Tag: slice of life

Sakura Quest – 02 [The Gathering of the Five Champions]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Sakura Quest

I’ll be honest, I’m digging this tale about the attempted runaway queen that ends up selling sweets in a self-made stand. Sakura Quest is a third of a loose trilogy from PA Works about characters and their specific jobs, after Hanasaku Iroha (about hot spring inn) and the heavyweight Shirobako (about anime industry) which are more adult-oriented than our typical anime field. This week runs more like the first trial for our Queen Yoshino as she has to sell 1000 boxes “Chupakabura manju” sweets, which ultimately failed. But of course, she’s having fun in a process and all of our primary cast is gathered to make the selling project altogether. It’s great fun to see those girls pour the hearts and passions for the work. Sakura Quest maintains its nice pace and firm gasp on small moments with great eyes for details and absurd humor.

After finding out about one year contract, meaning, she has to stuck in rural town Manoyama town for an entire year; Yoshino understandably freaks out and wants to escape the place as quickly as possible. But the old man Kadota gives her a first mission: to sell of those sweet boxes that he placed a wrong order (haha, this guy). So comes her first quest of gathering all the necessary people, meeting up the locals and running a website to promote the sweets. Only in 2 episodes this little town already has a warm and live-in atmosphere, and those locals already feel like my actual neighbors. There’s a diner store which do fortune-telling on a side. There’s the bus driver, the cranky old woman who hates tourism board, the cowboy blonde guy who plays harmonica (he actually doesn’t fit with the rest of the cast). This little town is not unlike any other small town, but it breathes so much refreshing air.

In order to sell that huge amount of sweets, the girls figure out the way of promoting it: making a fancyccult website. 0 products sold. Then the Queen will shake hands with the commoner. 3 sold by Shiori’s family members. Then putting an advertising video. 1 more sold. That’s it, they have no merchant skill at all. I have a good laugh with the absurdity of the video, but it’s well made, I totally sold to buy it. At the end of the week, all the girls just sit there and enjoy the expired sweets, while reflecting that the last week was indeed FUN.

The five champions, as the show put it, have their own personalities and while they’re not that flesh out yet, their interactions to each other are gold. Apart from Yoshino the running Queen who is energetic, we have the local members of Shiori (soft-spoken sweetheart) and Ririko (the typical dandere quiet, monotone shy girl. Still, her shifting glance is awesomely animated) and the girls from big city Sanae (who becoming anti-social when moving to this rural life; she’s sadly my least favorite character so far) and Maki (my favorite character, a no-nonsense local celebrity who appears in a popular series- as an unknown side character). All of them have different jobs and different characteristics, but that exactly why they can bring such great chemistry together.

The more serious theme for this episode, however, lies in the allure of big city versus quiet rural town. Yashino loves to live in big city Tokyo because it provides more job opportunities and it basically has everything. But nothing in particular. I guess this is the attitude from most of young people out there: going to the big city, getting the fine job and settling down there. But as Yashino finds out, putting a foot into that world isn’t easy with countless interviews without single job offer, but here in Manoyama she is given an opportunity. Sakura Quest presents an alternative mindset regarding that: “Doesn’t matter where you go, with the right attitude you can find a place for yourself anywhere”. That is a solid advice if you ask me. Sakura Quest is an energetic dose of anime that I’m gladly welcomed to my life right now. Long live the Queen!

Tsuki ga Kirei – 02 [A Handful of Sand]

by SuperMario, posted in Currently Watching:, Tsuki ga Kirei

Tsuki ga Kirei, or “as the moon, so beautiful.” as English title (a famous Japanese way to say “I Love You”), is your very definition of a slice-of-life romance show. Tsuki ga Kirei pays exclusive attention to the atmosphere, the small moments and characters’ reactions, while main plot and dramatic tension taken a back seat. It’s adorable, yes, not in the way cute girls doing cute things behave, but in its realistic approach to that innocent, awkward stage of our life – when, you know, it still matters a whole lot when you receive a text from the person you like, or getting nervous before the match in a sports festival. This week, the show spends an entire episode detailing a day of our characters participating in a said sports festival. We get to know more about the supporting casts and we also follow Kotaro in his house before and after the festival, and we have more cute moments for our duo Kotaro and Akane. This is a solid Tsuki ga Kirei episode so far.

As typically a bookish type person, Kotaro also loves to write. He’s a bit shy and defensive though, never let anyone to read his works, or in his everyday life, doesn’t let his mom to come for the festival. It would be embarrassed to fail, after all. This whole sports event where both our duo would get really clumsy and embarrassing, one fell hard while running, the other dropped the baton that lead to the loss of the team. But the show does a great job to not overplay those embarrassing moments and present them like normal situations. Because they are. Other shows tend to make a big deal out of character’s issues, to the point those moments can really affect the mood of the festival. Not here. The main emphasis, after all, is entirely fixated on characters’ passing feeling than any conflict, like how the show concentrates on Akane’s insecureness towards losing her potato plushy (is that really a POTATO?), instead of how she’s messing up because of that. I also like how sometimes the show would focus on Kotaro looking at body parts (either by accident or by his friends’ suggestion) of the girls without any sexual tension, in an awkward innocent not pervertly way.

This episode introduces us to the other two members of the cast, Chinatsu and Takumi. Although I enjoy the easy-going antics of Chinatsu and her moment with Korato in a medical room, especially her lousy treatment to Kotaro really speaks to that carefree side of her, the guy Takumi just tries so hard to impress Akane. From the look of it, those two are set up to be romantic rivalries to our main couple and if that’s the case then I ain’t particularly fond with it. I like to see them as real people, not the obstacles the leads have to pass to be with each other so I hope the show understands that. Tone down the romance, play up the slice-of-life aspect. I also enjoy Roman and his straightforward crush for sensei, kudos the show for make it subtly by showing it rather than screaming it aloud for the world to hear like other shows. Speaking of Roman’s crush, the shorts about various romance after the credit were a nice touch, both fleshing out a bit of our side characters, and taking more edgy side to this so far bright, pure-white world. But it’s real as well, at this stage of their life many starts to behave more grown-up, while others still act like a kid, this show really understands that.

And in the end, it’s so warm seeing the two helping each other out, texting to each other and Korato grows up a bit in the process (he’s still embarrassed to show his writing to others, but decided to show it because he’s passionate about writing). This show is adorable, but the “adorable” part is what I’m worrying about. So far, its adorableness comes from the show’s realistic portrayal of first love, and the sweet, light moments of preteen life. If they play up the cuteness, the show will become nothing more than another “cute characters show” and it will lose its sparks immediately. Two episodes in, Tsuki ga Kirei proves to be one of the most true-to-life representation of what 14-years-old kid life is about. This show is standing strong.