Reviews

Sakura Quest is a breath of fresh air, It brings a lot of new things to the table, A setting based around a rural tourism board led by a group of five young women whose leader is an urban reject? Where have you seen that before? But that's not the only thing that makes Sakura Quest so new but it's the way it's shows these problems and how it decides the stakes of these villages, how history is lost and created, the way it affects the people and the ways it can be tackled, and it's not just the problem of improving economy and shit like that, it delves deep into various other problems like the mindset of people living there and the outside forces that could help but also take over their culture and make them their slave, the livelihood of senior citizen in such places, how technology can help in a huge way, Saving shopping districts, embracing different cultures instead of selfishly just celebrating yours, uniting the residents, realizing self worth there are so great values that this show imposes and this coupled with the wonderful ensemble cast who are all driven by their own goals, through 25 episodes we such steady and great character development from almost everyone, their personal problems mixed with the challenges of the tourism board taking into account the imagery of it's impact on individual residents adds so much layers and dynamics to this anime on content alone! This anime original has so much to offer in 25 episodes and nothing comes off as too much, it is well balanced and the pacing is perfect. Everything in this anime can legit happen in real life except the fact that no one in that village except an old man wanted to smash Sanae.

What kinda stopped this anime from being as impactful as it should have been, at least for me, lied in it's technical stuff, The animation and music were decent at best, although that Dragon Song is extremely beautiful and might have you even tear up, the character designs are not very good, I guess they wanted everyone to look normal for realistic purposes but they just look bland and often way too cartoony, the color contrast between them stick like a sore thumb especially since the realistic ambitions of this show are ever present. There are some great quotes here and there but the dialogues aren't as hard hitting as they should've been, mainly since the delivery of the Voice actors were often like they voice a stage play, it just doesn't pull you in like it could've, A lot of times the editing between scenes is pretty abrupt as well. The anime is still great overall but these are just some things that hold it back a little and makes it harder for the viewer to see how unique it really is and prevents it from aging and being labelled even a cult classic if not a definite classic.

Overall I think Sakura Quest is a great anime that is rich in content and captures several aspects of modern times in ignored areas, it is not for everyone but it's worth checking out, There is a lot of infotainment and entertainment to be found in Manoyama, A pleasant town full of lovable characters rich in culture and commentary, No second season needed, completely satisfied from start to finish, I'm glad they ended it the way they did, to show Sakura's Quest is one that highlights the small things that make this turbulent journey called life, worth travelling.
I'm feeling an 8.25-8.5/10.