Recap: The mysterious visitor is revealed to be mayor Morino, who is working together with a mysterious old man in order to ensure his re-election. Hime rushes in to save her cousin, unaware of the secret weapon Morino’s ally has up his sleeve.

Aqua’s thoughts: With last week’s disappointing outing still fresh in my memory, and no doubt immortalized on many a deviant’s Tumblr timeline in glorious low resolution graphic interchange format, I was biting my nails in anticipation of Hana No Uta‘s latest outing. Luckily, my abhorrently misplaced anxiety was quickly proven to be… well, abhorrently misplaced. Whereas last episode just loved shoving the franchise’s less-than-stellar characteristics in my blissfully gullible face, this week, Yozakura Quartet found back its footing and reminded me how darn good it can be when it really wants to. Right now, it seems positively happy to be alive.

Ryosuke Sawa is a blessing for this franchise. His unique creative vision and kinetic directing are a match made in heaven with Yozakura Quartet‘s supernatural swagger, making every action sequence a joy to watch. It is probably a silly detail to be impressed by, but I have never seen explosions being animated as well as they are in Hana No Uta. Even the plumes of smoke and bits of rubble flying all over the place ooze with style and vivacity. Above all, Yozakura Quartet is a piece of work. It is the product of people with a vision, people with a clear passion for what they are doing, and as such, deserves some of the praise Trigger is getting for their work on Kill-la-Kill. Every shot is well thought about and every principle of animation is respected. This, above all, is to me what sets a great anime apart from a merely average one.

Picking up after last week’s rather wacky cliffhanger, this week’s episode dives straight into the action, with some trademark heartwarming character moments in between. The early Yozakura Quartet we see at work here certainly does not shy away from a shounen cliché here and there — an anti-daemon barrier? Seriously, guys? — but Hime’s motivations and epiphanies in this episode were a nice change of pace. Cat’s out of the bag now, Hime is a daemon, but her reasons for keeping it a secret reveal some poignant maturity. In order to earn the trust of both humans and daemons, she needs to truly feel a part of both societies, which she can only do by fooling the entire town into thinking she is human — especially since becoming a half-daemon is out of the question.

This willingness to lie for the greater good makes her remarkably similar to Akina, and it is nice to see a recurring theme in our heroes’ mentality. Nevertheless, the doubts Hime had about her abilities as mayor last week are not entirely gone as she gets her panties handed to her in battle as well. This is where Yozakura Quartet goes against convention, and effectively takes its main heroine out of the picture, giving the rest of the crew some time to shine. The likeable cast is one of the franchise’s main charms, and it knows how to play it out well. Every story, whether it is action packed or just silly slice of life, finds a use for every main character, giving non-action characters like Ao or Juri the time to shine as well.

It is this cooperation that defines that battles in Yozakura Quartet. Unlike many other shounen shows, the characters here never go mano a mano one on one. No one can win a battle alone, and only as a team, the titular quartet can overcome each other’s weaknesses. Even in arcs focusing on specific characters, the others are never far off. It strengthens the ever successful theme of “friendship”, giving it a unique role in the story. It is a trope older than writing itself, probably, but that does not change the fact that Yozakura Quartet handles it exceptionally well. The sense of community the show creates with its charming bits of slice of life truly does give you the feeling that these kids have known each other for their entire lives. Even better (or worse), it makes you wish you had as well.

Random observations

• In case you hadn’t figured it out already, Sakura Newtown is a ward of Tokyo. That’s why Ao has to read the mind of everyone in Tokyo.
• I don’t know if our nurse is supposed to be called Juri or Julie. Most translations go with Juri, but since there are so many later aspects of her character still to be revealed in this anime hint at her being a foreigner, I’m assuming Julie is what Suzuhito Yasuda intended her to be called.
• No Kana and Mina this week, sadly enough. It’s probably way past their bed time already.
• This is not even Hime’s final form.