Season Two Ep 10 stills

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 might not be coming back to Tenjin-ya (back in Vol 7 Ch 1). Ginji then had a flashback about how Ōdanna-sama asked for his help when the Master decided to help Aoi. Ginji's flashback included the fact about the 'destiny-changing food' that Aoi ate... hence this week we might have a bit revelation there, and a bit more of Konishi Katsuyuki's voicing Ōdanna-sama during Ginji's flashback!

So, we have our gorgeous boys having a heart to heart conversation, and unexpectedly, Ranmaru looks pensive! Aww... he can be such a softie! However, Ginji looks pretty serious here, and he looks more like his S1 visual now. That's great, I like him drawn this way!

Next, we have a masked woman, but since she is also in the OP, and Kasuga seems to be okay with her in the OP, this masked woman should be okay then?

Then we have Kasuga surprised of something... is Kiyo finally saying something nice or romantic here?

and Aoi in her super cute winter outfit looking at the falling snow... (can I have that coat please?)

And then our O-Ryō's coming for a visit! Is that because the North wants to have a night cruise restaurant like the Nighthawk onboard the Seikamaru (Vol 7 Ch 1) of Tenjin-ya?

At any rate, it's nice to see Aoi, Kasuga and O-Ryō together again. We just need Shizuna-chan here and the girl's night out is upon us!

Are you guys excited for Ep 10? Two more episodes after this week... time flies!

 

PS 3 Dec'25: 

Since I don't have time to write a review tomorrow night, I will see if I can just write a few lines of main comments for Ep 10 in this very post. Then I will post my review of Ep 10 on Friday evening or Saturday morning AEST (fingers crossed Friday evening!).

  

Short comments on Ep 10 (4 Dec'25):

I watched the episode just now, twice from the aurora scene onwards. Generally, I love the episode, particularly the Ginji-Ranmaru conversation and the girls' scene at the end. However, the big bang revelation was apparently here as well. I didn't know that the Ginji truly spilled the beans to Ranmaru about the nature of the food Aoi ate here (I didn't read Vol 8 Intermezzo in details), so yes, Ginji did talk about Ōdanna-sama shaving off his own life for Aoi here. It was not very detailed, but it was definitely a preamble to Vol 9 Prologue where Ōdanna-sama narrated his own past about his fateful decision to shorten his own life for Aoi. 

Katsuyuki Konishi only voiced Ōdanna-sama for 10 seconds, but it was a very powerful reminder of how much I miss Ōdanna-sama. The Master was better animated here (or shall I say, with the same quality as others), but I still prefer his S1 visuals much more (at least the hair!). 

The conversation between Ranmaru and Ginji in general was very well done. Ranmaru's pensive expression in the visual promo only lasted for about 3 seconds and he's still his snarky self that many of us has come to love. I agree that Ranmaru is Team Ginji here for what he said in this scene. More on that later. 

Also, I noticed that New Animate Studio returned, and whenever we have it, it seems that we're not very happy with the animation (e.g., Ep 1-4). I think in Cour 2 or S3, we should definitely get the studio who animated Ep 6, 8, or 9 as the permanent animation studio. NAS doesn't deliver as well as the other studios.

Anyway, gotta go to work, but I'll write the review tomorrow (Friday) night. Got a deadline for tomorrow, so can't do it tonight...