Wagaya no Oinari-sama. – 07

「お稲荷さま。子狐を抱く」 (Oinari-sama. Kogitsune Idaku)
“Oinari-sama. Embraces a Fox Cub”

After having a dream about yet another demon that wants to eat him, Tooru wakes up and finds out that Kou protected him. Meanwhile, Ebisu notices a kitsune walking by his convenience store, who lost his home in the mountains due to humans clearcutting the area. He explains to Ebisu that he came to this town after sensing another powerful kitsune and was hoping to find a new place to live. Hearing this, Ebisu tells him that it’s Tenko, the Mizuchi’s Kuugen kitsune. After seeking Kuugen out and explaining his situation, he introduces his child to everyone. Not having a name though, Kuugen decides to name it “Daigorou”, thus making the father “Ogami Ittou” as per the story of Kozore Ookami, a.k.a. “Lone Wolf and Cub”. Haruki comes home later that night and finds Daigorou absolutely adorable much like everyone else, so he quickly agrees to let both him and his father stay with them for now.

The next day, Kou is off to do some grocery shopping and Ittou insists on coming along to help out, so Noboru asks them to go together. On their way back from the supermarket, Ittou wonders why Tenko’s powers have dropped drastically from her usual levels, so Kou explains it’s because she summoned a deceased spirit. Before he can inquiry further though, the three of them (Daigorou included) are enveloped by a fog near the park. In the fog, the demon from Tooru’s dream attacks Kou with water attacks, so that he can be rid of her and go after Tooru. Seemingly unable to use her water techniques in this fog, Kou resorts to using the liquid in a bottle of soy sauce instead. After a bit of a struggle, Kou manages to defeat this Kai (i.e. “shell”) water spirit, but poisoning it with excessive water. As Kou explains, she had been transfering water to his body continuously since they entered the park.

Having reverted Kai to his true form, Kou takes it back to the Takagami house, where she suggests eating it, but Noboru is a bit turned off by the fact it’s still talking. For now, Kou decides to rest a bit by taking a bath with Daigorou, shortly after which, Ebisu’s komainu show up at the door. After insisting to come in, Kouga and Eiga explain the that next town’s god, the easily irritable Mubyou, has been searching for Kai because he stole the “Sakasaen”, a secret method that supposedly lets one reverse the normal flow of the five basic elements. Kuugen is suprised to hear that Mubyou had the Sakasaen, while Tooru questions why Mubyou just didn’t come to this town and retrieve it herself. As Kouga and Eiga explain that gods don’t want to interfere in lands governed by other gods, they accidently reveal that there’s a reward in the form of land for capturing Kai. Since Ittou is looking for a new place to live, Tooru suggests that he should accept this award.

The komainu however are against handing over the reward Ebisu asked them to retrieve, but they inadvertenly stare at Kou’s bare legs with lustrious eyes when she steps out of the bath for a bit. Seeing this, Kuugen makes up a fake rule at that point, saying that those who look at a protective maiden’s bare legs have to offer something valuable to the Mizuchi household in return. In place of their lives, Kuugen says they’ll take the Kai instead and gives it to Ittou. Noboru then offers the komainu some char siu fried rice for coming over. After they finish eating it, he blackmails them a bit further, suggesting that they aren’t just trying to avoid getting fired by Ebisu.

Later on, Ittou delivers Kai to Mubyou, who interrogates it as to where the Sakasaen is.

Next Episode:
「お稲荷さま。探し物する」 (Oinari-sama. Sagashimono Suru)
“Oinari-sama. Searches for Something”

Impressions:
First and foremost, we get to see the results of the trimming Kuugen got earlier and it was funny to see how pissed she was when Ittou was going to ask about it. Given how much hair she lost in her human form, I’m surprised she didn’t lose more fur than that in her wolf form. Also, it looks like Ebisu made some bracelets our of her hair after all, and we even see Tooru wearing one in the preview. Given how he’s always the target of the evil spirits, I bet he’s hoping it has some warding effects, but we all know Ebisu simply made them for profit and nothing else. Other than that, there was quite a bit of fan-service from Kou this episode, with the bath scene being the obvious one. In addition to that though, she did get her butt felt up by Kai, which was pretty funny to see. Given how innocent Kou is, her reaction was actually pretty cute. :X

Story-wise, I’m still wondering what the deal is with this “Sakasaen” Mobyou is trying to recover and why Kuugen is surprised that she had it to begin with. This is the first time this series has shown something that ties over directly to the next episode, so this may be the beginning of a multiple episode sub-plot. Mubyou was introduced briefly at the end of this episode, but it looks like the next episode will revolve mainly around her and her search for the Sakasaen. Given how everyone talked about how fearsome she can be, it’s kind of interesting to see her with hand puppets and cheerful some of the time. Because of this, I get the feeling she’s a god with major mood swings, which should make her an interesting character to watch. Seiyuu-wise, she’s played by Mizuhashi Kaori, who is probably most well-known for her roles as Ai in the ARIA series, Ogiue Chika in Genshiken, Minazuki Taeko in Ai Yori Aoishi, and Suzumiya Akane in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (under the name Uehara Tomomi).

Cast:
– Tenko Kuugen (天狐 空幻) / Yukana (ゆかな)
– Kou (コウ) / Hayami Saori (早見 沙織)
– Takagami Noboru (高上 昇) / Mizushima Takahiro (水島 大宙)
– Takagami Tooru (高上 透) / Shimura Yuu (嶋村 侑)
– Ebisu (恵比寿) / Ono Daisuke (小野 大輔)
– Mubyou (六瓢) / Mizuhashi Kaori (水橋 かおり)
– Takagami Haruki (高上 春樹) / Miyamoto Mitsuru (宮本 充)
– Ogami Ittou (拝 一刀) / Yamaguchi Kappei (山口 勝平)
– Daigorou (大五郎) / Ishikawa Ayano (石川 綾乃)
– Kai (貝) / Yabe Masahito (矢部 雅史)
– Kouga (光牙) / Kushida Yasumichi (櫛田 泰道)
– Eiga (影牙) / Anzai Ryuuta (安斎 龍太)