Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta
Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta is an anime adaptation of the currently ongoing, 13 volume manga created by Suzuhito Yasuda about a town that lies on the border between the world of humans and the world of yokai (Japanese mythological monsters).
On the astronomically slim chance that you, dear reader, are saying to yourself "That person sure does sound familiar, I feel like he's been referenced before on this blog," rest assured, you're not losing your mind. I talked briefly about Suzuhito Yasuda in my June post about Devil Survivor. He did the character designs for the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor games as well as the illustrations for the Durarara! light novels, among other things (good lord, I promise this is the last time I'll talk about that).
Aaaaaanyways, Yozakura Quartet (I'm going to save us all some headache by just abbreviating it as YZQ), follows four main characters through their adventures in Sakurashin town (the aforementioned town on the border between worlds).
First is Hime, the superpowered mayor of the town, whose most distinguishable feature is her orange and black scarf. Next is Ao, a blue-haired, cat-eared mind reader. There is also Kotoha, who has the power to conjure items just by speaking; and Akina, who runs a...town outreach center type thing?
Sounds kind of boring, but it's lots of fun, I promise.
Like I mentioned in my last post, Hana no Uta is a rehash of a 12 episode series from 2008 that I was very...content...with. It was overwhelmingly okay, but it made me aware of the series, which got me reading the manga, so I guess there's always that. Anyhow, the original series was animated by Nomad Studios, but this newest adaptation, as well as the 2010 & 2011 OVAs-- Hoshi no Umi-- are being handled by Tatsunoko Productions.
I was apprehensive at first when I looked into other Tatsunoko projects (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman and Casshern Sins, to name a few). I found the art style reminiscent of things like Lupin III, Cyborg 009, and other shows that I just couldn't get into visually. However, I quickly adapted to the art style and found that it...actually...is pretty awesome and not nearly as bad as I originally feared. Granted, it's a far cry from Suzuhito Yasuda's work (of which I am personally a big fan), but hey, they made it work. And...oh my god the way everything moves!
The comparison I like to draw is thus: "Hey, do you remember the fights from the first episode of Soul Eater?"
Just...just skip to 1:47
"You know how they looked really nice and intense? Well, Yozakura Quartet moves like that all the time!"
This is all in the first 3 episodes, mind. Consider me a convert.
So anyways, YZQ: HU is good looking, fun, and follows really closely to the manga, so I've got high hopes for a longer run than its previous incarnation. I'm keeping up with it weekly and we're just getting into episode 6 and this show has yet to disappoint.
Simply put: I think it may be getting time for me to reevaluate my top 10 favorite anime XD
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