Wagaya no Oinari-sama. – 18

「お稲荷さま。思い出をもらう」 (Oinari-sama. Omoide wo Morau)
“Oinari-sama. Gets Memories”

Episode at a Glance:
While being attacked by Enju’s new product, Deima, Shiro soon finds out that it has no soul for her to absorb life force from. Realizing this, Shiro leads it away from Tooru and unleashes a barrage of fire spells, which seem ineffective as well. During this time, Inamochi takes his leave, while Tomine suggests using this opportunity to kill Tooru, so a new parent can be selected for Byakki. Nearby, Bekira feels that not having the Sakasaen will be troublesome, but gets permission from Tsukuyomi to commence her medical treatment on Byakki. Kuugen arrives shortly after and catches sight of Deima, so she interrogates the demons on where they got it from. After learning that Enju and Tomine are responsible, Kuugen inadvertently gets some of her life force absorbed by Shiro. Thinking of Tooru though, she manages to regain enough strength to save him from Tomine.

Meanwhile, Shiro launches Deima into the black cat taxi and begins casting a fire spell; however, Bekira detonates the car, injuring both Shiro and Kuugen in the process. Deima survives the explosion though, but Kou appears and quickly takes it out with the Sakasaen. Kou then concludes that Bekira’s “medical treatment” is merely a sealing technique, so she decides to stop her for Tooru’s sake. Noboru then arrives and notices Shiro in her true form, who suddenly speaks to Tooru for the first time. On the rooftop, Tsukuyomi tries to inform Bekira that the impact from the explosion seems to have awakened Byakki’s ruler form, so she needs to cast the spell before the spirits gather. Much to his surprise though, Kuugen appears saying that she’s preoccupied with Kou and figures that Tsukuyomi fears Byakki’s ability to command the spirits now. Stating that she’s now weakened though, Tsukuyomi asks Kuugen to let him seal her away, but she refuses saying it’ll make Tooru sad. After opposing the other alternative of killing her instead, Kuugen agrees to let Tsukuyomi seal her when he suggests that Tooru will be targeted by demons forever if they leave things the way they are.

Calling for Noboru over the open phone line, Kuugen manages to get his attention and asks him to tell Kou to stop fighting Bekira and allow her to seal Shiro. While Kou and Bekira continue fighting in the background, Noboru finds this decision rather extreme, so Kuugen asks to speak to Tooru herself. After listening to Kuugen’s explanation, Tooru decides to let Bekira seal Shiro in order to save her from being killed. As Bekira removes two sacks of fluid from her chest (which were kept there to keep them at body temperature), she explains that injecting this into Byakki will only put her to sleep. Meanwhile, Enju has her men restrain Tomine after hearing from Tsukuyomi how he planned to turn on them with Byakki. Hearing how he feels she’s powerless, Enju questions Tomine if he even thinks of the demons sake, so he simply tells her that he did before, but doesn’t any longer. Enju however expresses that she still thinks of the demons sake and surely will from now on.

After receiving the injection, Shiro tells Tooru that she left his house because she was scared of the Sakasaen, and came looking for him at school instead. When Tooru asks why she wanted to see him so badly, Shiro reminds him of how he told her to become part of his family. Seeing Tooru as more than the parent she was instinctively bound to, Shiro soon falls asleep and is taken away by Bekira. With Tooru barely able to hold back the tears, Noboru tries to cheer him up by saying first loves never go well and offers to make him omelette rice at home. Elsewhere, Kuugen manages to get ahold of Inamochi and interrogates him about where he got his hands on a Deima. However, he simply confirms that only “he” can make them and claims the plan to get rid of the Mizuchis failed, despite having outwit the Hokangakari. As he melts away, Kuugen questions why he/she (i.e. Gyokuyou) did such a thing, but as a mere familiar, Inamochi just suggests that it was for her sake.

