Otome Youkai Zakuro

With my interest in it piqued due to its cute animal eared girl characters, caught the first episode of “Otome Youkai Zakuro”, the anime adaptation of a manga series by Hoshino Lily. It turned out to be surprisingly good.

Although Hoshino Lily is better known for creating shounen-ai manga, the original おとめ妖怪 ざくろ manga is a regular romance story.

Taking place in an alternate version of Meiji era Japan, it features delicate, reserved girls in classic kimono and dashing young army officers in spotless uniforms, the character designs’ every detail clearly shows it is a shoujo style series.

From the first episode on, it looks like the story will alternate action, some drama and a few comedy elements which all serve to support the romance plots between the different pairings, led by the feisty Zakuro and smooth Kei.

Like the lead characters, the supporting cast is a gathering of tried and true character types, from the imposing, silent officer, the reserved and shy girl, the playful twins to the boastful youngster.

Did notice right away the animation by JC Staff isn’t terrific in each and every scene, while some frames such as close-ups in key scenes are well cared for, other scenes alas showed animation flaws. While these were obvious, it didn’t especially bother me but most viewers will no doubt notice it.

The voice acting cast has some famous performers. Main female lead Zakuro is voiced by Nakahara Mai who is known for her roles as Nagisa from “Clannad” or Tokiha Mai from “M-HiME” and “My Otome”.

Houzuki is voiced by the renowned Horie Yui while her twin Bonbori is voiced by Toyosaki Aya, famous for Yui from “K-ON!”, among other roles. The shy Susukihotaru is voiced by Hanazawa Kana who also did Aoi in “Asobi Ni Iku Yo!” and Suou in “Darker Than Black: Ryuusei No Gemini”.

However, considering this is a more shoujo oriented series not sure if I’ll keep watching as I did end up dropping last season’s shoujo styled show “Kaichou wa Maid-sama” which while it started out quite good but didn’t manage to keep my attention throughout its entire run.

Nonetheless, will check out the upcoming episodes, hoping this series will bring a good mix of laughter, action and cute, innocent romance featuring these endearing animal eared girls.