Sakura Quest
ă”ăŻă©ăŻăšăčă(Sakura Quest) is an anime about a girl named Yoshino who is a model looking for a job in Tokyo. After failing to find a job for a while, her agency calls her to say she was specifically requested for a special job in Manoyama, a town in the countryside. Upon getting there, she learns her job has her act as the âQueenâ of a micro-nation for a year. As the Queen, her purpose is to increase tourism to the town. After a brief crisis, she decides to do her best as the Queen. Over time, she gains a number of âministersâ to help her with her job. Their goals eventually shift from âtourismâ to ârevivalâ.
This anime unexpectedly appealed to me on multiple levels soâŠwell, Iâm afraid to say this butâŠitâs probably one of my favorites. That said, I think that, quality-wise, itâs below Hanasaku Iroha and ShirobakoâŠyâknow, its two sister series.
Review
Most of Sakura Quest is assembled from various 2-parters. Each 2-parter is focused on something specificâŠusually a character and their issues, tying them to Manoyama in some fashion. For example, the first two episodes of the series were focused on Yoshino, while a later 2-parter was focused on the âMinister of ITâ and a nearby villageâs unique culture.
Initially, Sakura Quest appealed to me because I could relate to Yoshino. Yoshino is a country girl who thinks life in the country is pretty boring because âeverything is in the cityâ. While Iâm not exactly a âcountry guyâ, I do live in the country and still somewhat hold this attitude today, though to a lesser degree. Iâd articulate it more as âwhat I want isnât in the country but at least itâs pretty hereâ. On top of that, I found the âphilosophyâ of this show closely aligned with my ownâŠthough I donât remember specifics and it has been a while since I watched it.
Sakura Quest has a somewhat depressing start: the town had been in decline for decades. Many of the âschemesâ attempted by the tourism office in the first half of the series end up failing or falling short. Despite all this, thereâs an optimistic attitude - embodied by Yoshino especially - which eventually leads to a revival of the town. Interestingly, this revival is achieved through the revival of an old town festival.
Among the issues I noticed in the seriesâŠthe music is sometimes out-of-place and Iâm not really sure some of it fits Sakura Quest. There is also some sci-fic technology (powered suits) which I just find ridiculousâŠthey really shouldnât have included them.
I donât think there were any significant writing issues besides, yâknow it being incredibly convenient that Sandal-sanâs hometownâs mayor happens to be in Japan during the festival and heâs not too far away from Manoyama. This is made worse by the fact heâs needed to preserve Manoyama by declaring it a sister-city to Sandal-sanâs hometown. That itself is a bit weird since Manoyamaâs dissolution/reorganization into another entity was revealed just a few episodes prior. This all just feels cheap. Though itâs completely possible that I just didnât notice the other issues.
I do still recommend watching the series.
Trivilinks
- Sakura Quest is related to Shirobako and Hanasaku Iroha because all 3 were part of P.A. Worksâ âworking series.â
- My favorite character is probably Anjelica, which I learned later. I happen to think about her more often than the other characters, especially since itâs been a while since I watched the series. Anjelica is probably the reason I now own some fortune-telling stuff. M-mainly for fun.