Ever since he was young, Yushi Inaba wasn't particularly interested in the works of Yōkai. Rather, he is more concerned about real-life issues, such as his school life. Having graduated from middle school, he looks forward to moving in to the high school dorm, away from his uncle's family who, despite of taking him in after his parents' deaths, are obviously not very fond of him (except his aunt).
But everything changed when the dorm burned down.
Having no other option, Yushi decides to move into a cheap apartment called Kotobuki-sō, for 25,000 yen (about $221). Of course, it turns out it is Too Good to Be True, as the place is filled with all kinds of supernatural beings from Japanese folklore. Fortunately, the other residents aren't exactly all that bad, and Yushi therefore decides to stay in the Kotobuki-sō, beginning a rather unorthodox high school life.
Elegant Yokai Apartment Life (妖怪アパートの幽雅な日常 Yōkai Apāto no Yūga na Nichijō) is a Japanese light novel series written by Hinowa Kōzuki. The novel was first released in 2003, and concluded in 2009 within 10 volumes. Additionally, a side-story collection was released in 2013. A manga adaptation ran in Monthly Shonen Sirius from 2011 to 2021.
An anime television series adaptation by Shin-Ei Animation premiered in July 2017 as a part of Summer 2017 Anime season and it can be legally watched on Crunchyroll here
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Tropes:
- Abusive Parents:
- Subverted with Yushi's uncle's family. While Yushi's uncle is somewhat apathetic, he is ultimately tolerant of Yushi, not to mention that Yushi's aunt is surprisingly caring about Yushi. It is only Yushi's cousin who is provoked by his presence. He later forgives her after she apologizes.
- Played Straight with Kuri's mother. When her boyfriend left her, she became hostile towards her child and took her frustration out on him. Even in death, she continues to pursue her son with the implied intention of hurting him once more.
- A Boy and His X: Kuri, the ghost boy and his ghost dog Shiro. They were together even before their tragic deaths.
- Anger Born of Worry: How Hase reacts after seeing the injured Yushi at the end of Miura's arc.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While Reimei is usually a cheerful and friendly guy, he will get angry if you upset him. In Episode 4, he becomes hostile towards Takenaka and his friends when they started beating up Yushi.
- Black Comedy: Episode 9 has a lovely anthology of tales of near-death experiences, told by the older male residents of the Kotobuki-sō, with most of them showing of the scars they've got from said events. Yushi and Hase get a bit frightened, to say the least.
- Blessed with Suck: Yushi has been accepted by the Petit Heirozoicon and now he can freely summon the various demons from the book to fight. Except that most of them are either too inexperienced, too specific, or, in some cases, still way too powerful to acknowledge him as their master. Oh, and they come at the price of his life force. Thank goodness that he got professional help from the other residents shortly after.
- Canis Major: Akane and the rest of the Ookami are a literal example of the this trope.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: It started with Yushi and Hase and shows no signs of slowing down too much anytime soon.
- Cerebus Rollercoaster: The plots of each consecutive arc individually are often sharply contrasting each other in tone and seriousness.
- Conveniently an Orphan: Yushi's parents died a few years prior to the start of the series.
- Creator Worship: In-Universe; Yushi was very happy that he got to meet his favorite author Reimei-sensei.
- Cuteness Proximity: When he sees Kuri and Shiro up close in the second episode at close, Yushi cannot help it but gently pat them both on the head.
- Later on, when Hase meets Kuri for the very first time, he practically melts from the cuteness. It gets to the point that he ends up becoming something like a surrogate father to Kuri.
- Ditzy Genius: Despite of being repeatedly stated to be very powerful, Ryu has also shown to be somewhat clumsy at work, to the point of receiving a scar on his shoulder due to said clumsiness.
- Doting Parent: Well, doting surrogate father to be more precise. Hase becomes incredibly attached to Kuri, even bringing toys as presents to the ghost boy.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Ryu-san and Chiaki-sensei seem to have plenty of male admirers, to say the least.
- It seems that every single one of the middle-aged male residents of Kotobuki-sō is eager to leap at the opportunity to give Yushi a princess carry.
- Eyes Always Closed: Reimei Isshiki, adding to the mystery of his character.
- Fan Boy: Yushi is bit of this for Reimei Isshiki.
- Freudian Excuse: Utterly deconstructed with Miura. Yes, he is someone who underwent a lot of Sanity Slippage after the humiliation he has been through that was caused by his female students' false sexual harassment accusations against him in the previous school he worked in, all because he demanded the drama club to... pay attention to his instructions during rehearsal, as well as being a victim of Demonic Possession. However, as Yushi remarks, deep down Miura is still a bad person despite said troubles. Best demonstrated by Miura trying to kill Yushi shortly after having the demon that effectively parasitized his body exorcised from him.
- Kuri's mother too. While it is sad to see how her lover turned his back on her when she got pregnant, Kuri didn't really do anything to deserve being severely abused and eventually murdered by her.
- Genre Savvy: In episode 7, once he realizes that Yushi's Spell Book has a potential to be Combo Platter Powers, Hase quickly devises a solid strategy to use them.
