Sakura Quest is an interesting series in how it approaches small town life and passion. It's focus being on revitalizing a small town in the middle of nowhere, while keeping its townspeople happy and not taking away the things they love about Manoyama. I'll be talking about a few spoilers.

The characters do a really great job of exploring my favorite theme of the series, passion. Each character has something they are passionate about whether it's Maki with acting or Shiori's love for her hometown of Manoyama. The exception to this is Yoshino who doesn't have a passion at the beginning of the series and is resistant to her job at the tourism board, but over time she grows to love her job and finds a new passion in town revitalization.

Despite the passion they have for these things they fail often or entirely give up on their passions. Which is the case for Maki. She returns to her hometown after not making it as an actress and has to rediscover her passion for it, or find a new reason to be passionate about it. As she shows failure is painful. It's frustrating to do your best and not be able to make it. To feel like everyone and everything is against you. It's hard to want to keep going and easy to give up. I struggle with these feelings as well, and often feel that I'm wasting my time or that everyone else is better than I am which makes me want to quit. Maki embodies these feelings but her arc also gives me reason to push forward. If I lose sight of why I'm doing these things I should take a step back and rediscover those passions.

Manayoma is a beautiful town to look at. It's natural feeling and lake make it really pretty. It's also a great setting for this type of story as it feels like it has a personality itself thanks to its local traditions and Chupakabura Kingdom. At a certain point the lake gets drained and an old festival is rediscovered and brought back as a part of the town. The town itself has it's own history and forgotten passions that get rediscovered throughout the series. As someone who grew up in a small town I can understand and appreciate how the characters view it as well as appreciate its natural beauty.

Music wise it's OST is fantastic and I listen to a handful of songs a lot on my own time. Particularly the first OP, both EDs, and the song Thyme. The full OST is really great though and it fits the series exceptionally well.

Sakura Quest is one of my favorite shows because of how it portrays passion, failure, and small town life. It really resonates with me and it's a series I'm happy to have experienced. However, I'm hesitant to recommend it because it's a very niche appeal. If anything I've mentioned seems interesting it's worth a look.