Season Two Ep 10 review

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-sama anyway (instead of about Kasuga). However, I’ll just move on… After all, Aoi helping Kasuga is very important in securing the support of the Northwestern Hachiyō – the tanuki Director of the Bunmon University.

The cheese fondue tasting with Kai and Mei (complete with matching coats like Ranmaru’s) the young crane twin chefs of Orio-ya is cute. I never thought of adding soy sauce or miso into cheese fondue… I suppose that’s Japanese taste twist for you! I do want to try it now! 

Then we have Ranmaru getting annoyed that Ginji was late for the aurora viewing, but it wasn’t Ginji’s fault because the schedule changed without informing him! So… off they went to see the aurora, while Aoi kept working on her fondue with Kai and Mei. 

Okay, I have to say that I’m not a fan of the modern-look Northern airship, but I love it that the Hyōrei Shrine has the Ainu-style roofs with its spikes. Very Ainu, though it does have the mix of a Yamato shrine exterior. I like it that Kiyo talks about the North’s belief system as animism, which is basically what the Ainu people are practicing. 

Ranmaru making fun of Ginji wishing that Aoi could see the aurora was super cute! I don’t know how the English dub goes, but the original Japanese was done super well by the seiyū. But yeah, Ranmaru has still his rancid mouth (“aho mitai ni ryori koto bakari” – she just keeps cooking like an idiot!), but I am used to that, and if Ranmaru isn’t talking like that, I’d think he’s sick! 

This sibling conversation scene does show how much Ginji loves Aoi. He does know that cooking is Aoi’s only outlet from plunging into despair. I do appreciate Ranmaru’s brotherly concerns to Ginji, and I understand that he’s of course Team Ginji in terms of Aoi’s affection… He’s Ginji’s brother, after all. By the way, Ranmaru’s advice for Ginji to get a closure is a very important one. I haven’t read a chapter where Ginji eventually confessed his love to Aoi just to get a closure… but I think there should be a chapter there somewhere in Vol 8 or early Vol 10… (another reader would be able to advise me on that, I bet!). In Vol 10 Ch 5, Ginji’s fox fire helped Aoi rescuing Ōdanna-sama, and Aoi commented in her heart something like “as if we receive Ginji’s blessings” or the like. 

Just before the flashback scene, Ginji said something very important, which is the fact that Ōdanna-sama decided to shorten his own life to rescue Aoi. Ginji was taking over Ōdanna-sama’s role for feeding Aoi because Ōdanna-sama had to recuperate after the psychic surgery when his psychic core was extracted to lift Aoi’s curse. 

Btw, Ginji’s respect to Ōdanna-sama is so touching. His wish for Ōdanna-sama and Aoi to be happy together is amazing and respectful in many ways. In return, I do respect Ginji more for his commitment.  

All these, Ginji seems to be narrating not just silently (for us), but also for Ranmaru. Hence, by now, Ranmaru would know, though maybe not in detail, that Ōdanna-sama sacrificed his life for Aoi.

Ōdanna-sama’s appearance was just “blink and you miss”, and what he said wasn’t very revealing, other than that the girl was going to be his bride. Novel readers would recognise it because it was Aoi herself who asked for the matrimony (Vol 9 Intermezzo). However, Ginji also narrated that there were promises made before Aoi was born… and I wonder what those promises are. I mean, Ōdanna-sama promised to marry Aoi when he met her again in the room where she was abandoned by her mother (Vol 9 Intermezzo 1). Shirō’s careless promise to marry Aoi off to Ōdanna-sama was done after Aoi was born. So I’m not sure what the promises are…might be in Vol 11? Unless, Shirō somehow knew he was going to have a granddaughter, and he offered her to the Master when he broke Tenjin-ya’s super expensive vase.

I of course love it that Konishi Katsuyuki came back for 10 seconds to voice Ōdanna-sama… but again it reminds me how I prefer S1 visual of Ōdanna-sama. We seriously need to have his hair styled like S1!

