Sara Talks Anime

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Magical girls. Comedy. The two go hand-in-hand, though the magical girl aspect tends to get the most focus, with the comedy being more of a supplemental. After all, people will focus more on the girls and their transformations with magic than the jokes they tell.

However, I think calling Acro Trip a magical girl anime is deceptive. Yes, there is a magical girl, and yes, it follows many of the same plot beats as a magical girl show, but the aspect that gets the most focus in the show, in my opinion, is the comedy. As a result, instead of grading Acro Trip as a magical girl show, I’ll grade it as a comedy.

Acro Trip is a series focused on Chizuko Date (or Date Chizuko in Japanese name order) visiting her grandfather, ending up moving in with him after finding out that the town her grandfather lives in has a magical girl named Berry Blossom and witnessing a fight between her and Chroma.

Of course, these fights aren’t like those in shows like Pretty Cure, where the hero and the villain are somewhat even. No, it’s more one-sided for Berry Blossom, causing Chizuko to want to see Berry Blossom struggle more…which Chroma ends up overhearing and tries to recruit Chizuko into his evil organization. Amazing. It’s just…amazing.

Of course, without getting too heavy into plot details (because I like this show, and I tend to get into far too much detail when describing stuff I like), even if she had turned it down, she still would’ve ended up living with him anyway because her grandfather took him in. Chroma’s base is literally in the crawlspace of a closet, with it being expanded through ✨magic✨.

…no, seriously, that’s the explanation used in the show.

Speaking of magic, Chizuko gets some as well…or, at the very least, the show sets it up in such a way to make us conclude that she has magic. She gained the magic in the second episode, but we’ve yet to see her use magic as of the end of the third episode. However, I suspect we’ll see her use magic eventually. After all, if it was set up within the first three episodes, then I highly doubt that it’ll just be forgotten.

The characters are all extremely entertaining. Our protagonist, Chizuko, was seemingly depressed before witnessing a fight between Berry Blossom and Chroma, causing her to gain a spark in her eyes and be more energetic. She then has to put up with Chroma.

Speaking of Chroma, let’s talk about him now. He’s an incompetent villain. His whole sthick is that he’s a “bad grown-up”, and he works part-time at a convenience store when he’s not fighting Berry Blossom. He’s supposed to be the commander of an army of Kuma Kaijins, but if the post-credits scene from Episode 2 is anything to go off of, then Chizuko would be a much better commander than him. Despite all of this, Chroma’s still a pretty goofy guy. It’s making me wonder why he’s even doing villain stuff in the first place. I feel we’ll get more development on Chroma due to him being one of the main characters. Also, a random fun fact: Chroma shares the same voice actor as Fay from Gods’ Games We Play. Don’t recognize that? This voice actor also voices Eugeo in the Sword Art Online anime franchise!

Then we have Berry Blossom herself, with the civilian identity Kaju. She has a surname, but I am not confident enough in my Japanese pronunciation to correctly pronounce it, so I’m not even going to try. Sorry. Either way, she’s cool, both on and off the battlefield. She also has her little mascot/pet, Mashirou, who submits the battle footage for the news.

The last major character introduced in these three episodes we must cover is Chizuko’s grandfather, Suikyou Date. He’s a super chill guy, or at the very least, chill enough to allow a villain like Chroma to live on his property. He supports Chizuko and is a grandpa with whom I’d see myself hanging out.

But after another show I’ve watched this year, I’m probably going to bawl my eyes out if anything bad happens to him. As this show appears to be more on the silly side, I doubt that will happen, but there’s always the chance this show could pull a Stardust Telepath. Speaking of Stardust Telepath, Chizuko’s design gives me Umika vibes with her colors. It probably doesn’t help that both of these shows aired during the Fall season but during different years.

I forgot if I mentioned it already, but I will repeat it. I found myself laughing at most, if not all, of the jokes in this series so far, and it’s been an enjoyable show to sit down and chill out with. If you’re a fan of magical girl shows that focus on the villains with a pillar of comedy, then I’m positive you’ll love Acro Trip.

While Crunchyroll is the one streaming the series in North America (obligatory reminder to research where it streams in your territory if you don’t live in North America), it feels like a crime that, at least so far, it appears this series is locked behind Crunchyroll Premium. However, I want to clarify that I do not endorse committing piracy because while it’s a way to see the series for free, it’s not legal.

…I mean, if you want to, you can pirate the series, but I’d prefer it if you pulled out the money for a Crunchyroll subscription instead of sailing the seven seas. And even if you don’t want to do that, see if you can find someone you know who is willing to share their Crunchyroll subscription with you.

Profiles exist on them now. You don’t have to mix watch histories anymore.

Either way, this show currently has the Sara Talks Anime! Seal of Approval. Yes, we’re only three episodes in, and I’m already giving it the seal of approval. FIGHT ME.