A show about cute girls doing cute things while learning to become great fortune tellers. Sounds like a concept for a delightful Girls Club show. Question is whether it was or not. Let us find out as we take a look at Urara Meirochou.
Genres: Comedy, Supernatural
Themes: Fortune Telling, Spirits, Deities, Yuri.
Number of episodes: 12
G-Rating: 11/10
Plot Summary: Meiro-chō is a town where all-female diviners (uranaishi) live and where girls from all over the country yearn to become the top diviner — “Urara.” Today, a solitary girl named Chiya enters the town’s gates. However, she has another purpose coming here, besides becoming the Urara. Chiya’s days as an apprentice diviner begin as she meets three friends — the earnest Kon, Kōme who is a fan of Western culture, and the shy Nono
The four leading ladies having fun.
The expected formula familiar in prior high quality Girls Club shows can be found here:
- A main cast of cute (and some sexy) girls having fun. The girls’ bodies determine how much sexy time there is along with its quality.
- Each girl getting their own character arc/episode centered around their development.
- Cute and funny moments sprinkled throughout
- A unique gimmick
- Yuri goodness of varying intensity
Mysterious top rank urara, maybe.
Let us first go over the unique gimmick. UM’s is fortune telling which involves showing the different methods/techniques from reading tea leaves, summoning the fox-spirit (Kokkuri-san) and even the most well known in the Western region crystal ball. In a way the show is educational where it gives viewers demonstrations on how the various techniques work in connection to the episode’s plot. Alongside the fortune telling there is also a major plot brewing alongside the four heroines’ journey to become top rank urara. That being Chiya’s quest to find her mother. Chiya begins the journey not knowing a thing about her. It is suggested that to find all the answers Chiya must become a top rank urara but as the story progresses more and more clues are found showing that becoming top urara is but a small part of uncovering her mother’s whereabouts. This main plot is one of the show’s top selling points and each discovery brings more incentive to keep Chiya and the viewer wanting to learn more.
Meirochou, aka Labyrinth Town.
Another interesting aspect of the show is its setting, Meirochou itself (Translated to Labyrinth Town) and all its mysteries alongside the citizens both of the corporal and astral/divine variety. Basically it would be an interesting town to visit though also kinda creepy.
The animation quality and sound are both pretty good with its colorful aesthetic, traditional Japanese decor and sound. The OP and ED are nice. Good stuff to watch and listen to.
The cute and sexy main four of Nono, Chiya, Koume and Kon.
As far as the cast go they are all likable and adorable. As usual in Girls Club shows each girl has their own story to tell and character to develop from the wild child lead Chiya, the sassy and kind of tsundere Koume, the responsible and very bashful Kon and the timid Nono with her creepy little doll Matsuko-san. Let us also not forget the ravishing Miss Nina, the serious but easily flustered Captain Saku alongside her two lovesick deputies. Speaking of lovesick…
The yuri is very strong in this show.
The yuri vibes in this show were far stronger than I thought they would be at first. Initially it showed some promise but as the show progressed the lilies kept on growing where there was no need for goggles at all. There was talk of soul mates, Chiya’s yuri harem power that she is unaware of and lots of intimate moments between the super OTPs (which there are definitely 3 of).
Overall Urara Meirochou is yet another excellent Girls Club show with an interesting plot, likable cuties and very strong yuri vibes. It is highly recommended to Girls Club aficionados and viewers looking for a feel good show with a bit of a twist. Oh and viewers who enjoy seeing ladies apologizing by showing off their sexy bellies.
Respect the power of the sexy bellies.
The Yuri Empire 
Definitely one of the best shows this season. One of the few shows where I was genuinely excited for each new episodes, and couldn’t wait to watch them the moment they aired/were available subbed (thanks to GJM subs for their extremely fast and high-quality subs, tbh…faster than the normally fastest Horriblesubs version, actually…without them the anticipation and need to see the next episode would’ve likely killed me at some point). Had a lot to theorize about too throughtout the season thanks to this show too, so definitely not just a cute show, wonderful as it is.
That last episode though! What a way to end the season! NinaSaku basically just became canon, right? Even the deputies ship them, it seems. A near-perfect last episode, really, even despite having so many questions yet unanswered at the end of it.
Also, very likely lead-in to a future season 2 with how it ended. If not, and it’s a “read the manga to find out” – ending, I will be very disappointed with someone.
…And now I miss it already…time to watch the entire season again the moment I feel like it. This show is definitely worth it.
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The main plot was a lot of fun to follow and form theories around.
Yup. It is often said that when someone is drunk they let the cat out of the bag so to speak. The two love each other and the deputies already see them as a married couple.
Most likely it’s a “manga lure” ending. I too would love a 2nd season.
Oh yes. It’s another excellent Girls Club show for the books.
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So sad one of my favorite of the season is over. There are still so many questions. ChiKon is my favorite OTP since Chiya fell over Kon in ep 1. A little trivia about Chiya’s seiyuu. Originally she was supposed to be Nina sensei, but then they told her to read Chiya’s line, they liked it and she ended up with Chiya since, she’s still 17. Very cute one. ((I know because she’s one of Cinderella Girls ))
I’ll be watching it again until the new season started. And also I’m waiting for the second season.
