(Mira): Good day to everyone out there. Welcome to Project Nitsuj. I’m Mira along with Neo and Yume.
(Neo and Yume): Hello.
(Neo): Today we’re continuing our review of Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi.
(Yume): The first half was slow but did a good job introducing us to the characters, the world, and giving us a good mystery surrounding Aoi’s relationship with Odanna and Gen.
(Neo): What awaits us in the second half. Let’s find out.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Yume): The opening for the second half is “Utsushiyo no Yume” by Nano. This opening is banger. Once again the song really captures the feeling of Edo period Japan while also blending in modern day music as well. There’s a good level of intensity, sadness, and hope mixed into the song. Nano’s voice is really on point here and she perfectly captures the emotions of this song. It’s hard choosing between this song and the first opening but I honestly like this song more than the first opening.
(Mira): The second ending is “Shiranai Kimochi” by Megumi Nakajima. This song is beautiful. The melody, the lyrics, and the singer are just wonderful. I loved every moment of this song. It’s a song that perfectly fits Aoi and Odanna. If you listen closely you can actually hear male vocals in the chorus. It’s like Aoi was singing and Odanna jumped in to join her. It’s beautiful and makes my heart flutter.
Episodes 14-16
(Neo): Things take an interesting turn in episode 14. We get to meet Ranmaru the manager of Orio-ya who came to get Tokihiko and Hatori. We also get introduced to Ougon-douji the same girl with blonde hair who came to visit Aoi a few episodes back. It turns out she’s the real master of Orio-ya as well as the original master of Tenjin-ya (Yume: Woah! Someone higher than Odanna) who left Tenjin-ya in the hands of Odanna some years ago. She’s here to bring Ginji back to Orio-ya as part of an agreement 50-years ago. Even though Odanna and the others don’t want Ginji to leave, they have no choice but to give in to Ougon’s demands until Aoi takes Nobunaga (the mascot of Orio-ya) hostage demanding that they give Ginji back (a dog for a handsome foxboy. (Mira): That sounds like a fair trade). Ougon-douji uses her spirted away technique to trap Aoi in a world of illusions.
(Yume): Or the world of recap episodes because that’s what we get for the majority of the second half of the episode.
(Neo): Sadly yes. The second half of this episode is entirely a recap episode and just like Nitsuj we too can’t stand recap episodes and this is a whole new low as far as recap episodes go. They lured us in with what looked like to be a new episode only to turn it around on us and make it a recap episode (that is low). Aoi eventually wakes up and finds herself on Orio-ya’s ship as a prisoner and being taken back to Orio-ya along with Ginji.
In episode 15 Aoi and Ginji arrive in Orio-ya where Aoi is locked away in a confinement room (complete with a futon, a bath, a guest room, and a free meal. (Yume): Talk about treating your prisoners well. I wish I got this treatment back at the temple). She manages to escape the room the next morning where she runs into Ginji who’s alright as well and Ranmaru allows her to walk freely as long as she doesn’t cause trouble (Mira: As long as you don’t provide trouble everything will be alright). We see that just like Tenjin-ya, Aoi is not welcomed here and gets treated badly. As she’s eating in the employee lounge with Ginji we see Matsuba come charging in upset but calms down when he sees Aoi only to get upset again when he sees his good for nothing son Hatori. Ginji manages to calm him down by saying that Aoi will cook breakfast for him and Ranmaru allows it but she’ll have to find her own kitchen and ingredients. Ginji leads Aoi to Orio-ya’s old building (Moonflower’s second location. That’s right, we’re expanding) and Hatori secures some ingredients for Aoi to use. Aoi manages to make a southern breakfast for Matsuba which he likes and we find out he’s here for some firework festival. In order to keep Matsuba happy and stop him from leaving, Ranmaru arranges for Aoi to make him a meal once a day and steals her hair ornament (the same one that Odanna gave her as a gift) to make sure she complies with his request. Ginji wants to get Aoi out of here as quickly as possible but she refuses to leave without Ginji and decides to stay until she can get a grasp of the situation he’s in.
