Sasaki to Pii-chan

Sasaki and Peeps is definitely something. This anime tries to be so many things all at once: a supernatural, a fantasy, a slice of life, a gourmet, etc. To be brutually honest, I don't think this show knows what it wants to be. The main selling point behind Saski and Peeps is the fact that the MC, Sasaki, travels between his world and the fantasy one, thanks to his Peeps, his magical pet. This anime is at its best when the two worlds actually have some benefit to one another, whether that be Sasaki taking his business expertise from the real world into the fantasy ... one, or when he uses the magic he learns in the fantasy one to fight other magicians in the real one. Outside of that, Sasaki and Peeps struggles to balance the plotlines that happen in the two worlds. There's very little cohesion in this show, which leads to awful pacing since the writing has to just pull stuff out of its ass in order to move things along. Sasaki and Peeps really feels like if someone took two completely different anime and clogged them together without putting in the effort to justify the contrasting themes. It's not bad, but it could've been better.

Sasaki and Peeps - Is this show an Isekai, Reverse-Isekai, Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy, all wrapped into one? This feels like an over-convoluted and a fictional existential mistake...

Let's all be true to ourselves: Isekai, in the traditional sense, can be easy to write. It's the creativity portion that is the hardest to keep the entire story consistent and interesting and can even send authors scrambling for the next plot device that no matter how orthodox the story can go; it must remain entertaining. And this is what happens when you encounter a work like novelist Buncololi's Sasaki to Pii-chan a.k.a Sasaki and Peeps, the LN series ... where the mundaneness of one leads him to find new entertainment, and that entertainment spans worlds and characters of many proportions alike, with the work winning the first place in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! a.k.a This LN is Amazing! 2022 rankings in the tankobon (i.e. independent/standalone) and novel categories.

Sasaki to Pii-chan is the result of plot devices like treasure boxes opened after one another to reveal surprises of gifts that never stops giving. And this journey starts with the middle-aged blue collar worker Sasaki, who finds his corporate work rather mundane (and who doesn't feel drained after work?). To fill the empty void in his life, he visits a pet shop on a whim to find a pet companion who could keep him company. What he does not realize that the pet that he eventually bought, a small gray Java Sparrow who has an affinity for Kobe chateaubriand beef from learning of humans in the pet shop, is actually a renowned sage from another world who is using the bird's body as a vessel for its exploits. With Sasaki more or less coming into terms with the bird he names Pii-chan a.k.a Peeps, the Star Sage grants him access to its world, revealing the other world where Sasaki can commit to interesting things, like making a trade business and most importantly, a restaurant as a source of income for Peeps's obsession for chateaubriand beef.

But one of those benefits of the otherworldly things, is that Sasaki is granted magic powers as a sort of medium if danger comes towards at his corner, which back in his world, is picked up by a secretive government-independent Bureau who handles all matters pertaining to psychics residing on Earth. Sasaki being forced and tested to join the Bureau to apprehend any rogue psychics going loose, from criminals...to even Mahou Shoujos or other entities who are seeking refuge to the Bureau? Hell, Sasaki earning his powers for the purpose of peace and comfort, but with all of the colourful characters popping one after another, the salaryman's life is becoming more taxed than his mundane life would allow him to live and breathe life anew.

So first out of the docket, the character relations bracket:
- Peeps's world: the Otherworld faction, where Sasaki and Peeps mainly do business with at the start. His business trade of bringing over modern items to the otherworld to be sold for exact in profit, it involves Marc, who reports to Viscount Mueller as the overseer of the city's trades. On the other end, there is French, a chef kicked out of a resturant, whom Sasaki chances upon as the best person to open a restaurant business to help finance for Peeps's chateaubriand liking. When it comes to the crunch, the royal family will be involved, with Prince Adonis only interferring when there's serious consequences.
- Sasaki's world: the Modern Psychics Faction, where Sasaki does dealings with the Bureau, his division led by the secretive Chief Akutsu who always has him and his subordinate of high school student Hoshizaki under close survelliance, the latter of which who always dresses like an adult for her professional business etiquette. Sasaki's role in the Bureau is quite the extension: from random Mahou Shoujos like Magical Pink, to even the high school girl Otonari living next door to Sasaki, but someone who seems to also keep said salaryman on close toes, even to the point of overhearing Peeps being able to speak human terms. Otonari is an enigma, though her real intentions and role hasn't been seen much in the anime, but just as someone who develops an interest in Sasaki.

