Recommended
Hiya! The 50th Robert's Too Late Reviews has arrived! And this time we have such a darling show to talk about. I absolutely adored my time with the fox girls of Konohana Kitan (as is my tradition, the dubbed version). It was heartwarming, funny, and very interesting with its light exploration of Japanese mythology. I recommend this series heartily for those 'go in blind' types seeing this. Will the RTLR wall of inn patrons get bigger? Lets rock this house. Story: 8 The story isn't anything to get too excited over, as the plot has been used many different times. The poor girl basically has nowhere togo, is thrust into a job with others, and must learn not only to be a good employee, but also to find a place within the 'family'. I was instantly reminded of Kanamemo, and in a lot of ways this title is similar, though they pulled it off by leaps and bounds better than former series. The biggest, and the most interesting difference to me is that Konohana is set in the spirit realm, kind of a place halfway between earth and the afterlife (heaven, whatever). That gives the show the ability to include outlandish guests such as gods and mystical creatures, and even normal mortal humans. In fact the entire staff (save one late entry) are all mystical fox girls themselves. The story that follows is a slice of life type entry where we see how the clumsy main character causes all sorts of problems, but her wonderful charisma and honest heart win over both the staff and the guests. Eventually she become proficient enough at her job to truly be a member of the Konohana family.
Has this story been done many times before? Yes. But the inclusion of the spirit realm, the mystical elements and the existence of magical creatures seems to set this story apart for me, and had me rooting for all the guests at the end, not just the staff. The fairly self contained stories run the gamut from a mystical girl who weaves nonstop to create a beautiful part of our world, to a priest that has a 'possessed' doll he's reluctant to exorcise, instead deciding to leave her with the inn staff, to finally a mortal woman dealing with heart breaking sadness that came to the inn to have her final wish come true before passing on to the hereafter. The stories themselves are engaging and I found myself looking forward to each and every episode.
Art: 8
I would have scored the art at a 9, but they do a LOT of comedy bits in it where when in a stressful or odd situation, the girl or girls will be portrayed as kind of oblong, detail-less blobs, primarily when they are scared or such. This might be hard for me to describe properly, but once you see it the first time, you'll know what I'm talking about. There are lots of moments where the comedy takes a firm hold of a scene and these tropes appear. I don't mind them, they did punctuate the comedy of those scenes, but I think the story would have been better served without so many of them.
Otherwise the art is wonderful, I like the detail in the eyes, the ability the art had to convey emotion without words. The animation seemed smooth enough to me. I will mention I did not care for the weird priest with the doll and his super cucumber shaped skull. Everything else looked good, and I always enjoyed when they showed the exterior of the inn, with it's beautiful architecture.
Sound 8:
Another I might have scored higher if it wasn't for the main character Yuzu's voice. She sounds appropriately innocent, but her voice does stray close to ear straining fairly often. She never got bad enough to grate my nerves, but I wish they could have made her a little less ditsy sounding. The other girls voices are all really well done, fitting their characters nicely.
The opening and closer are nice, I especially liked the opener quite a bit. Seemed fitting for a show about a girl coming to age and finding her place in the world. The background music is never intrusive, and knows when to rise up and when to quiet down. I found the music enhancing my enjoyment. The sound effects for the comedy bits were funny, if not completely predictable.
Character: 9
There are many different characters in the show, though not as many as some ensemble casts. There's the girl who wants to be a priestess but ended up at the hotel instead while her sister got her priestess job. She harbors resentment over this, but there's more to the story than even she knows.
The boss of the inn is a literal fox (who can somehow appear human with just a little makeup) who is strong, but very fair to her girls, taking good care of them even if she sounds a little gruff sometimes.
The head servant is an affable, laid back kind of gal that takes it all in stride, and is always there with words of encouragement or wisdom for Yuzu as she bungles a job, or gets on everyone else's nerves.
The obligatory mean girl is there, straight and stern as always. She's the girl who wanted to serve the gods but her parents made her go to the inn instead. A lot of her anger has to do with the fact that the only knows a snippet of what happened when the decision was made by her parents. That's often the case with people, things happen, and they think the know the whole story, when in fact they only know a tiny bit of it. This girl tends to have to herd Yuzu around and teach her the job, something she grumbles about constantly.
There are a few other characters as well, especially the awesome almost silent Sakura, who is a freaky little girl with some strange habits. The cast is well rounded out with personalities that clash enough for drama, but never so much as to break the bonds of love between them. Each member shares a fair bit of screen time so your 'best girl' likely will get enough of a story and scenes to make a fan of any of the girls happy.
Enjoyment: 9
It all comes together nicely, this story about an inn set in the spirit realm full of fox girls, talking mice, gods, holy men, and even humans. The comedy keeps it from getting too bogged down and taking itself too seriously, but there are episodes (one in particular) that had me all kinds of misty eyed. It was a joy to watch Yuzu and the girls get into their hijinks and carry on. Keep an eye out for the magic egg. In the dubbed version there is one hell of a funny exchange regarding it. I would, and probably will, watch this anime again sometime, so my enjoyment should be more than obvious.
Best Girl: No surprises here: Satsuki. Give me the straight laced, uptight, mean girl every single time. Even though she tries so hard to be tough, she really is a big softy inside. But I like her better in butt-kicking mode. And purple hair! Gotta love that too!
I wish I could go to a hot-spring inn between the earth and the afterlife. Maybe someone will build one someday. Until then I have the memories of the fun I had watching this anime to hold me over. As for the RTLR wall of fox girls, Satsuki scores a spot, bumping Emma Frost from her post (see not just anime girls, though it's starting to get that way!) Take a trip to the inn, I think you'll enjoy it. And with that review 50 is in the books!
