Konohana Kitan

Based on the “このはな綺譚” manga by Amano Sakuya, this new autumn anime is a slice-of-life style story about several girls and their daily adventures working at a traditional Japanese hot spring hotel. There seems to be plenty of yuri innuendo between the girls and the show also has lots of supernatural elements considering the main characters are fox girls and the inn’s various guests are beings inspired from folklore.

With a traditional Japanese town and rustic hot spring hotel as background, “Konoahana Kitan” may remind viewers of “Hanasaku Iroha”, while its leisurely atmosphere, supernatural elements and cute fox girls in kimono are reminiscent of series like “Otome Youkai Zakuro” or “Urara Meirochou”.

One of the first new anime to air this autumn season, the appeal of its cast of cute fox girls was plenty to get me to sample the first episode of “Konoahana Kitan”. Was quite glad because I immediately adored this show which will undoubtedly be a nice weekly rendezvous providing soothing entertainment of watching cute girls doing cute things, one of the slice-of-life genre’s most enjoyable formula to me.

Although it will likely feature serious plot points and possibly even some drama in future episodes, the show’s overall atmosphere seems to be upbeat and heartwarming, its most obvious selling point of course being its cast of irresistibly cute fox girls and their daily shenanigans.

Animation by studio Lerche is decent and of the typical average level expected for such a slice-of-life title, with most attention going to animating the main cast and rendering the historical looking backgrounds of the hot spring hotel. Do hope the studio can avoid fluctuations in quality and keep the animation level up throughout the entire season.

While it may ultimately turn out to be a more generic, forgettable anime, am nonetheless confident that “Konahana Kitan” will provide a fun, entertaining time for its viewers. Those of you who enjoy slice-of-life series with cute girls doing cute things like “Urara Meirochou”, “New Game!” or “Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?” should definitely give this show a try.
You can watch “Konahana Kitan” on Crunchyroll.