Shabake

This show is excellent. Some people got the wrong idea and dropped it early on, dismissing the show as a series of incoherent brief storylines that don't matter (not unlike Dandadan). After all, the best stories do indeed need an overarching plot line, not babbling randomness.

Unfortunately, they couldn't be more wrong. Without spoiling anything, all of these little subplots are weaving one big mysterious web, and I feel bad for the people who were too impatient to continue watching and come to that realization - they're missing out. I very quickly went from following along out of sheer boredom, to hanging onto my seat waiting ... for the next episode once the connections were made. It's just got a bit of a slow start, and you've got to get over that to enjoy this one.

Shabake... exists.

It's a story about many things, yet not about any in specific. It's structure is all over the place, it's pacing a mystery.
A map the size of the city it's supposed to represent would be useless. Likewise, history that just talks about random facts rather than make a narrative about them isn't the most useful either.
Shabake it's a story that keeps pulling new plotlines, essentially putting the previous ones on the back of the backlog, which results in them either feeling abandoned or progressed at a snail pacing.

Our protagonist has poor health! Is this relevant in any way shape our form after the first ... time we learn it? No.
There's a lot of yōkai in this anime, yōkai are cool, but unless you only like to look at yōkai, the anime so far didn't do much with them.
We have a possible plotline with our protagonist and his (half-?)brother. What could that be? I don't know.
We have a plotline with an assassin guy. How is that related to our protagonist and everything else? I don't know.
Much of it is just us seeing the daily life of characters, and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole assassin thing was initially supposed to be placed later, but the editors begged the author to having something happen at the start of the story.

I might be seeming harsh, but 3-4 episodes in an anime should already have a direction it's going. Shabake... isn't that, it feels like a story with no past and no future, with just the present happening, a "perpetual stew" in terms of storytelling.
Maybe that is the point, maybe it's trying to be "an experience" of a slice-of-life in feudal Japan with yōkai, but if so... well, it's a stew of an acquired taste.

After watching four episodes of Shabake, I decided to drop this anime.
While it has some good qualities, overall it just didn’t hold my interest the way I had hoped.

The music is beautiful.
The animation quality is solid, and the art style has a soft, traditional look that really fits the historical setting. These aspects made me want to keep watching at first.

Unfortunately, the storytelling is mediocre at best. The pacing is slow, sometimes dragging on scenes that don’t have importance.
The characters are underdeveloped especially the main character.

I initially decided to watch Shabake because the trailer made it look promising, suggesting a blend of mystery, folklore, ... and gentle slice of life elements. However, the actual execution doesn’t quite deliver on that promise.

I don’t recommend watching it, especially if you’re looking for something that offers relaxation and wisdom.
It's far better to watch Natsume’s Book of Friends or Mushishi, both series handle similar themes with far more depth.