Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs

Episode 11

The finale of Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs comes next week, but you wouldn't know it based on this episode. Instead of building up any tension, it quickly resolves the cliffhanger ending from last week and then spends most of its runtime on a pure fanservice romp. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you.

This episode probably has more light censoring than any previous one as all the inn regulars get involved at one point or another, whether its' the high school girls in the hot springs, Oboro getting aggressive with Kogarashi again at the inn, or Nonko traipsing around in a bare-minimum bikini. Kogarashi and Chisuka's female classmates also get involved, and what would a racy harem series be without some shenanigans involving a mistargeted love potion, with Sagiri as the unintended victim? Even some of the better jokes are connected to the fanservice, as Yaya obliviously continues with her homework no matter what else is going on in the room around her. Pick your favorite girl in the series and you'll probably find something suiting your tastes in this episode.

Despite all of the sexiness in play, Kogarashi keeps the tone light by being so likable as a harem lead. He's not entirely oblivious, he's a decent guy who cares about his friends. That he apologized to the true yokai threatening his classmates rather than just punching him out was one star in his favor, and bringing his male classmate along as he scaled the inn was another. He earns a whole boatload of stars for the wonderful scene near the episode's middle, which first shows him apparently dancing on his own around the bonfire and then shows us that he's dancing with the ghost that only a few of them can see. He didn't have to be pushed into this either; he actually picked up on Yuuna's cues, which almost never happens in harem series – and he didn't care what anyone else thought about how it would look. It's not often in a harem series that a viewer can understand perfectly why such a diverse variety of ladies would fall into the protagonist's orbit, but here it's abundantly clear. If I were to rank male harem leads based on their worthiness to have the adoration of so many girls, Kogarashi would at least be near the top of that list.

So with only a single episode left, will the series try to do something dramatic? I doubt it. I'm not sure what kind of finale would fit this series, but “more of the same” would be just fine at this point.

Rating: B

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