Otome Youkai Zakuro – first impression
October 5, 2010
Another series, another tsundere.
While waiting for season two of Hakuouki to appear, I thought I would take a look at the other alternate history with supernatural beings, Otome Youkai Zakuro. It turns out to have much more comedy, more romance, and much less history than Hakuouki. The first episode was amusing, and played like a decent shoujo rom-com, with the surprising addition of some serious fighting scenes.
Shoujo much? Couple 1: Zakuro X Agemaki Kei.
One effective bit of humor was the way the sparkly roses were used to establish the character of Agemaki Kei, who can apparently cause said sparkly roses to appear at will, but he actually uses this extra-ordinary charm to hide the fact that he is terrified of the youkai.
Shy girl meets quiet guy. Couple 2: Susukihotaru X Yoshinokazura Riken.
Sure this is another cliche, but this couple managed to have the sweetest interactions of the episode. And really, if you’re going to include a shy, fox-eared girl in your anime, casting Kana Hanazawa is a classy way to handle it. (Just a few of her recent roles: Tenshi, Angel Beats!; Anri, Durarara!!; Kozue, Occult Academy).
o.O Couple, err... relationship 3: Hozuki & Bonbori X Hanakiri Ganryu.
Perhaps the less said about this the best.
Cute little pumpkin heads.
But there’s more to the supernatural than fox-eared girls. Apparently there is quite a variety of such beings, although some portion of them now want to live in peace with the humans, there are still some monsters marauding about.
In a development I heartily approve of, Zakuro, the main fox-eared girl, can pull a sword out of a rabbit’s mouth. Or she can pull a blossoming cherry branch out of a rabbit’s mouth, and turn the branch into a sword. Either way that’s pretty cool. Seemingly the main plot has something to do with the reason that certain youkai are acting evil.
In summation, this was a fun way to spend half an hour. The VA cast is top notch, and JC Staff will make it look good.
Abandoned Factory Anime Review 
October 5, 2010 at 6:22 am
This was just a hole lot of fun from start to finish. Definitely a keeper for me. Loved the Faldio Lanzat lookalike and his random roses, very Ouran. And I also loved the interactions between the shy/ quite couple, that moment with the box and the kneeling was seriously DAWWW worthy. Seriously, I think I re-watched that scene alone about 5 times. Anyways, the Hakouki comparison is also apt, as I was also thinking about it while watchign this. Better characterisation in OYZ though, as (apart from the obvious character ‘types’) I thought that they were all fairly distinct personalities. Oh and I also loved the little pumkin headed children and the crazy rabbit.
In short: fun, fun, fun! 🙂
October 5, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Yeah, it is kind of interesting because OYZ is kind of like what happens after the Shinsengumi holdouts lose the Boshin War. The tone is completely different, which is okay, in that comedy is fun, but I like the general feeling of epic tragedy in Hakuouki, too. Could turn out to be a good season.
October 5, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I’m still pretty “meh” about this one. I will admit that pulling a sakura branch out of something’s gullet and then turning it into a sword is pretty badass though. This needs to happen more often 8D
October 6, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I had almost minus expectations from this one but it really surprised me. I laughed at Kei’s predicament, and enjoyed the episode with every character in their skins. I will at least watch two more episodes to make up my mind.
October 7, 2010 at 1:26 am
Yeah, it was a surprise to me too. I only watched it because I still haven’t seen a Hakuouki sub, but I’m actually glad I did, because I had fun doing it.
November 3, 2010 at 11:52 pm
yeah everything its fine but whats up with that fuc$$d up bunny head, man seriously theres a limit to what you can do and imagine, some kind of japanese narnia, but the humans characters are marvelous, well designed and with their own charisma. Lets see where does it leads.
November 4, 2010 at 12:05 am
I still don’t know quite what to make of it. It is specifically related to Zakuro, though.