Winter 2025 Impressions: Salaryman Isekai, Momentary Lily, Sorairo Utility

Salaryman Isekai

Short Synopsis: Underappreciated overseas manager is head hunted by a Demon Lord with a surprisingly keen eye for subordinates.

Amun: First show of the new season for me (we’re not watching that weird ecchi cat thing) – and honestly, as far as first shows of the year go, Salaryman was quite decent. I thought we’d have a cringey episode of misunderstanding the “overseas” title as master of water – instead, we have a very reasonable Demon Lord boss who has done his research and very much wants this salaryman in particular. It’s clear this is a case of the outsider acting as the bridge between factions – just with a supernatural setting and some cute girls. And you know what – it plays for me! The animation and character designs aren’t anything to write home about, but this is where the modern isekai shines: juxtaposing a modern society straight-man with fantasy settings and hot girls. Definitely worth a few more episodes out of me.
Potential: 65%

Mario: Well, you read the positive review above from an isekai enthusiast, but what about us generic anime watchers? Personally I feel this premiere is quite tame. It’s not funny, nor does it offer anything groundbreaking within this subgenre. The idea that the Demon Lord is a much kinder boss than you might have at a real life company, and that he knows about workers’ rights and benefits, is a neat concept, but the way our main character proves his worth in this “otherworldly entrance exam” is a bit too simplified for its own good. The main message of this trial is to understand different cultures’ behaviors (in this case, a Minotaur), but we don’t really get the process of him working it out; rather, we see the results and his method instead. If you think about it, there was no instance whatsoever where he and the Minotaur interacted with each other. Moreover, what’s the deal with the strange udon stand where he comes to sit down in the middle of the episode? Isn’t he supposed to be in hell?
Potential: 10%

Momentary Lily

Short Synopsis: Six stringy-haired girls exchange quips and battle machine-alien hybrids in an abandoned city.

Lenlo: Oh GoHands, what are we going to do with you. At this point I’m less interested in their anime, every single one is a visual mess of after effects and nonsensical camera angles, than I am in how this studio keeps getting funding to make more stuff. Seriously, who looks at this studio’s previous works and thinks “The next one will be a banger”. As Wooper says below, there really isn’t much narrative or anything going on. It’s more about watching a bunch of “cute”, and I use quotes there because GoHands couldn’t create a cute design to save their lives, fight giant monsters with a lot of “cute” mannerisms and turns of phrase. Is it good? No. It’s GoHands. Is it well animated, fun to look at, or in any way appealing? No, it’s GoHands. Should you watch this? I’m sure you know the answer to that by now.
Potential: GoHands

Wooper: Whenever a new GoHands anime comes out, I keep my fingers crossed that it’s an original rather than an adaptation, because no mangaka deserves to have their work squeezed through the anus that is this studio’s animation pipeline. Thankfully, Momentary Lily is based on nothing but the wildest fantasies of hair fetishists and first-time Adobe After Effects users. The half dozen female characters in this show are the only human beings that appear for the entire premiere, and all six of them have laboriously drawn hairdos, with hundreds of independently-minded strands, some of which seem poised to decapitate their wearers. The girls have two modes: sitting around their photorealistic ghost town and acting out their designated tropes, and fighting glowing blue monsters while elaborate effects animation sparks and swirls around the screen. Both modes are drenched in sunbeams, lens flares, and rainbow arcs, and feature wide angle shots galore. I found the visual presentation so distracting that I couldn’t pick up on the plot, though the fact that these six characters have only themselves to talk to makes it pretty clear that Momentary Lily will be light on story and heavy on kawaii mannerisms. Ultimately, written impressions of GoHands anime aren’t much use – you just have to subject yourself to their visual style and see whether it’s for you.
Potential: 🌈%

Sorairo Utility

Short Synopsis: A gacha game addict in pursuit of a new hobby is introduced to the world of golf.

Wooper: What’s with all the golf anime recently? Even if you write off 2022’s Birdie Wing, Ooi Tonbo and Rising Impact aired just last year. What’s more, all three of those shows got second seasons, meaning there’s a definite push to have the sport represented in animation. I’m not sure Sorairo Utility will make it 4-for-4 on sequels, though, since its first episode was rather underwhelming. The opening scene did get a chuckle out of me, essentially telling the protagonist to get off her gacha-rolling ass and get a real hobby, and her repeated failures to find a high school club that she liked were amusing enough. But when it came time for the show to sell itself as a golf anime, I’m sorry to say that it bogeyed. Most instances of the protagonist’s cluelessness made her seem dopey rather than eager, the background art was either too plain (the two-tiered driving range) or too bright (the outdoor course), and we’re already whiffing on depicting the golf swings of background characters. The last of those issues means we’re probably in for more severe animation hiccups down the line, so investing in this show might not be the best line of play if you value on-model drawings. I did like the character designs, though.
Potential: 10%

Lenlo: I agree with most everything Wooper said above. The opening few scenes as the protagonist is cut-off from her gacha addiction cold turkey and forced into an actual hobby were pretty good, both in her interactions with her fellow classmates and her own reactions to it all. Sadly though, all of the actual golfing, what the show is being built around, weren’t very good. I never bought into the MC actually enjoying golf, or her reasons for picking it over any other sport. Simply put, as a sports anime I feel like it’s failing at everything that is important for a sports anime.
Potential: 5%