Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi – 01

Zombies, Necromancers and neko girls… Oh my!

Welcome to the first OVA of Yozakura Quartet! This is more of an alternate retelling of the original series back in 2008; this one sticks closer to the manga storyline rather than the series. From what I remember about the series, it wasn’t anything amazing as far as the story and how characters were presented but fans say that the original storyline is better and Nomad didn’t do a good job of it. Before getting too far into this review, I will give a short rundown on all of the important main characters and their various abilities.

We have Akina Hiizumi on left, the only human in the Counseling group. He has the power of Tuning, which allows him to send demons back to their own world. This power has been passed from many generations in his family. On the right, we have Hime Yarizakura! The Mayor of the city and a demon who wears a large scarf around her neck, which helps in sealing some of her demonic powers. She is technically the human form of an ancient dragon, she also fights with mostly staff-based weapons.

On left, we have Ao Namai another demon girl, who has cat ears that allow her to read minds; this power also allows her to talk to animals but using this power too often can drain her energy fast. She also has an older brother Gin who plays a big role later on. On right, we have Kotoha Isone who was a human before she was possessed by a demon at a young age. She is now a half demon and her power allows her to summon objects just by saying their names. However, it has its limits after a while she can lose her voice if she overuses this ability.

Left to right we have the Kishi siblings, Kyosuke is older to Toka, both are demons with incredible strength. They both wear bracelets that seal their powers. If Kyosuke takes his off, he grows horns unleashing his powers. He is very protective about Toka, who happens to be in love with Akina. Kyosuke doesn’t really believe Akina has what it takes to protect the city with his powers.

And last we have Rin Azuma! The zombie girl and close friend to everyone in the Counseling group. At first she hated humans after being bullied by them for so long, until she met Akina who saved her showing her another side to humans. That is until her Zakuro a Necromancer who is now looking for her. And there you have it, the main characters of the series.

Plot of OVA revolves around Rin becoming the target of a Necromancer who wants to take her back by force and several other professional demon hunters as they begin to make their move against Akina and his friends.

Rin’s alarm clock can literary wake the dead!

After Rin runs around, delivering food to the local people, she spots Akina who is on the way to the nurse’s office for a checkup on his tuning powers. There he is joined by Hime and Toka who are both in love with Akina; go figure, right? Anyway, after he leaves, the girls feel a little depressed because the only way to restore Akina’s power is to take the hand of another human. Hearing this makes both demon girls sad; however, Juri tells them if they stop the demons, Akina wouldn’t have to use his powers.

Hime and Toka arm wrestle for love and friendship! Also, wide shot.

Juri- “Yep, a human just beat two demons! OWNED!!”            “Ouchhhh….my spine…”

Dem legs! *STARE*

While Akina gets his powers in check, elsewhere we have Ao and Kotoha visiting the local church to find Yuhi, Yae and Mariabelle together. Shortly after Ao and Kotoha arrive, Hime joins them. She also gives Yae a stuffed bear head to add to her already large collection of bears. After a long visit from the girls Yuhi sees them off and Yae starts her night patrol of the city.

Skirt flipping in church? You get the chair!

I love Ao and Kotoha’s expressions during these scenes.

Yae will gladly accept your decapitated bear head!

Yuhi may look like a kid but in fact he’s two hundred years old and the District Mayor too!

While on her patrol of the city, Yae runs into some criminals and teaches them a thing or two about starting a fight with her! But mostly she just scares them without hurting them.

Badguy-“Dude, we should hug that bear.”              Yae- “Yes, come get a bear hug!”

Random bondage scene! Also, you should take that sword away from her.

Best scene in the entire episode! So much destruction in a matter of minutes.

While Yuhi explains, Eniji Ao’s older brother is on the move and plans on bringing various types of hunters to the city consisting of a Necromancer, Dragon killer, Exorcist, and a vampire hunter. The episode slowly ends with Rin’s body being taken over briefly by the Necromancer, who makes her fight off Toka and Kyosuke.

Losing Moe power….nooooooooooooo!!

Pro tip, don’t take naps on the street.                Kyosuke-“Yep, going to be feeling that in the morning…”

Necromance-“Nice I get a moe zombie!”                           Rin-“Stop calling me MOE! ARGGGG.”

Extra demon fun!

Yae-“You dare look at my teddy bear collection without permission!?

Kotoha-“We’re here to challenge you to a dance off!”

Best couple ever? Maybe!

We shall see you soon! Love those spiral eye designs, very cool.

End Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this first OVA, really nice to see a different anime studio take over production of this! The character designs are interesting and remind me  of Birdy the Mighty. Especially during the only real fighting scene; well except for some fighting in the opening video. I like the theme of demons and humans living together, it’s a bit like Gintama except they have aliens. So, all in all great animation and impressive environment details on the city itself; I liked the wide shots in the beginning and while Yae hops around in the night.

Characters are also presented nicely, I kind of wish Toka and Kyosuke got to do more in this one but ah well they were fun in the series whenever they got to really fight. Same for Ao! I wish she did something; however, her power doesn’t seem to get much use for the current fights coming up. But my favorite character of all, Kotoha she just looks like a fun kind of girl. Also, that power of hers really shines in the anime series and in these OVAs too. I guess I like how she can summon just about anything and use it as a weapon. It gets really fun when she summons a gun; she actually has to do the sound effects for each shot in order for it to fire.

Now onto Rin, I don’t remember much about her, only that she was picked on by humans and bullied by them. Until Akina, Hime, Toka and Kotoha befriend her and take her in as a friend. I really hope we get to see the other special hunters; so far we only got to see the Necromancer at the end of this first episode.  And I can tell you she is such a fun character! And I love that evil voiceover; she has a very creepy sound that is actually fun.

Preview

Next time, we get to have some action from the mysterious Necromancer! Expect action and lots of fun.

Thanks!