On an unusually hot spring day, the office has a pool party, after which Yuuhi warns Akina that the Seven Pillars will bloom in a year or less, merging the human and youkai worlds. Hime’s nine-year-old cousin Kohime, who is running for mayor of her town, joins Hime patrol; they’re observed by Kohime’s incumbent opponent. After a party thrown for Kohime at Hime’s house, Akina tells Hime about the Pillars upsetting her. Ao and Touko answer her doorbell and encounter a strange white mass filling the doorway…
Yozakura Quartet dispensed with the pretense and simply devoted nearly half of the episode to a pool party that is nothing more than an opportunity for the animators to draw the girls in swimsuits (and only the girls; the guys curiously elect not to swim, despite the heat). Yeah, you could say it portrayed how sweet life is now compared to what Yuuhi warns is down the pike, but it still seemed overindulgent and a careless use of time considering what’s looming. We also could have done without the new character, a hyperactive nine-year-old who is running for mayor of her town for some reason. We’re not sure what she adds besides shrillness. Less full orchestra, more quartet, please.
The episode wasn’t a total wash, as it did a good job laying out the respective weights both Akina and Hime carry on their shoulders. Akina is staring down the very real possibility of the town being destroyed by the very apparatus his ancestors erected. The pillars will bloom, and may well bloom sooner than expected due to all of the unsavory elements working to make it so. Meanwhile Hime harbors doubts about whether she can ever fill the shoes of her late and universally-beloved granny; she’s shaken by an old man calling her a failure and even more troubled when she hears the truth about the Pillars for the very first time from Akina. They both face tests in the near future, as does this series: can it dig itself out of the hole it’s digging after a promising start?
Rating: 5 (Average)
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