Tonari no Youkai-san

In the town of Engamori, supernatural beings known as yokai, gods, and humans have been living amongst each other for centuries, each striving to lead ordinary, peaceful lives. One day Buchio, a 20-year-old cat, mysteriously evolves into a nekomata, a feline yokai, near the end of his life. Although this allows him to stay with his human family longer, it also makes him question the reason behind his evolution, along with the special abilities that have recently manifested in himl.

Meanwhile, an elementary school girl named Mutsumi "Muu-chan" Sugimoto begins to feel more attached to Jirou, a tengu—a crow-like yokai—and Jirou begins to fill the void left by her late father. While both are unable to properly communicate their intentions at first, they gradually form a companionship where they protect each other.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Jirou Main

Higa, Ryousuke Japanese

Ooishi, Buchio Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Sugimoto, Mutsumi Main

Yuikawa, Asaki Japanese

Nishiya, Chiaki Supporting

Kawashima, Tokuyoshi Japanese

Ooishi, Takumi Supporting

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Kobayashi, Tenmaru Supporting

Tachibana, Tatsumaru Japanese

Patrick Supporting

Kaito, Tasuku Japanese

Nishiya, Kazuhiko Supporting

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Sakaki, Suzu Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Tsubaki Supporting

Ishii, Mizuki Japanese

Yamauchi, Ami Director

Yamaki, Daiki Sound Director

Kubo, Aoi Theme Song Performance

Konparu, Tomoko Series Composition

Reviews

Sep 18, 2024

PixelBrush

Recommended

This anime isn’t your typical slice of life. It combines the calm day to day with the supernatural and fantastical. It’s moved me to tears multiple times throughout, while repeatedly completing subverting my expectations as to what’d happen next.

This is an amazing anime for people who like folklore and endings that want to make you binge all episodes in one go.

The ending was a massive 360°, and some people apparently don’t like it because of that, but it honestly felt like it built up to it quite naturally, slowly introducing the relevant concepts throughout.

The world building is top-notch as well.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 3, 2024

red-artist

Mixed Feelings

Informative

Tonari no Youkai-san is a Slice of Life with elements of mystery and heavy drama. The setting is a fantasy world where "yokai" (imaginary beings brought to life due to power of rumors, emotions, desires etc..) live with humans.

Plot
The show starts when a 20 year old pet cat is reborn as a nekomata (a yokai cat with two tails and power to transform). As a newborn yokai, he starts learning the ways of this world and this allows us audience to tag along for the lessons. We keep meeting new characters (around 15+ major cast members at this point) which all have their own ... stories/backgrounds (both current and some flashbacks). At the same time, there is a larger mystery plot unraveling in the background. The pacing is great, leading to a decent climax that provides enough closure for this season.

Review
I definitely love the setting of humans and yokai living together in a slow slice of life with a rural backdrop. And the mystery behind the world's lore is also intriguing. And there are some ridiculous characters (eg: wagen-san) which are memorable.

But, the series has a few negatives:
1. The background stories of characters are often boring and predictable. And they say lines like "How could you understand how I feel?"..
2. Unnecessary "power of friendship" moments. Some dialogues like "I want to protect/save you" feel cringe when its middle schoolers (or even younger children) saying them.
3. Some drama is stretched too much and takes you out of the story.

I would recommend just watching the first episode. The series maintains the same vibe throughout the entire season and you can easily judge if it is to your taste. While I don't regret watching it, I don't exactly feel glad either. Its a decent enough series, that is worth its runtime, but nothing memorable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 21, 2024

PixelB

Not Recommended

Funny

Preliminary (3/13 eps)

What I hate about this show is that it just slaps on some supernatural beings into the show without integrating any of the actual historical accounts to the shinigami/Japanese folklore. For example, Tengu are said to be mischievous and enjoy playing pranks on humans. Why is Jiro just a literal human being in an anthropomorphic crow body? How about the fact that Buchio was reincarnated from a cat, so wouldn't it make sense for Buchio to have cat-like tendencies, reflexes, etc? I just fail to see the appeal. Even in a game like Touhou, Tengu are seen as people who love gossip, which makes sense ... since their nature is to enjoy pranks. It's not an exact connection, but at least there's some sort of background that makes sense to the folklore/legend that they're portraying in the game.

This show fails to even do the bare minimum when it comes to connecting folklore to characters, which makes me give it an extremely low score. The setting and characters are mere surface-level and don't create any depth for the story.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Tonari no Youkai-san Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 6	56 replies	by Cersil »» Nov 18, 3:37 PM
	What are these vibes based on? Tenderizer79 - Sep 9	4 replies	by Cersil »» Nov 18, 3:23 PM
	Poll: Tonari no Youkai-san Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jun 29	55 replies	by TechOtaku »» Aug 21, 10:55 AM
	Poll: Tonari no Youkai-san Episode 12 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 22	23 replies	by Bisalissy »» Jul 29, 5:59 PM
	Poll: Tonari no Youkai-san Episode 6 Discussion Stark700 - May 11	21 replies	by Hashiriya_weeb87 »» Jul 4, 7:22 AM