Characters when created and used right (within the extension of the anime's content) can create impact. But the way that novelist Buncololi does it, gives a feel that with each subsequent episode, the story gets bigger and more bizarre, which seems to be the case that the LN translated into the anime, just isn't integrated all that well, outside of the traditional fantasy plot elements.

And speaking of the adaptation, Silver Link does have a lot of resources mixed between the 3 projects they have this season: the continuation of Ragna Crimson, this show, and Dosanko Gyaru wa Namara Menkoi a.k.a. Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!, the latter 2 series this season of which senior in-house director Mirai Minato is overseeing both projects, with the latter series (Dosanko Gal) thankfully being part of the studio's push to collaborations with studio Blade under rookie director Misuzu Hoshino, who co-directed and debuted with Summer 2022's Saikin Yatotta Maid ga Ayashii. But back to Sasaki and Peeps, the push for Mirai Minato to train up new directors while spanning his own project, he may have been in the major directorial role since Winter 2017's Masamune-kun no Revenge, so he has the expertise to still sufficiently allocate resources within their sizable staff in order to keep the final product consistent, and it's decently produced as a whole.

Sound-wise, it's as decent as the whole show can make its psuedo-Disney-like fantasy to play out with many gears clicking together like clockwork. Madkid has seen better days, though their OP song "Fly" isn't one of their best songs. And as for Aguri Oonishi's ED song, it's fine, though the totally 3DCG visuals are trippy at best. At least this is the extension of creativity in a bizarre sense that doesn't look bad at all, you've got to admit that.

When it all comes down to the important decisions, Sasaki to Pii-chan a.k.a Sasaki and Peeps, stand in a position where it's pretty hard to recommend, and that's where if you only desire Isekai in a different sense and taking into account of the back-and-forth between real life and fantasy worlds. It's definitely an interesting LN to pick up and read if you have the time, though the anime's in a very tough spot of pacing issues and coherence to keep its interest running.

If you're keen on trying the anime, even if it's just for the sake of know-how, go ahead, it'll show you a world of infinite proportions.

This series had potential to tell quite an interesting story. The first double-episode painted a simple but charming premise. But the style of storytelling is perhaps even worse than your typical Shonen series. Instead of new information and episodes helping to build and enrich a developing plot, it muddies any cohesiveness the series attempts to create.

Sasaki to pii-chan writes you a letter within the first episode. Instead of just redrafting the letter to form a more consistent tone, each new episode is the equivalent of a postscript (p.s.) note. Revelation and progression genuinely feels like an afterthought.

The series may as well be episodic ... because the subplots do absolutely nothing for the bigger picture.

Every character besides Sasaki and Pii-chan are plot devices, nothing more. One such plot device gets themselves into some trouble. It's pretty difficult to care given the superficiality.

The major flaw of Sasaki to Pii-chan lies within its storytelling. Other aspects are fine. Keep expectations grounded and you may find some entertainment, but I unfortunately didn't have the endurance to watch until completion.

Sasaki no Pii-chan is a story about Sasaki, a 30ish old man that lives in an apparently normal world, after he meets Pii-chan a mystical and magical creature of another world, he and his friend start an adventurous life in both Sasaki and Pii-chan world.Also the main reason sasaki travels to another world is simple to gain some money and makes his life better. Cause you know … living like a salaryman nowadays is not that special or confortable .

This anime looks like inuyasha, kagome and inuyasha are almost the same as sasaki and pii-chan, but unlike inuyasha, pii-chan can travel to sasaki world ... and really enjoy living there. The way that both of them interact with the two worlds are in a more political and non heroic way. But Sasaki and Pii-chan both play important roles in both worlds.

Well, first of all, the story seems the same old isekai with newer clothes and using a different point of view. It has a great start, and after some time it gets really crazy and it loses a little because of that. The insertion of too many things in the middle of the anime makes a ton of chaos and it throws everything in the air without a good explanation. This one really needs a continuation.
Animation 7 : It´s nice, you can really see the budget stretch on this one, but they did a good job with it.

Music 6: Not bad … but nothing epic or above the average.

Story 8 : It's something really new, yes we got some chiches, but the overall is nice.

Sasaki no Pii-chan has a great idea, somehow it gets really chaotic in the final half of the anime. I really want to know more about some characters and stuff !

