When I started the first episode of Sasaki and Pii-chan, or Sasaki for short, I had absolutely no idea what I was going into, and expected this to be a chill show about a salaryman raising its pet, which had me wonder why it would require 40 minutes for its first episode.
Well, at least I wasn’t entirely wrong.
Synposis
Sasaki and Peeps is based on a light novel of the same name written by Buncololi and illustrated by Kantoku, and it’s been published in Media Factory’s MF Bunko J imprint since January 2021.
Sasaki pulls through his exhausting everyday life as a corporate slave by fawning over cute animals, whether they’re ones he sees online or are other people’s pets.
When he finally decides to adopt one of his own, it turns out that the Java Sparrow he picked up at the local pet shop was in fact a reincarnated sorcerer from another world, that is willing to impart his knowledge upon his new owner in return for high quality meals.
Thus begins a new chapter in Sasaki’s life where he finds himself involved in fantasy worlds, superpowered organizations and even magical girls.
Setting
Sasaki ‘s uniqueness is its setting, or more precisely – setting s , that blend all sorts of fantastical tropes into a single story. While Isekai is well beyond an overused theme, Sasaki isn’t only one of the few Isekai that allow its protagonist to go back and forth between worlds (shout out to Mashu-ha), but actually has superpowers in the real world as well, breaking the usual dichotomy of ‘the boring world and the interesting one’.
However, this setting is a double edged sword, as this meant that each aspect got less screentime, and each feels less meaningful. While we do get to see how the different ‘realms’ affect one another, it did feel like the Isekai part was still getting most of the screentime, despite being the least interesting of the bunch.
Characters
As a natural result of its unique setting, Sasaki also comes with a wide roster of characters that are a part of each plane the story dives into. The ‘other world’ has enough characters to be a story of its own, and the same can be said about the superpower society. And the quantity doesn’t come at the cost of the quality – most of the cast is well written, and is anything but common templates and tropes you see elsewhere.
In fact, it could be argued that this show’s strongest point lies in its unusual characters: starting from Sasaki himself, the unusual middle-aged protagonist with a soft spot for cute things but a ruthless business sense, the magical wizard trapped inside a sparrow’s body, all the way to nonchalantly psychotic magical girls, a teenager wearing makeup so that her superpowered colleagues don’t look down on her, the casually gay man in position of power, and the Isekai Ojisan we have at home.
[Aki’s remark about too many lolis on this show, questioning whether there’s a single adult female in the cast]
[Image featuring many lolis on this show + Isekai Ojisan]
As this is closely tied with the setting, this section is also unfortunately interwined with the way the former has been handled.
The characters really are great, but many of them barely got enough screen time.
Other than you Marc-san, you got too much screen time.
While my citicism is mainly an issue for the adaptation only, this is a review of the anime after all – so I can’t avoid mentioning it. The lack of screentime doesn’t only degrade our experience as viewers who may have wanted to see more of our favorite [link to yandere chan], but also downplays Sasaki’s entire character in his lack of involvement where it is heavily necessary.
Sound
While a different studio may have chosen to give each setting its own memorable theme music to accompany it, this didn’t seem to make it into SILVER LINK’s budget for Sasaki , which instead mostly uses the occassional generic track that might as well have been used for a low-budget visual novel.
This isn’t particularly bad, especially not when comparing said tracks to the opening theme song, which was one of the worst songs of its airing season and had us constantly skip that unfitting loud mess every single time BECAUSE WE ARE THE BEST.
What the show lacks in the sound department is definitely made up for by in its voicing acting, bringing in none other than Tomokazu Sugita for the role of Sasaki while bringing out yet another voice you wouldn’t believe Yuuki Aoi has for Pii-chan.
If that alone wasn’t enough, we also have Kitou Akari voicing the best girl next door, and Takahashi Rie as the annoying coworker (which she probably enjoyed voicing that way so it gets her characters some extra points I guess).
The rest of the characters have been well-cast as well, matching the magical loli duo with the strong combination of Minase Inori & Kohara Konomi, and Fukuyama Jun for the part of a certain noble, giving the show a boost to its perceived production value.
Will there be a season 2 of Sasaki and Peeps?
Much of Sasaki ‘s setting remains still uncovered, with the main highlight that’s been pulling me in week after week – the neighbor girl – only having her own plot teased at the very final scene of the show.
Luckily for those of us curious about what would happen with our best girl, we may finally have her get some well-deserved screen time in Sasaki and Peeps’ 2nd season, officially announced on March 24, 2024, just two days after it finished airing.
WE ARE THE BEST?
While I was overall disappointed by the way this adaptation cut some necessary context that would’ve developed its main character better in favor of what was its most boring arc, I did find the show’s gimmick appealing enough to bear with it.
Yes, I may have found myself despairing every week by the lack of focus on its most interesting character, but I’m willing to let bygones be bygones if season 2 would finally focus on what’s really important.
Until then, I will give this show a solid 7.0 rating.
Responses