(Neo): Hello. I’m Neo.
(Yume): I’m Yume. Good day.
(Mira): Salutations. I’m Mira, and welcome to Project Nitsuj.
(Yume): Well it’s March which means it’s time once again for the AI girls to take over and do a review.
(Mira): But what review would require the combination of three AI girls you ask? Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi.
(Neo): Also known as Afterlife Inn Cooking or Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits this was a light novel written by Midori Yūma in 2015 and still continuing to this day. The best way to describe this series is Spirited Away fused with Kamisama Hajimemashita and sprinkle in some Food Wars minus the ecchi scenes.
(Yume): While the series had a following it went roughly unnoticed until 2018 when the series would get an anime produced by Gonzo of all people. This was a studio that for the longest time was struggling. The animes that they were producing were mediocre or bad, so to see them produce an anime of this caliber really shocked everyone.
(Mira): The anime was a big hit with fans and newcomers and got positive reviews all around. For years people have been asking Nitsuj to review it, but you shouldn’t send a man to do an AI’s job. And since we’re all big fans of the series we’ve figured we check it out together. So let’s dive right into Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Neo): The opening for this anime is “Tomoshibi no Manimani” by Nao Toyama. This is a very song. The blending of traditional festival music with rock music is excellent here and Nao sings with passion throughout the song. I heard that Nitsuj put this as his favorite opening from 2018 and I can see why. It’s a beautiful song that perfectly sums up this anime. Blending the majestic beauty of the past with the energy of the present.
(Yume): The ending is “Sai-color” by Manami Numakura. It’s a very relaxing song. I know a lot of people skipped over this ending but the song is very beautiful and relaxing. In fact, it’s a lot better than I remember it being when I first watched it.
Episodes 1-4
(Yume): We begin the anime with the main girl Aoi voiced by Nao Toyama (Chiho from The Devil is a Part-Timer), a girl who has the ability to see spirits. She’s had this ability ever since she was a child and because of it, her mother abandoned her (Neo: What is with moms being freaked out by their child seeing spirits?). She was later adopted by her grandfather Shiro who looked after her until his death, could also see spirits, and taught her how to cook for survival saying that by offering spirits food they’ll remain docile (Mira: It’s also good for you and saves you money on ordering out). Aoi is now an adult and often gives food to spirits she comes across (she’s treating spirits like ducks at a pond or pigeons in a park). One day, she comes across a powerful spirit at a shrine asking for food and not wanting the spirit to attack an unsuspecting human, she gives the spirit her lunch. When she passes by the shrine later on, she sees that the spirit left her a gift only to open it and get pulled into the hidden realm (aka the spirit world. (Mira): Which looks like Edo period Japan. Not that I’m complaining). Once there she finds herself in the spirit inn Tenjin-ya run by a handsome ogre named Odanna voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi (Kamina from Gurren Lagann) who says that Aoi will be his bride (Neo: Alright, she hit the jackpot). Aoi of course says no (Neo: Are you crazy!? You hit the motherload. He’s handsome, strong, and the owner of an established inn. (Yume): You’re practically set for life) but she doesn’t have much say in the matter as Shiro sold her off to pay off a debt he owes Odanna which is about 100 million yen. Aoi says she’ll work at the inn in order to pay off the debt and Odanna allows it however he won’t protect her should any of the other spirits attack her and try to eat her (Mira: Yeah, Shiro should have taught her how to fight. I mean, the cooking was good, but still, sometimes a spirit needs a good old fashion ass kicking to calm them down. (Yume): A knuckle sandwich perhaps?). As she tries to fall asleep trying to take in everything that’s happened she gets a visit from Ginji the adorable 9-tailed fox who’s sort of like the second in command at Tenjin-ya (and just so adorable). He’s voiced by newcomer Shun’ichi Toki and has eight other forms that he can turn into (Mira: So he matches everyone’s fetish. Fascinating. (Neo): Hey Yume, do have any other forms? (Yume): Yes, but not as many as him. I can only turn myself into a cuddly fox or a little child. Besides, with my eyes of illusions I can appear however I want to people anytime. (Mira): Hmm, good point. So, does this mean the Yume we’re seeing right now is the real you or just an illusion? (Yume): That’s for me to know and for you to find out). He gives her some food and tries to convince her to reconsider and marry Odanna but she still says no. The next day she tries to find work at the inn but nobody wants her (Neo: I ain’t paying for no VISA) until she comes across a small restaurant in a garden just outside the inn. The restaurant was created by Ginji for customers who got tired of the inn’s food (too expansive) but it didn’t get that many customers so he’s closing the place down. Aoi makes him some food as a way to thank him for last night (I’ll thank you for last night) and after eating her food and loving it, he encourages her to make the small restaurant into her own restaurant.
