I don't know what sort of voice I expected instead, but it wasn't that.

I started watching Sasaki to Pii-chan (Sasaki and Peeps) despite knowing basically nothing about it. Well, I knew Yuuki Aoi voiced a talking bird, and that was reason enough for me. And I guess I also knew someone convinced Frog-kun that it got better later. It turns out it's about a salaryman who is not at all phased that his newly acquired pet bird is a wizard from a different world. Oh, and magic also works in Japan. I guess there's no reason why it wouldn't.

You may remember me from such anime as 80,000 Gold, Etc.

Anyway, it feels as if I'm being pranked largely because of how the two leads are voiced. I'm at the point where I can't hear Tomokazu Sugita voice any character without, well, without it sounding as if it's just Tomokazu Sugita voicing a character. Additionally, Yuuki Aoi has given the bird an unexpectedly deep voice. You know how the cat in Machikado Mazoku (The Demon Girl Next Door) has a deep voice that's played for laughs? It's a similar effect, except played straight. The first episode is double-length, which is enough time to bring in the psychics who are part Japan's secret psychic government agency, and, it's like...are you putting me on?

How long have you been sitting there?

Anyway, I'm going to keep watching, and hope its focus on arbitrage diminishes a bit. I also don't want it to devolve into magic v. psychics battling. Okay, but then what do I want from Sasaki and Peeps? I suppose I want talking-bird adventures. And I suppose I'm also curious to find out how out-of-place the subplots involving the neighbor feel. I've seen people claim on the social-type media that she was an editorial addition glomming onto some sort of wayward teen girl trend, possibly inspired by HigeHiro. I see the source material (a light novel) is still ongoing, so I'm not expecting much from this anime. Maybe being elaborately pranked by it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

This fight could have been an e-mail.

As far as I know, there is only one episode of Sasaki to Pii-chan (Sasaki and Peeps) left this season. I should have dropped it after that bowling alley fight in episode two. Let me be absolutely clear about this: All of the fights in this anime are terrible. They're not interesting, there's no tension, and they never feel necessary. They're not the worst I've ever seen, but Lord, they ain't good. If this were a better show, I would say something like, "Thankfully, the fights comprise only a small part of the series, and are not critical to one's enjoyment of the narrative."

There are A LOT of shrimpy girls in this series, but they aren't love interests.

Unfortunately, Sasaki to Pii-chan is not a better show. Maybe it'll get good after 50 episodes? I get the sense the audience is supposed to be in it for the long haul. I don't know how many volumes of the source material this single cours has covered, but it doesn't feel like much. The show drags, and it seems as if it wants to explore a lot of different ideas, but also wants to do them all at once. Consequently, there's no chance for any sort of satisfying conclusion or storytelling beat this season. It's just going to end, and I'm not going to care.