Recap: Hime’s cousin Kohime pays a visit to Sakura Newtown, announcing that she’s running for mayor in a neighboring town. Hime does not seem too impressed, but when a particular villager expresses his dissatisfaction with her policies, she starts to worry about her own competence as mayor.

Aqua’s thoughts: Yozakura Quartet unveils even more of its intriguing dynamics, given you have the divine patience to sit through its absolute worst fanservice scene to date. That’s right, the titular quartet and their entourage head off to the pool for a spell, resulting in an utterly pointless, questionable affair ridden with blatant ogling, gaudy outfits and trite jokes lifted straight from the Sad Lonely Otaku Pandering 101 textbook. Spiked drinks getting people drunk! Girls forcing other girls into embarrassing outfits! Casual sexual assault! It’s all there, and it’s all made even more cringeworthy by the fact that I care too much about these characters to see them exploited like that.

In that regard, these dreaded eight minutes of complete disgrace are very similar to that one episode with the virtual beach of A Certain Scientific Railgun. Just like this episode of Yozakura Quartet, that particular black page in the franchise’s history also reduced lovable and sympathetic characters to wanton lumps of flesh with minus zero brain cells and questionable moral fibre — yes, you, Kuroko — for the sake of titillating. While characters having fun at the pool, or even sneaking in some teasing skinship certainly does not automatically prompt me to detract some marks, seeing characters you care about being forced into tired-and-true, semi-pornographic tropes like this is all the more offensive than seeing it happen to characters who have been designed for this very purpose. Genuine character interactions and heartwarming friendships are your biggest strengths, Yozakura Quartet. Don’t go ruining what people love about you for the sake of an audience that doesn’t deserve you.

Luckily, when everyone puts their clothes back on, this episode heads back to where it belongs — a distinct blend of melancholy and fuzziness. Nevertheless, asking us to accept the fact that the nine-year-old Kohime is running for mayor stretches the tolerable boundaries of suspension of disbelief to almost ridiculous lengths, and her unannounced introduction out of nowhere is a bit distracting. Are we supposed to know this character already? The same goes for Akina’s talk with the governor annex land god Yuuhi about the impending blooming of the Seven Pillars. Why does it feel like we should have heard about this before? Fear not, dear reader, this is just the early Yozakura Quartet‘s crooked pacing coming back to bit it in the arse.

It is definitely not the first time we have addressed this problem in our coverage, and now that my honeymoon period with this show is over, I can safely say that it is a flaw that makes the original manga as well a bit hard to get into initially. Yozakura Quartet will always depend heavily on puzzle plots, but at this point, not yet all the essential pieces are in place. Once the manga figured itself out, its quality increased significantly, and I fully expect the anime to follow suite. The Thorny Path arc is a tentative first attempt to mix Yozakura Quartet‘s distinct characters and vibe with an actual plot, yet it does provide Hime with some surprising depth. Seeing her trying to deal with her responsibilities in spite of her young age raises some interesting questions about obligations, similar to Akina’s problems last episode. Just like Akina has no choice but to be the Dutybound, Hime has no choice but to be the mayor, and no matter how hard she tries, it is impossible to please everyone.

While the Thorny Path arc has Kohime as guest star, it is most definitely Hime’s arc, forcing her to learn that it is impossible for one person to be in control of everything. Akina nicely proves this by revealing he kept the upcoming blooming of the Seven Pillars from her, in order to prevent her from taking on all responsibility for herself. It might not have been the wisest decision — especially not considering a little fact that is unceremoniously spoiled in the next episode preview — but it is definitely an in-character one: putting his faith in his friends above a pragmatic approach. It is good to see that Yozakura Quartet still manages to provide a touching scene that more than makes up for a the unpleasantness of the first half and the wonky growing pains that make the its early bits most definitely its worst. This episode was a bumpy start to the show’s first real story arc, yet despite its shortcomings, it never got me worried. It is merely a bit of a rough patch, but nothing close to a game changer.

Random observations

• I know Kotoha’s probably already infamous breast lick makes sense if you know she needs to touch objects with her tongue in order to be able to summon them with her Powerspeak, but come on, you guys. That’s just disturbing.
• Ironically, in the manga, Kotoha gets drunk and reveals she’s into girls. The anime leaves that behind, because… well, yeah. Show, don’t tell, I guess?
• I always thought “mayor” isn’t really the correct word to indicate Hime’s job. She seems to be more of a mediator or a warden of the community, not some stuffy politician or bureaucrat. In that regard, Kohime applying for the position is a tad bit more believable, but then again, how come Hime inherited the position whereas Kohime has to be elected?