Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs

Episode 8

We probably should have seen that ending coming. After all, it wouldn't be a proper supernatural harem series if a female enemy didn't wind up deciding that having a child with the protagonist was the best way to strengthen her clan! In typical harem fashion, Oboro looks primed to pursue that agenda diligently in future episodes. Of course, this result conveniently ignores another option that I thought was so obvious it might actually happen: why doesn't Oboro become Genshiro's wife? She's certainly spiritually powerful enough and social status doesn't seem to be a factor for him. However, that wouldn't have allowed her to participate in the fanservice, and despite her unassuming look in formal wear, she has plenty of body to show under those wrappings.

Things escalate to this point because the affair with Genshiro takes up the entirety of these two episodes, with the Oboro situation being its lingering consequence. The humor in this mostly-serious episode comes primarily from how easy it is for Kogarashi to bait Genshiro into stalling simply by being vague about how he and Yuuna spend their nights together. Once the action finally gets going, things pretty much go according to standard; Sagari is able to put up a fight against Oboro but can't ultimately beat her, while Kogarashi is tough enough to take a beating and plenty capable of turning Genshiro into a comet with his exorcist punch, leaving everyone else flabbergasted. That Kogarashi only needed one punch with no real setup was a surprisingly quick resolution, but despite having some action, this series' animation effort certainly isn't up to handling a sustained fight anyway.

Also as expected, Yaya and Nonko do eventually show up to help out, although only Nonko gets to do anything, in this case proving to Oboro that she can't fight everyone here and win. Koyuzu impresses more with her clever use of illusion magic, and Kogarashi coming up with that scheme shows once again that he's not quite the lumbering idiot that his fellow harem protagonists can be. The light touches of sincerity that have been a hallmark of this series are also still evident, and there's no shortage of fanservice to complement the action, including the classic “clothes destroyed in combat” routine.

Once again, the technical merits of any scene beyond portraying sexiness may be found wanting, but the series continues to deliver where it needs to, as a solid entry in the ecchi romcom genre.

Rating: B

Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.