In episode 2 after Ginji suggests that Aoi open up her own restaurant to pay her debt she’s unsure if that’s a good idea (Neo: How can it not be a good idea? You’re doing what you love and you’re making money off it. That’s like everyone’s dream). As she’s making dishes to calm her nerves, she hears a commotion coming from the inn and goes to investigate it where we see the commotion is being caused by the tengu who are complaining about the boring food and the chef unwilling to make new dishes (Mira: They knew what they were in for when they decided to stay here). This causes a fight to break out in the inn with Odanna being forced to step in and tells Aoi to scram in a very cold manner. She goes back to the restaurant where she comes across a tengu named Matsuba who got drunk and fell off a flying ship (FUI). Aoi takes care of him and even feeds him where we find out he was good friends with Shiro who saved his life. Matsuba talks a little about Shiro such as how he was a free-spirited man who was reckless and irresponsible but still a likable man who had a good heart (sounds like 90% of shonen protagonist). He thanks her for the food calling it delicious and takes his leave only to return the next morning to thank her in front of everyone and apologize for the behavior of the tengu last night (Neo: From now on you guys are limited to two drinks). He also gives Aoi a fan a highly valued treasured among the tengu and even invites her to stay with the tengu but she declines saying she wants to pay off Shiro’s debt (scene here: https://youtu.be/LEXHEluGNEo). Matsuba understands but before leaving he encourages her to open up a restaurant saying that he’ll become a regular. After hearing this and seeing another spirit want to try her food, Aoi goes to Odanna and says she wants to open a restaurant. He tells her it’ll be difficult (Neo: Not really, she has a building and a good location. All she needs is suppliers and she’ll be good to go) but she wants to try anyway, and he says okay (Mira: He’s an interesting fellow. First he’s cold to her then he’s nice to her, https://youtu.be/KCvhDgiZ0IM).
In episode 3 we get to see more of Odanna’s charming side. As a thank you for patching things up with the tengu, Odanna brings Aoi to Youto the capital city of the hidden realm. Once there the two go on somewhat of a date where Aoi has to wear a mask to conceal the fact that she’s human or the other spirits will eat her (I hear human is good this time of year). They go to a restaurant where Odanna treats her to meal and we get to meet Suzuran a spirit who’s a geisha and the younger sister of Akatsuki a manager who works at Tenjin-ya. She also knew Shiro but Odanna keeps it a secret that Shiro has passed away. After eating, Aoi gets separated from Odanna in the crowd and winds up going down a dark alleyway (Neo: Okay, when is going down a dark alleyway in a city ever a good idea? That’s like asking to get attacked) where she gets attacked by O-Ryo, a snow woman and a hostess at Tenjin-ya who has the hots for Odanna (Mira: He makes her melt) and doesn’t like Aoi being his future wife. She uses her snow to remove Aoi’s mask and reveal that she’s a human which alerts all the spirits in the area who want to eat her. But before they can attack her she takes out her tengu fan and swings it which creates a large gust of wind which blasts the spirits away (Neo: Woah, no wonder everybody wanted a tengu fan). Aoi confronts O-Ryo on her stunt (throw down in the alleyway) but it gets interrupted by Suzuran who is being chased by the hidden realm’s version of the police (Mira: It’s a the 5-0, the streets aren’t street). Aoi hides her and Odanna shows up where we find out Suzuran got sold off to the son of a powerful clothing shop in Youto who is a woman-chaser and plans to marry her (such lechery and treatment of women is unforgivable). Odanna tries to sneak her out of the city and onto to a ship so he can take her back to Tenjin-ya but the spirit who bought her and the police show up to get her back. We get a short and not so flashy fight scene where Odanna saves Aoi from an arrow and she returns the favor by using her tengu fan to protect Odanna (Mira: She likes him. He could have easily dodged them and she knows it). They manage to escape with Aoi earning the nickname Ogre Bride since it’s revealed that she’ll be marrying Odanna. They reunite Suzuran with her brother and O-Ryo gets in trouble for not only endangering Aoi’s life but for also leaving the inn unattended when she was put in charge (ohh~, you would so be fired if I was in charged). She gets told to wait in her room for punishment (Neo: Hopefully it’s the sexy kind) and as the episode ends a spirit named Kasuga (a tanuki) comes running in to Aoi’s restaurant with O-Ryo who has collapsed on them (Mira: So we’re getting an O-Ryo episode next. (Neo): This should be interesting).
