(13 episodes)
What’s it about ?
Yet another urban fantasy story, but at least it’s more of an ensemble piece than usual.
This seems to be either a remake or a prequel for the original Yozakura Quartet series (that I haven’t seen) ; that allows it to narrowly bypass my usual “no sequels” rule.
Characters
Hime, who may or may not be the leader of this teenage group, and somehow holds the title of “Mayor” of this town (with beleaguered adult attendant in tow). So far, that mostly means being in charge of organizing this festival. She’s a normal human being, although quite good with a quaterstaff.
Kotoha, on the other hand, is half-youkai. She’s clearly the most powerful of the lot, as her voice can make any object materialize out of thin air. Also, she’s voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, and thus awesome.
Ao is a blue-haired catgirl with not-very reliable divination powers (not much good at giving a picture of a lost little girl’s parents). On the other hand, she’s quite adept at jumping around all other.
Akina is the one dude in their group, and claims to be a normal human (I have no clue whether the light show he can put out is all trickery or actual powers). He’s manning the lost kids desk for the festival.
The plot involves a mysterious guy wreaking havoc on the festival by… making the goldfish gigantic. Apparently it’s a test to take the measure of our heroes.
Production Values
Not too flashy, but with some meticulous care for body language. Cool eyecatches, too.
Overall Impression
The immediate question : does this stand on its own, or is it impenetrable for the newbie ? The good news : it works quite well at establishing the characters, even if I’m a bit hazy about what the actual premise is (besides there being this town where humans and youkai coexist happily). And there’s a very good twist after the credits.
I’m starting to have some sleep issues by now (marathoning these reviews is taking its toll), and this is one of the shows suffering from it. But I can clearly recognize it’s well-put together and deserves more of my time.
