Sakura Quest is a show which lacks for nothing but marketability. Thankfully this doesnt actually affect viewer experience. It only serves to get things noticed in a crowded market. One may ask How does an anime outside the usual marketable trends get made in the first place? That has everything to do with the production team behind it you see. Progressive Animation Works hereafter P.A. Works has a very indicative name. Its clear from the name alone that the intent of the studio was to push the medium forward. One can see several of the latest trends in anime production by viewing P.A. Works shows alone though some studios are comparable in these areas. Theyve had at least modest success with other animeoriginal projects such as Shirobako. This has seemingly emboldened them enough to take on themes which are rarely seen in anime due to demographics issues. Sakura Quest is a story of change. Its told through familiar methods even if the content is unfamiliar. Most of the roadmarks of the Heros Journey are present here. Its not a bad thing to base your story on familiar building blocks. There certainly are realist works of fiction that abandon this framework but its a hard thing to do. For every Madame Bovary there are perhaps a million amateur works that fail completely on a basic level. Sakura Quest probably could not afford to have an alienating form in addition to its unfamiliar content. As someone who grew up in a rural setting the idea of a ghost town is familiar to me. They generally result from a macroeconomic change. In my home state many were created by the coming of railroads which put the steamboat industry out of business. Its not unusual to see abandoned gas stations in the U.S. due to the building of new roads such as the interstate highways. Whenever a market changes significantly there are always people and businesses left behind. In this case theres an entire community left behind by the times. Manoyama may be a fictional place but its situation is one that many rural places in Japan today face. The pressures of low birthrates and continuing urbanization have led to a depopulation of rural areas. Its just this realistic setup that encourages them to embark on a very animesque solution. That is to hire a cute girl from out of town to become a representative of the town itself and encourage tourism. Enter our protagonist. Much like the town itself Yoshino Koharu has been left behind by a difficult job market and a young persons lack of particular skills. Despite an initial and very understandable reluctance to take on such a strange and openended job Yoshino soon takes to it like a fish to water with her cando attitude and sheer pluck. There are many challenges on the way and like any realworld problem theres probably no right solution. The first of these challenges is to get some people on her side because she certainly isnt going to solve this problem on her own. One would be tempted to think that the local chairman of tourism Kadota would be the first person in her corner but hes more of an impediment for most of the series. Despite his age he has a lot of growing up to do and hes living in the past to a large extent. The one good thing that can be said about him is that hes willing to change things even if he has no idea what. The rest of the town isnt so friendly to the idea. Unsurprisingly the people most open to change turn out to be other young people. Because this is an anime these other young people are cute girls in familiar archetypes. The main difference here is that these young girls are actually adults in situations not unlike Yoshinos. Sanae moved to the country hoping that country life would sound more appealing on her blog. Shes the girl in glasses. Maki moved back home unsure what to do with herself after a failed attempt at an acting career. Shes the cool beauty. Shiori is the homemaker who isnt already married for some inexplicable reason. Ririko is a recent high school graduate whos living at home due to her social awkwardness. Shes the kuudere. None of these girls join Yoshino without going through a character arc of their own though. These arent the only characters in Sakura Quest and I think this is one of the better parts of the show. The supporting cast is actually very large and it creates an increased sense of community and verisimilitude. Even many of these get story arcs of their own which fit with the overall theme of change. These also often showcase some aspect of the community and make it come alive. This worldbuilding is actually rather important to Sakura Quest since its more of a story of an entire community than a single person. Assisting in this area is the artwork which is very clean and attractive even when its depicting a permanently shuttered storefront. Its easier to get emotionally invested in a beautiful place full of attractive people. Theres plenty of expressive character animation too to help the viewer get attached to the characters. Its all strung together by competent direction. Theres a lot of perspective shots and viewing angle changes as necessary to create a sense of space. The careful construction of P.A. Works extends even to the sound. The music is excellent and fitting and the OP/ED sequences are among the best this year has to offer. The voice acting is onpoint. They even managed to find a fluent English speaker to play the recurring foreign character Sandal and Spanish speakers for one particular episode. All of these things combine to make a show thats easy and enjoyable to watch. Everyone who watches anime should watch Sakura Quest. Much like the town of Manoyama it has a lot of charm and personality of its own. Its probably too much to ask for the core anime demographic of young urban people especially teenage boys to relate to its themes but the viewing experience is good enough even if its exploring areas totally unfamiliar to the viewer. The worst thing I could say about Sakura Quest is that it might not be quite as good as some other things Ive seen but thats nitpicking at best. In my experience if I have to resort to this kind of argument to criticize a show its definitely one of the better ones.