Reviews

Sep 17, 2023
Mixed Feelings
I watched Konohana Kitan. Here are my thoughts:

The characters are kind of bland but there is good chemistry among the cast. Some of the character designs are cute, and there are some nice kimono outfits. The show has a fairly rich traditional-Japan theme, and primarily takes place at a large rustic ryokan. Most of the characters are so-called ‘fox girls’ who are ryokan employees. The fox girl thing is mildly cute but it's not a major reason for my watching the show, although I'd imagine there is a passionate audience out there for this kind of thing. There are some mild supernatural themes that creep into the show at times as well. This anime often feels like it has a surreal dream-like atmosphere.

Art style during some scenes is nice. Colour is used well. The background in some frames can be quite detailed and colourful. Visuals are one of the show's stronger attributes. The animation itself isn't particularly fluid, and there are a lot of stills, but I often found myself pausing to admire frames.

The OST is okay and the voice acting is mostly unremarkable. I would have preferred a different seiyuu for the main character; her voice was kind of annoying to me. I liked the voice acting for Ren (the pink-haired girl).

This anime definitely has direction issues. Although I haven't read the manga, I get the impression that it might be a better way to approach this if you care about the story. This anime feels very disjointed. It feels like random scenes from the manga were just haphazardly slapped together with zero care for the broader narrative. Episodes have inconsistent mood, and transitions between scenes are not handled well. Furthermore, I often felt like I was missing background information during any remotely plot-related scene. Sometimes it almost felt like I was watching a promotional video for the real content, instead of an actual stand-alone anime.

There is a lot of yuri pandering. However, I never felt any sense of deeper meaningful romance. It always felt kinda cheap and shallow. 'Pandering' really is the right word to use here. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it, but you should know not to expect anything deeper in this regard. Even beyond the romance element, the whole show just feels like fluff. There's little cohesion from scene to scene, nevermind between episodes. For me, this anime was just something to shut my brain off to and watch some cute stuff with nice visuals. If you expect anything more than this then you will likely be disappointed.

Despite my criticisms, it was still usually a pleasant and relaxing show to watch. The more I tried to actually use my brain while watching it, the less I enjoyed it. The show is fine though as just some cute fluff to wind down with at the end of the day. This anime is best watched immediately before bedtime.

My overall rating: 6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice Nice0
Love it Love it0
Funny Funny0
Show all
It’s time to ditch the text file.
Keep track of your anime easily by creating your own list.
Sign Up Login