History Anime / SakuraQuest

* AnAesop: People must respect and learn from each other. Outsiders shouldn't push their values on others, while those they're visiting should be open to changing themselves if necessary.

* {{GIFT}}: Discussed in Episode 17. After the seniors get connected to the internet, their use of screen names results in flame wars and other fights. The professor mentions that this is a case of HistoryRepeats, since something similar happened when the internet first became widely available and people stopped using their real names.

* IWasQuiteTheLooker: Oribe was HOT as a teenager. Kadota too.

* OneTractMind: Any idea by Director Kadota for a tourism board project will invariably involve the Chupakabura somehow.

* RealPlaceBackground: The town is pretty much the real town of Nanto, Toyama, with Manoyama Station being a carbon copy of a real life Johana Station, the shuttered-up shopping street also being in Johana, while the wood-carving district is in Inami, another of the town constituents. Even the PAW building itself basically sits just across the Sakura Pond from the Chupakabura Kingdom building (which doesn't exist in RealLife).

* {{Main/Tokusatsu}}: Kadota tried to make a Chupakabura version back in the 90s. They ran out of money halfway through the pilot.
* TheQuest: Played with. Every episode title, along with the title of the show, seems to be ripped from a standard sword-n-sorcery fantasy story. The actual events are relatively mundane. The closest it ventures toward the trope is collection of three sacred items, but they have symbolic importance for the festival the Tourism bureau is trying to revive, so they really need them.

* WhatTheHellHero: The owner of an abandoned house that a film company wanted to burn down for their movie gives permission to Shiori to do so. However, she has strong connections to the previous owner and deliberately lies to Yoshino about not being able to get in touch with the new owner. Yoshino later manages to call them, and then gets upset at Shiori for it, who then also snaps back in a fit of anger. However, Yoshino manages to find a compromise by having the film crew add the name of the previous owner so that her "gift" to the film would be remembered forever.

* ShoutOut: In episode 12, Sandal-san tosses a baseball around while quipping "[[Film/FieldOfDreams If you build, it, he will come,]]" right after namedropping the band Dreams Come True.

* ShoutOut: In episode 12, Sandal-san tosses a baseball around while quipping "[[Film/FieldOfDreams If you build, it, he will come,]]" and then namedropping Music/DreamsComeTrue.

* TwiceShy: Katsuki runs into Sayuri, Shiori's older sister and a high school friend of his after his return from France to learn cooking. Though he and Sayuri like each other, neither one is bold enough to confess.

* LonersAreFreaks: Ririko's obsessive interest in supernatural things tended to make the other kids to ostracize her, causing her to to keep largely to herself while going to school. Only Shiori talked to her regularly.

* LeftHanging: [[spoiler: How will Manoyama deal with the merger? Will the shopping district be fine? Will the repurposing of the old school be succesful? What will Kadota do after closing the Kingdom he had maintained for ''decades''? Sure, we get glimpses of the main characters' lives in the ending credits, but none of these questions get answered in any meaningful way.]]

** The ending of the series proper. [[spoiler:Yoshino has grown as a person, and her efforts to revive the town had a definite positive effect, but Manoyama's merger with a bigger town still makes its future uncertain. Moreover, Yoshino decides to move away after her contract ends, leaving behind the people with whom she has formed a loving bond, and at her abdication ceremony Kadota tells the townspeople that he will shut down the Chupakabura Kingdom for good. ]]

* HomemadeInventions: Among other things, the Town inventor has developed compact vending machines, remote controlled arms. and '''functioning exoskeletons'''.

* OldShame: An In-Universe example with Kadota. [[spoiler:As a teenager he performed a reckless stunt that destroyed an expensive Shrine Float and led to the cancellation of the summer festival]]. The chance that someone may rediscover the evidence prompts him nearly to drown trying to remove it.

* WhamLine: The elderly professor says this to Yoshino at the end of Episode 17.

* TechnologicallyBlindElders: One old man acquired a tablet PC, but due to not knowing how to use it, ended up using it as a light. It abruptly loses power in the middle of the conversation about it, possibly because he forgot to check the batteries. Another old man is a downplayed example, since he uses his tablet as a timer for his instant noodles.

