In the rural town of Engamori, the mountain breeze often blows. Everyday life there is mysterious, filled with monsters, humans and gods coexisting. They live each day with their own joys and worries in their hearts. Buchio lived as a cat until he was 20 years old, then he died and was reborn as a nekomata. Mutsumi is a human who lives a positive life, even though she's concerned about her missing father. Jiro is a karasu tengu who's been protecting this town for generations. This is the gentle and mysterious story of connections that occur in the daily life of a relaxing and heartwarming countryside town.

This season really proved to be one where the new shows I checked out last won me over the fastest. In fact, I was won over by Buchio alone. He's a shy little fellow who was only recently reborn into his new yokai form, and he's still learning the ropes. He's on the hunt for a teacher to show him how to work his yokai magic, he appreciates his human family members for being so gracious about this new phase of his life, and he wears a cute little hat when he goes out on walks with his tengu pal Jiro. I was beginning to worry about this season's prospects, considering how mediocre-to-bad most of the new shows have been, but Tonari no Yokai-san is an anime that instantly shot right to the top of my spring watchlist within five minutes of its premiere.

So yeah, this came out of nowhere. Tonari no Yokai-san, the season's obligatory show with only a romanized Japanese title and no translated or localized English one, had completely slipped under my radar, but when I finally watched it a couple nights ago, I was hooked in no time. I already love sweet and melancholy stories about the supernatural, and every new detail and development in this episode served to get me more invested and intrigued by this world and its characters. That it did so without ever breaking its warm, comforting vibes made it all the more impressive.

A part of me wishes I could live in Tonari no Yokai-san's world. It's a place where maybe our poor departed kitties would've lived on in a new form, where the dead really do come back and visit on their holidays, and where your neighbour just might be a karasu tengu. Of course, it's also a world where Mutsumi's father has vanished into something called "the void", an event separate from being spirited away or dying because the implication seems that once the void has you, it will not let you go. This juxtaposition of the dream and nightmare qualities of folklore is the strongest element of the premiere. The deceptively gentle tone mimics the sort of storytelling that lets people think fairytales are for children, and we see both sides of it through Mutsumi's experiences. She goes from the excitement of her friend Takumi's cat Buchio turning into a nekomata to the quiet heartbreak of her deceased grandfather coming home for Obon to the horror of hearing her mother on the phone with the police, creating a clear picture of the unique ups and downs of living in Engamori. Parallel to her experiences are those of Buchio, who had no idea he was about to be reborn as a nekomata or what that would mean for him--he certainly never expected to have to fill out yokai registration paperwork to be officially counted as a sapient being. Mutsumi is our example of a child growing up in a strange world and becoming aware that it has layers she wasn't previously aware of, while Buchio represents the person just discovering what living in Engamori means. The two storylines play off each other well.

Yokai are such a common element in anime that I'm sure they can feel rather tired to some, and using the supernatural as an analogy to highlight the different walks of human life is pretty well-trodden ground. However, this show walks that travelled path with a soft-spoken charm that makes the journey feel novel anyway. I love the casual friendliness and support between the human and yokai characters. I love the lived-in familiarity that the human residents display towards the supernatural, treating ghostly horses and giant weather spirits like everyday neighbours while also showing how this mingling of the mystic and the mundane affects the locals' view of spirituality and death. I love the goofy details like a cat having to apply for whatever the hell "yokai health insurance" entails.

But what I love most about this show--other than Buchio, a perfect gift to humanity who must be cherished and protected at all costs--is how (for lack of a better term) human everyone feels. While we only spend time with a handful of households in the premiere, they display an interesting range of emotions as they go through their daily lives. Buchio's family is supportive and curious about his new existence, quickly adapting to their elderly cat becoming a talking, bipedal and much younger family member struggling with new abilities. Jiro is a disarmingly chill tengu working to fill in for Mutsumi's missing father while the rest of her family grapples with the tragedy. Yuri is an intense and reliable kitsune who seems to be harbouring some secrets, even as she helps Buchio master his magical powers.

The bright colours, pastoral tone and gentle pacing can be deceptive. Despite the warm nature of everyone's relationships, there's a sense that something dark and sad is hiding in the forest. We actually see that at the very end of the premiere when Mutsumi, who sees more than the average human, spots the void lurking between the trees, but it's also an apt metaphor for the town as a whole. There's more going on here in this town where gods, yokai and humans live together. There's a sincere sense of community to it all, and it's infectiously sweet even as it starts tackling darker, more high-stakes themes.

The number one reason for this show's success in my books is the quiet but supreme confidence of its worldbuilding. I have to be honest and recognize that a lot of the inherent novelty and magic of the setting is being amplified by the fact that I wasn't born and raised in a culture where all of these yokai and spirits would feel familiar at least as cozy fairytales and local legends. Still, even if I had more than a decent outsider's knowledge of these things, I reckon that I'd still be completely engaged with how effortlessly this series is crafting its sense of place and purpose. Despite taking place in a relatively simple and sleepy rural town, Tonari no Yokai-san makes sure to stuff every single frame of every single scene with details that make it all feel truly alive. Of course the newborn yokai like Buchio would have to deal with the hassle of government paperwork. Naturally, human and nonhuman girls alike, such as Rain the kappa and her friends, would visit the very real bathroom ghost Hanako-chan for romantic advice. And it only makes sense that an old guardian tengu like Jiro would have to reckon with the (again, quite literal) ghosts of his past when his parent-body tree comes under attack by the vengeful spirit of a snake goddess that he once did battle with over a century ago.

Of course, all the worldbuilding and stakes in the world wouldn't amount to anything if the story wasn't anchored by characters we cared about. Once again, this show has proven itself more than capable in this regard. I could write thousands of words about how obscenely sweet and loveable Buchio is, and I almost certainly will by the time the season is done, especially if he continues to use his powers to save his loved ones from harm's way. Jiro's role as the guardian of Engamori has already proven to be a great source of suspense and action, but his role as the surrogate father figure for poor Mutsumi quickly becomes the soul of the story. Even the side characters are all excellent! It's fun to get little side stories involving younger characters like Rain and Ryo, and the show has even managed to wring a few tears out of me thanks to the understated performances from Buchio and Takumi's mom. As for Yuri, hoo boy, she could come around to yell at me for my crappy magic skills anytime she wants, lemme tell ya.

If you couldn't tell already, I loved everything about these first three episodes. Its art is lovely, its characters are endearing, its world is brimming with so much mystery and promise, and all of this and more is wrapped up in seven layers of Cozy-Ass Vibes™. Tonari no Yokai-san has shown up out of the blue to become the front-runner for best new anime of the season. Seriously, I cannot understate just how good this series has been so far, especially in such an otherwise lacking season. I've been racking my brain for things to complain about or even nitpick, and the best I can come up with is that the big climax of Jiro's rescue from the snake ghost lady might've benefitted from an extra episode of buildup. If you haven't started watching this show yet, fix that problem immediately. Make sure to tell your friends and family to do the same. I suspect that this will continue to be one of the Spring 2024 season's most essential new shows to keep up with.