Living with spirits is pretty relaxing
- Episodes : 26
- Genre : Slice of Life, Mystery, Supernatural
- Airing Date : Jul, 2017- Dec, 2017
- Studios : Shin-Ei Animation
Contains Spoilers
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou Introduction and Story (Spoilers)
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou follows a young man named Inaba Yuushi whose luck seems to be quite…terrible to say the least. At an early age, Inaba lost his family and was forced to live with his aunt and uncle and their daughter. In episode 1, we quickly start to understand how Inaba thinks. Despite his aunt and uncle loving him—though their daughter/Inaba’s cousin is another story—Inaba feels like he’s being a burden financially to them. That’s why when school starts, Inaba plans to dorm using his meager earnings and allowance.
However, quickly, Inaba’s bad luck shows up again when he learns his dorm catches on his fire meaning he has no place to live during his school days. Luckily, Inaba discovers a cheap place apartment complex and quickly takes this opportunity. Though it doesn’t take long for Inaba to realize his fellow apartment residents aren’t exactly normal. Most of them are either demons, spirits and magic users. This is just the beginning of Inaba’s new life in Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou.
The first several episodes of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou begin to introduce several main characters such as Akine Kuga—who becomes Inaba’s magical teacher of sorts—Hase Mizuki who is Inaba’s best friend, and some of the residents of the apartment. Here, we find Inaba getting used to these tenants of the apartment and the strange life they lead which now has become his own. Essentially, the first cour—meaning the first 12 or so episodes—of Inaba’s tale in Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou really just shows the characters and begins to give Inaba powers via a magical book a resident of the apartment gives him, Furuhonya called the Petit Hierozoicon. Over the course of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou, the book grows in power as Inaba gains skills as a magic user thanks to Akine’s training. The initial results of using any summons from the book though are hilarious, especially the Djinn who gives Inaba money but it’s a meager amount.
By episode 9, we get our first big story of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. This revolves around a teacher who, thanks to dark moments in his past, has become possessed by malevolent forces. At first, Inaba can do nothing more than watch the teacher assault his friend—Takako Tashiro—but thanks to Akine’s training, Inaba is able to remove the evil energy from his teacher. However, this is where we get one major life lesson from Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. Not everything can be solved with magic and despite Inaba’s action the teacher still finds himself disturbed and in dire need of help. Though with the teacher’s arc out of the way, once more Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou goes back to random stories.
Near the last several episodes we get our last major tale involving three new characters. The first two are teachers who go to Inaba’s school one being Naomi Chiaki who is a teacher with a laid back and cool personality acting as an idol in the eyes of both boy and girls in the school. The other teacher is Haruka Aoki who seems to be extremely kind, smart and quick to involve herself with any issues that arise in front of her. The third character is a transfer student named Konatsu Yamamoto who we see being quick to get angry and suffers from a terrible attitude problem. Though as Konatsu’s tale is told, we learn her past was filled with depression thanks to students who saw her being a know-it-all and loneliness that resulted from this form of bullying. This causes Inaba to act by helping her, but Haruka is the one to actually help. However, many viewers will wonder why Haruka seems so desperate to take her under her wing and solve her problems.
The finale of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou—episode 26—gives us one of the nicer moments of the series. Inaba and Hase alongside Kuri—a child spirit introduced early in Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou—as well as Shiro—the dog introduced as Kuri’s companion—find strange ice huts in an open field. Here, they see both the past as well as possible futures for each of them and it provides the idea of how Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou ends. The future is ultimately up to the individual to create. With that, the series closes on Inaba with his new family at the apartment.
What We Liked About Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou offers up a ton of elements to love. Besides a story filled with life lessons, we also love the characters and their stories to tell. Inaba has a great tale but characters like Kuri and how he was killed by his mother or Ruriko the chef of the apartment who only has hands after being killed and only having her hands found. The cast of characters are all different and unique with stories that will capture you which is an amazing quality of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou also looks quite nice in the animation department. Our hats go off to studio Shin-Ei Animation and how they handled this manga adaptation of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou.
Discussion Time
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou will be a show that dives people and we can completely understand that here at Honey’s Anime. There are a ton of positive elements going for the show—such as the great characters and story—but the slow pacing of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is definitely going to cause some to hate the show. We have heard some people complain about Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou being boring and overly simple, which we can understand, but we think there’s more to Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou than just that. This is a tale filled with life lessons and magical themes. Going into Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou thinking you’re going to get magical battles with demons being killed and Inaba becoming a super warrior is the wrong mindset. Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is a slice of life first and foremost, meaning slow narrative with a relaxed pace. Down below, we will discuss why you will love Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou and equally why you might want to skip it. Get ready, we’re going to dive into this supernatural show with open minds and open thoughts!
