Tonari no Yōkai-san

Episode 5

Man, I figured that Tonari no Yōkai-san was teasing something interesting with the whole raiju incident that went down last week, but I never imagined that this show would commit so much to these surprise science-fiction elements. Suddenly, we're not just dealing with magical creatures emerging from the “Imaginary Dimension”; rather, the show instead reveals that there is an entire multiverse angle that it is tossing into the mix. It's wild stuff.

While the way the show handles such an unexpected and complicated change to its status quo isn't perfect, I'm more than happy to deal with a few narrative speedbumps when the character work and overall tone of the show remain so strong. Specifically, “Episode 5” is about delving into Yuri's backstory and explaining why she can be such a grouch regarding her relationship with Buchio. It turns out that the strain of dealing with the old-school politics of her bakegitsune has estranged Yuri from her entire family for years, and it has been breaking her heart to see Buchio have such a warm and loving relationship with his loved ones. This, combined with the detail of how she uses her craftworks to find some measure of peace in her life, makes Yuri an unfortunate and relatable character. These tumultuous emotions, in fact, lead to her getting wrapped up in this whole “multiverse” conundrum that Fuchigamori is getting entangled in.

The best parts of this episode are how it uses that always present (but usually latent) element of dread that it wields so skillfully to show what it is like for people from a “normal,” yokai-free universe to randomly find themselves in the magical world of Tonari no Yōkai-san. The scene where the poor lady is consumed with utter terror at being chased by well-meaning boar men and cyclops is equal parts funny and sad (and setting it at the famous Kisaragi Station of urban legend was a great touch). The same effect applies to Yuri's experiences of swapping places with her completely human counterpart. You feel for Buchio when he tearfully laments that he may never be able to make things right with Yuri after their fight, now that she may be gone forever. Human Yuri is also well utilized, and it is exceedingly fascinating that even the magical creatures of Tonari no Yōkai-san have human doppelgangers that we now have to contend with. Also, I know that the show didn't include Mutsumi's father's doppelganger for no reason. I reckon this entire cosmic mess is a complication that is here to stay.

That said, if this episode has any major flaw, it is the too neat-and-tidy way that Yuri's story wrapped up. In his novel 1Q84, Haruki Murakami was able to squeeze a thousand pages of drama out of the exact same situation that Yuri found herself in here, and yet our fox ends up safe and sounds back home before the end credits are finished scrolling. I get that it's all to do with her coming to terms with her feelings and moving forward in her life, but I still can't help but think that this storyline might have been stronger if we'd held off for even one more week before resolving everything.

Given how big the swings already were this week, though, it is very possible that Tonari no Yōkai-san has too much planned for the future to be worrying about stretching out storylines and playing with big weekly cliffhangers. The series has earned more than enough goodwill for me to trust in its direction for what comes next, wherever that may take us.

Rating:

Tonari no Yōkai-san is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.