Episode 4 is a relaxing episode. It starts with Aoi treating O-Ryo who has caught a fever after she was standing around fire for so long last episode (I’m surprise she didn’t melt). In order to cure her fever, Aoi has to give her cold food so she makes tofu ice cream (Mira: Nutritious and delicious. The best of both worlds). At first O-Ryo refuses to eat anything from a woman she supposedly hates (Neo: Fine! Where’s the heating fan?) but her attitude changes when she gets hungry and she enjoys the meal. Aoi makes her another dish and they eat together where O-Ryo talks about her past. She came from a poor family where she was sold off to work as a maid for some rich spirit and treated rather harshly because she was a country bumpkin (no matter where you go, you’ll always find prejudice). One day O-Ryo’s mistress and her were going to Tenjin-ya where O-Ryo slipped and broke a rare plate. The mistress was furious and began scolding and beating her until Odanna stepped in and stopped her. He made the preparations to transfer O-Ryo to Tenjin-ya and since then she’s been working hard to get Odanna’s attention and show him how much she’s grown but after a while he stopped paying attention to her (Neo: And then Aoi came and all of his attention was on her). After hearing the story, Aoi decides to go and check in on Suzuran where she and Akatsuki are having a sibling fight. We find out that Suzuran and Akatsuki are originally from the apparent realm (Mira: Our realm) and are actually earth spiders (Mira: Spiders. I hate those things). Akatsuki would attack and kill people until he was finally got taken down by Shiro who took them both in, looked after them, and eventually handed them over to Odanna (Mira: Shiro really did lead an interesting life). While Suzuran thanks Shiro for everything he did for them, Akatsuki can’t stand the guy. Suzuran now wants to go back to the apparent realm and see Shiro again (Neo: I’ve got some bad news for you) but Akatsuki is against it because the apparent realm has become dangerous for spirits and food is scarce. They fight in their earth spider forms where Suzuran manages to beat Akatsuki by throwing him out the window (web-swing you fool! Web-swing). During the fight, Aoi spills tofu ice cream on her head so Odanna gets her cleaned up and they chat a little bit while having some tea (even inviting her to stay the night. A little pre-marital sex never hurt anyone). She declines and heads back where the next morning she comes across Akatsuki still in his earth spider form and injured so Aoi has to tend to him as well even though he doesn’t want her help (Mira: Don’t let me get the newspaper).
Episodes 5-9
(Neo): Episode 5 is a quick episode. Despite knowing that Shiro is dead, Suzuran is still determined to go to the apparent realm. Not wanting the siblings to leave on a bad note, Aoi convinces Akatsuki to help her make Shiro’s dumplings which were Suzuran’s favorite meal from him. They make the dumplings, she enjoys them, and the next day rolls around where she’s about to go to the apparent realm but Youto shows up and tries to capture Suzuran so he can make her his wife (girls hate guys who are too pushy Youto). Akatsuki defends Suzuran’s wagon where Aoi is asked by Odanna to show her around and watch after her until she finds a safe spot. Aoi and Suzuran arrive in the apparent realm where the first thing they do is visit Shiro’s grave and Suzuran just vanishes finding a safe spot to stay at. Aoi does a little shopping and returns where she’s greeted by Odanna who welcomes her back to the hidden realm.
In episode 6, Aoi is putting the finishing touches on her restaurant named Moonflower which will be opening tomorrow night. We get some interesting events throughout the episode such as Aoi getting attacked by a mystery intruder but gets saved by Sasuke (not the emo one everyone’s thinking about) a kamaitachi who along with other kamaitachi act as security guards for Tenjin-ya and groundskeepers (Mira: This way, we save on money). Sasuke manages to fight off the intruder who escapes into the night and Aoi gives him a free meal for saving her (Yume: He’s so adorable. Hard to believe he’s 80 years old). He thanks her for the meal and talks about his time with Shiro and how much he respected and admired him. The next day Odanna and Ginji take Aoi into town to treat her to some good food and take her to a shrine where they pray for the prosperity of her restaurant. That night, Aoi officially opens Moonflower and her first guests are the tengus who party all night (Mira: Who knew tengus were party animals? (Baron and Corbin): We knew). The first night is a huge success but a week passes and she doesn’t get anymore guests (somebody must be trolling her on yelp). The episode ends with Aoi and Ginji being called to the accounting office (Yume: Oh boy, that’s not good) and meeting the chief accountant, Byakuya.
