First Impression – Urara Meirochou
Good Fortune
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Goodness, anime surely knows how to spoil me rotten. Just start with insane amounts of cute and quirky, add mischievous fun, top off with bare bellies, tea, sweets, and some yuri… |
Welcome to Labyrinth Town
Magic and Mystery are part of their History*
Well, JC Staff knows exactly how to aim a show right into my wheelhouse, especially when it come to something as lively as Urara. They usually leave a good mark on things and this one is no exception when it comes to the execution. I’ve not been able to read Harikamo’s 4-koma manga, but when the story is in the capable hands of scriptwriter Mieno Hitomi (Amanchu!, Flying Witch, and Nazo no Kanojo X, to name a few of many favorite shows) and the characters are designed by the always awesome and always moe Mai Otsuka, (Houkago no Pleiades, Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!, and Non Non Biyori to name the most similar designs to this) then the adaption is sure to please the crowd; and if this sort of thing doesn’t at any glance, now is the time to hit the back button on your browser.
*Thanks to GJM for the work on the sign!
Chiya, Kon, Nono – and Matsuko-chan! – and Koume
So Labyrinth Town, or Meirochou, is the center of all things fortune telling. Urara is the name for some of the most talented of these fortune tellers, and the town itself looks like it not only contains that particular business, but a whole host of other support businesses; food stalls and peacekeeping at a glance, and with that bus in the opening town scene, a tourist industry? I’m sure we’ll learn more about the town later. But the urara that call the town home send out letters of apprenticeship to qualified and talented girls that have reached the age of 15. This gives them opportunities to explore their nascent abilities and rise up in the ranks and become urara themselves. Which brings us to our main characters…
Literally wakes up and sees the world upside down….
So, of all of them, our fan-favorite, Chiya is the wackiest; being the winner of Most like Papika (from last season’s FlipFlappers, she even has the penchant for dressing down – isn’t her top what they have infants wear?). She’s got the single synapse thing going on, because as soon as she thinks it, she does it. This includes the odd habit of exposing her – and everyone else’s – belly when apologizing; being the young ingenue, she’ll be doing that quite a bit! This probably has to do with being somewhat a feral child and a friend to all animals that she grew up with on the mythical trope mountain; animals will lay on their backs and expose the weaker belly as a show of acquiescence, and it looks like they taught her well. It looks like they take care of her food needs no matter where, too. But, out of all of the mains, she has yet to really show a talent in a particular form of fortune telling. Which means she controls fate itself I bet…doom bunny!
Oh, she has her patience cut out for her…
Next is Kon, who is probably going to be my favorite; it isn’t just the well educated demeanor, but also the fact that she is the ever reluctant straight to all the comedy, and that is always gold in my book. She’s calm and cool, but easily flapped in some cases. In terms of fortune telling, she’s already acquainted with kokkuri and it’s connection to fox spirits (thus her name, it’s what they say…), but she’s not yet adept enough with the charms to get a clear answer. Also, the necromancy bit seems to be a new addition to the lore, or a part that I’m not yet acquainted with. For now it’s spoopy, but… Hmmmm…I wonder if kurou will come up later…oh, yeah…
Hey, anyone for Yugioh?
Then we have Koume, another favorite of mine. She’s looking like she’s gonna groove on some Western traditions, what with her being enamoured of the look of anime witches and her acquaintance with the Tarot. But since she is the daughter of a rich family I wonder how serious she’s going to take her studies? Or if that first guess of mine will even be true? She looks like she loves the surface details of all the delights the town has to offer, but does she have the depth of a front-bencher? She looks like she could pack a powerful punch, maybe even living up to being a fortune telling anime magic girl witch; the town looks like it takes and makes all kinds. But, will she live it down getting Puu-chan as a nickname!?
Run away! Run….away…!
