Let me explain why this short OVA is good.
It's good precisely because there is not a full season anime that it is accompanying.
School romcoms are a dime a dozen. School-age romcoms that deviate from the school setting are less common, but still fairly prevalent. Yonkoma adaptations are uncommon altogether, and Cute Girls Doing Cute Things are sadly the fewest in number from among these groups.
Regardless of the specific genres, structures and story threads each of these series follow, they have one major thing in common: predictability. That predictability stems from an inherent lack of uniqueness. They are riddled with tropes and cliches, commonalities that we've seen a hundred times before and we'll see a hundred more times in the near future.
And you know what? I think that's fine. More than fine, even. These simple stories in their consistency and general feel-good atmospheres are exactly what I look for when I want to relax, unwind, and laugh a little. They're amusing simply for being, and for not trying too hard.
First bit of damage control: I'm speaking in general, regarding the general atmosphere of these types of shows and the general contents of their short and simple stories. For obvious reasons, the further down that list we go (school romcoms -> romcoms -> yonkoma -> Cute Girls Doing Cute Things) the more amusing and less tryhard these stories typically become. There are a lot (and I mean a lot) of very bland, unamusing, overenthusiastic romcoms that feel like more of a chore to complete than anything else. What matters, to achieve this feel-good atmosphere, is to keep up the subtle comedy and fuzzy feels without incorporating fanservice, drama or melodrama; ironically, the more a director (or writer) tries to spice up the contents of their story, the more lackluster they tend to appear.
Second bit of damage control: yes, I have been waxing philosophical about these types of shows and manga as a whole, and not this specific short episode.
So let's get into this specific short episode.
Yumekuri opens with a pretty, calming setting and launches straight into a disagreement between two allegedly-main characters about whether or not cats can go in the hot springs. They are joined by a trio of other allegedly-main characters, they spout some in-jokes, and they head outside to make a bath specifically for cats. A sixth character arrives (another alleged main, and the implied unrequited love interest for the single male character), they complete the bath, and the group splits by gender to relax. Cue ED, then it's over.
Clearly nothing special, not at all. Take any long-running simple comedy and this would fit right in as a mindless OVA. But this is actually what brings me to what I liked most, and why I decided to write this review in the first place.
It's an adaptation of a random chapter from a little-known comedy manga with no present anime series.
Some manga, if popular enough, with go straight for the full-length adaptation. Some will test the waters with a short-episode series. And some that don't want to take any risks will run a quick commercial, animating the equivalent of chapter one (if even that) and then letting it rest.
Quite simply, I have never seen a manga make a single-episode OVA taken straight from somewhere in the middle, making no attempts to in introduce the characters or explain the recurring in-jokes or even account for the events directly prior. Like, it's obvious from the story that the characters recently met the "main" cat, but we're given no flashbacks or descriptions. It's obvious that the short-haired girl has some screws loose when she tries to use random magic to heat the water. There's a foreigner, a girl who looks like she lives at the hot spring, and another girl that they refer to as "The Goddess". All of this with zero explanation and zero concern that the viewers will have no idea what's going on.
The visuals are very decent overall. The characters are clean and simple without feeling cheap or rushed. Animation is likewise very simple, but consistent. Backgrounds are nicely detailed for the scenic shots and unobtrusive for the normal character scenes.
Sound is likewise excellent considering the short and somewhat random nature of this episode. Generic but fine background music, normal sound effects, and a very calming piano ED. Voice acting was great overall, with many big names brought in despite the obscurity of this little short, including Hisako Kanemoto, Kanae Itou and Yuuichi Nakamura.
Weirdly, I don't necessarily recommend watching it, because at a base level it's incredibly simple and will not change your life. However, after seeing this little OVA I have now added the manga to my Want To Read list, and should a full season ever arrive you can bet I'll be parked right in front of the screen at air time.
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