In the first half of episode 16 we see Odanna disguise himself as a fish peddler in order to see Aoi and make sure she’s alright (aww~ that’s so sweet). He tells Aoi a little bit about the island such as how it’s on cursed land and at their firework festival Ginji and Ranmaru must perform a once in a century ritual to keep the land safe. We also see the staff at Tenjin-ya are worried about Aoi and actually keep the place clean during Aoi’s absence. In the second half of the episode Aoi meets and befriends Kai and Mei the crane sisters who are chefs at Orio-ya. Because they’ve only been with Orio-ya for a year they really don’t care about the feud going on between them and Tenjin-ya so they treat Aoi with respect (Yume: In the words of the cranes, yay~). They want Aoi’s help in making a dish that will make Yodoko happy. Yodoko, is a spoiled-rich rain woman who gets mad very easily and whenever she gets mad she causes it to rain. Since rain will ruin the firework festival the staff at Orio-ya have been working to keep her happy and doing their best not to upset her. She’s grown tired with the food served by the crane sisters so they go to Aoi for help in the hopes that her food from the apparent realm will satisfy her. Aoi agrees to help and after getting an idea of what Yodoko is like (Mira: She’s like a lesser yet more tolerable version of the Kardashians if that’s even possible) and they start making dishes she thinks she’ll like including potato chips (the greatest snack food of them all).
Episodes 17-21
At the start of episode 17 Aoi and the crane sisters win over Yodoko with monjayaki. They even cook it in the room with her and everything (fun time and dinner. (Yume): This is my kind of meal). While the meal goes over well, they get in trouble by Ranmaru for cooking in a guest’s room without permission. The crane sisters get taken away for punishment but thanks to the words of Yodoko and Tokihiko they avoid punishment and Yodoko listens to their request for the festival. That night, Aoi receives a visit from Hatori who tells her about the ceremony. In the past the island was plagued by a curse by an unknown spirit that bought many natural disasters (Mira: Typhoons, tornadoes, hurricanes, and real estate agents). One day the Hachiyo of the land performed a ceremony which pleased the curse and all the natural disasters stopped. After this, a shrine was built to hold the ceremony once every 100 years but it requires a number of specific items in order to work (national treasures if you will) that they won’t know until the time right before the ceremony and the date for said ceremony is always different (Yume: They’re basically trying to grab air at this point). Ranmaru is the current Hachiyo after the last one died in a failed ceremony 300 years ago and thus has the power to hold the ceremony as does Ginji which is why he was bought back as he’s one of the items they need for the ceremony to work (Yume: He is a national treasure). There are 5 items total they need and they already know what they are. The items are a rainbow umbrella which is owned by Yodoko who will lend it to them for the amazing meal they had (good work Aoi). The next items are Tengu’s secret liquor, the scale of a mermaid, Hourai’s gem branch, and dishes of the ocean’s treasures. After telling her all of this Hatori takes his leave for the night and the next morning Aoi gets her visit from Odanna who wants to take her down to the harbor (Neo, Mira, and Yume: Date time) but she can’t go without alerting Ranmaru’s men who are watching her. Odanna uses Aoi’s necklace to create an ogre flame familiar which he names Ai because it looks like Aoi with green hair (they’re first child. (Mira): They grow up so fast). Ai acts as Aoi’s substitute while Aoi goes down to the harbor with Odanna where they do a little shopping for ingredients, meet a few of his friends, we see Sasuke again, they walk on the beach, he gives her a shell, and he vows to help her in her ambitions to help out Orio-ya. As the episode comes to an end they hear an explosion coming for Orio-ya (what a mood killer).
