There are many things to love about Japan, one of which is its culture of onsen (pronounced OWN-sen) baths, or natural hot springs. Which is why I’m watching the currently airing Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san (Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Spring), an anime about a young man named Kogarashi-kun with the ability to banish ghosts and spirits, who goes to live at an old haunted hot springs inn because the rent is cheap. My reason for watching the series has nothing to do with the high level of ecchi fan service, I swear! That’s just a coincidence…
In Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san, Kogarashi-kun encounters a host of odd characters at his new home, including a drunk busty woman named Nonko, a sexy female ninja named Sagiri, a catlike girl named Yaya, plus Yuuna herself, the sexy spirit of a girl who died in the inn and who can’t go on to the next world. It’s pretty much nonstop pantyshots and related fanservice, but the plot is surprisingly enjoyable in a turn-your-brain-off kind of way, and the visuals by animation studio Xebec are top-notch.
One of the themes in the show is 霊感 reikan, the ability to sense ghosts, which is a concept I’ve encountered often in my daily life. My wife insists that she’s got this power, and several times has randomly reacted to things that I couldn’t see, like feeling that hands were grabbing at her ankles when we walked near a waterfall, spirits of people who had died there trying to drag her into the water. My daughter also apparently had this “ghost sense,” too. Once after my father died, my wife and daughter were having breakfast when my daughter turned to empty air and said, “Stop looking at us!” My wife assumed I’d woken up and was peering around the corner watching them eat, but I was still asleep. It’s believed by everyone in my family that it was the spirit of my father, coming to visit his granddaughter one last time, and she could see him because of her reikan ability.
Will you be watching Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san? It’s a lot of fun, if you like sexy rom-com anime series!
Great news! The J-List staff has been hard at work on the new J-List Box monthly boxes of goodies from Japan, with two great new pre-packed boxes of Japanese snacks you can order now and receive later in the month. This month’s selection of snacks are better than ever, and as always, we give you a card explaining what everything is. What’s that? In the mood for something ecchi instead? We’ve got our new J-List 18+ Box for you to preorder, too!
