Alternative title(s): To You, the Immortal; Fumetsu no anata e
Manga Adaptation by Brain’s Base
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

An immortal, shape-changing orb is cast upon the earth. It grows, learns, and changes as it meets various people and has various experiences.

Iro’s verdict: Heartstring Violin

Disclaimer: I’ve read a fair amount of the To Your Eternity manga. Based on that and with the quality of this premiere, I thus far see no reason to doubt the show moving forward. I’m glad this exists, since the plot as a whole is a pretty hard sell; this way people can just watch the first episode and get an idea of how the entire story works in microcosm. If quality keeps up for the entire 20 episode run, we’re looking at one hell of a ride.

Zigg’s verdict: Heart of Ice

This is an immaculately constructed debut episode, a wonderful tragedy in miniature that could almost stand alone as a short film. For that reason, it’s very hard to get any read on how the series will be going forward from it. Presumably we’ll be looking at a similar sort of hands off, emergent style of storytelling. I think my biggest concern with that is that, between this episode, the preview, and the general reputation of the manga, we might be skating a little close to ‘misery porn’ i.e. a story that’s just sad for the sake of being sad. If they can find a way to harness that emotional weight into a compelling path of both ups and downs though, I think we’ll have a winner on our hands.

Artemis’ verdict: I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying

As with pretty much every new season title, I knew nothing about this one going in, having zero familiarity with the source material. Given that, my expectations were, if not exactly low, then at least cautiously tempered. But I’m not gonna lie, this episode hit hard, despite (or else precisely because of) the all but screaming inevitability of its conclusion. Maybe that’s partly to do with how I’ve personally been viewing life recently, and/or can be put down to some kind of primal, deep-rooted reaction to a story that’s all about survival, but either way, I finished the premiere with a real sense of emotional impact. I don’t necessarily expect everyone to have the same sort of response, of course – for all I know, others might find this episode dull or lackluster – but for me, it stood as a powerful beginning to a work that honestly feels like it could go in any direction and deliver any kind of message, whether that be cynical and fatalistic or ultimately hopeful and uplifting. Or perhaps, akin to something like Kino’s Journey, the series might even choose to do (and be able to pull off) both. I’m still holding on to some of my caution, just because there are still so many unknowns for me, but nonetheless, To Your Eternity easily turned out to be my favorite premiere of the season, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where things go.

Euri’s verdict: At Worst, A Terrific OVA

I have to admit that this show wasn’t even on my radar until I saw the impressions from other Glorio writers, but this really was a phenomenal opening episode. As has been said already, I’m a tad cautious about future episodes being miserable for misery’s sake, but hopefully the show has more to say going forward. Also, while it’s really not the fault of the anime, having Kenjirou Tsuda’s narrate the story in the same voice he used for My Hero Academia‘s Overhaul villain really is… a choice.