Let me start by saying this: I love Okitsura. Love, love, love it. This series has as much heart as anything I’ve watched in ages.

No question about it, Okitsura is a rarity for me. I almost never write-up shows I didn’t cover at all, even in a First Impressions post. I picked it up late, probably on a recommendation from a commenter here (if it was you, remind me – I need to thank you). And I liked it. Then liked it more. And more, and even more. It got to the point where I was enjoying it so much I didn’t want to break the spell by writing about it – I just wanted to love it in relaxed, unsullied fashion. As anyone who follows me on Bluesky or tw*tter will tell you, I got totally swept up in this series’ vibe.

But now that it’s  over, I certainly wanted to formally declare my love for Okitsura in review form. I’m going to be honest here – I didn’t just enjoy it as entertainment. It really emotionally connected with me. I’ve never been to Okinawa but I know a few people who’ve lived there and they love it in a uniquely powerful way. It’s a land with a complicated history – a history which until very recently was not as a part of Japan. It suffered horribly during World War II. It has several huge U.S. military bases, and there are tensions with the locals as a result. Okinawans have a fierce pride in their culture and sense of independence. And in Japan, that’s a very rare thing.

That sense of pride – and of place – comes through loud and clear in Okitsura. But not through anger or even defiance – just love. Love of the culture and the desire to share it. That’s communicated through the arrival of a Tokyo boy named Teru (Ohtsuka Takeo) as a high school transfer student. He’s taken under the wing of two girls, Hina (Kitou Akari) and Kana (Ai Fairouz). Hina talks like an Okinawa obaa-san in Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan dialect) which makes it impossible for Teru to understand most of what she says (thus the title). Kana helpfully translates as they go along (and is helpful generally).

As a function of Okinawa dialect, Hina is “Hiinaa”, Kana is “Kaanaa”, and Teru is “Teeruu”. And Okinawan language is only one of many cultural lessons Okitsura teaches. It’s a tremendous cultural ambassador and travel brochure to boot – I’ve never wanted to travel to a place more because of an anime. I’ve been drinking Orion beer. And thanks to the Wonderful EDs, all remixes of songs by well-known Okinawan bands, I’ve gone deep down the rabbit hole of Okinawan popular music. Especially Begin, the superb and massively successful Okinawan band which mixes traditional sanshin with rock and folk instrumentation, and wrote the most essential of the three EDs, “Shimanchu nu Takara” (“Islander’s Treasure”). Iya sa-sa.

This whole Tokyo fish out of water premise is an entire animanga subgenre in its own right. And we’ve seen adaptations which run along similar lines – especially Dosanko Gyaru wa Namaramenkoi with Hokkaido and the short Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki with Nagoya. I enjoyed both of those series a fair bit, but Okitsura is on another level for me both as a story about a place and as a narrative. Teeru, Kaanaa, and Hiinaa are all great kids and great characters. The locals in the supporting cast are vibrant and interesting. And there’s a very good romance angle, though never much of a sense that it’s really the point.

The gist of that is, Teeruu is in love with Hiinaa and Kaanaa is in love with Teeruu. They’re all first-years in high school (so 15 or 16), but Hiinaa is very childlike about such things and has no clue of Teeruu’s feelings. And while he appreciates Kaanaa as a friend Teeruu has Hiinaa blinders on and is likewise unaware. I adore all three of them though I have to say, I’m Team Hiinaa all the way – she couldn’t be more adorable and I don’t blame Teeruu a bit. The last episode plays with that a little, with Teeruu giving Hiinaa a handkerchief with the Minsa design which freaks her out, because old-timers (which she effectively is) know it as a declaration of eternal love. In truth Teeruu’s dad got a ton of them on Ishigaki and his son gifted them to all his classmates.

The whole series is full of great cultural tidbits like that. Typhoons and 24-hour supermarkets, banana juice, “snack pineapples”, koregusu (I had to find myself a bottle). And fiifii (finger whistling) – I’ve spent hours trying to do that. In the finale alone Yuta (Okinawa shamans), Mabui (pieces of the soul), “en” (not Nen-related, more of a soulmate thing), and a lovely aside on the sanshin and its vital role in Okinawan life. None of this is heavy-handed or judgemental – “gentle” is the word I’d use. But enchanting. It’s rare for a series to bring a culture to life so vividly as Okitsura does with Ryuukuu culture. Okinawans have good reason to be angry about a lot of things, but there’s no anger in Okitsura.

Another element of this series I really love is the humor. In short, it’s just really funny. The way it plays on romcom tropes for starters, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The language gap is the source of much comedy, and there are a ton of sight gags (like Kaanaa’s little sister piling sea creatures on Teeruu-nii’s head when he refuses to pay attention to her). It’s obvious that a series like this is going to romanticize its subject but goodness me, it makes this seem like a wonderful place to be. And as I said, the folks I know who’ve lived in Okinawa universally love it profoundly. I really think there’s something special about this place and its people.

In summary then, I love Okitsura. Love, love, love it. I would say it’s probably my favorite of all contemporary anime that I never covered as they were airing, and there have been several I hold a deep affection for. And I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be seeing its name in the 2025 year-end posts, even if it weren’t looking like a pretty weak year. I probably should have picked it up once I figured out how good it was but you know, I don’t regret it. It was nice building a special relationship with it on my own time, with no need to quantify it. It’s been a wonderful twelve episodes – Nifee Debiru.