(K)NoW_NAME -- Freesia

And another anime season has begun. However, it was nice that I could see the surprisingly dramatic finale for "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン）and the continuation of "Little Witch Academia"（リトルウィッチアカデミア）to help make the transition. From my friend's choices for the spring session, it looks like there is a bit more seriousness and/or action involved in the new batch.

One of the new anime that I caught today was "Sakura Quest"（サクラクエスト）which I had assumed was some sort of action-adventure-fantasy. But it is actually a much more down-to-earth comedy-drama. In fact, it is the third in the P.A. Works' series of anime featuring young women and their jobs. The first one was the 2011 "Hanasaku Iroha"（花咲くいろは）for which my buddy admitted that he was somewhat disappointed by. However, the sophomore entry was "Shirobako" which both he and I did watch a few years ago and enjoyed very much. Considering the looks of the characters on the two series, I can say that they probably take place in the same universe.

I saw the first couple of episodes of "Sakura Quest" and kinda saw it as an animated version of a typical live-action J-drama in which a down-on-her-luck young woman, Yoshino, desperately grabs what she thinks is just a one-day gig out in the down-on-its-luck village of Manoyama as the village "queen" only to find out that the job is for one year much to her dismay. Not surprisingly, it looks like the rest of the series will have Yoshino and her group of comrades-in-arms help each other and Manoyama get back on their feet.

Unlike last season, the new batch of opening and ending themes hasn't really caught my ear right from the get-go. However, the ending theme for "Sakura Quest" by the musical collective of (K)NoW_NAME, "Freesia" isn't too bad.

I say "collective" instead of "band" for (K)NoW_NAME since some of the members have their own entries on J-Wiki but the entire group itself doesn't. The singer for the group is identified as (K)NoW_NAME:Ayaka Tachibana with (K)NoW_NAME:Genki Mizuno providing the lyrics and (K)NoW_NAME:R・O・N taking care of the music and arrangement. It's a nice pop/rock song of inspiration.