YMMV / Sakura Quest

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The story about Ririko's parents moving out of Manoyama and getting divorced would perfectly explain Chitose's suspicion of outsiders, but only if one assumes that Ririko's mother was entirely responsible for her husband moving away and the later divorce. Ririko's father was the one who chose not to inherit the confectionary and the one who left Ririko with his mother rather than take a job that would be better suited to raising her. It's possible that Chitose finds it easier to scapegoat her daughter-in-law for her son's decisions than accept that he refused to stay in her hometown or follow in her footsteps.
• The Cast Showoff: Ririko's English voice actress, Brina Palencia, is actually a trained singer and it's fantastically demonstrated whenever Ririko sings the Dragon song.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • The show has seen considerable love in the west, both for being a rarity in the current anime seasons (a series about twenty-something women over the usual high school age girls, written with realistic personalities and issues), and a number of millenials finding camaraderie with Yoshino's plight: Struggling to find a worthwhile job post-graduation in a harsh, uncaring job market while fighting off the shame of having to go back home to their parents/small town is something that hits close to home for a lot of Western viewers.
  • The show's tackling of gentrification has also earned praise. Yoshino's attempts to revitalize tourism in Manoyama while also not overstepping her bounds and trampling over the town's traditions has been well received, especially since the writers have avoided making Chitose and the other elders into unsympathetic antagonists.
• I Am Not Shazam: The main girl is Yoshino, not Sakura, leading to some confusion about the series title. It still makes sense, though, given her pink hair and the fact that (Somei-)Yoshino is one of the varieties of sakura tree. The most popular one, in fact.
• Narm: Engrish isn't uncommon in anime, especially coming from characters who are supposed to be fluent or native speakers, but the foreign tourists' speech is almost impossible to understand without subtitles.
• Surprisingly Good Foreign Language: Which is sharply contrasted with Sandal-san and his flawless English, as he's voiced by a British actor, who in turn struggles with Japanese, but that's at least in-character.
• Tear Jerker: Near the end of Episode 18, after the "hostage situation" results in an on-demand shuttle being provided for Warabiya Village, the local anthropology professor suddenly collapses and dies. The protagonists, who'd gotten to know him recently, are hit hard by his death.
• Values Resonance: As explained above in Germans Love David Hasselhoff, the series focusing on young working-age protagonists and gentrification ended up making it just as relatable in the West as it is in Japan.
• The Woobie: All five of the main characters have suffered varying degrees of disappointment and frustration in life, but Ririko probably has it the worst. Her mother abandoned her not long after she was born and her father is too busy to raise her, leaving her in the care of her well-meaning but overprotective grandmother. Her rather intense interest in UMAs resulted in her not making any friends besides Shiori when she was young, and causing her to blame herself for that.
• Woolseyism: The above mentioned Narm with the Spanish tourists is averted in the English dub where all the tourists have proper accents and speak actual Spanish. Also, the mistranslation joke with "we come in peach' is changed to them making a typo where they wrote the kanji for "safe birth" instead of "safe."

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