It’s cherry blossom viewing time in eastern Japan, except for one problem: there are no cherry blossoms in sight. Will Mayu be able to set things right?
What They Say:
“Sakura Front Overture”
It’s Yoshino. My granddad the Cherry Blossom God entrusted me with the task to make the cherry blossoms bloom this year…However, due to a minor mistake I lost the very very important jar with the blooming ashes. It’s my fault that everybody can’t enjoy their cherry blossom viewing this year. Mayu, what should I do?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
So, the giant jar delivered at the very end of the last episode is a delivery for Mayu, but when the box is revealed to contain a giant jar, she loses interest and tries to get Yuzu to sell it as an antique. The only hint we have as to its importance is that Shamo, on the way out, says that the package is very important. Of course, no one buys the jar, so Mayu illegally dumps it off the side of the road on a mountainous stretch of highway. So, out of sight, out of mind.
Of course, the jar turns out to belong to Yoshino, a God of Cherry Blossoms, who is filling in for her grandfather, who usually is in charge of the cherry blossom blooming in the region. She sent the jar accidentally to Mayu, but it was a very important jar, containing a magical ash that causes the cherry trees to blossom. Without it, there will be no cherry blossoms at all in the town. So, they go off to the site where Mayu dumped it, but, of course, it’s no longer there, as a work crew is removing the illegally dumped waste. So, it’s off to the landfill to find it.
Meiko and Sasana, of course, turn up there, both to offer their help and to continue their silly fight over who gets to have Mayu. Yuzu, naturally and on cue, breaks up their fight and so it’s off to find the jar. Unsurprisingly, the pair cause more destruction than anything else. But, as we might remember from the first episode, they have Mayu, who as a cat god can find lost things. So, it’s time for Mayu to use her limited powers and so the jar is found. After a little bit of divine repairs to the damaged jar, Mayu and Sakura carry out the spreading of the ashes, and so everything is taken care of.
Happy ending and all that for a very predictable show. After this second episode, I can see pretty much how this show will play out. More often than not, Mayu’s laziness will cause something slightly wrong to go wrong, leading to a new god showing up. After a little bit of running about, Meiko and Sasana will turn up to fight over Mayu, with Yuzu breaking them up. Gonta will hang around to gawk longingly at Yuzu. And Shamo will turn up now and then to make cryptic but important comments. Finally, in the end, Mayu, despite only having the power to find lost things, will find an important missing object and solve the problem outlined in the beginning. While there will be basic variations, it looks like this is the basic formulaic script for this show.
It’s not that there is anything particularly objectionable to this formula. It has its amusing moments. Sakura, the goddess introduced today, was quite cute, though she goes a bit overboard in the sobbing department. But it’s very unlikely to be able to hit any comedic highs beyond the minor snickers and laughs that it brought forth this episode. It’s never going to be a classic.
In Summary:
In this episode, we get to see that Mayu’s laziness and inattention will probably be a driving force of the episodic plots to come. Here, her penchant for taking the easy way out, dumping a huge jar that she had no interest in but which was actually critically important for another god, causes a minor problem, but one which is solved just a easily and conveniently. The humor is rather weak, relying on reused gags (Meiko and Sasana fighting will be a once an episode event, it is clear). But, there’s nothing offensive and nothing particularly annoying about Cat God, so if you have half an hour on Monday nights that won’t be filled otherwise, you might as well watch this. Maybe they will strike a better vein of comedy gold down the road.
Grade: B
Simulcast by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
