Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
Short Synopsis: A curious slave girl is sent to live with a scholarly family in 13th century Persia.
Wooper: I’d be surprised if there were another summer anime with as strong a start as Jaadugar, especially since it released its first two episodes simultaneously. Though I’ve only seen the first (as is my habit when writing blurbs for doubleheader premieres), I’m already quite taken with its well-realized setting and idyllic art style, which looks like something out of a Newbery Award-winning book. That’s not to say it’s for children – the show’s treatment of slavery as a fact of Persian life and the episode-ending look at a corpse-strewn battlefield make it a purposely adult affair. Still, the open-air spaces here are beautifully lit and textured, and the Middle Eastern score is a perfect complement to protagonist Sitara’s evolving intelligence. The story moves fast, as she goes from attempting to escape her owners to serving them diligently in not much time at all. Thankfully, though, there’s a rooftop scene where another character inspires her to seize as much knowledge for herself as she can, and it’s written so convincingly that even an eight year timeskip can’t throw the episode off course. What does throw it off course is the Mongols’ defeat of the local Persian army, which promises much bigger things to come, so the show still has a lot to prove. Still, it’s off to the best start possible.
Potential: 85%
Black Torch
Short Synopsis: A boilerplate shounen protagonist rescues a stray cat who happens to be a super powerful mononoke.
Wooper: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a rebellious, spiky-haired teenager who constantly gets into fights and learns martial arts from his grandfather is possessed by a malevolent animal-themed spirit. Oh, and the one female character introduced thus far has pink hair and big tits. As far as Black Torch is concerned, the question isn’t if its setup rings a bell, but whether it rings so many that its audience is rendered deaf. This is the work of someone whose only artistic influence is shounen manga, and while the anime adaptation struggles mightily to make it interesting, it falls far short of that goal. Sometimes we get backgrounds with a wide angle lens, but the characters aren’t drawn to match, and the smoky effects used to suggest evil energy (as in the scenes where Rago the Black Star of Doom reveals his true power) look convenient rather than impressive. And no, I didn’t make up that name just now – that’s the actual title of the cat-shaped mononoke who hops into the dying main character’s body at the episode’s end, giving him super awesome powers so he can fight demons for hundreds of chapters episodes! Get me outta here.
Potential: 10%
Iwamoto-senpai no Suisen
Short Synopsis: In a fictional Taisho era where the military funds a middle school to research supernatural power, a student sets out to investigate the mystery of black snow.
Mario: It’s not a good sign that even after finishing this episode, I cannot come up with what it’s actually about. It has many interesting elements, such as paranormal abilities and a Taisho era setting (at a military-funded academy no less), but the plot is so weak it doesn’t really hold up. We never get a sense of how much time has passed during the premiere, for instance. Heck, I can’t figure out exactly what Shizuma’s power is, either (that’s the purple haired guy). This episode serves more as a prologue so I guess from the next episode, it will focus more on the academy with this group of superpowered misfits. Sadly though, it doesn’t grab me enough for me to spend more time with it.
Potential: 10%
The post Summer 2026 Impressions: Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, Black Torch, Iwamoto-senpai no Suisen appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