- Good Is Not Soft: Do not mess with Hase. Turns out, he is a 4th-degree black belt in aikido. Once he lets loose, not even his Best Friend Yushi can do anything about it. This means that he was probably only holding back during his little 'celebration fight' with Yushi in episode 1, because it was shown that Yushi considers trying to pick a real fight with Hase plain stupidity. Made all the more impressive given how aikido is often criticized for being too soft as a martial art.Yushi context : And now he's in berserker mode. Guess I'll call an ambulance later.
- Good Old Ways: Briefly discussed in episode 1 when the estate agent notes Yushi's liking of old literature.
- The Hero: Yushi, but he is still having a long way to go.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Hase and Yushi. The heterosexual part starts seeming more and more suspect by the time Hase teases about the two of them looking like Kuri's parents (which Kuri latches onto and they both later practically become). It eventually gets lampshaded.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Nope. Kuri was still a little kid when he died.
- Incoming Ham: How Antiquary is introduced in episode 2.
- Japanese School Club: Yushi Inaba is part of the English language club at his school. His membership in this club is the source of a lot of the plots throughout the story, and most of the people Yushi interacts with outside of the apartment are in the club.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Ryu. Not that he is actually a boy anymore.
- Mama Wolf: Akane, a dog sprit, is fiercely protective of the ghost boy Kuri. Given that she already lost her own child, she gladly became a surrogate mother to him, but still chose to send him to Kotobuki-sō in order for him to get the much-needed love from humans as well. Whenever the vengeful spirit of Kuri's abusive mother comes looking for him, Akane does everything she can to make sure the spirit doesn't lay a hand on the boy.
- Monster Roommate: The plot starts with Yushi moving in an apartment filled with all kinds of supernatural creatures.
- Ms. Fanservice: Mariko, a beautiful female ghost who often wears almost nothing.
- Never Learned to Talk: Kuri the ghost child should be old enough to speak, but never learned because his mother never spoke to him when he was alive. The other residents of the Yōkai Apartment do talk to him, but he doesn't seem to be able to learn how now that he is a ghost.
- Pen Name: The name of Yushi's favorite author is using (Reimei Isshiki) is this.
- Exorcists in general use these for their work.
- Public Bathhouse Scene: Several episodes have these, including the very first episode.
- Running Gag: Whenever Yushi is unable to move on his own, one of the older dudes from Kotobuki-sō are likely to give him a lift...by princess carrying him, that is. He never takes it well.
- Sanity Slippage: After crossing the Despair Event Horizon due to her lover turning his back on her, Kuri's mother took out her pain and frustration on her child, until she finally went full Ax-Crazy and killed him.
- Ship Tease: Has its own page.
- Shirtless Scene: Yushi surprisingly gets a lot of these as he often trains while wearing just shorts and he is also seen taking baths frequently. Hase also tends to join him from time to time in the bath as well as some of the other guys to a lesser extent.
- Shout-Out: The film that the English language club translates is essentially Dragon Quest with a different name. It even contains the line "I shall give you half of the world" which the dragon lord says when you confront him in the game.
- Spell Book: There are so many of them that one can actually specialize in using the power of theirs as their main combat style. Those who accomplish complete mastery of them have the title of 'Bookmaster'.
- Petit Heirozoicon, as its name implies, is a literally AND literary Lighter and Softer version of Heirozoicon. Wherein the original Heirozoicon held the power of 78 demons, the Petit Heirozoicon has only 22 (less then a third of the same amount), based on the Major Arcana. On top of that, most of them are still in training, thus forcing more creative usage of their abilities. The one among them that is reasonably powerful is too much of a wild horse, yet Yushi can - fortunately enough - recall it just like any of the other, weaker demons.
- Survivor Guilt: Averted. Rather than sinking in pointless angst about his predicament, Yushi focused on not becoming a financial burden to his uncle's family who taken him in after his parents died. Ironically, his aunt flat-out assured him that he could stay with them in their home even during high school, but Yushi didn't take up the offer.
- Troll: Tashiro, like when she sarcastically questioned Yushi about
why would he be having a picture of himself with Hase in his student notebook. - Undying Loyalty: Shiro, the white Shiba Inu, is incredibly loyal to Kuri. When they were alive, Shiro attacked and killed Kuri's mother after she killed her child. Not to mention that he chose to follow Kuri in death to ensure that he wouldn't get lost without Shiro's guidance. The duo are rarely seen without each other in the apartments.
- Vague Age: Reimei is explicitly stated to be this.
- Wham Shot:
- Twice in the first episode; first the footage of the dorm in fire on the television at the first half of the episode, then the appearance of the supernatural beings in the apartment cafeteria during the second half.
- Wicked Stepmother: Yushi's aunt is a subversion as she is actually very nice to Yushi, definitively more so than her husband and especially her daughter.
- Workout Fanservice: Yushi trains while shirtless, as can be seen in episodes 7, 8, 9, 13, 14 and 16.
- Yaoi Fangirl: When Akira carries the sleeping Yushi back to his room by holding him in a Bridal Carry, Mariko can be seen in the background taking photos on her phone.
- Younger than She Looks: Yumi Asada, a girl that Yushi saves from committing suicide, looks like she's about Yushi's age due to the outfits and the amount of makeup she wears. However, she's apparently in the sixth grade.
- Youthful Freckles: Takenaka. It actually serves to symbolize his less responsible demeanor.
