When people usually think of anime nine times out of ten they'll usually think of any Studio Ghibli movie. However what they'll very rarely think of is a TV anime and well it's TV anime that I want to take a look at today as to mainstream people there really isn't TV anime and well I think that i've found one that some mainstream people might like as it is a cute anime and so then join me as I review the episode that gives a normal girl a not so normal job with the episode is question being called simply "Off To Magical Manoyama" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is down on her luck Yoshino Koharu accepts a job in the country that she thinks will only last for one day and yet when it finds out that it's a job that lasts for a whole year she has to decide if she really wants to stay or not. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad with it being a rather simple which in the episodes fairness is all it really needs as a show like this one doesn't really need a deep and dark complicated plot it just needs something nice and simple and that's what this episodes plot was it was nice and simple as well as being both entertaining and engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Alexis Tipton as Yoshino Koharu , Tia Ballard as Shiori Shinomiya and Mark Stoddard as Ushimatsu Kadota. Also starring in this episode is Aaron Roberts as Mino , Dallas Reid as Yamada , Leah Clark as Maki Midorikawa , Robert McCollum as Takamizawa , Rachel Robinson as Chitose Oribe , this shows voice director Caitlin Glass as Yae Koharu , David Matranga as Hashimoto , Kenny Green as Gen , Sonny Strait as Tora , Linda Leonard as Kinu Kadota and Jerry Jewell as Mr. Sandal.
Now the interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which isn't really all that surprising as alot of if not all of this episodes voice cast are a bunch of really good voice actors with alot of them being big names in the anime dubbing industry and as such it does make sense that they would turn in a good performance as not only are they a bunch of really talented voice actors but there also directed really well and the episodes script is just so good that all this cast really have to is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally.
Doing the animation for this episode is of course the legends and the greats that are currently over at P.A. Works. Now then interms if what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in ll honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. With this episodes animation being close to being movie quality yes the animation in alot of TV anime shows will never be fully movie quality with the same thing also being true for alot of animated shows as TV shows have to spread out there animation budget across several episodes but with this episode it came across as if they gave alot of there animation budget to this episode as it was really that good.
This episode does a fairly decent job of representing what country live is like in alot of countries with everybody in this small town knowing each other. As well as knowing everything that's going on in the town which is true for a lot of small towns that are out in the country as you'd only have a very small amount of people living there and everybody would know everybody else and they would all know what's going on in town and while the episode didn't get some things down about country live like people who are only well known in that small town what they did nail about country living and what it's like to live in the country was something that they really got down perfectly on top of all of that they went out of the way to make the town itself feel like a character which was something that they really didn't have to do and yet they went ahead and they did it anyway.
Instead of this show being a manga first and an anime series second this show was an anime show first that then got a manga adaptation. It's hard to say if the manga just straight up copied the plot of the show and added nothing new to it but given that the manga lasted for five volumes it's most likely that the manga rather added to the anime's plot instead of taking away from it which is really what a manga adaptation should do as if people want to see the original plot then all they'd do is watch the original anime and yet by giving them something new for the manga then your giving them a reason to continue to pick up the manga with this having the added advantage of possibly bringing in new people to watch the anime something wouldn't have been possible if the manga was just straight up coping the plot of the anime.
The characters apart from both Yoshino and Shiori do seem to be pretty one note and rather underdeveloped. This is of course perfectly natural given that this is the first episode but on the flip side of that is the fact that you always want to start of your show with your best foot forward and part of that does include starting to develop your characters and making more then Yoshino and Shiori interesting and funny characters and that's just not something that this episode does as alot of the of the rest of the characters in this episode just seem to be pretty one note and rather boring which really shouldn't be the case at all as they do have the potential to be some really fun and funny characters and when you start your characters of on rocky foundations it doesn't matter how thy end up because the foundations will always be rocky.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty three minuets and six seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstanderd running time for any TV anime show to have and to this episodes credit it does take full advantage of that amount of running time as this episode really does have more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time but at the exact same time tho this episode could have benefited from being a at the very least forty five minuets which yes does run the risk of stretching it's thin plot even thinner but at the same time it would give more of the side characters a chance to not shine but to also become fully developed characters as well which would also help the show out in the long run as well but I will admit that this episode does have some really good pacing to tit tho.
So now then as this is a comedy that means that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / resented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. With this episode having some really cute jokes in it all of which not only landed but they also felt very in character for these characters which only made the jokes seem even funnier and while this show most likely really isn't the best comedy anime out there it is one that does seem really like a comfort comedy with it's cute jokes being jokes that alot of people can really relate to which is something that will make the jokes in not only this episode but really in the show as a whole seem rather timeless in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall this episode was cute and simple in all of the best ways possible both of which are things that work really well to this shows advantage and while the characters don't seem to be that deep for this kind of show that's not that bad of a thing to be in this episode in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and as such that mean that this very episode earns itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all f the images that personally used in this very review from the official P.A. Works fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being Google Images simply just due to the fact that alot of the images that are on Google Images are all really fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.