LogFAQs > #979769769

Watched Yokai-san because of the rec and, uh.......wow this sure was astoundingly better than I could have ever expected! It wasn't really on my radar, I knew about it but figured it would be one of those "healing" genre shows that just don't jive with me at all anymore. Far from it, this is incredibly gripping and already has me emotionally invested just through the casual daily life of this world. I GREATLY appreciate the show don't tell approach here, not even an inkling of narration, because they know you don't need it. Beutiful to look at and listen to, a tease of something more at the end....yeah, this is a winner.

I am realizing this season just how much sound design has come to matter to me in an anime. I have been thinking of it for a few days because of how vast the highs and lows have been. I enjoy something like Astro Note and Salad Bowl well enough, but they have a NOTEABLE lack of meaningful audio presence outside of the voice work. Astro Note in particular has an OST that sounds like filler, with the dreaded repetitive whistle notes that plague so many shows like this. Compare to some of the other shows this season, where the sound is a character in and of itself. Yokai knew when it needed music and at what level, and when it didn't need music. During a scene around the middle where there was none, I had the sudden thought that "if this were a bad show, someone would be tapping away at a xylophone right now".