Review of Dagashi Kashi

Candy has never been this delicious hasn't it...right Hotaru?. This anime is a slice of life comedy through and through from it's setting of a rural town to the local candy store which is the setting for most of the anime screentime. The comedy like it's "slice of life" genre has simple yet some fanservicey punchlines from the minimal cast however even with 5 main cast members, their chemistry together makes the comedy all the more entertaining and relatable. Although the comedy revolves around traditional Japanese candy that may deter or confuse some people, it still has substance in comedy and relatablity. Candy has always beena kind of food you could actually have fun with, savour the flavour and best of all, nostalgia, thus it "just being a Japanese candy, I won't get it"...isn't much of an excuse...we've all had childhood where we had candy and this anime only reinforces that through comedic timing and characters.

There are a bit of referential humor from the "product placement" mascots of the Japanese candy (where that actually might deter you but considering that this anime gives some history to these candy at the very least they do that so you CAN be in the loop) and really the humor can go either way, either you'll see it blatant product placement or if the comedic timing is right, can be a good laugh, really what LA is saying is that the referential humor can be a hit or a miss.

Onto the characters, Kokonotsu does have "dense male protagonist" syndrome however he does "know what he likes" but is too shy about it, that person being Hotaru who invigorates the anime and comedy with her eccentric skits and candy-addiction and she too is rather dense in the romance department only because she's just utterly obsessed with candy AND trying to get Kokonotsu to take the mantle for his father's shop. Saya Endou voiced by ''Manami Numakura'' and her brother Tou Endou voiced by ''Tatsuhisa Suzuki'' are Kokonotsu's childhood friends, with Saya having a tsundere crush over Kokonotsu with Tou giving that shipping for those two. Finally You comes in here and there but he's usually loafing around or trying to intact a plan along with Hotaru to get Kokonotsu to be the owner of his shop. These 5 characters do have their other quirks and running gags used in differing ways to produced some decent comedy through their chemistry together with some satisfaction in terms of timing and setting. LA's favourite character?...it was a tie between Hotaru and Saya however over time LA sided with Saya, ohh and these characters do develop over time, but you might be saying that for a slice of life comedy?, what do they develop?, well they grow as characters through their relationships and comedic banter with one another, especially Hotaru as we know the least about her with candy being both the core focus as well as setting for development.

In terms of animation by Studio feel, as eccentric to plain as the character designs are, they exceeded in terms of backgrounding and referential effects, thus the animation by feel is by all means decent enough. The ending is one with no resolution to the major plotlines from the love triangle to Kokonotsu becoming the owner of the candy shop...your gonna be slightly angry by this, but considering this anime adaptation is still from an ongoing manga, LA was kinda expecting this thus the "slightly angry" statement.

Dagashi Kashi may look like a "blatant advertisement for traditional Japanese candy", but it definitely has something more than that, LA is gonna be slightly cheesy here but it does have heart in it's characters for their enthusiasm and love of candy, it may not be thee best comedy of Winter 2016 (as that honor goes to ''Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!''), but for a slice of life, relaxing comedy with candy and one eccentric girl in it's skits, it definitely caters to that.