First Impressions / Wagaya no Oinari-sama

「お稲荷さま。辛抱する」 (Oinari-sama. Shinbou Suru)
“Oinari-sama. Being Patient.”

Episode at a Glance:
During an evening stroll, Mubyou catches sight of a grown-up Byakki and is mesmerized by her appearance, but doesn’t think twice about it. At school, Tooru is still thinking about Shiro-chan a week later, unbeknownst that Enju’s men have him under surveillence. While doing the laundry back at home, Kou catches sight of something, but doesn’t get a chance to figure out what it is. At Noboru’s school, the leader of the Mizuchi house is busy trying to take advantage of multiple time sales for groceries, which Misaki misunderstands as a predicament between Kou and Kuugen. Meanwhile, Tooru’s friends try to cheer him up during physical education class, and Kuugen interrogates Enju’s surveillence team as to why they’ve been watching him for the past three days. After being scared to death, Shimenogi and Azuma catch sight of Byakki at the school, whom they’ve been lying in wait for.

As it turns out, Byakki ran away from the other demons after her bandages were unwrapped and her true form was revealed—an incident that also left Enju bedridden for a few days. With Enju finally awake again, her attendent Sainoki informs her that they’ve located Byakki; however, Enju feels she’s not suited to rule the demons after being rejected by her. Sainoki reassures her though, so Enju tells her to contact Inamochi, who apparently has an item that she wants. Back at school, Tooru runs into Byakki after taking care of cleaning duty, but Enju’s men also arrive, asking him to hand her over. Outside, Tsukuyomi and Bekira arrive as well, having located Byakki, and surprise Kuugen with their presence and knowledge of the situation. While Kuugen doesn’t intend to fight the fearsome Byakki, Tsukuyomi suggests that she cooperate with him to assure Tooru’s safety, claiming that he’s someone that protected her once and it would be good if she remembered. Now in the school field, Byakki drains the energy from all her pursuers, causing them to eventually flee, while Tooru feels inclined to do something for Byakki since she came to him.

Elsewhere, Inamochi is discussing with a female Gyokuyou about what’s happening and how she’s possibly doing this because she’s lonely. When Inamochi mentions that Enju and Tomine will be arriving soon, Gyokuyou says that perhaps Deima might as well this time.

 

Next Episode:
「お稲荷さま。追いかける」 (Oinari-sama. Oikakeru)
“Oinari-sama. Chases”

Impressions:
While watching Mubyou stroll along with her guardian lion-dogs at the beginning of this episode, I was thinking “ask and you shall receive” after talking about wanting to see more of her last time, but it turned out to be just a tease (to me). I guess I can’t complain if it’s going to this or no screen time at all though.

As for the focus of the episode, it was more of Shiro/Byakki as suspected, and Tooru still being depressed about parting with her over a week ago (both our time and his). While I’m still uncertain what Shiro’s intention is with him, especially from the preview for the next episode, it was nice to see her come back looking for Tooru this time around. As cute as Shiro was in her bundled up form, I find she has a lot more appeal with her bandages unwrapped a bit and a more grown up body. In her current form, we can also see some of the markings on her body that Tsukuyomi and Berika made reference to before. Given how Tooru is always the target of youkai, it’s ironic how he became so attached to one (and a demon no less), but hey, to each his own. It looks like he’ll have his hands full with this older-looking demon though. In any case, there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding Shiro, but the next episode should wrap things up according to Tenko’s narration. Subsequently, we should find out more about Tsukuyomi, Berika, and last but not least, Inamochi, who was revealed to be working with Gyokuyou at the end. I was predicting that Gyokuyou would make an appearance again soon, but I didn’t quite expect her to be the one scheming things, and in a female form no less (played by Takahashi Mikako, Yamada Ayumi in Honey and Clover). It looks like Kuugen has some rivalry in the sexy kitsune department now.

As for extra tidbits, there were some Enju fan-service shots which were an unexpected “treat”, and a small role by Yoshida Hitomi as Sainoki. (Hitomi is one half of the duo that performs the opening song.) Also, Momiji’s brief appearance where she stated that Noboru has a “delicious smell” to him left me wondering what she meant by that, much like Misaki was. In short, it made me think she either really wants the heir of Mizuchi or she’s a youkai herself. (I’m thinking the former, but this isn’t that kind of show…)

In a somewhat strange turn of events, the preview shown last week did not reflect this week’s episode at all, which makes me suspect that some last minute rewriting happened. Either that, or they aired the preview scenes for next week’s episode, because there was no oversized youkai battle this time around, imaginary or otherwise.