So in episode 7 Aoi and Ginji have come face to face with Byakuya who tells them that Moonflower isn’t doing well (https://youtu.be/uqkY2nCf2xU) and that they have until the end of the month to grow or they’ll shut the place down and force Aoi to marry Odanna (which again I say go for it. He obviously likes you and you’re slowly but surely falling for him). As Aoi and Ginji try to figure out what to do to increase growth, O-Ryo shows up with a request (Mira: Opportunity comes walking in). She wants Aoi to make a bento for a spirit named Hakkabou, a writer who doesn’t eat much when he’s in the middle of writing (Yume: Oh I’ve been there. Nitsuj does the same thing whenever he’s in the middle of writing something). Afraid that he’ll collapse from hunger (Mira: That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen) so O-Ryo asks Aoi if she can make a good bento for him to eat. Aoi says yes and creates a bento that’s easy for Hakkabou to eat and won’t distract him from writing. We get another nice scene between Aoi and Odanna where he takes her up to the hot springs, they have hot spring eggs, and he even encourages her not to give up and to keep going (Yume: Oh my God, why do you not want to marry this guy again?). A week goes by and Aoi receives a visit from Hakkabou who is a nyudo-bozu (Yume: Basically tanuki only not as big). He’s leaving soon and wanted to stop by and thank Aoi for the bentos she made for him throughout the week. When he finds out that Aoi is the granddaughter of Shiro as well as Odanna’s future wife he runs out of the restaurant because inspiration has struck him. Later on, Ginji suggests Aoi make sweets from the apparent realm since spirits actually like our sweets. Aoi likes this idea and decides to make azuki milk gelatin as a test run. She receives a visit from a little girl who’s actually a zashiki-warashi (we’ve talked about these guys before in the past but here’s a quick recap. They’re spirits in the form of little children who bring prosperity to a business or household) and gives her some azuki gelatin which she likes. As a thank you, the girl gives Aoi her toy ball (Mira: Well I suppose she can sell it for 2 or 3 bucks. (Yume): Really? (Mira): You’re right. $1.50). After this business starts to pick up for Aoi as she has a full house each day (Yume: Zashiki-warashi did a good job. (Neo): There was also Hakkabou’s article about the restaurant but I agree it was mostly the zashiki-warashi). At the end of the month Byakuya is impressed with the success of the restaurant and allows it to stay open. He also tells Aoi the Imperial family wants to try her food as well and she accepts the offer.
In episode 8 Aoi starts working on a menu for the Imperial family but since she doesn’t know much about them, her menu planning comes to a halt. In order to get information she decides to asks Byakuya where as she’s walking down the mountain discovers his dark secret, he loves playing and taking care of tube cats (aww~). Byakuya reveals that Ritsuko, the wife of the Imperial lord Nuinnoin comes from the apparent realm meaning she’s a human woman just like Aoi (Mira: I highly doubt she was sold off to pay a debt like Aoi). When they were dating they would often go to western restaurants in the apparent realm (Yume: McDonald’s) and this gives Aoi the idea to create western dishes that’ll send them down memory lane but she’ll need ingredients. Ginji says there’s a market in the eastern land that sells western food and ingredients that they can go to but Odanna doesn’t want her go as he’ll be unable to go with her because of a meeting (and since she’s been attacked or kidnapped almost every time she goes out, it’s probably not a good idea to go anywhere without him. Scene here: https://youtu.be/6pG6uMJpHxU). After bribing him with food, Odanna agrees to let her go but she has to promise to stay with Ginji at all times. He also gives her a necklace which contains ogre fire. As they continue to talk a thunder beast passes over the inn where we discover that Aoi is terrified of lightning and thunder (Yume: Wow, never pegged her to have any fears). Luckily, Odanna is there to calm her down and offer soft words to keep her mind off the lightning (Mira: *sighs* So romantic. Scene here: https://youtu.be/1fKvoRIF4ec). The next day Aoi and Ginji head out to the eastern land and get the ingredients they need for Aoi’s menu. Aoi spots a blonde woman in the crowd and unwillingly chases after her unable to control her body. She gets knocked out, kidnapped, and wakes up in some storage room where her captors say she’ll remain for 2 days until the imperial family’s visit is over.
(Mira): At the start of episode 9 Aoi gets saved by Odanna who skipped his meeting between the other lords in order to save her (he truly does have a troublesome bride). Aoi wakes up the next day where we find out that the spirits who kidnapped her were the assistant chefs from Tenjin-ya’s kitchen. They didn’t like Aoi stealing away their customers, so they tried to sabotage her (endangering the bride of your master? That was dumb of them). The head chef decides to take responsibility for the behavior of his workers and resigns but Aoi won’t let him until she tastes the full course meal of Tenjin-ya. But that will have to wait as Aoi has to prepare for the Imperial couple who will arrive within four hours. Aoi serves a fantastic set of appetizers, main dish, and dessert which were all so good that it moved Ritsuko to tears as it reminded her of her hometown. After the meal Aoi faints from overworking and gets looked after by Ginji who believes that it wasn’t just the assistant chefs who were after Aoi but someone much stronger and dangerous.
