Peach Boy Riverside (2021)

[ピーチボーイリバーサイド]

Director: Shigeru Ueda
Studio: Asahi Production
Starring: Haruka Shiraishi, Nao Toyama, MAO
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A wandering princess seeks to find a way to end conflict between humans and oni.

Impressions:
I passed on this during its initial run, but I was mildly curious about it as the source material was written by Coolkyousinnjya, the author of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. When I started, I found out that the original broadcast order of the episodes was not chronological. I considered watching the story in chronological order but decided to see it as the director originally intended, which I would say is a mistake. We sacrifice the narrative throughline and the tone gets jumbled, all so we can have a big battle at the end as the timespan contained in the 12 episodes doesn't allow for it to close on a suitably climactic note (though the fight in question honestly isn't all that climactic). There's some interesting things going on with the story and characters, but the moral posturing is rather childish and I feel that the writing isn't nearly up to the task of seriously tackling heavy issues like prejudice and hatred. For some, this could be a dealbreaker and for others it might be nothing more than mildly irksome. In total, it's a mixed bag at best. If you're wanting to give it a chance, look up the chronological order and watch it that way, but you won't be missing too much if you pass on it.

Rating:
50/50