Season Two Ep 11 review

 

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 Chapters 5 (the Old Castle by the Lake), Ch 6 ( The Illegitimate Child of the Winter King) and part of Ch 7 (the Hospitality of the Winter Child). However, our readers who have read Vol 8 will be able to correct me if I’m wrong. It would leave some stories from Ch 7 and the whole Ch 8 (Towards the Next Stage) for Ep 12, I guess. But first, before I do the chronological review, I just want to do an erratum on the title of Ch 7 (雪ん子のおもてなし). I translated yukinko (the winter child) as Yukinko (the name of a person). However, the proper translation might have been “The winter child’s hospitality”.  I don't have time to check that chapter, so I will have to leave it to dear readers to correct me later.

(Edit: Thanks to Anon, Ep 11 covers Ch 5 and most of Ch 6 of Vol 8. Thus, end of Ch 6, Ch 7 and Ch 8 will be covered in Ep 12 next week then... At least if they want to end the Cour in a high note. )

Anyway, Ep 11 started with our friends onboard the Reireigō, the Northern Land’s warship, I mean, airship, traveling to Kayaya Lake, the North Lake. Even Aoi commented how the ship looks like a warship…

In the excursion, O-Ryō tagged along because Aoi coaxed her with tiramisu (hahaha!). Btw, Kasuga’s winter hat is super cute! I want one! Also Aoi’s newsboy cap! 

Then Ranmaru joined the gang and Kasuga tagged along with him to see Kiyo at the bridge and to bring her estranged husband some tiramisu. As the Orio-ya danna-gashira walked to the bridge with Kasuga, they talked about whether Kiyo was fit to be a Hachiyō. I like it that Kasuga – despite her tiny figure – matched Ranmaru’s bluntness.
 
In the bridge though, Kasuga overheard Kiyo informing Ginji that he (the Northern Land Hachiyō) wanted to return Kasuga home to Tenjin-ya, because she looked so happy when the Tenjin-ya guys came to the North. Of course Kasuga wasn’t happy, thus after finally venting out her unfiltered opinions to Kiyo, she stormed off with the tiramisu box into O-Ryō’s lap, who was enjoying Aoi’s tiramisu with Sasuke-kun.

By the way, I have no idea when Sasuke arrived. He wasn’t there when they were first attacked by the sky pirates in Ep 9… so, not having read Vol 8 properly, I thought he was back in Tenjin-ya. Or, then I thought that he returned to the North together with O-Ryō. It’s very likely that he was there in Seiranmaru the whole time, but was just not shown, being a shinobu. If he rejoined from Tenjin-ya as he escorted O-Ryō back to the North, that makes sense too. 

Also, it’s nice to see Sasuke addressing O-Ryō with the honorific ‘dono’ in the English translation. The translators could’ve chosen the honorific to be translated as ‘Lady O-Ryō’, but ‘dono’ seems to be more appropriate. 

Anyway, back to Kasuga’s love story. In her stead, Aoi came back with the tiramisu and shoved it into Kiyo’s hands after blurting out that he was such an idiot for not realising that he was Kasuga’s first love. 

Even Ranmaru was like, ‘Uh-oh…’ hahaha!

Anyway, Kiyo ate the tiramisu, which instantly reminded him how sweet things were with Kasuga when they were young and free. At that time, they arrived at Kayaya Lake, thus he asked Aoi to ask Kasuga to go out to see the lake. 

 

Which brings us to the super cute scene of Kasuga – in her tanuki form – sleeping on O-Ryō’s lap. I love how the simple scene of the tanuki sleeping on the lap of this acerbic snow woman shows their trust and friendship. Aoi said that Kiyo invited Kasuga to view the lake, which made the tanuki blush, but Aoi also said that she blurted out the fact about Kiyo as Kasuga’s first love, which again invited mild criticism from O-Ryō and Sasuke. Interesting, because I think it’s not such a big deal (because I thought Kiyo would realise by now that Kasuga saw him as her first love), but in the Japanese psyche, it might actually be a big deal. 

Or… I’m just too old for blushing first love, hahaha!

Kasuga deigned to grace Kiyo’s presence for the lake-viewing excursion, but with the condition that she presented herself in her cute tanuki form. In which she did, and Kiyo for the first time in a very long time said how cute Kasuga was. It’s akin to say “you look beautiful tonight” in the Western world… so of course Kasuga blushed again. Then, the ‘traitor’ Aoi shoved Kasuga into Kiyo’s arms, and all is well…

Until the icy bullet from an invisible assassin hit Kasuga, who was trying to protect Kiyo from it.

Chaos ensued, for there were some canons fired towards Kiyo’s ship as well. Not sure how Lesak, Ranmaru and Sasuke fended off the canons, but the rest went back to safety inside the ship, where Itaki gave the grave news that the bullet was poisonous, hence Kasuga only had three days to live, unless they found rikodake, the mushroom antidote for the poison. Thus, O-Ryō (who is a local and knows where to find rikodake) departed with Aoi and Ginji.