Episodes 10-13
In episode 10, Aoi has fully recovered and will be reopening soon just in time for Tanabata. She receives a visit from Ritsuko who wanted to thank her for the wonderful meal and present her with a rainbow hagoromo (Yume: Oh I’m so jealous). We also hear the story of how Ritsuko met Nuinnoin. The two met at a bookstore where they developed a relationship through their love of books. One day, Nuinnoin disappeared without a word and as time went on Ritsuko unfortunately lost her family in the war. Just when she was at her lowest point, Nuinnoin appeared, took her to the hidden realm, and promised to be with her until the end of time (Neo: And how did she respond to him being a spirit? (Mira): It only served to make her thirstier. (Yume): Kinky). After that, the Tanabata festival goes off without a hitch and Aoi gazes into the night sky with Odanna who came to spend time with her and even stays the night (Yume: Oh la la~). The next day Aoi gets to be treated as a guest in Tenjin-ya and treated to the full course meal. She gets to take a nice bath, meet with other workers, and enjoys the full course meal with Odanna (who just really seems to be happy being with her and watching her smile). After the meal, Odanna gets set to leave for the apparent realm for some business and everyone goes to see him off including Aoi (try not to burn the place down while he’s gone).
In episode 11, Tenjin-ya receives a visit from Hatori a tengu who is the manager for another inn called Orio-ya that Ginji used to work for and with him is Tokihiko the manager of the baths at Orio-ya. Throughout the episode we focus on Shizuna the manager of the baths at Tenjin-ya and Tokihiko (Yume: Love for the bath managers). We find out that Shizuna used to be Tokihiko’s student back in Orio-ya until one day while out looking for natural springs she got attacked by a wild beast. Tokihiko saved her but it resulted in a wound on his head in the form of a flame where his magic is constantly leaking out of him. Wanting to take responsibility for this incident, Shizuna resigned from Orio-ya and got picked by Odanna who invited her to Tenjin-ya where she became the manager of the baths (Neo: And received a decent salary much better than she did at Orio-ya). Tokihiko wants Shizuna to return with him to Orio-ya which she would love to do but she owes Odanna for taking her in and wants to repay that kindness the only way she knows how. Too bad she doesn’t tell Tokihiko this and instead just judo flips him every time they meet (in her defense, he was coming on way too strong). Aoi spends time with both of them separately where she sees that they both really care for the other and wants to help them out but isn’t sure if it’s her place to intervene (Yume: It is. You’re the main character. It’s your job to intervene in the affairs of others). She decides to intervene and invites Shizuna and Tokihiko to Moonflower to eat where the theme is ketchup dishes as they both love ketchup. While there, the two help make ingredients for a dish where they’re finally able to open with each other and express themselves.
Not much happens in episode 12. Some kids go missing and Aoi and Akatsuki team up to find them. They find the kids in the basement where we meet some worker mice. Akatsuki saves Aoi and one of the kids from falling over a cliff. At the end of the episode, Ginji appears before Aoi in his fox form sick and barely conscious.
In episode 13 Ginji’s sickness is resolved rather quickly. After taking a short nap and eating some of Aoi’s food he feels better (Neo: He just wanted to have Aoi spoil him. Come on, don’t pretend you don’t see it. Ginji likes Aoi). Odanna returns to the inn having fulfilled Aoi’s shopping list while he was in the apparent realm (such a good husband to be) and his reward is a bento from Aoi (Yume: The meal of a wife’s praise). The next day Tenjin-ya is closed for a holiday and they decide to have a cook-out where Aoi cooks for everyone and we finally see that Aoi has been accepted into their world (Neo: When she first arrived she was just an unwelcomed guest. If not for Odanna, she would have been killed long ago. Now, she’s become the heart of Tenjin-ya that everyone loves). As the episode wraps up a ship from Orio-ya arrives carrying the inn’s master Ranmaru who bears a striking resemblance to a spirit who gave Aoi food when she was a child.
(Mira): And that’s the end of the first half. We’ll stop here today and reconvene next week.
(Yume): That’s right. We’re doing two reviews back to back. Bet you didn’t expect Christmas to come early?
(Neo): Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.