By Shanel Kamara

Okay so with the start of the release of the summer line-up shows, I decided this week to opt for one of the new series as opposed to my usual. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a selection to choose from (as I usually watch the show on a Saturday afternoon and write the review on a Sunday morning) so I ended up watching the Japanese adaption of the popular Chinese work Huyao Xiao Hongniang (in English known as Fox Spirit Matchmaker and in Japanese Enmusubi no Youko-chan). Frankly, I didn’t intend on watching and reviewing this show; originally, my plan was to review the fourteenth episode of the second season of Boku no Hero Academia but for some inexplicable reason, or maybe not so inexplicable, no episode aired this week due to the fact that the first arc of the season has ended.

Boku no Hero Academia aside, Enmusubi no Youko-chan seems interesting at the onset. The plot is set in a world where youkai peacefully coexist with humans and often even form romantic relationships with them. The massive distinction between these two races derives from their length of lifespan; while the lifespan of a youkai traverses hundreds and thousands of years, the life of a human is very brief in comparison. Another major difference is that a youkai retains all of his or her memories while a human, even after they are reborn, loses all their memories of their former life. In this world however there exists youkai who restore the memories of humans, thus if a youkai desires to be reunited with their love they can pay to have their lovers memory revived. The series centers around one of the three Tosan sisters and youko (fox spirit), Tosan Suusu who provides this service alongside her finance Haku Gessho.

As I mentioned earlier, the plot seems interesting at first, but by the time I had finished watching it, I couldn’t decide whether it was good or bad. There were points where I found myself confused. I don’t know, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either.  I think it might get better, but we’ll have to see.

Score: 3/5

Enmusubi no Youko-chan E.01