The trend with this season’s early bubble candidates has been a positive one. Second episodes (Astro Note and Bartender for example) have tended to be better than their premieres. That certainly applies to Tonari no Youkai-san, which I probably liked the best of those three to begin with. The mythology was expanded nicely, and there was more tonal diversity than in the mostly sweet first episode. I don’t think this is going full despair, but you definitely saw that little hint of a darker side grow into full-on expectation.
It didn’t click with me until the character Betobeto-san popped up, but Tonari no Youkai-san was reminding me a bit of Petopeto-san. You have that same vibe of youkai and humans living side-by-side, going through the routines of their daily lives together, even falling in love with each other. Things seem a bit more harmonious here – prejudice was a major theme with Petopeto-san, and so far at least that doesn’t seem to be a factor in Engamori – but there’s a definite spiritual overlap there.
There are definitely some interesting musings on Japanese folklore taking place here. I liked the idea of “essence” that was explained to Buchio-kun. That is, all youkai come into existence because of some strong will – either theirs or someone else’s. That seems to be the case with Betobeto-san for example, who was so desperate to escape loneliness that he willed himself to step out of the darkness (fill in your own metaphoric blank here). Perhaps Buchio simply loved his human family so much that he willed himself not to die so he could stay with them. That’s a lovely lovely thought generally, but especially for those of us who have shared our lives with cats.
The flipside of this is that darkness, which seems to follow Mu-chan around aggressively. When someone asks her what she’s looking at, she can reply “Nothing” and be correct in more ways than one. The beings that make it up may be sad and lonely, but they’re also dangerous. They prey on the lonely outside their sphere and suck them in – which has Mu-chan wondering why her kind, cheerful father may have been swallowed by that darkness. Mu-chan also has a dangerous run-in with a white snake which Jirou is in the process of hunting. This is clearly not a benevolent youkai (though traditionally it’s considered a harbinger of good luck in Shinto), and it seems to be trying to seduce Mu-chan into breaking a seal.
We also get a cute side story about a kappa girl who’s fallen in love with a human boy in her class. She gets so worked up she boils the water in her plate and has to go to the nurse’s office, in fact. Her friend drags her to see Hanako-san (wholly benevolent in this setting) for some romantic advice. That amounts to passing the baton of love, which I guess for grade schoolers (adding youkai students is about the only way a small-town Japanese school can be this crowded) is as good a courtship ritual as any.
As I noted last week, Tonari no Youkai-san just checks a lot of my boxes. I’m the target audience for this series, and while that isn’t enough on its own, in this case the series is doing more than enough to draw me in. “That niche” shows tend to do that slowly. As you get to know the characters better the slice-of-life events take on more meaning. And sometimes (as with Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san) there are depths to the series that only become apparent over time. That strikes me as a definite possibility here, but even taken at face value Tonari no Youkai-san is an engaging experience so far.
Nicc
April 16, 2024 at 8:17 amThis 2nd episode worked well for me as much as the first one. We get to see more of the world that they’re living in and there’s an undercurrent of darkness as well. We are introduced to some new characters, some of which are in the barbecue at the start of the episode. Buchio is still coming to terms about why he was reborn as such and it’s Jiro and new character Betobeto who help nudge him in finding that answer. That was indeed a nice scene to see Buchio tell his family about his gratitude to them.
Next up we head to school as we see humans and youkai co-existing peacefully. Some of the faculty are also youkai. We meet a kappa girl who has a crush on a human boy. She freaks out so much around him during class that her dish on her head dried out. Her friend brings her to visit Hanako for some love advice, who in this series is a friendly one and has got a nice place inside the stall. Right, something about passing a “baton of love” for the school’s upcoming sports festival. She did get to thank him later for the eraser, at least. Things get a bit darker as Mu-chan follows Jiro and (I forgot their name) into the forest as they are looking for something. She then finds a snake who seems to hypnotize her into breaking a seal on a tree. Jiro is able to snap her out of it and it looks like something that will be looked into later.
That includes an unknowingly loaded question from Buchio when he asks Yuri about her family. She flew off the handle and so there’s some bad history there. Alright, it’s the day of the sports festival and we’ve got the usual events such as tug-of-war, the borrowing race and the beanbag toss, but with more pizazz thanks to the youkai. The relay, however, is a straightforward event and her class wins. I don’t know if that baton of love worked with him, but everybody had a fun time.
Then, we see Mu-chan encountering that darkness, which you’re right that “nothing” is a fitting description. Betobeto is just driving through and he knows that nature of that darkness. That’s because he used to be like that until he willed himself to get out and take a physical shape. Right, he explains that they’re lonely, but also dangerous. I think that this show is already a keeper for me and there are some intriguing places that this show can go.
Oh yeah, and for folks in the USA, Happy Tax Day! Your taxes have been filed by today, right? Right? Don’t be like the manga artist for “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” and get busted for tax evasion.
Nadavu
April 20, 2024 at 6:26 pmWhile still very enjoyable, I’m starting to have a problem here. First, there seems to be too much youkai around. Now it stands to reason that if youkai are immortal, then sooner or later their numbers will swell beyond that of humans, but I’m having a hard time conceptualizing how society will continue to function at that point. Do youkai vote? Do they run for office? Do they pay social security? Do they ever get to retire and collect pension? That would certainly be the death of the economy.
Secondly, I don’t understand why school is too jam-packed with youkai. From what we’ve seen so far, youkai sort of come into existence fully formed, so I don’t see why they would want or need to go to school. Maybe if a kid dies and then becomes a kid-youkai, but then they’re not every going to grow up either, right? And on top of that, it seems there was a kappa mom in the crowd. So youkai can beget baby youkai who mature with time?
I hope this is further explained soon.