Poco's Udon World (2016)

Background:
Alternative Titles:  Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari
Broadcast Period: October 2016 to Present (Anime)
Episodes:   12
Status:        Complete

Executive Summary:
Souta is a web designer that goes back to Kagawa when his father a Udon Restaurant owner dies.  There he meets Poco, a raccoon spirt that takes a form of a child.  Somehow Souta decides to take care of him and starts remembering times he had with his father.  The Anime is a slice of life series that originates from a manga.



Highlights:

1. Souta finds a child and as he takes him to the police suddenly his raccoon ears and tail show. He is shocked that he is a shape changing raccoon spirit.
2. Souta after deciding to take care of the kid goes with him to get clothes.  There he meets his high school crush Mai who now has 2 kids.  When asks the child's name, Souta just suddenly says calls him Poco.
3. Nakajima, Souta's doctor childhood friend shows up for a impromptu fishing trip.  We get more background that Souta left home to Tokoyo since he didn't want to take over the family business and wanted to be a web designer.
4. Rinko, Souta's sister shows up.  She says she regrets not having any grandchildren for her dad and is bad with kids.  Somehow after some time Poco warms up to her.
5. Nakajima gets Souta and Poco to go with him home to see his dad.  We find out his dad is a director at the hospital he works at and for some reason he did not want to be a doctor when he was young but eventually decided to follow his father's path.
6. Souta goes back with Poco to help the web design team on a crisis.  There Poco gets sick and he realizes how he needs to protect and take care of Poco.  Hiroshi accidently sees Poco in ear and tail form but Souta makes him sleep and assume he was seeing things.  He decides to quit his job to go back to Kagawa to take care of Poco.
7. Mai asks Souta to take care of her daughter for the day. They go to see the Gao Gao show.  Souta gets parenting advice from Mai for Poco's drawing on the wall.  Souta remembers that when he was young he also drew on the wall.  He starts to understand his father back then.
8. Souta and Poco go on a trip to meet the new web development director to do his free lance work.  Poco accidentally gets on a boat with Gao Gao decorations who is the new boss's boat when Souta and Poco are enjoying the beach there and Souta falls asleep and took his eyes off Poco.  Souta panics and worries when he loses Poco and remembers the time they first meet.  Later he is fine when the new director brings him back.  
9. Hiroshi goes to Souta and wants udon to mend his broken heart when he meet his sister and found out she was married in the last episode.  The three of them make udon together and reminds Souta of his past with his father and that he should have talk and learn from him more.  Poco suddenly transforms and can't transform back.  After hiding out he returns back in human form so Hiroshi doesn't suspect.  Souta tells Poco that he can transform to his raccoon form at night when he is sleeping with him because he knows it is tiring to keep his human form.  In this episode we find out that the web director from his trip is the creative director of Poco's favorite show Gao Gao.
10. It's Souta's parents memorial.  Rinko tells Souta that she is going to be a mom but she is afraid she will be bad at it.  Souta assures she will be a great mom even though her cooking is bad now.  At the cemetery Poco show Souta and Rinko flashbacks of when they were young with the parents saying what they want to be when they grow up.  Rinko says she wants to be like her mom and her mom says she will be a great mom bringing tears to Rinko.
11. During this time Souta wants to be with Poco forever. Its the festival time and everyone is enjoying it.  During the festival Poco's tail comes out
12. Poco is running away saying "bye bye."  Souta runs after him saying he wants to be together with him.  He trips and Poco stops running towards him.  Poco then does his magic showing him the past.  He was watching all those times.  He says that Dad loves Souta.  Souta was the one that saved him from the car accident and injured his leg.  Souta finds out that Poco's appearance was to show him all this and tells him Dad always loved him.  After the memories and flashback view Poco disappears saying they will always be together in heart. Dad had left Souta his recipes.  Souta decides to official stay in Kagawa and work for the small web place.  He also starts to make udon.  In one part he sees the priest from the temple that says it takes a lot of power for a raccoon to take human form.  He must have really wanted to meet that person.  The friends say it was unfortunate that they never took a picture with Poco and we find that last time when Souta trips he took a picture of them both with his dad's old camera on the last shoot.  He places this photo next to the family photo in the end.

Thoughts:

To my surprise I really like the show since this was a random watch.  It is light hearted and Poco is just so cute.  It seems to be about Souta's everyday interaction with Poco.  It shows how family is family and how parents love their kids unconditionally.  I was kind of sad Poco had to disappear.  They could had have him stay by Souta in raccoon form.  But I guess that wouldn't have much impact on the story.  I'm glad I accidentally decided to watch this.