* ManipulativeEditing: The production exec behind "Moving Mountains" employs it for the final cut of the episode of his show, with hefty dose of in-universe ExecutiveMeddling along the way. This not only disappoints everyone in Manoyama once the episode is aired, but is also done clearly against the will of the director. [[spoiler: When he shows again with another offer for the town few months later, instantly trying to meddle with festival preparations, he's unceremoniously told to get lost]].

* HopeSpot: Yoshino has one in episode 13. She appears downcast when she first arrives on the stage to make her announcement, but immediately perks up when she notices how large the crowd is. [[spoiler:Unfortunately it's short-lived, as few tourists actually show up after the festival and rock concert. Combined with the negative documentary on them, Yoshino falls into a depression when she wonders what she's been doing for the past six months.]]

* JackOfAllTrades: Maki has a lot of talents, from years of doing odd jobs for film crews.

* SickEpisode: Ririko catches a cold in episode 11 after getting caught out in a sudden downpour while only wearing light clothing. Her overprotective grandmother refuses to let anyone see her, even Yoshino.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Due to the general downplayed and mundane nature of various cliches and plot devices, the whole series is a deconstruction of TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong. Characters that are complaining have valid and solid reasons to point out why something is futile and[=/=]or wasteful. This include constant reminding about expenses and funding of various projects. But the most prominent example is the brash anthropologist, who tears apart the idea of a reviving old festival. Not out of spite or lack of respect, but simply by noting how locals don't care about it themselves.

* BlandNameProduct: Sanae and Shiori search for information about the Kabura Kid on Boogle.

* ManipulativeEditing: The production exec behind "Moving Mountains" employs it for the final cut of the episode of his show, with hefty does of in-universe ExecutiveMeddling along the way. This not only disappoints everyone in Manoyama once the episode is aired, but is also done clearly against the will of the director.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Due to the general downplayed and mundane nature of various cliches and plot devices, the whole series is a deconstruction of TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong. Characters that are complaining have valid and solid reasons to point out why something is pointless and[=/=]or wasteful. This include constant reminding about expenses and funding of various projects. But the most prominent example is the brash anthropologist, who tears apart the idea of a reviving old festival. Not out of spite or lack of respect, but simply by noting how locals simply don't care about it themselves.

* ManipulativeEditing: The production exec behind "Moving Mountains" employs it for the final cut of the episode of his show, along with hefty does of in-universe ExecutiveMeddling along the way. This not only disappoints everyone in Manoyama, but is also don clearly against the will of the director.

* TheQuest: Played with. Every episode title, along with the title of the show, seems to be ripped from a standard sword-n-sorcery fantasy story. The actual events are relatively mundane.

The series is currently available for legal streaming subtitled on Creator/{{FUNimation}} [[https://www.funimation.com/shows/sakura-quest/ here]]. The simuldub began streaming on May 9th, 2017, with releasing a new dubbed episode every Wednesday at 9PM EST.

The series is currently available for legal streaming subtitled on Website/{{Crunchyroll}} [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/sakura-quest here]]. The simuldub began streaming on May 9th, 2017, with Creator/{{FUNimation}} releasing a new dubbed episode every Wednesday at 9PM EST [[https://www.funimation.com/shows/sakura-quest/ here]].

* StreisandEffect: Kadota's stunts trying to hide [[spoiler:the remains of the Summer Festival Float in the lake]] only renews an interest in the town's history for Yoshino.

* FinaleTitleDrop: At the end of the final episode, ''Sakura Quest'' is revealed to be [[spoiler:the title of Sandal's book that chronicles the events of the series]].
* FreudianExcuse: Chitose is highly suspicious of Yoshino, an out of town person who moved to their village to work for their tourism board. It's later revealed that her son married a woman who came from outside the town. However, she was bored in Monoyama, and convinced him to move away to the city. They later had Ririko, but then divorced shortly afterwards, and Ririko's father was then reassigned overseas for the company he worked for. It was agreed that Ririko was better off staying in Japan with Chitose, who raised her on her own ever since. Chitose had intended for her son to take over the sweets shop she ran, and blames the outsider woman he married for destroying said plans and breaking her son's heart.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Shiori attempts this when Yoshino tries to leave Manoyama during her first night by pretending to be assaulted by a Chupakabura. Instead of using a plastic sword placed nearby, Yoshino beats the Cuphakabura with her bag, injuring Mister Kadota who was wearing the costume. Kadota is hospitalized, and Yoshino is guilted into staying longer.