Then we come to our final main, and another favorite, Nono. She’s the shy type, so I feel the more I talk about her the more she’ll just retreat. But she’s not that bad, we see her warming up to the new girls pretty quick, if not with a bit of her nervous character still going. She’s a “doll diviner”, which basically means she gets her own mini-not-quite-me-but-close-enough doll, Matsuko-chan – who I swear is voiced by Arai Satomi, but that could just be wish fulfilment talking. Goodness! This doll is equal parts charming and cute, and and an equal part creepy, leaving me confused and concerned…Nono is already looking for other forms of divination by episodes end, so I hope she doesn’t get eaten or possessed! That bit about being lonely and only having her doll as a friend really got me in the heart. But honestly, it looks like Matsuko-chan helps Nono with expressing things her shyness keeps behind lock and key…
I’m just gonna call her overcooled…
But as I mentioned apprenticeships, all of of them are under the auspice of Nina, Nono’s older sister, who is already a tea-leaf reading urara working at their cute little sweets shop, Natsume-ya. In addition to being their guide, she’s also filling out the role of big sister for all of the other girls. She’s kind, with an even composure, and a great command of the room, and looks to be a natural teacher. The calm center around all the mayhem. She facilitates, and makes great looking sweets. But she also revealed her belly somewhat this episode…
What shall be revealed!?
Oh tell us, character that will be important later…
There looks to be a bit more than just light entertainment going on under this show’s hood; at least as far as an actual plot going down. Chiya has a mysterious past, knows that her missing mother is somewhere in town, and from the OP there is something to do with a…giant doom bunny? Oh, my, I hope it’s a giant doom bunny! We don’t get that often enough! Also the yuri-peacekeepers look to be something anyone will surely follow, and who knows how that will turn out? We will of course, add to the explorations of the town, and to the main girls’ emerging fortune telling talents, along their daily goofy lives and all the antics that can go with that. I look forward to more, and I hope you’ll enjoy following it. See you next time!
Gonna get that belly! Gonna get that belly!
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Too early to tell if I’ll be in for the entire run, the antics may wear after a while. However, I did enjoy this episode and the girls are moe moe so I’ll be around for at least the three episode try.
Of the four girls Kon will probably be my favorite, although I also like Chiya’s feral child shtick. And Nina looks like she’s going to be another favorite.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
They’re all favorites! That’s what makes me want to stick with the show, and even find the time to blog it this season. Hope to see you beyond the three episode try…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Kemonomimi… :3
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Ridiculous amounts…
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Ane-san force is strong with Ai Kayano.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Nina is something special. I know it was just a brief exchange, but I wonder if Suka (the lead peacekeeper) has a thing for her. She has her hands full with her underlings/admirers already…But you’re right, she has a huuuuge protective field over everyone, and that is a strong Ai Kayano voice to be sure…
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Nina reminded me of her recent one in 3-gatsu no Lion, where she is even more homely. Definitely love her soothing tone.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yeah, Akari and her sisters, Momo and Hinata, and the cats, and the house, are the best part of 3-gatsu…
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 261 comments
Another Primitive Minded Girl (Sort of) and she tries to apologies the townsfolk for something by doing this….
Wait until someone come out and kicking that belly mercilessly…..UH OOPS!!!
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
What? White Haired Papika? I don’t think Tanya would waste any time on her, unless war was declared, Tanya is very serious about war…
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 261 comments
Yeah…I guess…Silly Me anyways!
OK now, Um…The name of this Lady is Kon! hmmm i wonder what with the….Animal ears there, is that their hairstyle!?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
It looks like only
PapikaChiya has true animal ears? I think that Kon’s are simply a hair decoration or, as you say, a style.POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
In the episode Kon states that her animal “ears” are a ribbon.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’m gonna try and watch more, but I think I’m just not good with characters like Chiya (I also hated Papika). She’s all up in everything too, so it’s hard to ignore her. But the other girls are cute!
If I was a fortune teller I’d definitely use tea leaves lol
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Yesh, all-up-in characters are an aquired taste I guess, but like you say, the other mains are keepers.
I know, you would totally read read tea leaves – and I would totally take like a whole pot to get it right, just like Chiya!