14yearold Machi is a shrine maiden miko in a tiny village in the mountains where she lives with Natsu a talking bear kuma she was raised with. Machi hopes to attend high school in the city so Natsu attempts to prepare the shy sheltered girl for the trials and tribulations of city life to varying amounts of success. This was very different than most things Ive been watching this year being a sliceoflife comedy. It doesnt take itself seriously and it doesnt delve much into character development instead preferring to play with the comedic potential of characters as they are. Machi and Natsu live in the village of Kumade where according to a legend explained in episode one bears and people live in harmony after an interspecies liaison hundreds of years before. Whether thats true or not we dont know but Natsu can indeed speak is known to the villagers and keeps house with Machi whose parents are nonexistent and whose caretaker grandma remains offscreen. We dont learn exactly when they met but from flashbacks it was before both were about 5 and they have a siblinglike relationship. Machi for her part decides she really wants to attend high school in the citytwo hours away. Natsu proposes various quizzes and tests to see if Machi can really handle city life with varying results as the tests can be a bit out there and/or Machi lacks knowledge of and comfort with a lot of contemporary Japanese society from brands to dealing with store clerks to online shopping. Even simple electric appliances throw her off. Most episodes revolve around either Machi doing something to learn about the modern world and messing up or her cousin Yoshio roping her and other villagers into some sort of PR attempt to promote the village which is dwindling and prompting fears it could die out. I liked Yoshio as a character for the most part but while he wasnt actually any more oblivious that any other character a lot of jokes involved people misinterpreting others Yoshio got beaten up a lot for it. The series is only 12 episodes which is probably for the best since the characters dont change through the series. Its interesting that such a unique base was chosen tiny village shrine maiden raised alongside a talking bear possibly has mystic powers and the story uses that to mainly follow comedy based on character idiosyncrasies. Verdict English dub? No Visuals: Normal for a modern anime not bad but nothing standout. Worth watching? Sure if you like light series with little commitment. Its not deep but sometimes you really do want something that takes little to no brainpower and isnt going to cause complex emotions yknow? Of note in the first episode 9yearold village kids are being inducted into the knowledge of the village lore and Natsus existence there are jokes about what if Natsu and Machi did it a recurring gag where Yoshio being basically an older brother who helped raise Machi tries to get her out of her clothes so she can try on costumes and is oblivious why he gets punched and a village woman who mutters sexual harassment basically any time someone makes a joke at her regardless of topic. I think maybe the humor here is supposed to be that its not sexual harassment? Unsure.
50 /100
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