First Impression – Sagrada Reset
Waking up with a girl on top of him? Ohh, so it’s THAT kind of anime.
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As per the PV, the opening episodes to Sagrada Reset were indeed pretty slow. However, they were also pretty enjoyable. |
The characters of Sagrada are interesting to watch so far, though maybe a little hard to empathize with. Misora’s transformation from having no emotions to following Kei’s orders without question seemed a little fast, but I’m sure that the events of the arc meant a lot to her character. In present day, she seems to have changed quite a bit in terms of having interests outside of just mindlessly resetting whenever she saw someone who was sad. As for Kei, I’m glad that Sumire bothered to point out that he was contradicting his sense of justice by trying to get Misora to have emotions because that contradiction was bothering me up until then. He seems to have calmed down about a lot of things over the time skip, though possibly it just seems this way because Sumire isn’t there to analyze his sense of justice all the time. Regardless, the two make a pretty good team in terms of… well, Kei planning everything and Misora just resetting and saving whenever Kei tells her to. Misora doesn’t really seem to be contributing much, but the duo wouldn’t even be there in the first place without her initial personality that inspired Kei and her ability itself, so she’s still really important.
Excuse me while I go move to this town. I need the power to share senses with cats in my life.
The setting is pretty interesting, since this power phenomena only happens in this one town, which really explains some parts of the premise, like why a big organization would rely on high schoolers to handle issues. The powers don’t seem to be wildly overpowered either, with the opening narrative explaining that they’re mostly useless. Sure, Misora and Kei’s powers seem to be a little special, but they need to work together to do anything useful with them.
I have questions about the reset thing that I feel like were kind of answered, but never quite wrapped my head around. Mainly, I’m wondering if Misora’s reset only affects the town, or if it can change the entire world. If it is only the town, then the entire place is probably a few weeks, if not months behind the rest of Japan due to Misora having used her ability throughout her lifetime. Seeing how the people with powers only reside in Sakurada, and Kei and Misora have no intentions on leaving the town (and the entire plot will probably revolve around power users in the town), if they don’t address this plot point then it’s probably fine because the entire anime could easily be contained within the town without need to address the outside world. However, Kei did mention something about “killing three days of the world’s time” when taking on Yoka’s request. I am glad that the power has some kind of rules though, aside from Misora’s self-imposed ones. The save function and limitations on how often it can be used makes things interesting and puts some kind of stakes in place. It was also nice that the story pointed out one of the worst case scenarios right away with a character being killed off just because they used a reset on a kiss.
I’m really interested to see what part 3/3 of the Memory in Children arc will bring to the story since it was skipped over. Sumire’s death definitely looked like a suicide, she always seemed to know slightly more about the situations than Kei ever did/she spoke cryptically, and (perhaps the most sure sign of all) she appears heavily in the OP as a trio with Kei and Misora, so that means that her character is still important in one way or another. It’s too bad that she (probably) died, since her mysteriousness and philosophical questions were interesting to watch. Oh well. Also interestingly with the way the Sagrada novels go, Memory in Children seems to be the 3rd book that was released as far as the internet tells me, so the anime seems to have decided to switch up the order of storytelling for some reason. It was probably done because this arc seems really good for introducing Kei and Misora to the viewer, but the hook with Sumire’s mysterious death seems compelling too. Especially since they obviously left a large chunk of the arc out for now.
As for the new arc, it seems more eventful since now the power users are (kind of) at odds. More than reuniting a clone child with her mother, this arc and the “mission” involved seems like it has something slightly larger going on behind the scenes just because there’s a lot of mystery involved. Hitsuchi and his mention of the MacGuffin seems to be leading to something anyways (even if only by the very definition of “MacGuffin”), so maybe this incident with the cat is the catalyst for the entire plot from here onwards.
The beginning of the anime was pretty slow, but it was also nice in a way, since it was thoughtful. Sure, the conversations bordered on pretentious, but unlike a lot of long drawn out conversations in anime explaining a character’s philosophical viewpoint, this one was actually easy to follow. Or at least, I found the Zen/Gizen thing pretty clever, so perhaps this is just my personal taste. I’m kind of on the fence about Kei as a character, just because the first few episodes relied so heavily on characterizing him almost exclusively through his world view. I want to see him as a character without needing the accompanying dialogue (which the anime may or may not allow, though the 3rd episode was thankfully way better with this). I do like how clever his plans were to reconnect Mari with her mother though. As for Misora, I’m sad she cut her hair (personal tastes, you know), and I’m looking forward to see what her newfound personality will bring to the duo as the anime goes on. So sure, it was a slow start, but with the show being 20+ episodes long, it can allow for that.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
24 episodes confirmed for Sagrada Reset.
