Otome youkai Zakuro

"I had this anime in my list for ages, thinking it was just another okay-ish old series. But I WAS SO WRONG. This is a complete hidden gem - the story, the romance, the animation, the characters - everything is way better than so many overrated shows. I feel sad for ignoring it all this time... It's honestly a masterpiece that deserves way more love!"This anime is absolutely stunning. From the very first episode, it pulled me in - not with action or flashy drama - but with emotion, depth, and beautiful character dynamics. Every character has their own growth,their own story, and their own little love arc that just wraps around your heart like a warm blanket. This anime is a very mature anime with all of its emotional and intense scenes and also the romance and action which I like. Totally recommend.

I gave this a try following the advice of a major anime site which suggested "Otome youkai Zakuro" as a good historical piece for the Taisho period (1912-26). Unfortunately my hopes crumbled as soon as the first episode was over.

This is an anime for kids and young teens where comedy, romance and magical battles alternate in unoriginal fashion.

It's not bad if all you're looking for is cute romantic-cat-girls, cute dumb-soldier-boys, cute embarrassing moments, cute animal-spirits and a "big fight" per episode. But still, you could as well watch 200 episodes of Inuyasha which is better overall, get older and forget about the genre.

Even if we try to dig under the surface looking for signs of depth, historical characterization or whatever we can hope to find in well-done entertainment, all we get is still a superficial comedy-fantasy for kids.