Slice of life, magic and demons that are more silly than fearsome. These are just a few of the many reasons why Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is a really enjoyable anime that began in the summer 2017 anime season. Though maybe us here at Honey’s Anime need to convince you folks to watch Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. We have chosen some of the elements we loved the most about Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou and have talked about them down below. While there more than just those three reasons, these are the elements we think will resonate best with the targeted demographic for this show. Now, sit back and let us reveal why Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is such a pleasant anime to watch.
1. Filled with heartwarming emotions
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou from episode 1 to episode 26 will do something wonderful that very few shows do. It will hit you right in the feels. The moral life lessons in most of the episodes of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou tend to be grounded in reality despite the monsters and magical elements always being in the background. The ideas of not giving up and standing up for what you believe is right are just some of the examples of morality to be found. It’s rare for any anime to be a wholesome tale. Yet, Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou does a great job of feeling real and making the viewer think about how their own life could be seen in Inaba’s world.
2. Magical elements aren’t overused
With a lot of shows that have magic and demons, you would expect tons of magical warfare and demons to be horrific/terrifying. That isn’t what happens in Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. Instead, all the magical elements are used sparsely and really just come into play during a few episodes not all of them. This means you won’t be constantly feeling overwhelmed by Inaba learning new skills or fighting a new demon every episode. This same idea actually melds with our next element we like with Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou and that is the story itself.
3. Relaxing and calm narrative
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou’s slow nature is one of the elements that some viewers—keyword “some”—will enjoy the most about it. Inaba’s tale is told slowly and with a lot of details. The idea behind Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is to show the world Inaba lives in and how it changes his outlook on life as well as makes him grow into a stronger individual. We loved that each episode felt relaxing and while Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou would occasionally ramp up in some moments where Inaba needed to quickly react to a situation—like when Haze and himself had to run from bullies—most episodes of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou are slow and simple. That’s a very surprising feature of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. Despite most shows with demons, spirits and magical books that contain summoned beings, Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou keeps everything lighthearted and calm all the way through.
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou might be a fun show that has moral life lessons and some unique ways of executing demons and spirits into its narrative. However, Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou does fall short in several departments. If the viewer isn’t aware of these issues before hand, they might be finding themselves being turned off by the very nature Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou tries to capture and show off. Down below we have listed some of the more glaring issues in Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou and why it might a show you’ll want to skip. Otherwise, you’ll quickly find yourself adding Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou to your dropped list on my anime list.
1. Slow paced
Easily one of the biggest issues we see people talking about while watching Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is that it can be incredibly slow. We don’t disagree with that sentiment. There are times where Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou feels like it tries to be too relaxed and for a true story to occur, it takes a good while. That might be a reason most won’t be able to fully enjoy Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. Expect a slow story and be prepared for a lack of magical fighting despite it having magical elements.
2. Lackluster ending
Its fully possible that there could be a season 2 for Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. However, if there isn’t one, then many viewers of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou will find the ending to be quite open and lackluster. Not only do many characters like Haruka Aoki and Konatsu Yamamoto get no further plot development—which leaves more questions than answers—it also ends with a feeling that the future is always unknown and more events can befall Inaba and his new supernatural family. While this idealism feels like an overly open conclusion, it can and might turn off some viewers due to the lack of a true ending. Go into Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou expecting an open ending because if you expect a definitive climax, you’ll be extremely disappointed.
3. Can be formulaic
Let’s face it, Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou doesn’t reinvent the wheel of slice of life stories with supernatural elements. There have been tons of anime like Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou in the past. Take two other popular more well known series like Natsume Yuujinchou and Fukigen na Mononokean. These shows use a mixture of slice of life with magical and supernatural themes to tell a tale of a main character having his world turned around when he stumbles upon these elements. Does this mean Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is just ultimately a copycat? No, but it does mean that a lot of the episodes will feel like shows you’ve watched and for many these other anime have done a better job with their formula than Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou.
Final Thoughts
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou is a very interesting show to say the least. While it has magical elements and monsters embedded into the narrative, Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou doesn’t rely heavily on those themes. Instead, each episode of Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou feels heartwarming and moralistic. While that does leave Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou to be kind of slow at times and formulaic by nature, at the end of the day its one relaxing slice of show that is enjoyable and pleasant. Did you also watch Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou or are you planning on it? Comment down below to sound off your own opinions for Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou. If you loved this review, we have tons more anime reviews for you here at Honey’s Anime.
Author: Aaron
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