There are three kinds of residents in Kyoto: the tengu who fly through the sky; the humans who live on the land; and the tanuki who crawl through the ground. And thus our main character in this story is one particular tanuki.
This tanuki’s name is Shimogamo Yasaburou. And like all tanuki, shapeshifting is the specialty.
Just so you know, that’s a guy. Yasaburou is a male tanuki who just happen to like transforming into a young girl, for various reasons. Primarily the reason though is that he is going to visit his teacher, an old tengu.
Once upon a time, this old tengu, Akadama, took in Yasaburou as his student, along with one particular human girl named Benten. It is unclear what exactly is Akadama teaching, but he is teaching Benten how to fly.
However, Benten has apparently gone out from under his wings, in not so very good terms. For some reason, there’s a level of animosity about the fact that Benten is now hanging out with a particular group called Friday Club. But nevertheless, Akadama is fond of her, and so he sends out Yasaburou to send a mail…
And he does, in a rather old fashioned way of bow and arrow.
But wait, archery is supposed to be difficult for girls with, uhm, size. So Yasaburou adjusts his shapeshifting a bit…
Totally pointless scene I admit. Moving along…
Benten receives the mail, but decides to drop in on Yasaburou as he is drinking in a bar, where all other patrons scurry out in fear of Benten. Apparently, she strikes fear in the hearts of every tanuki. Well it kind of looked like it was a tanuki bar.
The two talk, and it is apparent that there’s a level of mixed familiarity, affection and animosity between the two. They have a rather complicated relationship that culminates in some yuri(?) action.
Anyway, Benten does pay a visit to Akadama, but no one really knows what they talk about. As for Yasaburou, he just resumes with what he’s always been doing: living as a tanuki.
The world does seem interesting, considering the amount of possibilities revolving around the interactions between the three species. Moreover, the show has a very nice feel to it: it gives off a nice warm feeling but at the same time a lulzy feel. It doesn’t stand out as particularly funny, but it stands out as something weird and interesting.
But the problem with this is really the lack of a concrete plot shown in the pilot episode. The description of the show offers more information than the pilot episode.
