Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

  S2 Ep 11 is out and it’s quite a pack! As predicted, unfortunately Ōdanna-sama wasn’t in Ep 11. However, the title of Ep 12 is “Towards the Next Stage”, and while I haven’t read Vol 8 Ch 8 in its entirety, it’s definitely ending with Ōgondōji-sama picked up Aoi using the Bunmon airship (you can read my translation of that part before Vol 8 Epilogue here ). Hence, Ep 12 will either end with Vol 8 Ch 8 or… it might end with Ōdanna-sama in the Poppies Villa , reading newspapers that are hurling harsh words at him. I don't think we’ll be that lucky to have him reunited with Aoi… but if we get a nicely drawn Ōdanna-sama burning the newspaper with an empty look, I’d say we’re very lucky indeed… I do have to stop promising that my review will be out at a certain point, because I am late again (due to workload). Will I be able to post my review for Ep 12 by Thursday night next week? Who knows… But I should be able to do that by Friday night next week… Ep 11 seems to be covering at least ...

S2E11 stills are out ! It's centred around Kasuga and Kiyo, but we have Aoi, O-Ryō and Ginji in action as well, oh, and Sasuke-kun is back! Surely we will see our hunk Ranmaru as well, but I don't think this episode has anything Ōdanna-related. And for that, I think my least favourite animation studio New Animate Studio is not in charge of the animation, and we may actually have good full-frame shots and generally well-drawn visuals... How sad is that, for us to have decent animation, we must have no Ōdanna-related scenes when he's displayed in full, not just in aural form or dream sequence... I could be totally wrong and will eat my hat on Thursday morning AEST, but I sadly think I am on the money here. Okay, let's just look at the shots one by one. We first have Aoi and O-Ryō on the front cover (see above). Then we have Kasuga being happy.  Is that because she loves the tiramisu? And that it reminds her of her happy escape time with Kiyo in our world Utsushiyo? If she...

Sorry for the late review, but for the last two episodes, I should be able to publish the reviews in the evening of AEST on Thursdays at the latest. Anyway, thank you for the wait. Ep 10 is great except for some animation issues (and I found the reason why). Still, we are treated with some sibling conversations with Ranmaru and Ginji, so it’s a big treat that spiced up the episode. Most importantly, the oni is out of the bag, because here we learned about Ōdanna-sama’s decision to save Aoi’s life. It’s still not as clear as his own narration in Vol 9 Prologue , but it’s a good start for non-novel readers. We also have O-Ryō with her icy bites, so the episode wraps up nicely. For now, I will discuss my review chronologically while re-watching Ep 10 for the 3rd time.  The first scene on Kasuga’s recollection is sweet. I am  still annoyed that S2 Ep 1 focused too much on Kasuga instead of the orchard date between Ōdanna-sama and Aoi… because this anime is about Aoi and Ōdanna-sam...

Season Two Ep 10 stills are out, and they are gorgeous! Ranmaru fans will be pleased, as too Ginji fans, because Ginji is drawn closer to his S1 look this time! We also have our yuki-onna coming to the North and a new character (who might be an assassin by the look of it). Let's get started! (Edit 4 Dec'25: Scroll down to the end to see my brief comments on the episode...) First, I want to copy what I belatedly wrote in Ep 9 review here about Ranmaru and Ginji: I skim-read the intermission between Ranmaru and Ginji, where Ranmaru again talked to Ginji about Aoi (Ranmaru can be such a noisy brother, but that's how he shows that he cares for his little brother Ginji, I guess). Anyway, Ranmaru asked how were things with Aoi, did Ginji still care for the girl? Ranmaru also commented how Aoi never talked about Ōdanna-sama, hence the Komainu wondered if she actually liked the Master at all. Ginji responded by telling how disturbed Aoi was when she realised that Ōdanna-sama migh...

Again, sorry for the late review; I slept like a log last night after an intense week. However, the good news is, I love Ep 9! Since I didn’t read Vol 8 chapters related to this episode, I was in for many good surprises. Chief amongst them is of course the appearance of Ōdanna-sama’s oni form in Aoi’s dream (complete with the horns). It was but a mere few seconds, but Konishi Katsuyuki’s voice stopped me on my track and I froze, before I replayed that scene again! Such is the power of Konishi-san’s voice in portraying Ōdanna-sama! However, that’s not the only pleasing surprises in this episode, so let’s go through it sort of chronologically. This review is also quite short because I don’t have the knowledge of the novel to compare the episodes with. Ep 9 covers Vol 8 Ch 1-3, though the intermissions (or conversations) between Kiyo and Kasuga when Aoi was not around were only alluded to. First, Aoi et al’s winter clothes, of course, are very catchy! Although we only see Byakuya in the A...