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ChiKon are love.
Here’s hoping we get a second season.
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This show was amazing and I hope get gets a second season someday. Chiya x Kon was the definite OTP of the show for me. They were so cute and supportive of each other throughout the entire anime. Nina and Saku were also a great couple to see. Knowing that Saku gets all flirty when drunk shows that she’s just hiding her true feelings for Nina. What is the 3rd super OTP because I only saw 2? Matsuko x Nono? Lol jk. Matsuko was hands down my favorite character throughout the anime because of her funny voice and hilarious facial expressions. I completely agree with the rating.
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I’d say the third one is KoumexMarie.
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Hmm ehhhhh…Could be.
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Think carefully about the 3rd one. It’s there the entire time. You already mentioned the top two.
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I’m not sure whether your 3rd “super OTP” would be that cheering pairing, or that harmoniously magical pairing, but either way, I absolutely loved this show. One of the few shows this season that I never was disappointed with an episode. will sorely miss this ;_;
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Everyone will find out once the 2017 Tag Tournament kicks off.
This show will definitely be missed.
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This show was definitely better than I thought it would be, for all of the reasons that were already covered. I liked the ED more than the OP, but both of them were great. I like that there weren’t any episodes that didn’t make me dread watching the next ep. Definitely hope there will be a season 2!
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Pretty much. We need more!
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all 4 ships I predicted from episode 2 are still sailing! Two have reached, or are very close to destination port. The other 2 are not in any danger of sinking either — now how often can we say that about a subtext pairing eh? XD
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Rarely.
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I have to admit that this show is surprisingly enjoyable and I liked all the characters. The shippings of course exceeded exceptions, especially with Kon and Chiya and Nina and Saku.
Either way, I wouldn’t mind a second season and hopefully someday, there will be one.
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The world needs a second season. We need more gay fortune tellers and police officers.
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This was a nice watch. Everyone was charming and sweet. It was interesting to see different divination methods. Too bad there wasn’t enough time to see others but whatevs. I wouldn’t mind watching another season if it comes.
Indeed, Chiya/Kon and Nina/Saku are the OTPs here but Chiya’s harem potential is no joke either. Could the third OTP be Chiya and that fox spirit, I wonder?
The clothes swapping segment was cute. Nono especially looked good with Koume’s clothes and she pulled off the witch look pretty well. In fact her appearance reminded me of this great witch:
https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-lUIFaI_bavo%2FT55sXjgunFI%2FAAAAAAAALVY%2FOF9vcIlOIzw%2Fs1600%2FncAAPS3_31.jpg&f=1
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As I told others we need more of these ladies in action.
Yup. Nono pulled off the cute witch look quite well.
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I definitely enjoyed this show very much and with Captain Saku as one of my favorites. I, personally, am quite into the fortune telling stuff and do believe in things related to that so this is really interesting.
The mysterious top rank urara lady is most likely Chiya’s mom (since they have the same hair color :3 ). And despite this show being so carefree and fun, I like the mystery they put in with regards to Chiya’s mom – a traitor and is called Yami. Traitor is such a strong word so I can’t help but be curious about what happened. What did Yami do? Also, there’s Kurou…who is he/she exactly? Why did he/she suddenly disappear? GASP! Maybe Kurou is really Yami who’s cursed by the gods for her betrayal or something.
I need answers to these questions! Season 2 is a MUST! o.O
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Captain Saku was hot and horny so I her being your favorite makes sense.
Oh yes. So many questions left unanswered. We demand more!
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I am going to miss the sexy cute bellies
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We all will.
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I could finally go through the whole show, and it was definitely worthwhile!
As a Girls Club aficionado, I highly appreciate Urara Meirochou’s value as a Slice-of-Life / Girls Club anime show.
It was not only good, but also epoch-making in several aspects. I have heard people say “SoL anime has no stories” and “A show with a fantasy-world setting cannot be a SoL”, but Urara certainly proved them wrong.
Chiya, Kon, Koume and Nono are all different, each of them having her own background, yet their efforts towards the shared goal and interaction with their peculiar fantasy environment form the lives of all the girls.
It certainly include more common traits of good SoL anime, such as a likeable set of girls and yuri elements, both exceeding my expectation.
I wish Urara Meirochou would receive proper appreciation by anime fans.
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It’s another great Girls Club show with a deeper plot like Gakkou Gurashi.
We need a second season of this show.
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I liked this show. The yuri ships were sailing from the first episodes and thankfully at the end of the series, they were still sailing. It’s a pity we didn’t get a more solid romantic yuri confession at the end and some kissing. I was pretty sure in episode 11, Chiya would be rescued and revived by her harem via some heavy kissing but alas that didn’t happen.
Anyone know how the sales of this was in Japan? Good enough for a second season?
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We got a lot more than we could have hoped for, that’s for sure. Here’s hoping we get a 2nd season.
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