When I watched the first episode I was very interested in how an employee got into isekai because of his pet bird, and he started learning magic, doing business, and participating in noble politics there.

But I started to feel 'less like' when there was the concept of superpowers in the 'first world' especially with the government superpower organization, I think it just messed up my interest.

I started to get interested again during Marc's rescue mission, where it was shown how Sasaki could solve big problems on his own without Pi-chan's help. However, again and again even at the end of this anime I was disappointed ... with the story in the first world which was boring to watch.

Yes maybe this is just my selfishness, I'm just telling my impression of watching this series without knowing where the real story of this anime is going.

To put it simply, you could call that Anime an adult version of Isekai de Cheat Skill wo Te ni Shita Ore wa, Genjitsu Sekai wo mo Musou Suru: Level Up wa Jinsei wo Kaeta, since it tries to mix different stories together. The main difference is that Sasaki is not only more matured but also smarter - which is realistic for an old guy with some more experience. However, that doesn't mean it's better.

basically we have like 3 different story plots which are mixed while also feeling more like just a slice of life show:
- Sasakis travel to another world thanks to his new ... "pet" Pii-chan
- Sasakis work for an organization which keeps an eye on (and also fight against) users of special powers to protect the people
- something about Magical Girls who hunt down those users of special powers
- ther is also an other story but I don't want to spoil you - even though it's introduced literally in the last seconds...

So, is this Anime good? ... Well, yes and no.
The stories aren't bad per se but the mix is kinda as bad as in Isekai Cheat Skill - but at least Sasaki acts careful to hide his true abilities as good as possible. Also, there are cute Gilrs who don't just fall in Love with him instantly, even though I'm not 100% sure if the neighbor girl sees him as a potential lover or as a father figure. But unfortunately she never gets really fleshed out.
However, the biggest weakness in my eyes is, that there is little to no tension at all. You almost never get the feeling that Sasaki is in danger. The only danger is his secret to come out but that's everything. That counts for both main story lines. Therefore, I think it would have been better to either seperate them in form of different Anime or put more effort in the mixing. And if not that, than maybe do it the other way around, give a f*ck about logic and a good mix, to create a guilty pleasure to enjoy. Maybe you think that Isekai, special ability Users, Magicians, Magical Girls and so on are too much to fit in together, but Re:Creators already showed in a masterful manner how to achieve that goal.

Last but not least, the music/sound. Well, it's nothing special but it's also not bad. The OP sounds Shounen like but doesn't fit so good for Sasaki. The ED however... OMG! It doens't sound bad... BUT the visuals are just POTTENHÄSSLICH! (I had to pu it in german since englisch words can't describe my eyecancer from this). To put it simply, if I wouldn't know the Anime and someone would show me the ending, I wouldn't build any interest in it. Yeah, maybe I'm too nitpicky about it, but the rest of the show looks good, so why not the Ending?

All in all, this Anime has some weaknesses but is not bad. Also, Shizuka is best Girl of this Anime (I didn't describe her, cause I don't want to spoil you). Well, since there will be a second season, maybe the Anime gets better.

Sasaki to Pii-chan had me hooked at first! An everyday guy getting sucked into another world with a talking bird? Sign me up! But man, after a while, it felt like the story just got lost.

It introduced a bunch of cool ideas – psychics, magic, even magical girls! – but then it never really did anything with them. All these characters were floating around without a clear purpose, and Sasaki himself just kinda wandered from one thing to the next. It was like watching someone play a video game where they keep getting sidetracked by random quests and forget about the main story.

Don't get ... me wrong, the concept had a lot of potential. But for me, Sasaki to Pii-chan ended up being a 5 out of 10. It started with a bang but fizzled out without any direction.

its not bad at all, but not so good at anything either, the story is good but sometimes feels it lack depth, and sometimes things happend because the plot said so BUT its one of the few i have seen that made good mix of everything, it have some darker than usual moments (in contrast of regular magical animes) and a good mix of real world, isekai and magic, so if you want something to watch while youre eatitng or in a random day, yeah i would say so, but its not like you need to make free time just to watch it, still pretty ... enjoyable, considering all the mistakes wich can be overlooked due to all the things this anime mixes

Sasaki & Peeps is a mixed isekai series where a powerful mage, known as the Star Sage of Hertz Kingdom, reincarnates as a Java Sparrow and is taken home by Sasaki, an average salaryman suffering from the stress and financial troubles of his office job. Given the chance to build his wealth through interdimensional trading and learning the art of magic, Sasaki's life takes a dramatic turn from one of confining stress to one of unexpected adventures. How will Sasaki and Peeps fare against the ordeals of traveling between worlds?

