Agents of the Four Seasons — Fantasy at Its Finest

Every season, anime writers try to come up with the perfect hook on why you should watch a certain show. I’m including myself in that. But with Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring, I won’t — there’s no need. While this anime will be devoid of the ecchiness and fan service J-List holds in high regard, it should be a part of your seasonal watch list. Fantasy seems less fantastical every day. But in Agents of the Four Seasons, that genre shows it can still inspire.

The best compliment you can give any form of entertainment is for it to move you. If a movie, drama, doujin, or anime made you bellow with laughter or had tears running down your face, it’s excellent. Shunkashuutou Daikousha: Haru no Mai made me cry more in twenty minutes than my failed engagement got out of me in years. I’ve always held Studio Wit in high regard. Their work with The Ancient Magus Bride is the epitome of fantasy. When I watched that anime, I felt it. Every time Chise roamed those grassy hills, I felt the serenity of the English countryside. I felt the wonder the story held. And one episode into Agents of the Four Seasons, Studio Wit has done that again.

Agents of the Four Seasons instill a wonder in me that my writing skills can’t describe. I’ve been sitting on this article for more than a week, and nothing I put to paper does the show justice. So might as well gush about it and hope someone reading this finds as much beauty in this title as I did.

But, Kashou, What’s Agents of the Four Seasons About?

Science and mystery are antithetical to each other. As helpful as science is, it’s robbed us of many things. Once we explained the seasons and sights that came with them as the folly of gods and spirits. Now we know it’s all part of the ebb and flow of time. But what if that weren’t the case? What if the seasons were real beings? That hypothetical is a reality in Agents of the Four Seasons. In the world the anime presents, the passing of the season isn’t automatic — it’s intentional. Humans play an intrinsic part in it.

In this world, only winter existed. But tired of its singular existence, winter created spring to love, and then the other seasons followed. As time passed and the personified seasons wished to bugger off, the seasons gave humans the power to change them. However, as one would expect, extremist groups and shady governments target the individuals given these powers. Why? The anime hasn’t revealed that. But anyone who can control the weather controls the world. The anime shows Hinagiku Kayou, the agent of spring, kidnapped and absent for a decade. Her reappearance kicks the story off. However, you realize that something is off. There are too many missing pieces, and all those pieces feel like they’ll be uncomfortable when put together.

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What Makes It So Good!

Patience is a virtue, but I’m not a virtuous person. I don’t want to spend episodes or seasons waiting. If I absolutely have to, I need the show to entertain me. It needs to be worth my time. That’s a sentiment that Agents of the Four Seasons understands. The anime’s first episode was a trawling net instead of a hook. Wit and Ken Yamamoto (director) went into this show as Oguri Cap walks into an all-you-can-eat buffet, with confidence and gusto. Everything from the gunfight to the dance of spring was enchanting. You don’t watch Agents of the Four Seasons. You experience it.

I’ll skip talking about the second episode because #nospoilers. But there’s a distinct desaturation to the first episode’s initial half. The cold, wet, gloomy feel of winter is present without the show having to tell you. And when Hinagiku summons spring, you feel the warmth. The anime’s colors and art take on a vibrant sheen.

Typically, I try to avoid the production side of things when I review a show. I don’t know anything about making anime. But I do know when something is special. Even the anime’s OST was perfect. Most anime don’t neatly tailor their music to the show’s overall vibe; they merely fit individual scenes. Much like the music by The Pillows and Kevin Perkins that greatly boosted FLCL and Spice and Wolf, Kensuke Ushio’s work powers up Agents of the Four Seasons. All that makes this anime a spectacle.

This anime is the show I’m looking forward to the most this season. And that’s saying a lot since Mistress Kanan Is Devilishly Easy is also airing this season.

Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring Deets

The Shunkashuutou Daikousha: Haru no Mai anime adapts the light novel by Kana Akatsuki (author) and Suoh (illustrator). ASCII Media Works’s Dengeki Bunko has released eight volumes of the light novel since April 2021. Kana-sensei has released various spin-off novels via Kadokawa and Hatena’s Kakuyomu website.

Agents of the Four Seasons has two manga adaptations — Nappa Komatsuda’s Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring (published in Lala Magazine) and Yuriko Asami’s spin-off, Agents of the Four Seasons: One Hundred Songs and One Hundred Pages. Yen Press and BookWalker (Kadokawa) have translated both manga into English. Yen Press also publishes the English translation of the light novel.

Crunchyroll and Muse Asia stream/distribute Shunkashuutou Daikousha. Thanks for reading, Ja ne!

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