Wagaya no Oinari-sama. – 05

「お稲荷さま。禁忌を侵す」 (Oinari-sama. Kinki wo Okasu)
“Oinari-sama. Commits a Taboo”

With Tooru sleeping on her tail, Kuugen notices a mark on the back of his neck. When Tooru wakes up, Kuugen asks if he would want her power — the power to obtain anything — but Tooru says he doesn’t really care for it, which reminds Kuugen of how Miyako once responded the same way. This prompts Kuugen to ask if Tooru wants to meet his mother, but he’s indifferent to the idea.

Kuugen then asks Noboru to make her inarizushi (稲荷寿司) for dinner, which results in a very eager Kou saying she’ll help. Fearing the damages she’ll cause, Noboru sends Kou off grocery shopping instead, during which she runs into Kuugen. By bowing her head, Kuugen is able to get some money from Kou to buy sake with, which she later pours into a nearby river. Doing so, summons a hashihime (橋姫) (lit. “bridge princess”), who Kuugen asks if she’s seen any female human spirits come by here. As it turns out, Kuugen was told earlier by Ebisu that Miyako’s spirit is still wandering around this land. Despite being warned that it’s a taboo to summon a deceased spirit, punishable by the nearby shrine god Ebisu, Kuugen walks off determined to do it, saying it’s for a friend. Talking about this causes Kuugen to recall how she first met Miyako, who also gave her the nickname “Kuu-chan”.

At dinner, Tooru passes on a message from Ebisu to Kuugen, saying not to wake any deceased spirits tonight just because there’s a full moon. While Tooru doesn’t understand, Kuugen says it’s already too late and teleports everyone outside by the river stream, along with the dinner table. There, Kuugen performs a dance ritual and tells Kou not to let the others leave the barrier they’re in. Ebisu arrives shortly after and tells the others exactly what Kuugen is doing. Ebisu then chooses to intervene, so Kou tries to stop him, but is easily brushed aside. Being such a high-level technique, Kuugen is exhausted from completing the ritual, but the door to the other world still hasn’t quite opened yet, thanks to Ebisu.

Realizing that Ebisu’s in the way, Kuugen tries to attack him in a black fog, but can’t quite do anything since she’s low on spirit power. Forced to release the fog, Kuugen says she’d rather die than lose a part of her body, so Ebisu says her hair will do. Ebisu then asks nicely, but Kuugen still refuses and resists, so he summons his komainu (狛犬) “guardian lion-dogs”, Kouga and Eiga, to exploit Noboru and Tooru’s safety as her weakness. Despite Tooru’s offering of inarizushi (which the komainu happily accepted), they’re ordered to attack the Takagamis, so Kuugen reluctantly gives in and cuts off her hair for Ebisu. Shortly after, Kou collapses from holding up the barrier all this time.

With Ebisu gone, the spirit of Miyako arrives and talks to everyone in the same cheerful mood she had in life. After being impressed by the sight of Noboru’s cooking, Miyako shows Tooru that she has the same mark on the back of her neck. Because of this, she says Tooru’s like her, while Noboru’s like their father. Kuugen then tells Miyako that it’s about time she goes or her spirit might get lost again, so she departs. After Miyako leaves, Tooru wishes he had more time to talk to his mother, while Kuugen whines about starving after all that dancing. Wiping away his tears, Tooru thanks Kuugen and gives his plate of inarizashi to her.

Later on, Ebisu talks to the hashihime about how he can make two or three Japanese style bracelets out of Kuugen’s hair to sell. When asked if that’s the reason why he tempted Kuugen into summoning a deceased spirit to begin with, Ebisu says of course, since she wouldn’t have given her hair to him if he just asked.

 

Next Episode:
「お稲荷さま。食い倒れる」 (Oinari-sama. Kuidaoreru)
“Oinari-sama. Eats to One’s Content”

As suspected from last week’s preview, the taboo commited by Kuugen was to summon Miyako’s deceased spirit so that Tooru could meet her. The memories that Kuugen recalled showed us more of what Miyako was like when she was a kid. As it turns out, she has quite a nack for hugging people to death. On another note, watching them eat an entire plate of inarizushi (sushi that is rice in a fried tofu pouch), made me realize that I hadn’t eaten it in a while, despite eating sushi fairly often as of late. (Watashi mo tabetai yo!)

Ebisu on the other hand has shown that he’s quite a powerful god (more so than Kuugen, a supposed “imitation god”, anyway), but he still goes through a lot of trouble to get the little things he wants. Last time, he had Kuugen destroy a nearby shine so that construction repair workers would be drawn to his convenience store, but this time he gets her to cut off her hair and give it to him as a penalty for committing the taboo. The reason being? So he can make things Japanese style bracelets out of it. :\ Strange god to say the least, but funny nonetheless. So while Ebisu is apparently really powerful, he seems more mischiveous (in a harmless way) than anything else.

Next week it looks like we’ll see more of Misaki, who’s troubled about getting closer to Noboru when he’s living with two cute girls. In that regard, I’m quite interested to see how much more they delve into this romantic sub-plot, since I’d like to see more of Misaki myself.

 

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)
– Takagami Miyako (高上 美夜子) / Horie Yui (堀江 由衣)
– Oobaba-sama (大ばば様) / Sadaoka Sayuri (定岡 小百合)
– Hashihime (橋姫) / Kubota Tamie (久保田 民絵)
– Kouga (光牙) / Kushida Yasumichi (櫛田 泰道)
– Eiga (影牙) / Anzai Ryuuta (安斎 龍太)