Otome Youkai Zakuro

If you enjoy an anime that has the western military team up with eastern youkai then this is the anime for you. Otome Youkai Zakuro is set in Edo Japan where youkai and humans coexist, but only barely as there are still some prejudices against the youkai kind. Because there was an upset between the youkai and humans the Ministry of Sprits was created, where human males and female yokai work together. Otome Youkai Zakuro’s plot centres around this Ministry of Sprits establishment, having the human and yokai individuals being forced to work with one another. The anime follows multiple individuals lives and the impact that this treaty has on them, the youkai females especially.  Zakuro is the main character alongside her partner Kei Agemaki, and it is with these two that i would say their paring are the funniest. Zakuro like her friends adorns fox ears showing her youkai blood, and this feature is apparent because she and the others are half yokai. Zakuro and Agemaki are the funniest because their ideals are completely different, she is totally against any wester views and he funnily is completely afraid of spirits. So in effect they both abhor one another, and this is hilarious. I would hate having to work with someone i strongly dislike, especially if they are dead afraid of my kind. This show is very supernatural and one of the things i love about it is the visuals, the art is so beautiful especially when they use their blossoms flower attacks. Blossom flowers are my favourite flower, and this how just makes them even more beautiful. Not only are the visual great but the songs as well, the opening is killer and is so catchy, and the song they sing before they attack is so cute. The greatest things about that is the song is innocent yet deadly, and that is art. Despite it having it’s romantic element, i find the action and adventures they have to be exciting. Just a heads up you are so going to ship all the girls with their partners, i swear you will squeal like i did whenever something romantic happened.

Zakuro, age 16, aggressive, impulsive, easily angered and a girl who deeply loves her kind and will do anything to protect them. Zakuro is the most aggressive and verbal at not liking the Ministry of Spirits idea. Her hate to westernisation is through the bad treatment it has given to Spirits, and how peoples attitudes quickly changed to how they see Youkai. I do like her blunt personality but even i find her mind to be closed off, she seems to not want to establish a good middle ground until she wants it to.

Kei Agemaki, age 18, scardy cat, clumsy, kind but deadly afraid of any Youkai that comes near him. Kei is is in the tip ranks of the army and so when he is deadly afraid of spirits our illusion of him is shattered making his character the funniest out of all of them. From zakuro appearing human he seems to be at ease with her, and so sticks to her like glue whenever a youkai appears making the whole scenario hilarious.

Susukihotaru, age 16, shy, intelligent, and very kind, she at first cannot look humans in the eye through sheer shyness and that only makes her cuter. Susukihotaru can feel peoples emotion by touching them, so her empathy and sympathy tank is always at full capacity. Susukihotaru is my favourite out of all the girls, not only does she seem to have a sold and open mind, but she grows as a character and i always find character development to be important. Despite her appearance she is not weak, rather she uses her strength to support Zakuro who mainly does the attacking in the group.

Riken Yoshinokazura, age 19, emotionless, tall, and a non talkative male. Riken is paired with Susukihotaru and thought they seem to be an odd match they are actually perfect for one another. Riken is the silent type who with a scary face has a big heart on the inside, he deeply cares for those he calls friends. He is even helpful to Kei as he knows about his fear of spirits, so all in all Riken is my favourite male character.

 

Bonbori  and Hozuki, age 15, twins, clingy, younger minds, they are not as open to people as they should and so getting them to like you is hard. Bonbori  and Hozuki are identical and are very hard to separate, but their partner Ganryu can tell them apart straight away. The thing about these two is that they are very vocal about their love to Ganryu and it actually quite refreshing.

 

Ganryu Hanakiri, age 16, very intelligent, childlike, and a bit arrogant, Ganryu is the smallest male and seemingly the loudest. Ganryu can instantly tell apart the twins and that alone shows some form of brilliance. The thing about him is that he prefers to be in the back seat, to not get into any violence which is completely fine for the girls.

Bearer of bad news the anime is only 12 episodes long, so you can binge watch it in one setting or set it aside to watch an episode a day. Personally i binge watched it because i couldn’t get enough of it, so i induce you to watch this as it is very freshening. If anything the art style should make you want to watch it.