And I was wrong again, because Ginji is still in his more feminine nine-tailed fox form. I guess this version is here to stay, and we have said goodbye to the Madara form for good… at least in this season/cour.

So our trip went to the mountains; to O-Ryō’s village to be specific. They looked high and low for rikodake to no avail before the snow woman decided to go further and left Aoi in Ginji’s care. It was a pleasure to see O-Ryō’s flying figure; she should use that ability more often. Could it be that being in the cold north enhances her ability? She flew twice this cour (Ep 10 and 11). 

Then the climax of the episode, when Ginji and Aoi were attacked by ice wolves. Aoi didn’t bother to wear her mask because they didn’t think that she would be seen by any ayakashi (I guess Kasuga’s safety is on their mind). As a result, Ginji was overpowered (it hurts to see our Ginji bleeding like that) and Aoi escaped to the cliff to give Ginji time to recuperate (because she’s obviously more appetising than Ginji in the eyes of the ice wolves). 

And then the icing on the cake, where Aoi bravely pulled out her dagger (kitchen knife?) and dared the wolves to come to her to be made into wolf hotpot.

As expected from our Oni Bride!

Now, a bit of review: Generally, the story flows well here (it has been since Ep 5 anyway), so kudos to Konpaku Tomoko-san for the script. Japanese traditional musical instruments (e.g., shamisen, koto and shakuhachi) were used very well here, particularly during the scenes where Ginji, Aoi and O-Ryō escaped from the lake. 

One minor nitpick for Ep 12 title: I think “stage” is better than “theatre” here, because “On to the Next Stage” or “Towards the Next Stage” sounds better than because “On to the Next Theatre” or “Towards the Next Theatre”, though the kanji is indeed 舞台.

The animation is generally in the quality of Ep 6-9, particularly with the full-frame shots (compare it with Ep 10, where the full-frame shots of Ginji and Ranmaru during their boys talk left much to be desired). New Animate Studio is still credited for some stuff, but others like Cerberus (sp?) are also credited. If I have time this weekend, I will translate the end credits so that I know who is doing what for this episode. 

My take is that it cannot be that NAS was doing the animation themselves because their quality isn’t that good. Eps 1-4 in general were cringeworthy, particularly Ōdanna-related scenes, while Ep 10 had bad full-frame shots and Ōdanna-sama was just standard there, none of the charms in S1. I admit that NAS might have good animators, but they’re a mixed bag of good and bad animators and the bad ones also drew some panels. For instance, in Ep 3, we both have the horrendous croquette eating scene where Ōdanna-sama was like an alien (to put it mildly), while the scene where Ōdanna-sama was sipping soup and when he kissed Aoi were well done. 

Compare it to – for instance – Koeda Animation in Ep 6, most (if not all) frames were consistently beautifully rendered, down to Byakuya’s meeting with the young Ōdanna and Aoi observing her blooming camellia hairpin. I really want to see Koeda Animation animating Ōdanna-sama!

So my interim conclusion remains: if NAS cannot deliver consistent good visuals, then they should NOT be in charge of Ōdanna-related scenes. I will deliver the final verdict of their performance by Ep 12, because Ōdanna-sama should at least grace the last few seconds of this cour.

Until then, take care!

PS: If you want a light ayakashi-type story that is not isekai ("I was reincarnated as something and had to do something something to achieve something something"), you might want to check "Shabake". It's set in the Edo-era where a young master of a middle-size business grows up with two ayakashi friends. I just found it about 45 min ago. I'm on Ep 3 now, and it's addictive to me! It reminds me of "We Rent Tsukumogami" and also - funnily - S1 of Kakuriyo when Tenjin-ya was a totally strange place for Aoi. The alleys etc in Shabake reminds me of Kyoto... though the story is set in Nihonbashi Edo (present day Tokyo, where the Nihonbashi district still exists!). One of the ayakashi is a hakutaku (hey, Byakuya!) and the other one is an inugami (well, not really komainu, but still, hey Ranmaru!).

 

PS Monday 15 Dec'25 at 13:20 AEST:

There is no visuals yet for Ep 12 (the last episode), but Kakuriyo Anime has this info:

氷狼から逃れた葵と銀次だったが、猛吹雪の中で力尽きてしまう。 大旦那の温もりを感じながら葵が目を覚ますと、そこは雪の中で暮らすあやかしたちの住処だった。 そこで作った料理が導きとなり、窮地を切り抜けるひと匙の光が差し込む。 葵の胸には確かな決意が芽生え、その想いに導かれるように物語は次なる扉へと進む――。

Aoi and Ginji escape from the ice wolves, but are exhausted in the blizzard. Feeling the warmth of Ōdanna-sama, Aoi wakes up to find herself in the home of ayakashi spirits living amidst the snow. The food she makes there provides guidance, and a ray of hope shines through to help her out of this predicament. A firm resolve grows in Aoi's heart, and as if guided by that feeling, the story moves on to the next chapter.

 

So, we will have Ōdanna-sama in Ep 12 then, even 'just' in Aoi's memory!