I kind of suspected that Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou would end with an outstanding episode – it’s just that sort of a series.  There’s always been an extra gear it could shift to, as long as it didn’t do so too often and dull the impact.  The meandering and determinedly offbeat little storylines it pursued most of the time were the meat of the narrative, but Youkai Apato has always had an emotional depth it could show off when the time was right.

We certainly didn’t get explanations for everything here – including whether or not there’s some sort of string of fate that’s attached to Yuushi’s existence that explains all the coincidences that are a part of it.  Stuff like running into the bully Tachibana, Yumi and George and his cousin on Christmas Eve, all a part of a kind of general check-in with many of the faces from the series.  Yuushi’s kouhai at work have turned into responsible sempai on their own terms, which is nice, but I was a bit disappointed the story didn’t pursue the family angle any deeper – I’m with Eri-chan on this one.  After his aunt and uncle took him in, I think Yuushi owes them a little consideration (and a trip home for the holidays).

This being the finale, though, I’m glad it was mostly spent on the magical rather than the mundane side of the ledger, and at Kotobuki-so rather than work or school.  Naturally at the Youkai Apato Namahage is going to mean actual oni come in to scare bad children (poor Kuri – he hasn’t been bad at all), and when there isn’t enough snow on the ground for Kuri and his “parents” to play in the snow that’s not a problem.  The landlord just opens up a portal to the tundra next to the waterfall on the onsen level, and viola – all the snow three goofy boys and a dog could ever want.

I don’t know if these “snow huts of time” Fool speaks of are a real thing – it’s not a legend I’ve ever heard of – but it’s certainly a fascinating idea.  Mind you I would have exercised considerably more caution rushing in there than Yuushi did, since seeing one’s future is a pretty big bite of the apple.  And I couldn’t help but think of Kuri not seeing his own future, because of course he doesn’t have one – he’s forever a toddler, forever confined to Kotobuki-so for fear of his mother’s vengeful spirit.  At least this way he got to see a little of the outside world, after a fashion – even Las Vegas…

As for Yuushi and Hase’s futures, it kind of makes sense that all of those huts offer only possibilities – they stretched off infinitely into the distance, after all.  But I’m with Hase that becoming a world traveler (even in Furuhonya’s company) is a step above his incredibly mundane “dream” of becoming a bureaucrat – as does being a writer, or a mage (as Fool wishes).  All of these futures essentially represent following in the path of one of his elders at Kotobuki-so, but in the end Yuushi will forge his own path (though no doubt tinged in magic after his time at the youkai apato).  As for Hase, that vision we saw seemed feasible enough – but I suspect he too will end up doing something with a little more spice to it.

In a sense, I suppose Youkai Apato is the very definition of a sleeper series in that I didn’t even include it in my summer preview – it was almost totally off my radar (this has been a big year for that, actually).  It took me a while to commit to blogging it and even once I did, it was usually a show that continued to fly under my radar – yet I always found myself getting more caught up in it than I expected.  It was a show that never seemed to be trying to hard to impress, which is all the more unusual in that it’s a light novel adaptation.

I always want to respect and like shows that go about things in their own way, without worrying about confirming to established tropes.  And in Youkai Apato’s case I didn’t have to try very hard – it was an easy show to appreciate.  Some of the mundane world episodes were fairly forgettable, but even there we often got some interesting takes on life – and the ones focused on the spiritual and mystical were often quite powerful and spellbinding.  In the end, I think, this was a series about adolescents learning what it means to be adults – and the role adults have in helping them do so.  And as obvious as that sounds, very few anime have actually focused on it as a central theme.    Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou was refreshing in every way – something proudly different, quite fearless and even wise – and a series that solidly exceeded expectations.