Story & Character: 6/10

The story follows a typical isekai reincarnation premise, with a modern-day protagonist receiving ... assistance from an otherworldly being. The narrative starts off lighthearted but evolves into a tycoon-style series with a government organization subplot. I particularly enjoyed the tycoon elements that brought surface-level economics into the series. The political events felt organic, and the otherworldly exploration kept me invested. However, I found the dramatic events in the modern world to be forced and avoidable, which dragged down the story progression by focusing on an enemy with no lingering hostile intentions.

What sets Sasaki & Peeps apart is its witty humor and cunning protagonist. Throughout the story, Sasaki develops in various aspects of his life, including his workplace, business ventures, and home life. It was interesting to see his character remain true to his desires, which was evident whenever his facial expressions changed from the usual. The supporting characters, often childlike or actual children, felt jarring considering Sasaki is a 40-year-old. Despite this, they had a negligible effect on the overall story beyond their societal roles and relationships with Sasaki. The series does feel somewhat cheap due to the lack of significant loss or long-term conflict for Sasaki, making it more of a slow-lifestyle series.

Art & Sound: 6/10

The art is not extraordinary by modern standards, but the humorous faces Sasaki makes contribute well to his sly character. The character designs are detailed, but the animation becomes choppy in scenes with a lot of movement. I enjoyed the magic animation because it remained in 2D as much as possible.

The sound design wasn't particularly noteworthy, with some repetitive use of soundtracks in specific moments to create an emotional connection between comedy and suspense. A funky track plays whenever Sasaki plans something odd, enhancing the comedy. Similarly, suspenseful music occasionally breaks the comedic moments effectively. The voice acting was above average and suited the characters well.

Overall & Enjoyment: 6/10

I would have enjoyed the series more without the unnecessary conflict involving magical girls. This conflict felt forced, and the characters' involvement seemed underdeveloped, detracting from the overall experience. The focus on such needless conflict that could have been easily averted wasted screen time and diminished my enjoyment of the series. Overall, the series was an above average watch and it was definitely worth for the entertainment alone.

Watching 'Sasaki to Pii-chan' is akin to experiencing a masterclass on the importance of sound design, albeit in a negative sense. The sheer magnitude of errors in sound production is staggering, transforming what should be a delightful auditory experience into a jarring cacophony. Even the most basic sounds become grating, leaving one longing for the blissful ignorance of being born deaf. The disparity between the potential enjoyment offered by the narrative and the relentless assault on the ears is disheartening. It's as if in an alternate reality, there exists a version of this anime where every element aligns seamlessly, allowing for genuine appreciation. Regrettably, in ... this reality, the immersion is shattered the moment a king's sword slash evokes the startling resonance of gunfire. The consistent mishaps in sound design serve as an unfortunate barrier to fully embracing the charm of the story. One can't help but lament the missed opportunity for the sound quality to complement the inherent appeal of 'Sasaki to Pii-chan.' Keep in mind that despite my ramblings about the poor auditory experience provided by 'Sasaki to Pii-chan,' this tale is not for all to witness and seek enjoyment from. There are many who speak ill of the rampant use of female characters younger than the legal age of consent in the United States. Despite this particular anime's status of not pertaining to any type of romantical or otherwise suspicious tags in consideration of the United States, I have not watched past 3.5 episodes so idk. If one can overlook this shortcoming and quirk, they may uncover a delightful narrative awaiting them.

Sasaki to Pii-Chan is an anime which brings together isekai,fantasy,kind of reverse isekai and most absurd magical girl.

We have a main character Sasaki, a middle age man who works for a company and lives a boring daily life then he adopts a bird who later we learn that is a Wizard (kind of) from another world and he can take himself and Sasaki to that world whenever he wants and he discarded to sell things from our universe in the other one .This anime has two different stories one from the Sasaki’s world and the other is Peeps world.
The Sasaki’s world have fantasy,adventure,magical girl and ... humans who has magical power. This parts has more fights we see Sasaki in he’s work and how he try to keep he’s second life in secret. While the Peep’s world is more about politics and I guess business? We see Sasaki helping the kingdom,make money and mostly have a more relax atmosphere. But with some political issues and how Sasaki solves them.