Btw, when Ginji had a flashback about his conversation with Ōdanna-sama, there is a weird stop after Ginji said “saisho kara” (“from the beginning”). It’s the pause to let the advertisement in Japan. However, I do wish that this stop isn’t there, because it disturbs the narration a bit. 

Okay, let’s move on. 

The masked woman is Itaki, Kasuga’s personal guard. A Sprinkle of Anime is correct to deduce that Itaki looks like Sasuke, because that’s what Itagi’s role is; protecting Kasuga (while Sasuke protects Aoi).

Kiyo’s conversation with Aoi in the strawberry greenhouse is nice. We learned here that Kiyo actually still cares for Kasuga… he just doesn’t trust anyone right now, perhaps due to some assassination attempts. I like it that Kiyo asked Aoi to make something for Kasuga, because the young Hachiyō is not able to make his own wife happy. I originally thought that the dish that Aoi would make in association with this request was the tiramisu, because that was the dish Kasuga ate with Kiyo when they had an unsanctioned adventure in our world. However, I think Aoi would later make another dish with strawberries… and I think it would be the Japanese strawberry shortcake. Again, haven’t read the associated chapters, but it would be nice if it’s strawberry shortcake!

Come to think of it, making dishes with cheese and dairy products are quite easy; just baked stuff, sweet and also savoury! 

I like it that Ginji specifically said that Aoi’s debt (which basically was Shirō’s debt, which was already paid back anyway…) was getting smaller and smaller due to the popularity of the cheese inferno bun, and she’s getting some royalties as well for the tiramisu etc. 

O-Ryō’s entrance is of course nice and a lovely change. She’s always easy to predict, right? Just dangle good food and she’s here to stay. Seeing her not being able to resist sweet temptation is such a pleasure. Love her!

Wait, I didn't know they have mixers in Kakuriyo…did Dr Saraku make it based on the Utsushiyo mixers? Before we know it, they’ll have internet! (well, they do have the communication board already!).

Next week we have an assassin… with ice bullets. And then the week after, Cour 2 is wrapped.

Oh, by the way, Konparu Tomoko (the scriptwriter for Kakuriyo Season 2) has received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2026. Yay! She apparently wrote the entire scripts for this season herself. I don't think she's the one who decided that the first half of Vol 6 is excluded... and I still think Ep 1-4 pacing was too fast, but she is doing a good job with Eps 5 onwards. Konparu-san is apparently the screenwriter of the Roses of Versailles movie (on Netflix), hence I ... kind of understand why we have this mixed bag of pacing. RoV movie suffered badly (BADLY) from bad pacing at the start... and it just took my enjoyment to watch the movie again. However, when she can pace the stories well, Konparu-san does deliver, so...

Okay, let me know address my one issue for this episode, i.e., the animation. New Animate Studio (NAS) is back, and again I am not very happy with some details. The full frame shot from slightly above of Ranmaru and Ginji was not well-executed (“Aoi is the master innkeeper’s fiancée”); the full-frame scene where Ginji and Ōdanna-sama were talking was not done well either; and some other full-frame shots were also sub-par, if not downright cringe-worthy. I have come to the conclusion that NAS is tasked with animating Ōdanna-related episodes, but that’s the PROBLEM! Their animation is not top notch compared to, say, Ep 5, 6, 8, 9 animation studios! I know that Ep 6 was animated by the Mexican-based studio Koeda Animation (@KoedaAnimation), and I think it did one of the best shots in the whole season so far. The view of young Ōdanna and Byakuya in Ep 6 amongst the scattering sakura petals (which was NOT animated by NAS) are just the best. 

I will definitely NOT suggest NAS as the main animation studio for Cour 2 or S3. Or… just skip this studio; it’s not doing the best for Kakuriyo. If we keep NAS, they need to improve their skills BIG TIME. This is not enough for my Kakuriyo. 

Well, at least Aoi’s emon is drawn better this time. The chibi style when Aoi and Kasuga were doing the concepts for tiramisu was also super cute. 

See you again on Monday for Ep 11 stills!