(Yume): At the start of episode 18 Aoi rushes back to Orio-ya where we discover that the explosion was caused by Matsuba and Hatori who are fighting. Hatori went to ask Matsuba for the tengu liquor (Neo: Which Hatori admit he stole in the past) and as you can imagine things got out of control. Aoi comes to protect Hatori and Ranmaru manages to calm down Matsuba and send him to a new room to rest. Aoi makes a meal for Hatori to cheer him up where he explains why his relationship with Matsuba went so sour. It turns out that Matsuba wasn’t the best husband to his wife, Sasara. He was bossy and while he never physically hurt her, he would often flip out over her cooking. One day, Sasara tried to make Matsuba’s favorite dish, gameni, only for him to flip out on her again because it wasn’t the same taste as he remembered. Hatori finally had enough and stood up to Matsuba where he stole the tengu liquor and sold it off at a high price (now we can use that money to buy more booze). Matsuba was furious and banned Hatori off the tengu mountain. Even when his mother passed away, Hatori wasn’t allowed to be there to say his farewell to her (https://youtu.be/fVeAEwrL1Ts). As time went on Matsuba realized what a terrible husband he was and is actually still haunted by the death of his wife till this day. Aoi goes to check up on Matsuba where even if it’s a request from her, he won’t hand over the liquor (Mira: That must be some good liquor. I wouldn’t mind having a glass myself) and decides to meddle in Matsuba and Hatori’s situation by creating the gameni dish and even asks Odanna for help in preparing it. This leads to a cute little montage of the two cooking together (Neo: They look like a real husband and wife now) and they serve the dish to Matsuba and Hatori where in a twist, Aoi created two gameni. One is made with boneless chicken while the other one is bone-in chicken (Mira: You may think the bone doesn’t matter but trust me it does). The one Matsuba likes the best is the bone-in chicken. Sasara made her dish with boneless chicken because both Hatori and Matsuba were restless so she was afraid that they would both choke on the bone. That’s why the taste was different. While this is all a guess from Aoi the bottom line is Aoi was actually jealous of what they had as she herself never got to taste a mother’s love like them and couldn’t bear to see a family get broken up over something like this. Not wanting Aoi’s efforts to go to waste, Hatori asks Matsuba once again for the liquor and remembering the final words of Sasara that family sticks together and help each other out (no matter how much they annoy you or what was said) he decides to give him the liquor. However, only members of Matsuba’s family are allowed to have the liquor so Matsuba rescinds Hatori’s expulsion meaning he can return to the mountain whenever he wants. With this Orio-ya now has the liquor and Hatori has patched things up with Matsuba (Neo: To some degree).
In episode 19 Aoi prepares a meal for Ginji who’s been working late into the nights to get a mermaid scale. She goes to deliver her food to him only to find a shrine covered in impurities (most likely from all the thoughts he had about stealing Aoi from Odanna. For shame). Aoi gives him some of her food which heals him up right away and explains how mermaids are rare spirits who vanished years go. Ginji heard a rumor that there were some in the ruins of the dragon palace and went to go investigate only to get hit with impurities because of a curse that clings to the place and anyone who goes there gets hit with impurities (Mira: Which makes the place all the more suspicious). As they talk, Ginji talks about Iso the last mermaid who had the powers to see the future and was the one who raised Ginji and Ranmaru as her own children (Neo: A mermaid raising a fox and a dog? Well at least they’ll be good at swimming). She was the Hachiyo before Ranmaru but 300 years ago the ceremony failed because someone betrayed them all and Iso gave her life to keep the disasters from hitting the island by going to the dragon palace ruins and drew the disasters to herself. Shortly after her death, Ougon-douji came to the island where she built Orio-ya. Ginji and Ranmaru decided to work there believing that it could lead to the island’s prosperity but before long the two started to go on separate paths. Ranmaru became the Hachiyo and wanted to expand Orio-ya’s influence over the island so he began buying up land and running other inns out of business all while working his employees hard (Neo: He became the Walmart of the southern islands). No longer able to stand Ranmaru’s methods, Ginji chose to leave and go work at Tenjin-ya, however, he promised he would return when it came time for the ceremony (although I don’t think he was expecting Aoi to tag along. (Mira): Life works in mysterious ways). Aoi wants to help (she has nothing better to do) but Ginji says no because it’s too dangerous and if anything were to happen to her he’d never be able to face Odanna again (Neo: Because he’s going to rip off your face and tails and wear them as accessories. (Yume): Ouch). Their conversation gets overheard by Ranmaru who also went to the palace and got infected by the impurities as well and collapses. He wakes up a day or two later where he convinces Aoi to go to the dragon palace herself and get the dragon scale which she agrees to do on the condition that once this whole ceremony thing is over Ginji gets to come back to Tenjin-ya should he chose to do so. Ranmaru accepts her condition and Aoi prepares to head out to the palace with Odanna deciding to accompany her (Mira: Such a good husband to be).