This anime has good and bad parts.Which some of bad -arts came in later episodes.

Good parts: Sasaki and Pii-Chan. Good and interesting main characters Sasaki is not your typical middle age loser. He is a smart businessman and can use he’s head. While Peeps is the cutest little bird who is not annoying and not useless. Some of the supporting casts are pretty interesting too especially Futari and Mueller. When the story contains Futunari it’s mostly gonna be interesting.
The other good part in this anime is Peeps world I really love that world more because it was not ruined for me. It did stay interesting while give a change in development in the story without making it to complicated.

Bad parts: Sasaki’s world. I really think that this world was more interesting in the start but in the later episodes the writer put too much and it’s just started to be unnecessary complicated and not explained enough.
Magical girl I really think this part of the story is unnecessary and we can live without it happily.

Overall: This anime has great potential but because of unnecessary characters and too much things happening just in 12 episodes it loses a lot of appealing it has in the start . And As I understand the second season gonna be bring even more plot twist which is definitely not gonna help us. This anime needs more focus and stop giving situations which gonna be solved in like 10-15 minute and after that directly give us another problem

Other things: The animation did get worse to the end but was not critical and still stayed on a good note. I didn’t have any problem with voice acting too. Sugita, Tomokazu For Sasaki was great choice and Yuuki Aoi for Pii-Chan was chief kiss.
The opening is your typical anime opening with great music that not something wow but listenable but the ending…..I’m gonna talk about it because who tf did create this monster. The first time I see it I was in shock I really was thinking that it just one episode kind of troll thing but yea… it was not.

Score 7 - This score is based on my enjoyment and not reflective of an 'objective' evaluation.

I actually really quite like the show and if there's something I enjoy about the in-his-40's something protagonist Sasaki, it's that he behaves not just like an adult, but he goes so much out of his way to be a sneaky drone in the most cordial way possible that you'll feel like pulling your hair out at how insipid and mild mannered he comes off, when in reality he's just a calm person who thinks things through and makes measured decisions.
On that note, while things do pan out for ... him when he does something, he doesn't come off as some sort of genius, he just does his best.

Meaning... Sasaki's just a good dude that you enjoy getting ahead in life for once. Good on you Sasaki, now what's that thing you did saving a person's life? You have powers? You've been recruited by the state as a field agent.

The story's progression and mix of themes is ludicrous, you have him traveling between worlds, exploiting modern technology in a medieval world, taking people back with him, a powerful magical mascot pet, magical girls, espers and many more things. It sounds like a mess but the story takes its time and doesn't just jumble it all up.

Hopefully this all sounds great to you, so here's why it's a 'mixed feelings' recommendation.
It's one of those 'they don't have the budget/skill but they try hard' kind of shows, where the visuals are choppy and often bad, but what they do with them looks fine. They're just barely scraping by, making important visual/action scenes just good enough.
Audio's fine (nothing special) and the music is bland, which is a real shame because if the music is on point it can elevate a show more than most animation can.

Where the show drops the ball, is that some of the developments just aren't interesting and especially how long one particular story drags out (saving a friend who just hasn't been set up well enough). The way it's resolved is fine, but it's a true missed opportunity where you could've had some real character development and have had Sasaki loosen up and get emotional over someone, rather than 'I must do the right thing'.

Finally, you have to take all of this with the fact that I'm biased in favor of it. The isekai portion is... okay, it's not as sloppy as it could've been, it actually plays a decent role throughout the season, but it's also not great and that's the feeling I get when reflecting on the show that I really like it, but it's just not great, in any way, and that might leave you wishing you hadn't seen it.

Personally? I want another season of this over stuff like the Classroom of the Elite S3 that we just had, because at least Sasaki and Peeps has some heart.

Interesting premise, average isekai.

Characters other than MC and Peeps might as well not exist. World itself is trying to do too much while somehow still having so little. It's impressive how generic it all feels. The worst are the "psychics" and how they hilarious fight using their.. guns.. not any psychic abilities. Dumbest thing I've ever seen.

Also, can I just say how fake the "aww so cute" moments of Sasaki feel like with Peeps? They feel forced and fake.

Art is fine, no complaints. Sound is there, I guess, nothing stood out to me in the anime concerning audio.

Anyway, watch it to see how a good ... premise is squandered.