I’ve heard of people dropping this because it’s so slow-moving, btw.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I’ve heard that too, after one episode. Seems like that’s a bit unfair, but then I did that for ACCA-13 last season (cause it was all pretty-boy posing and bad mustaches). And there’s always the chance to pick it back up if everyone says “Hey, you really should watch this.”
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
I was more surprised at how prominent food was throughout ACCA. Characters were constantly shown eating various types of breads, biscuits and other delicacies.
I’m not sure if creator Ono Natsume was trying to make a thematic statement, or if she just wanted unleash her inner foodie for that series.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I’ve heard that from other people as well. And nor was that something that interested me. Ah well. There are other shows to watch.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
This was my take-a-way as well. It had that European village look that I love when anime grooves on, and I very much enjoy watching anime food too. But, neither were enough to save the watch for me.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…eating food is a grounding element. Everyone eats, everyone likes good looking food. If you have a show where people are doing all manner of crazy things that most people in the audience can’t even conceive of doing. So have them doing some that people normally do…nomming. And while you’re at it, make the noms look ridiculous edible.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, I’ll fanboy out about particular cars or bikes or motorcycles or instruments, but food isn’t really on my radar. Make it look good is fine, have people enjoy it (or not, as the atmosphere demands) is fine, but I’m not gonna be “Look at all the awesome variety of bread they ate!” That’s just not my bailiwick. I’m more likely to notice pipeline crossings in the scenery.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
“I’ll never make a cottage loaf look that good” is usually how my thinking goes…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Misora’s power would apparently reset the conditions of the entire universe. Otherwise, there would be too much that would be discontinuous and it would be noticed. And honestly, having power over time for the entire universe is actually a lot simpler than “just *this* volume of the universe.” And the idea that different things can happen in a reset is interesting and I wonder if they’ll pull in some butterfly effect stuff.
I like high school Misora a lot better than middle school Misora, and like the implications that she has become more of a socialized person having been with Kei more.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…anime seems to love giving early teen girls the power to reset/shape/change reality. I’m all for it, as US superhero comics have the same thing, but with horrible emo dudes instead.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, honestly that makes the most sense when I think about it. And I’m really interested in why things are different in this reset. If it’s a butterfly effect like you said, then I’m really interested in knowing the circumstances.
I also like high school Misora since she has more of a personality (I’m still sad about the hair though).
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah this series moves at a snails speed, but given that both of the main characters talk…..really…slow..and don’t even have my chemistry together, but hey at least they kinda sorta like each other? I know they are going to develop that eventually!
The concept of all the people in the town having powers is really cool like Railgun/Index and the fact you can actually lose the powers and forget you even had them if you leave the town? Good stuff! I just wish the cast had a bit more energy, but ah well ill take what I can.
Episode two ending left me like WHAAAAAAAT? Nooooooooo! I liked Sumire she was cool and had a unique personality RIP! I guess it was added to show us the painful side of having time reverse powers and extreme memory powers?
Haven’t seen the 3rd ep but I will!
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
I kind of hope that they develop the relationship more as the series goes on. I mean, they tried it and failed in middle school, but people can change…
Yeah, this is a low energy show, it seems. I mean, I’m all for it if the message is interesting though. We’ll have to see where things go. The 3rd episode moved a bit faster if you’ve seen it by now.
I’m sure Sumire died for some kind of reason… Even if only to teach Kei a hard life lesson on what not to use your powers on.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
So super-powers as the narrative metaphor signaling a group of kids finding their feet as they mature. That explains the time cut from middle to high school; it seems no high school student really want to remember being 13 or 14?
I like how the powers are tied to the personality, and showing how they’re growing as people. A quiet and reserved person has hidden depths, so of course they might like the chance to do it all over again. And what kid wouldn’t want the power to back up “no you said…”, but how quick would people hate that kid for being a know-it-all.
But letting those two learn together is a great mix for drama.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
If that’s the metaphor for the show, then I’ll take it. I don’t mind the time skip either…
Yeah, I did vaguely notice that the characters themselves seemed to connect with whatever powers they had (well, mostly with the mom with the cloning ability). It’s definitely interesting.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
It’s the cats! All those cats are why that city and only that city has people with powers!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…that’s as good an explanation as any…
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Even more of a reason for me to move there