Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

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...

The Kakuriyo anime team posted Season Two Ep 9 visuals  one day late this week, but that's okay (hey, people might be under the weather etc, right... I know, because I am late for my deliverables due to some mild cold as well). The visuals are very interesting, and since I haven't read most of Vol 8 novel, I'm going to find a lot of surprising things, which is exciting too! I do wonder if they're going to change the OP and ED songs because Tōyama Nao has five songs in her Kakuriyo S2 album, and we have heard three of them (Toryanse, "Recipe for Tears" and "A Spoonful of Light"). It would be nice to hear "Utagoe wo Mejirushini" (“The Goal of My Singing Voice”) as OP2 and "Souiukanji no kaime"...(“The Kind of Feeling I Get”) ED2. But first, let's go through the visuals.  First, we have Aoi in a very cool hooded coat and a cute newspaper-boy cap. I really thought it was a new character when I saw this still a few minutes ago. If ...

Season Two Ep 8 is on, and I love it! So sorry for the late review; been dead busy so I kept sleeping early. I woke up just now at 2 am AEST because I slept like at 8 pm last night. Didn’t mean to wake up like this, but might as well just continue writing my Ep 8 review. It’s almost 4 am now, and I’m ready to post this review…. And then go back to sleep. So S2E8 covers the last three chapters of Volume 7. I love this episode, and it seems it’s there to flip my tepid reception of Ep 7. Admittedly, I didn’t enjoy Ep 7 so much at face value because I was so confused with the pacing and also the Manchurian Candidate (sorry, that’s the name of a novel & movie, haha!), I mean the Manchurian-dressed ladies-in-waiting. However, Ep 7 does have a lot of good development, namely the flashback about Suzume and a very brief flashback on Ōdanna-sama as an oni child. Once I accepted the fact that the pacing has returned to a normal pacing which we should’ve had back in Ep 1 (read: NOT, because Ep...

S2E8 visuals are out, and it indicates that Ep 8 will cover Vol 7 Ch 7, Vol 7 Intermezzo 3, and Vol 7 Ch 8. We get the view of Byakuya’s true form here in Ep 8 (so cool!). Also, man, we have a hunk here (not Ranmaru, though he is a hunk too!). Who is that gorgeous black-haired hunk??  As per usual, this is just a commentary of the visuals, which are well done. The episode will end with Aoi deciding to go to the Northern Land, hence S2E9 next week will cover Vol 8 of the novel. Okay, let’s start from the beginning. We have Takechiyo getting irritated at something, and I think it’s because Zakuro is trying to interfere with his macaroon meal.  We then have Zakuro who, unexpectedly, wants to taste Aoi’s macaroon (but I think she later disses it). More importantly for me, as per her first appearance in Ep 5, Zakuro is wearing a Heian-era kariginu hunting robe, which is gorgeous and culturally correct! (ahem – remember the three ladies wearing the gorgeous but culturally-diff...