English Dub Review: Sakura Quest “The Queen’s Returns”

What secrets are hidden in Sakura Pond?

Spoilers Below

Yoshino, Maki, and Sanae return from their mini-vacations rested, inspired, and ready to get the ball rolling again. What they weren’t expecting was the Spanish Inquisition! Nobody ever does. The place is loaded to the brim with Spanish tourists, all wearing yellow shirts that say “Safe Birth”. None of these folk are dangerous, in fact, they’re quite friendly. They are apparently all members of the Cryptid Twelve, an organization dedicated to cryptozoology. That’s the study of mythical creatures. The Cryptid Twelve are here to study the chupacabra, which is “suddenly showing up in Japan” because of Kadota’s use of it in marketing. The big problem is finding a place for all of them to stay. There aren’t enough lodgings in the tiny town, so they’ve been staying in the empty old houses. The tourism board wants to turn these houses into B&B’s in order to increase the number of tourists they can hold, but the process could take months. Ririko comes up with a great solution: if they allow the Cryptid Twelve to stay in some of the prospective B&B’s without charge, then they can skirt hospitality law. It will also serve as a proving ground for the concept. If it works out well, the owners of the houses will apply with the hospitality industry.

Meanwhile, the town is getting ready for the Drying. Sakura Pond is actually a reservoir and requires that every few decades, they empty it of water to control the population of black bass. This is celebrated as a town event. They lift the flood gates to drain the pond, but the process will take a few days. As it does, it draws Kadota and the mechanic out to reminisce. About what, we aren’t told. But, after another night of drinking with the Cryptid Twelve, he spots something in the pond. He panics, swimming out to it, and nearly drowns. If it weren’t for Mr. Sandal’s amazing skill at throwing floatation devices, the old coot would be a goner. As it is, he has to go to the hospital. Even then, he refuses to stay long. Mrs. Oribe gets a call about Kadota’s condition and a cryptic warning. “That thing from fifty years ago is back.”

I love it! A bit of intrigue has been tossed into our sleepy show, and it’s time to figure out what the secret is! We don’t have many episodes left, just five, and this looks like it could be a game-changer. I’m not expecting anything earth-shattering. I doubt there’s an actual Chupacabra or alien in there, but whatever it is could really shake up the status quo. This episode handled the Spanish tourists well. I used to work at a theme park, and we would get all sorts of different foreigners. This guy talked and behaved like the (good) ones I remember. It was funny seeing those single guys constantly try to hit on the one or two girls that came along.

The animation was really good here. That shot you see above of Kadota and the mechanic? That shot rotated around them and did so with all the smoothness of live action. This was because they built a foreground in 3D, composed of artfully rendered textures. This was laid over a traditionally drawn background, and the animations of the two characters were laid inside it. Whenever I think this show has nothing left up its sleeves, P.A. Works pulls out more amazing work. Tons of beautiful scenery, to boot. It was the side characters that really shined in the voice acting today. The aforementioned singles men were funny trying to speak Spanish. They weren’t halting with it, just awkward. The main characters were well voiced as usual, but there wasn’t anything remarkable about it. That’s what you get when you set the bar so high! I give this episode eight floating masses in the lake out of ten.