Manga Adaptation by LIDENFILMS
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

In a society where people and youkai peacefully coexist, a 20-year-old housecat named Buchio living in the Japanese countryside is reborn as a nekomata, much to the delight of his human family. Now, Buchio sets out of a journey of self-discovery, aided by his fellow youkai neighbors. Meanwhile, one of his human family members, a girl called Mutsumi, has recently lost her father, likely to a mysterious force known as The Void. Now, her growing curiosity about her youkai friends tangles with grief over a missing family member, while the looming threat of The Void casts a palpable shadow over her otherwise quiet small-town life.

Artemis’ verdict: Made For Me

I owe Glorio for this one, as Tonari no Youkai-san wasn’t originally on my to-watch list this season at all. I have no idea why – somehow, the title just slipped right by me when I was planning out my own first look schedule. As a result, I ended up going in on this more or less completely blind, yet it’s easily my favorite premiere of the season so far.

Granted, if you’re into action-heavy shows or anime with a ton of plot-heavy suspense or drama, you’re probably looking in the wrong place and will be politely bored. However, for anyone with an abiding love for supernatural slice-of-life stories (i.e. you think Natsume Yuujinchou is one of the all-time greats), Tonari no Youkai-san is well worth a watch. The premise itself is a lot of fun, almost poking gentle fun at its genre by really going all in on the setting; instead of the youaki simply existing in relative harmony alongside their human counterparts, existing on their own spiritual plane and coming and going from the human world basically as they please, these guys are real cohabitants, in all the most realistic ways you can think of. They hold down jobs. They fill out bothersome paperwork. They have youkai health insurance. If they were ‘reborn’ as youkai from previously more ordinary creatures, they take classes to learn what skills they may have and how to use them.

Where Youkai-san really got me though was during the second half of the episode, where the quietly melancholic touches gave the show a lot more gravitas as well as a hint of mystery, better rounding out its human half of the cast and keeping the series from becoming too staid. Overall, I’m definitely curious to see more and optimistic that the anime will continue to differentiate itself from the many modern-day youkai-centric titles I’ve seen previously.

Jel’s verdict: Like a Good Neighbor

This caught my attention enough to give it a brief shout out on the preview podcast, but I figured it would just be a fun, chill slice of life show about hanging out with your youkai buddies. That is certainly the foundation for this first episode, but I was not expecting it to have so much emotional weight and even a bit of suspense toward the end. As heavy as things get though, you still have the sense that everything will be fine since everyone in this town loves and supports each other. It’s very sweet, but not too sweet.

Add in some clever worldbuilding and a fantastic presentation, and this is a really great start to the series. I kind of forget about Liden Films sometimes since they put out a lot of garbage shows, but when they are at their best they can make anime that looks as good as any other studio. The animation and directing does a great job of subtly shifting moods throughout the episode, in a way that makes the final scene really hit hard. If they can keep up that balance of chill slice of life with a bit of suspense and mystery, this could be a really special series.