that felt half baked and even character models didn’t look as good. It’s not horrible, but definitely a noticeable downgrade. Luckily, this isn’t an action heavy series so it’s not always apparent and you can still enjoy the show. I enjoyed Sasapi despite its flaws. The characters were fun and Sasaki and Pi’s banter was a great way to end my week on Fridays. I went out and bought the Light Novel as well so I’ll be reading that too. I’d recommend this anime for fans of urban fantasy, Japanese toxic work culture, or just working adults who want someone you can relate with as a protagonist for once. Sasapi gets 7, out of 10.

Eehhh? Why is the rating so low? I feel compelled to make a review.. I appreciate anime like this where the MC is calm, collected, and mature. There is a certain charm to it. I don’t need to be stressed about stupid actions, decisions, and words~ which escalates simple plot.. MC’s actions are witty, cunning but professional, and mature but at the same time not too overly complicated since the events/plot itself is not too convoluted. The MC’s typical sales person character is quite appealing to me as well since 1. It’s realistic 2. its a breath of fresh air from the usual bullish type MCs. One ofthe comedy aspects of the anime dwells around mahou shoujos… well… weird but it’s not overly dwelled on so it doesn’t bother me that much. Anime’s title is Sasaki and Pii-chan, so it’s mainly about these two… so dw about the mahou shoujos lol First season is really more on their life in Pii-chan’s world.. love the pacing here.. it’s not overly stretched I’m thinking with how season 1 ended, we might see more of the Sasaki’s-world in season 2 I enjoyed the not so complicated sub plots and the business-like handling of events by MC.. Give it a try and judge for yourselves:)

Wait for season 2. The themes opened so far would suffice for at least 4 completely different animes. Spice&Wolf meets Mushoku Tensei meets Saving 80,000 Gold meets Jujutsu Kaisen meets Sailor Moon. There's not nearly enough time and space to let any of them take shape and spread wings, it's not so much a cliffhanger, as a 12-episode teaser for an upcoming series. It's an awesome anime but it doesn't have an end. It feels like it was aborted mid-season, mid story arc, with so many threads open and hardly any even moderately developed. A chekov gun hanged in ep 1 and reminded of every other episode,is shown to be hanging there right at the end of ep12. Wait for S2, and if it's not 24+ episodes, also wait for season 3. (also, flashy action is toned down in favor of strategy, economy, subterfuge. So, if you don't like anime where people rather talk their conflicts out instead of solving them with fists/guns/swords, this may not be your cup of tea.)

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