Season Two Ep 4 review

Ep 4 is out, and while (as expected) we don’t have Ōdanna-sama, we have a lot of development here.

Well, it’s to be expected because this episode combines Vol 6 Ch 10, Vol 7 Ch 1 (here and here), Vol 7 Ch 2 and a part of Vol 7 Ch 3… 

Again, I am basically a broken record now for saying that I don't like the speed for we lost a lot of details, but it also means that we’ll see Ōdanna-sama again soon.  

Now, I usually jump right into Ōdannaoi (Ōdanna-sama & Aoi) scenes, but since the gorgeous oni isn’t here (well, he’s in jail…), let’s go chronologically this time.

Ep 4 picks up where Ep 3 left behind,with Raijū announcing that he’d be the new master of Tenjin-ya. However, his glee wasn’t long-lived, for Byakuya delivered a full kick that sent the Thunder Beast tumbling down the stairs. Our hero Byakuya then told the intruder Raijū that the King’s consent isn’t enough to change the leadership of Tenjin-ya. Since Tenjin-ya is the governing place of a Hachiyō, a majority vote amongst the eight Hachiyō is needed to replace the Tenjin-ya leadership (or any other Hachiyō leadership). Grumbling, Raijū then disappeared in a lightning bolt, but not before telling everyone that Ōdanna-sama isn’t coming back. Aoi trembled after hearing it, but Ginji-san held her steady. 

Then Byakuya laid out the strategy to rescue Ōdanna-sama, which includes him going to Yōto to gain some intelligence. Byakuya also distributed the workload while he’s away, including appointing Ginji as the effective interim boss and instructing Aoi to open a food truck onboard of Seikamaru. 

Here I need to stop to point out the details we lost. The most important lost detail IMO is the fact that, in Vol 6 Ch10, Raijū actually tore up Aoi’s ‘marriage contract’ with Ōdanna-sama into pieces and threw the pieces in front of Aoi, which sent the girl into a panic attack. However, Byakuya then kicked Raijū tumbling down the stairs before declaring the policy about Hachiyō and – also importantly – that the marriage contract that Raijū tore up was fake, and that Ōdanna-sama stored the real one in a safe place. 

Gosh, I miss the design of Ōdanna-sama in Season One so much...

Some non-essential (but fun) details that were also lost include Byakuya admonishing Saraku for being so inactive (thus Saraku reluctantly agreed to be the ‘face’ of Tenjin-ya management while Byakuya is away), Saraku working on the food truck, and Byakuya bribing O-Ryō into waitressing in Seikamaru by dangling some marriage prospects. We do have the scene of O-Ryō eating hamburger aboard Seikamaru in delight, and I am delighted with it, because any scene of O-Ryō eating is funny! Oh, and Chibi is onboard of Seikamaru as well (in the novel, Aoi left him behind in Tenjin-ya, and the kappa was later sulking at Aoi). 

Also, I have to give it to the translator team; being professionals that they are, they were able to catch the name of the food truck, i.e., Yodakahō or the Night Hawk. Come to think of it, Vol 7 Ch 1 mentioned that the food truck logo is a jungle nightjar bird (Caprimulgus jotaka), but apparently it’s also called a nighthawk (jotaka… yotaka… I should’ve seen it). I also didn't get the name of the food truck when I translated Vol 7 Ch 1 because I read the first character in 夜ダ力号 as “yoru” instead of “yo”, but anyway – I will change “Moonflower Two” in my translations into “Nighthawk” in due course.

Then we are at the Seikamaru scene. An incognito purple-haired ayakashi with the spiral-patterned purple eyes boarded the Seikamaru and he looked like what I imagined him to be in Vol 7 Ch 1. Come to think of it, the design of this ayakashi also looks like the Medicine Seller in Netflix’ Mononoke, because the Medicine Seller also has weird eyes and purple hair (albeit very light lavender).

For those who want to know who this ayakashi actually is… read the spoilers for the rest of Vol 10 here.

The purple-haired ayakashi ordered a hamburger and finished it in no time. Then, as per the novel, he did say to himself if that kid would like this meal…

We know who that kid is later… and thus we can hazard a guess who this important purple-haired ayakashi is.

After the purple-haired ayakashi took his leave, it was Sasuke-kun’s turn to take Aoi to the Nui-no-in Mansion (‘tei’ was translated as ‘castle’, but I prefer it as a ‘mansion’). Ritsuke-san’s conversation with Aoi was generally the same as Vol 7 Ch 2, but it was super brief. The conversation about the King imprisoning Ōdanna-sama after the latter was unmasked by Raijū was spot on following the novel. However,  the very important history of Kakuriyo was squeezed into a few seconds. We didn’t have the hotpot eating scene… and most importantly, no scene where Aoi jokingly called Ōdanna-sama the “princess” that has to be rescued (haha!). 

Then we hopped into the morning after where Aoi was having a gorgeous kaiseki meal with Ritsuke-san. Most of the okazu are vegetables, and I can imagine how delicious they are! The soft dashi that enhances but not defeating the taste of the vegetables… etc… I wonder if I will ever be able to cook like that…

Anyway, thus enters Takechiyo-sama, the first grandson of the King. 

Takechiyo has a sad abandonment case, hence naturally Aoi wants to adopt him – I mean, feed him. Thus, Ep 5 will be about Aoi feeding Takechiyo-sama, but I think if we have the scene of her going to downtown Yōto for shopping for macaroon ingredients, we may have Vol 7 Ch 4 as well where Aoi sees the jyaki shadows of Ōdanna-sama…

For that, I wish Ep 5 is here already.

Now, finally, I also want to comment how I can hear more shamisen, koto and shakuhachi in the music arrangements, which is great. The first scene above Seikamaru also features a traditional festivity Japanese music, which is natsukashii (nostalgic) to me. Keep it up, please! 

However, the kimono animation can be really really inaccurate. Aoi’s and O-Ryō’s kimono collars were drawn correctly in some frames (like the Namida no Recipe end credit scene for Aoi), but in many other frames, the kimono collar was totally off. Also, don't get me started on O-Ryō's exposed collar bones... those bones are not supposed to be shown when wearing kimono properly.

The kimono's correct collar when viewed from the front. You cannot see the back of the collar here and no collar bones shown

Wrong collar. See how the back collar can be seen from the front? It should not be like that.

So yeah, I just have to conclude that Season Two employs at least two animation team; one competent team (that may consists of Japanese animators who know how to draw kimono properly based on years of exposure to Japanese kimono) and one incompetent (sorry not sorry for being harsh) team who just doesn’t understand the concept of emon (low nape neckline) in women kimono. On top of that, the new team has no good quality control manager. I rest my case sadly.

By the way, Crunchyroll changed the poster for Kakuriyo for the Oct 2025 Simulcast. I agree; this poster is better than the previous poster. I do like the previous poster because it shows the Tenjin-ya gang, but the new poster with just Aoi & Ōdanna-sama is more emotional & romantic.

The first three Crunchyroll October 2025 Simulcast (per 24 Oct'25)

The first three Crunchyroll October 2025 Simulcast (per 18 Oct'25)

Crunchyroll also put Kakuriyo on the front page for the first half of the week this week. At the moment it's not there because it seems they're promoting the weekenders like SpyXFamily & "May I Ask for One Final Thing?" (both of which I also love). Hopefully Kakuriyo is back in the main front page banner early next week!