At the river bank, Kuugen runs into Gyokuyou, who confirms that she did a spirit summoning for Noboru and Tooru. With Gyokuyou wondering why she isn’t mad at all, Kuugen is reminded of how Miyako once worried about the same thing, but she was indifferent to taking revenge on humans then as well. Claiming that she’s forgotten all the hateful and painful feelings because they’re unneccessary, Kuugen says she stays by humans because she needs the good memories. Gyokuyou on the other hand expresses how unfair that is since she remembers all her hateful and painful memories, so Kuugen suggests that she hasn’t made any happy memories. After being asked if she has, Kuugen says that she has and continues to do so even now; therefore, Gyokuyou no longer needs to look out for her. As they part ways, Kuugen proclaims that she’s already satsified and later tells Tooru how her and Gyokuyou were born from the same mother. Thinking how he would be angry if Noboru was sealed away for several hundreds of years, Tooru is happy to see that Kuugen only remembers the fun memories and hopes that Shiro does to.

Elsewhere, Shimenogi reminds Enju of how they all often played kageokuri when they were kids, so she tells him to gather everyone in order to create a once in a lifetime shadow in the sky.

 

Next Episode:
「お稲荷さま。芋を焼く」 (Oinari-sama. Imo wo Yaku)
“Oinari-sama. Roasts Potatoes”

Impressions:
I’m not quite sure what to make of the ending of this mini arc, as everything concluded quite quickly. This, in conjunction with the past four episodes, made this episode feel a bit anti-climactic, especially when you consider the preview shots that never saw the light of day. Also, the detailed explanations last time got my expectations for this arc up a bit, so I was surprised that Kuugen and Tsukuyomi resolved things peacefully at the mere mention of Tooru’s safety. While I realize Kuugen prioritizes the well-being of Tooru and Noboru above all else, it was only a few moments ago (i.e. the end of the last episode) when she was doubting the intentions of the Shinzoku. At that point, I couldn’t help but think that some conflict would occur between the two. Likewise, I felt that Tooru accepted Kuugen’s decision to let Tsukuyomi and Bekira reseal Shiro a bit too easily. On another note, I’m curious to know what happened to Mubyou too, who was with Kuugen not too long before this.

So the culprit in the Shiro-being-delivered-to-Tooru mishap is none other than Gyokuyou, who wanted to exact revenge on the Mizuchis for Kuugen’s sake. Seeing as they revealed that the two of them are related (i.e. share the same mother), I could understand Gyokuyou’s reasons for wanting to do so; however, her scheme seemed a bit too elaborate if that was her goal. With Inamochi being a mere familiar of hers, it did raise some questions about where Deima came from, something that only “he” can make, so perhaps this is foreshadowing for later on. On the other hand, my suspicions about Tomine proved true, but his more forceful means of re-establishing power amongst the demons was pretty irrelevant in the overall scale of things.

To me, what this arc ultimately comes down to is depicting Kuugen’s lack of a grudge towards the Mizuchis and how she feels that there are more important things than dwelling on hatred. Not a bad lesson I guess. On a production-related note, the scene on the river bank looked particularly good and really helped set the mood. I also really like the slow remixed version of the opening song, “KI-ZU-NA ~Haruka Naru Mono he”, played during this scene, so I’m hoping it’ll be on the soundtrack.

 

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)
– Enju (槐) / Asakawa Yuu (浅川 悠)
– Takagami Miyako (高上 美夜子) / Horie Yui (堀江 由衣)
– Tsukuyomi (月読) / Kugimiya Rie (釘宮 理恵)
– Shiro (シロ) / 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)
– Tomine (トミネ) / Okiayu Ryoutarou (置鮎 龍太郎)
– Shimenogi (シメノギ) / Nakayama Masahiro (山中 真尋)
– Naguma (ナグマ) / Furusawa Tooru (古澤 徹)
– Azuma (アズマ) / Nagai Takanori (永井 孝則)
– Deima (泥目) / Fujii Keisuke (藤井 啓輔)
– Black cat driver (黒猫運転者) / Anzai Ryuuta (安齋 龍太)