Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta | Worth Watching?

ByOOCentral

Is it worth? Who knows! I’ll let you decide, but first, you’ll need to give it a watch 🙂

The story begins exactly as such in a bizarre way involving fish tanks, pigeons, and something we might be more familiar with – youkai. The way it sets it up makes viewers confused at first. This is especially true for viewers coming completely fresh into the show without expectations. What follows later makes more sense as we see other characters jumping into the problem and resolving it in their own little ways. They even get their rewards too such as enjoying the Sakura Festival. Because hey, we all need a break to enjoy ourselves after a day of hard work.

One key factor to the series, would be the diversity of its characters. Among the center of its cast are four main characters by the names of Akina, Hime, Ao, and Kotoha. While they seem normal at first with their teenager like outlooks, all of them have supernatural abilities. Not only that but one of them, Hime Yarizakura, stands as the protector of their city Sakurashin. For Hime, she plays the role of a guardian/mayor and the anti-thesis of a frail girl. She charges into the face of danger and puts others before herself. It’s her duty and responsibility to protect the people she loves. 

If you’re into the story, the series does go into depth with some of its concepts. In between are some episodes that may feel a bit repetitive or oddly paced. The series itself is also only 13 episodes (one cour) but surprisingly adapts quite a lot of material from the manga in the form of packages/arcs. Along with adaptation, it even manages to insert various comedy scenes too to raise attention. While it doesn’t overly express fan service, the series doesn’t avoid with the pool outdoors. On the other hand, it sticks to its themes fairly well with the supernatural features. Although the story is predictable on various occasions, it can still be surprisingly entertaining thanks to its fluid action scenes and energy.

However, though, I thought the story sometimes lacks details in terms of explanation. A mixed bag is also the comedy – some of them oddly coordinated while others works out quite well to make its point. This usually involves the character interactions, dialogues, and in general the way they play their parts in the story. While some characters don’t stand out as much as the others, comic relief is a prevalence of the franchise and is executed decently. Get ready to grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the laughs.

Artwork is not a prominent factor but does play a key theme to reflect its style. Youkai are designed not only with otherworldly features but also giving their malevolent appearances. None of them looks the same and offers a diversity of characteristics. The way the antagonists are designed also conveys their efforts well. On the other hand, fan service sometimes gets in the way as female characters are characterized with more sexuality than they should be. The background textures also seems average as nothing stands out as extraordinary or noticeable. Hime on the other hand has that noticeable scarf wrapped around her neck with a more definite meaning. 

The soundtrack is solid for most parts. The OST performs well mostly during its action scenes but fades in the background during more of the calm scenes. There are some emotional scenarios in the series as well and the soundtrack reflects its mood consistently. However, it lacks the concept of originality with portraying shounen battle sequences. Cheesy dialogues are inserted in during fight scenes while the whole stereotypical laughs from the antagonists are echoed in the air.

The OP “Sakura no Ato by UNISON SQUARE GARDEN is a very upbeat and awesome song to listen to. I personally enjoyed listening to it. I’ve always been someone to really like those more upbeat and fast songs (generally speaking) and this one for sure is a song I have on my phone. I also really enjoyed ” Tsukiyomi” by phatmans after school. There are many things I enjoyed about the ending song as well, it had various levels. There were times when it was slow, other times when it was fast; there were parts where it was quiet and there were some parts that were loud.

I personally really enjoyed that.