We go to the dragon palace ruins (not as big as I imagined) in episode 20 where Aoi gets to meet Iso’s spirit which still watches over the palace. She shows Aoi the past and how the palace was home to a lot of mermaids until the disasters came and wiped them out. She also talks about how she met Ginji and Ranmaru and how different they were from each other. Ranmaru was full of justice and well-behaved but he couldn’t hold his own in a fight (Mira: Sure doesn’t seem that way now. He comes across as that dog who needs a good nose-flick). Ginji was smart, resourceful, and the mischievous of the two (Neo: And still adorable. Can I steal him? (Yume): No lewding the shota fox). Despite their differences the two were like brothers and each wanted to help Iso out but never got the chance because of the ceremony failing. After having some tea with Aoi and telling her to look after Ginji and Ranmaru, Iso tells Aoi to prepare the dishes made of the ocean’s treasure saying that the spirit has become bored with the current dishes and believes that Aoi’s blending of apparent and hidden realms food will make it happy. After she returns to reality (using her mentality. That was Nitsuj’s contribution to this review) she gets the mermaid scale and gets attacked by an ogre who’s been using the impurities as food and saved by Odanna who got slightly hurt in the altercation. Aoi panics as she was both scared and worried but Odanna calms her down (Neo & Mira: Yes) by going in for a kiss (Neo & Mira: Yeeeeeeees~) on the lips (Neo& Mira: Yeeeeeeeesssss~) only to switch it up and kiss her on the forehead (Neo & Mira: NOOOOOOOOO~! (Neo): You tease! (Mira): That moment would have been perfect). They leave the dragon palace ruins where Aoi tells Odanna what she plans to do and he supports her in her decision. Even deciding to offer Tenjin-ya’s help for the festival success as well. Once Aoi returns to present the mermaid scale to Ranmaru, Ginji is rightfully upset that he sent Aoi into such a dangerous area but Aoi defends herself and tells Ranmaru that she wants to cook the dishes for the mysterious spirit which he agrees to let her do and Ginji decides to help her out.
Episode 21 starts with Aoi, Ginji, and the Crane sisters discussing what to make for the spirit when they hear trouble coming from the front desk. It turns out O-Ryo has come as a guest and is trying to get checked in but Hideyoshi won’t let her in until Ranmaru comes in and allows her to stay. We also see her and Orio-ya’s young hostess Nene not get along either (one’s a snowwoman the other’s a fire rat. What did you expect?). After that, Orio-ya has trouble with some frog spirits who are guest and claim that they’ll sell them Hourai’s gem branch if they’re allowed to stay. They don’t know if the tree gem is real or not but since this is the last treasure they need for the ceremony and Ranmaru is out on business, they have no choice but to give into their demands. While the toads are having a party they accidently bump into a hostess which causes her to spill food on the head toad and he gets angry (Neo: Than stop acting like a couple of drunk idiots). Just before the situation can get worse, O-Ryo comes in and calms him down much to Nene’s displeasure. We find out later that Nene actually respects and looks up to O-Ryo as an amazing hostess but at the same time she’s jealous of her because of how good she is compared to Nene (Mira: Don’t beat yourself up. You may not be at her level yet but you might be). The next day Nene reverts into her fire rat form because she’s feeling depressed about the events from last night. Hatori asks Aoi to look after her and so Aoi takes her on a girls’ day out where they talk, eat, and shop where Nene opens up to Aoi about her problems, apologizes for tripping her in the past, and returns to her hostess form. We also learn a bit more about Hideyoshi such as how he’s childhood friends with Nene and the young master of Orio-ya who’s striving to live up to the expectations of Ranmaru which may be impossible as Ginji was the young master before him (Neo: That’s a tough mountain to climb). We also find out who he likes Nene (of course you do, you’re childhood friends) but he knows she has a crush on Ranmaru and is secretly rooting for her (Mira: An interesting look into these two characters. Both of them are young and striving to surpass the people they look up to).
Episodes 22-26
(Mira): Nothing much really happens in episode 22. Aoi meets Raiju a thunder beast who is a guest at Orio-ya and the one who caused the ceremony to fail 300 years ago (Yume: Then why the hell is he allowed to stay on the island? (Neo): He’s a thunder beast, those guys are one of the strongest spirits out there). Raiju spends the episode tormenting poor Aoi with lightening and even threatens to eat her when the time is right. Luckily, Ranmaru comes to her rescue and she returns to cooking with Ginji and the crane sisters. They have a taste testing session with Ranmaru and Hatori where Aoi falls into a dream like state created by Raiju to end the episode.
