Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs

Episode 6

Like the last two, this week's episode is split into two distinct halves, allowing it to tell two shorter stories rather than one big one. Unless the series gets around to having an actual plotline, that works just fine, as these vignettes would wear out their welcome if stretched to full episode length.

The first one features the last of the Yuragi Inn denizens to get the spotlight: Chitose Nakai, the childlike proprietress of the inn who professes to be a luck-manipulating goddess. This episode finally pegs her physical age as being around 13, but because her actual age is vastly beyond that range, she doesn't get excused from fanservice shenanigans this week. (Her treatment is still mild compared to the other female characters.) Her unsurprising secret is that she like to pass herself off as a middle school student when the others aren't around, even to the point of attending a local school and having some classmates as friends. The neatest aspect of this gimmick is that the school's principal is in on her secret, since he's known Chitose for decades as a long-time friend (and perhaps once-suitor?) to make her happy. That dynamic gives this episode that certain fond sweetness the series regularly milks from its character interactions. Predictably, the ill fortune she inflicts on some aggressive young men manifests in the form of an appearance by Kogarashi. Aside from how unseemly it was for them to be hitting on girls that young, this sequence is solid and scores some comedy points with the way Chitose uses luck manipulation to catch a spilled tray and (in a previous) even summon a wild boar; that may have been the series' funniest individual moment to date.

The second half, which principally involves Yuuna and Kogarashi, is the lesser of the two this time. Effectively going on a date with Yuuna to figure out her lingering regrets was a long-overdue move, and the complications from Yuuna being a ghost at a retreat specifically designed for couples offers some amusement. I'm not exactly sure how a ghost who manifests clothing as part of her body can suffer from a wardrobe malfunction while going down a water slide, so I'll just chalk that one up to fanservice logic. For the fun factor it achieves, it doesn't quite come together enough to capture the sense of heartwarming sincerity that some other parts of the series have; it felt more like the series was just going through expected motions.

The rest of the Yuragi Inn denizens don't show up beyond extremely brief cameos, and Chisaki is also entirely absent. That's not really a problem, as the series has enough going on that it doesn't need the whole cast present all the time, but it does feel like the story is ignoring Koyuzu (the tanuki) now that she's an established denizen. Still, the series continues to purr along well enough for now as it is.

Rating: B

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