Headscratchers / Sakura Quest

• Why does Yoshino leave at the end? Sure, she manages to achieve quite a bit in just one year, but the work is far from done. There is no guarantee any of the plans she set in motion work, including the pastry franchise or the repurposed school building, and the town could still benefit from her insights and people skills. The ineptitude of the locals without her doesn't give much hope for the future.
  • In the final episode Yoshino claims that while she doe feel right at home in Manoyama, she also feels that there's more for her out there in the world. The implication is that if she chooses to stay where she is comfortable, she won't grow as a person and the town won't learn to function without her. She did what she could, learned what she could, and now it's time for both her and the town to continue on into the future with their new found experiences.
  • And the town isn't as incompetent as you may think, as the success of the festival shows the opposite. By the end of the show, Yoshino's friends found ways they can contribute and the elders of the town (especially Kadota and Chitose) see the error in their old-fashioned/extreme ways of thinking. Their past efforts weren't properly revitalizing the town, just encouraging one-hit-wonder attractions. There isn't a guarantee that anything they do will make the town successful again and they know this. But they're going to try with their new changes, with or without Yoshino.
• Also, why the heck would Yoshino have so much trouble finding a job in the first place? She proves to have major insights into what makes people tick, so it's a bit odd that she wouldn't have been able to use this to her advantage already.
  • Simple, as anyone in Yoshino's position can attest: regardless where you are, who you are, and your skills/successes, the job market can be rather terrible. It doesn't help that her circumstances and resume didn't meet Tokyo company standards (eg. failing 30+ interviews and working as a small-time photo model to get through college.) Plus, she probably never had a chance to use her people skills until she arrived in Manoyama. Heck, it's possible that Yoshino never even realized she had these skills until she was forced into a leadership position.
• And what does Yoshino's new job entail anyway? Does she simply visit other towns only to leave them after she gets a few things done like she did with Manoyama?
  • That's precisely it. She helps other more rural towns who need to be revitalized the same way she helped Manoyama and possibly stays with them for the same amount of time. She isn't being a one-time "fix it all" that will leave the town to fail. Yoshino's working with the town to help them find ways it can be more desirable to not only tourists, but it's own residents. This way the town can learn what needs to be changed and what needs to be kept to assure it doesn't become abandoned and when she leaves, they don't need her holding their hand anymore. That's what it means to revitalize a town.