Next time, Tooru gets dragged into some ritual while Kuugen desperately tries to save him. It seems like this mini arc of the series will go out with a bit of a bang, assuming that preview is correct this time.

 

Cast:
– Tenko Kuugen (天狐 空幻) / Yukana (ゆかな)
– Tenko Kuugen (天狐 空幻) / Nakamura Yuuichi (中村 悠一)
– 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)
– Sakura Misaki (佐倉 美咲) / Kano Yui (鹿野 優以)
– Miyabe Momiji (宮部 紅葉) / Itou Shizuka (伊藤 静)
– Mubyou (六瓢) / Mizuhashi Kaori (水橋 かおり)
– Enju (槐) / Asakawa Yuu (浅川 悠)
– Tsukuyomi (月読) / Kugimiya Rie (釘宮 理恵)
– Bekira (汨羅) / Asano Masumi (浅野 真澄)
– Gyokuyou (玉耀) / Takahashi Mikako (高橋 美佳子)
– Inamochi (イナモチ) / Hirata Hiroaki (平田 広明)
– Handa Takashi (半田 隆) / Takeda Hana (武田 華)
– Kubota Shuuichi (久保田 秋一) / Ishikawa Ayano (石川 綾乃)
– Shimenogi (シメノギ) / Nakayama Masahiro (山中 真尋)
– Haruniwa (ハルニワ) / Anzai Ryuuta (安齋 龍太)
– Azuma (アズマ) / Nagai Takanori (永井 孝則)
– Sainoki (サイノキ) / Yoshida Hitomi (吉田 仁美)

18 Comments

  5. Sakura Misaki is so cute and adorable with her wild imagination, can’t help but laugh whenever i see her imagination running wild.
    But there are so many cute and sexy female character in this anime: Tenko Kuugen, Kou, Miyabe Momiji, Enju, Gyokuyou, and last but not least Shiro/Byakki.

    Mike
    Reply

  6. O.o Looking forward to more Misaki Vs. Momiji/Kuu/Kou, gotta love that girl’s ramblings. To be honest, it’s more entertaining to watch Noboru’s scenes than Tohru’s.

    X
    Reply

  10. I have doubts about the preview scenes as I had read the light novel. Yes, they had animated out the most of the story plot + some fan-services. However, they are playing with the preview scenes.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    tylon
    Reply

  13. It’s not just that their hair colors are different, but Tama-chan and Momiji seem to be after different objectives. Momiji could take Noboru any time she feels like doing so; she would not need some elaborate scheme involving a powerful mail-order demon for this. On the flip side, Tama-chan does not seem to have anything to do with Noboru.

    And then there is the fact that different women play Momiji and Tama-chan in its “female” form.

    I think it is natural to have suspected at least once that Momiji=Tama-chan. I did, too. But seeing the way the story is unfolding, I now doubt the connection.

    My favorite scene in the entire show has been Momiji singing “to” Noboru during the school festival. When she comes out of nowhere and then when she first notices Noboru during her performance and then when she holds her gaze on him, these moments startled me and left me very intrigued. 🙂 I can’t wait to see what Momiji’s tale has in store for us. But if the pattern holds once more, the OP animation seems to suggest that her story arc will follow immediately after the Shiro arc.

    @Divine:
    As with the teasing sightings of Momiji, Mubyou’s brief appearances seem to suggest that the tale of the puppet goddess is not over. I would be very disappointed if Mubyou was no longer an integral part of the story. However, what intrigues me most about Mubyou is her mercurial temperament: specifically, I like how she shifts suddenly between warm and cheerful to foreboding and threatening and then back again. My favorite moment with her was when she crushes that pay phone outside the convenience store, makes a real threat to bludgen Ebisu, and then turns to little Tooru, who is standing right beside her, to tell him with a cheery warm smile, “[I’m] just kidding [about harming or even murdering Ebisu]!” Now that she has her head back on straight, I don’t know if we will get to see the same loveably deranged goddess again. :/

    The Hand of Guren
    Reply

  14. Yeah, Gotta love how Mubyou’s mood changes drastically depending on who’s she’s talking to or dealing with. =) Mizuhashi Kaori does a good job in bringing that aspect of her character out too.

    divine
    Reply

  16. Actually I find Noboru more interesting to watch than Tohru, it would’ve been better if the story revolves around Noboru. Why? Cuz I like how Noboru deals with all the supernatural stuff, like when the Real Mubyou was looking for the head of Mizuchi, and Noboru just ignored her. Plus I find him hilarious, the way he is oblivious to Sakura and how he is always concerned with money. This is why I look forward to Momiji, since finally someone who isn’t after Tohru.

    Z
    Reply

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