I often tell others (and myself) that I’m not a huge fan of the shoujo genre. While that is true for the most part, I somehow find myself occasionally watching and enjoying shoujo anime/manga. This led me into deciding to pick up Otome Youkai Zakuro, particularly because I hadn’t watched a supernatural romance in forever. Supernatural romances hardly come around in the anime industry, so I took a chance with it. NIS America also released a beautiful premium edition that caught my interest. I felt almost inclined to buy it, but wanted to make sure that I liked the series first. Not only did I enjoy Otome Youkai Zakuro, but it has become one of my favorite shoujo animes to this date.
Watched on - Crunchyroll
Original Release Date - October 4, 2010
Director - Chiaki Kon
Production Studio - J.C. Staff
Story - In Japan’s Meiji Era of Westernization, humans and half spirits have come together to live amongst each other. Naturally, everything isn’t so peaceful and tons of issues arise. That’s when the military decides to create the Ministry of Spirit Affairs. Each half-spirit is assigned to a human soldier and that is how we meet the powerful half fox-spirit, Zakuro and her partner Agemaki. Her friends Susukihotaru, Bonbori, Hozuki, Riken, and Ganryuu help her and the Ministry resolve issues and bring peace to conflicts. However, Zakuro must face a mystery of her own; the truth of her mother’s death.
Characters - Definitely a highlight of this anime! Every character is filled with their own histories and distinct personalities.You have the tsundere Zakuro (not a very unique trait in anime, but still an interesting character), the cheerful twins Bonbori and Hozuki, the shy Susukihotaru, and the noble men of the military. Each of their backstories were so interesting to watch and added to everyone’s overall character development. Each pairing in Spirit Affairs also complimented each other so well and were a perfect match. The cast did so well in portraying these characters and brought them to life.
Animation/Art- The one thing that I love about the shoujo genre is that there are so many great artists providing gorgeous characters and sceneries. From the attire in this anime, to the character designs, the art is another high point. My favorites, though, were Bonbori and Hozuki’s hair and outfits because they were so detailed and intricate. It was fun watching them on screen. Vibrant colors and smooth animation grabs your attention instantly. During the ending song animations, artwork from the actual manga were incorporated and I must admit it was breathtaking. It made me want to begin the manga and I actually did! The art is much more sensual and has such an elegant feel to it. It’s lovely.
Sound - The soundtrack backing this anime suited the show very well. A wide variety of song types fill this anime. There are fast-paced happy songs, eerie mysterious ones, as well as sad sentimental ones. They also did one of my favorite things any anime could do…have multiple ending sequences. I usually skip the ending song for any anime that I watch, but I find that I stick around when the songs are different each episode. It adds variety and makes you look forward to hearing what song is going to be used next. There were three ending songs for this anime and they were all excellent. They fit the episode they closed after appropriately and were also quite catchy. My favorite of the three was “Futari Shizuka”, a duet featuring the voice actress of Susukihotaru and Riken. It’s simply a beautiful song, with enchanting vocals and violins.
Pros - One quality about this anime that I enjoyed was that its romance was not too unrealistic or overly dramatic. Too many times have I stopped watching shows where the romance feels absolutely fake, so this was a refresher. The romance was subtle and warm-hearted. Made you want to say “awwwww”. All of the couples fit each other so well and it’s like you want them to be romantically involved.
Also:
- Story wasn’t complicated and was very easy to follow.
- Illustrious fight scenes! Very cool to watch.
- Also loved how Zakuro’s weapon transformed from a sakura branch. Now that was awesome in my book.
Cons - The main villian was part of a plot twist, but their power was hardly shown. Expected more of a showdown between the chacracters, but there was barely a fight, which was disappointing. It was another evil character, the Black Widow, that stole the limelight as far as villianry goes. She was much creepier and actually showed a lot of potential in harming someone.
Also, the anime could be slow-paced at times, making a couple of scenes slightly boring. There weren’t too many of these instances, but there were enough for me to notice. It was as if we’re expecting something to happen and nothing does. Scenes could be drawn out to prolong the episode.
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In conclusion, Otome Youkai Zakuro wasn’t perfect, but it caught my attention. A short and sweet series that had potential for more material, but finished a little short. Really wished that more people watched this show because it is worth the watch! Loved the fact that there wasn’t an abundance of drama when it came to the romance. No open endings were left, making the ending satisfying and fulfilling. The issues the Ministry had to resolve were also actually pretty cool and hey I recognize some of those spirits! My love for Japanese Mythology and folklore just increased :3
Rating - 8/10
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