After the First: Konohana Kitan

Synopsis

This is the story of a young fox girl by the name of Yuzu.New to the small town of youkai she is set to work in the inn Konohanatei. Though clumsy and a bit slow, her earnestness to work hard and eagerness to learn leads her to a journey of growth and friendship.

First Impression

The series introduces a soft and adorable art style that makes for a great and calming visual pleasure. When introducing the characters, while the episode did establish a good introduction to each of them, their overall designs seem rather generic. Still, the protagonist does well in standing out and presenting herself as a rather endearing character. And in addition to this, there was also a rather simple story was established.

One of the most obvious things about the episode that may not appeal to all is that, with an all female cast, some scenes that could be considered as yuri baiting is inevitable With an endearing protagonist and beautiful backdrop with music though, there is some potential to be found with the series.

General Impression

The series by far holds one of the prettiest backdrop and setting to be released this season. The general tone of the art itself just gives this soft and gentle feeling that bring a calming feeling to those who watch it. As the series progressed, the general tone of the series didn’t shift all that much, but in the execution of the stories in each episode, a proper balance on the genres and presentation of drama could have worked out better.

As stated before, the character designs come off as rather generic when you really look at them. And as the series progressed, a generic story for each of the characters is added to the minus points to the story. While there was some slight differences and twists to certain episodes, it didn’t change the fact that there were rather cliche tropes placed into the story. For example, in the third episode, not only was it made clear that there is something between Natsume and Ren, there was also the whole misunderstanding trope mixed in with the girl actually being a boy and vice versa.

Still, when the series does do their emotional and dramatic scenes, they do it well and mixed in with the way they handle the tone and backdrop of the scene, leaves a good impact for the viewer. Other than the drama, the humor was also handled well and the protagonist still maintains as a good character. The same goes for the opening and ending and the overall musical score used, though not much.

Conclusion

The art and general tone of the series is a true visual pleasure and present a good calming series for a viewer to check out for the season. The overall plot of the series is rather simple but at the same time there are a number of cliche tropes that were slipped in. The protagonist is rather adorable as a character and was presented in many endearing ways, but the same cannot be said for the other characters. The series does have its less than stellar points but for the most part it’s a good series to watch if you want to wind down and enjoy something soft and cute.

Rating: 7/10