Tonari no Youkai-san

In the town of Engamori, supernatural beings known as yokai, gods, and humans have been living amongst each other for centuries, each striving to lead ordinary, peaceful lives. One day Buchio, a 20-year-old cat, mysteriously evolves into a nekomata, a feline yokai, near the end of his life. Although this allows him to stay with his human family longer, it also makes him question the reason behind his evolution, along with the special abilities that have recently manifested in himl.

Meanwhile, an elementary school girl named Mutsumi "Muu-chan" Sugimoto begins to feel more attached to Jirou, a tengu—a crow-like yokai—and Jirou begins to fill the void left by her late father. While both are unable to properly communicate their intentions at first, they gradually form a companionship where they protect each other.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ooishi, Buchio Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Jirou Main

Higa, Ryousuke Japanese

Sugimoto, Mutsumi Main

Yuikawa, Asaki Japanese

Nishiya, Chiaki Supporting

Kawashima, Tokuyoshi Japanese

Hayachiyo Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Ooishi, Takumi Supporting

Tamura, Mutsumi Japanese

Kotone Supporting

Kokido, Shiho Japanese

Sugimoto, Sanae Supporting

Ushida, Hiroko Japanese

Sugimoto, Seiji Supporting

Kikuchi, Michitake Japanese

Sugimoto, Mamoru Supporting

Tsuchida, Hiroshi Japanese

Yamauchi, Ami Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Yamaki, Daiki Sound Director

Ikeda, Yuuki Episode Director, Storyboard

Takada, Misato Episode Director

Reviews

Aug 12, 2025

fictionaloveward

Recommended

I have never seen an anime that hit so close to home. The 4 episode rule absolutely doesn't apply, you need to see it to the end.

I'm always generous with my scores, but this one really deserves a 10 and possibly more than that. You can tell the studio and the author put so much care into every little corner.

This anime navigates all types of love. Unrequited love, platonic love, romantic love, familial love, and mostly the bittersweet grief that comes with loving someone. You'll always outlive someone you love, or maybe just drift apart before that, but is the solution simply not loving anyone ... at all? of course not.

"Everyone is born alone, connections are what make people." that quote is the perfect summary for this show.

It's a love letter to the world, the words that form it, and the people in it.

Now to more technical reviews: the soundtrack syncs perfectly with the viewer's emotions, not to mention the realistic voice acting and gorgeous artstyle. It all feels perfectly human and raw, I don't think I will ever see an anime this well-made ever again.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 3, 2024

red-artist

Mixed Feelings

Informative

Tonari no Youkai-san is a Slice of Life with elements of mystery and heavy drama. The setting is a fantasy world where "yokai" (imaginary beings brought to life due to power of rumors, emotions, desires etc..) live with humans.

Plot
The show starts when a 20 year old pet cat is reborn as a nekomata (a yokai cat with two tails and power to transform). As a newborn yokai, he starts learning the ways of this world and this allows us audience to tag along for the lessons. We keep meeting new characters (around 15+ major cast members at this point) which all have their own ... stories/backgrounds (both current and some flashbacks). At the same time, there is a larger mystery plot unraveling in the background. The pacing is great, leading to a decent climax that provides enough closure for this season.

Review
I definitely love the setting of humans and yokai living together in a slow slice of life with a rural backdrop. And the mystery behind the world's lore is also intriguing. And there are some ridiculous characters (eg: wagen-san) which are memorable.

But, the series has a few negatives:
1. The background stories of characters are often boring and predictable. And they say lines like "How could you understand how I feel?"..
2. Unnecessary "power of friendship" moments. Some dialogues like "I want to protect/save you" feel cringe when its middle schoolers (or even younger children) saying them.
3. Some drama is stretched too much and takes you out of the story.

I would recommend just watching the first episode. The series maintains the same vibe throughout the entire season and you can easily judge if it is to your taste. While I don't regret watching it, I don't exactly feel glad either. Its a decent enough series, that is worth its runtime, but nothing memorable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 21, 2024

PixelB

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/13 eps)

What I hate about this show is that it just slaps on some supernatural beings into the show without integrating any of the actual historical accounts to the shinigami/Japanese folklore. For example, Tengu are said to be mischievous and enjoy playing pranks on humans. Why is Jiro just a literal human being in an anthropomorphic crow body? How about the fact that Buchio was reincarnated from a cat, so wouldn't it make sense for Buchio to have cat-like tendencies, reflexes, etc? I just fail to see the appeal. Even in a game like Touhou, Tengu are seen as people who love gossip, which makes sense ... since their nature is to enjoy pranks. It's not an exact connection, but at least there's some sort of background that makes sense to the folklore/legend that they're portraying in the game.

This show fails to even do the bare minimum when it comes to connecting folklore to characters, which makes me give it an extremely low score. The setting and characters are mere surface-level and don't create any depth for the story.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Tonari no Youkai-san Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - May 25, 2024	31 replies	by Thaliel »» Jan 6, 2025 12:05 AM
	Poll: Tonari no Youkai-san Episode 3 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 20, 2024	26 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 3, 2025 7:35 PM
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