Wagaya no Oinari-sama. – 08

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

After running into Mubyou and listening to her explanation, Tooru agrees to help her search for the Sakasaen since she doesn’t seem like a bad person. Although he agreed, Tooru doesn’t quite know how he can help her, so Mubyou suggests asking the smart kitsune who’s at his house to help out and then introduces herself as the god from the next area. After explaining the purpose of the Sakasaen (i.e. reversing the flow of the elements), Tooru recalls that they talked about this before and that his friend should have delivered Kai to her. Mubyou says that Kai didn’t know where the Sakasaen is, except that his tanuki (raccoon) partner hid it somewhere.

Back at home, Tooru is greeted by a Kuugen who desperately wants to go to the pool. After Kuugen hears Mubyou’s request for help, she refuses because it’s troublesome, but finally agrees to after Tooru asks her to help Mubyou. Meanwhile, Noboru is on his way somewhere and runs into a hooded masked individual, who asks if he’s the leader of Mizuchi. Realizing that it’s a youkai, Noboru cycles past him, saying that he’s mistaken him for someone else and eventually loses him. At Ebisu’s convenient store, the others are asking if he knows anything, but Ebisu only angers Mubyou by asking her if it’s okay for her to leave Akagi without permission. After Ebisu says he’s unable to help because he still has to clean up the effects of the Kuugen’s deceased spirit summoning, Kuugen suggests going to the pool instead. After she makes fun of Mubyou’s lack of breasts, Noboru arrives saying he ran into a tanuki youkai near Akagi High School. Despite having a lead, Kuugen refuses to go to Akagi since it’s Mubyou’s turf even after she tries to guilt trip her about summoning Miyako. Tooru however feels that Kuugen did that for his sake, so he asks her to continue helping Mubyou.

At the school, they’re greeted by Ittou, who has taken up a janitor job there thanks to Mubyou. While Kuugen and Noboru are talking about the pool, Mubyou teleports Tooru into the school, making Kuugen realize that he’s in danger. Inside, Mubyou explains that she already knew the location of the Sakasaen from Kai and that it’s inside his head. Meanwhile, Kuugen tells Noboru to give her permission to enter the school since she can’t unless he permits her (having told her that she can’t earlier), after which she rushes inside. Tooru is a bit surprised to hear that the Sakasaen is inside his head, but Mubyou reassures him that she’ll give him a good reincarnated life after she retrieves it. Before Tooru can say anything, “Ittou” runs by, grabs him, and teleports to the roof.

As it turns out though, this “Ittou” has been looking for the Sakasaen himself, but Daigorou comes by in defense of Tooru. Realizing that this isn’t the real Ittou, Tooru tries to run for it, but gets caught. Luckily, Kuugen arrives and is enraged at the sight of Tooru getting hurt, so she quickly takes care of the impostor tanuki youkai. Shortly after, Mubyou comes by and paralyzes everyone in an attempt to take the Sakasaen from Tooru, who has already realized that the Sakasaen is actually around Daigorou’s neck. While Tooru is being ignored, Kuugen tells Mubyou not to underestimate her and another Kuugen in kitsune form appears to protect Tooru. After saying this is her true self, Kuugen and Mubyou fight for a bit, which results in this Kuugen’s defeat. Shocked to see that this one is the actual illusion, Mubyou finds herself caught in Kuugen’s plan.

Mubyou reminds Kuugen the repercussions of killing a god , but Kuugen explains the anger of seeing someone lay a hand on Tooru far exceeds the feelings of becoming an enemy of all gods. As Kuugen is about to deliver the finishing blow, Tooru stops her and gives the real Sakasaen to Mubyou. Later on, the youkai that was chasing Noboru earlier finds out that Mubyou has retrieved the Sakasaen.

 

Next Episode:
「お稲荷さま。大立ち回る」 (Oinari-sama. Ootachimawaru)
“Oinari-sama. Fights a Huge Battle”

Impressions:
I found this episode pretty entertaining, mainly due to Mubyou being fun to watch. Mizuhashi Kaori does a pretty good job of bringing out the “bubbly” side of her character in addition to the more serious side. Seeing how she never once took her hand puppets off this episode (even when she was fighting with Kuugen), I can’t help but wonder if they’re permanently attached to her arms. (just kidding.) In any case, it seems like all the gods are quite goofy if Ebisu and Mubyou are indicators of anything, which for some reason or another, is actually one of the aspects this series I rather enjoy. While it’s nice to see some more serious scenes (usually pertaining to the youkai), the fact that the characters are all pretty carefree keeps the overall feel of the show pretty lighthearted (…in a good way).

The fight between Kuugen and Mubyou was fairly brief, but exciting nonetheless. I’m a bit surprised that Mubyou got outsmarted somewhat easily by Kuugen, given how she couldn’t do much against Ebisu. I guess in Ebisu’s case, Kuugen was probably low on spirit power then, but regardless, they sure made it seem like Kuugen could’ve killed Mubyou had Tooru not intervened. As for Kou, she was almost non-existent this episode, giving a lot more screen time to Kuugen, Mubyou, and Tooru. I know I don’t comment on production often, but something about this episode stood out, making me wonder if Wagaya no Oinari-sama always looked this nice.

Next time, it looks like we’ll see more of the masked youkai that Noboru was smart enough to run away from. Given how he referred to it as a tanuki, i.e. raccoon, I first thought this was the youkai that assumed Ittou’s form; however, this was obviously meant to mislead us as the scene at the end and the preview reveals otherwise. I’m curious as to who this actually is though, given how he/she is not listed in the credits. With that said, the voice sounds somewhat similar to Mubyou’s seiyuu, Mizuhashi Kaori, when she uses a deeper voice, so I get the feeling there’s some connection to her.

 

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)
– Ogami Ittou (拝 一刀) / Yamaguchi Kappei (山口 勝平)
– Daigorou (大五郎) / Ishikawa Ayano (石川 綾乃)