In episode 23, Aoi wakes up from her dream-like state where she discovers that she can’t talk but worse of all she lost her ability to taste food thanks to Raiju (this is bad, how can she cook if she doesn’t know if it taste good or not? She might as well be a robot. (Yume): We can always get Bender from Futurama to cook). With Aoi’s sense of taste gone she gets taken off cooking food for the spirit and Raiju comes to visit where he continues to mock her until he gets chased away by Byakuya who he is terrified of (Neo: That’s kind of funny. This powerful thunder beast is afraid of an accountant). Byakuya has come at the request of Odanna to help with the ceremony and joining him is Ritsuko and Nuinnoin who have agreed to give them Hourai’s gem branch but the branch is inside a painting that they use for storage (Yume: Stop misusing royal treasures) so one of them will have to journey inside the painting and find the branch (Neo: Sounds too easy, what’s the catch?). The only problem is being inside the painting drains the energy of spirits so it’s pretty much an endurance run to get in there and get out before it’s too late. Ranmaru decides to make the journey and Aoi decides to go with him to make sure he eats the food that Ginji prepared which should restore some of his energy should he need it. Byakuya gives Aoi some strong medicine which allows her to speak again but she still can’t taste food.
Nothing much to say in episode 24. Aoi, Ginji, and Ranmaru go inside the painting and get the gem branch. While there they see illusions of Iso, we get to see Ranmaru and Ginji cuddle each other in their puppy and cub forms (Yume: The Japanese version of The Fox and The Hound looks very cute), and then they return where the Crane sisters want Aoi to cook the dishes of the sea in their stead.
In the final episodes of the season, the time for the festival is upon them but Raiju has one more trick up his sleeve. He’s spread the word about the festival to other areas and because of this, everyone has come to witness this. That means everyone wants a room at Orio-ya and they don’t have enough staff to service everyone and run the festival. Thankfully, Odanna shows up with everyone from Tenjin-ya who offer to help out and Orio-ya accepts. The festival begins with fireworks (Yume, Neo, and Mira: Tamayo~) which will lead Umi-bouzu to the island of Jouno which is where the festival for it will take place. The island remains a mystery, it’s not apart of the hidden or apparent realm but instead a whole new realm entirely. Once Umi-bouzu makes it to Jouno, he goes inside a temple to hide his appearance while he watches Ranmaru and a crossdressing Ginji (yay) perform the sacred dance of the festival. As for Aoi and the Crane sisters’ part in this festival, they’re to make food and deliver it to him. Aoi decides to change things up and instead prepare a menu for Umi-bouzu so he can decide what he wants to eat instead of just bringing him random food. Once Aoi has Umi-bouzu’s menu she and the Crane sisters prepare the food and Aoi goes to deliver it to him where Chibi, a kappa, accidently goes into the temple and comes face to face with the Umi-bouzu (Umi-bouzu: Excuse me chef, there’s a kappa in my soup). Aoi tries to retrieve Chibi and goes inside the temple where she sees the Umi-bouzu and we discover that he’s just a child (Yume: That looks like something out of Space Invaders) who hates being alone and is always hungry. He enjoys Aoi’s food and he liked the fireworks, but nobody comes to join him and it makes him feel lonely and sad. It turns out that his big form is a prison that he can only leave once every 100 years so to him this whole festival is like one big dreamland that he treasures seeing whenever he gets out. Once Aoi hears all of this and sees his past, she opens up the curtain to give him a better view of the festival dance. From there they give Umi-bouzu the festival of his life by eating with him, laughing with him, playing with him, and just making him not feel lonely anymore (also, Aoi gets her ability to taste again back). Once the festival is over Umi-bouzu prepares to return to the far reaches of the hidden realm. Aoi offers him to stay by her side but he says no as he has to go back in order to keep the calamities at bay. The point of the festival is to replenish the strength of Umi-bouzu and if the festival is a success he gains the powers to keep the calamities at bay thus protecting the islands from disaster (and after this festival I’m sure he’ll work extra hard to protect the islands). As the episode begins the third act we get some resolution with character stories. First off, Ginji was the one delivering food to Aoi when she was a child and looked after her following the orders of some other spirit who remained anonymous. Second, Odanna warns Raiju not to harm Aoi ever again or he’ll eat him, and Ranmaru and Ginji patch things up before Ginji leaves. The episode ends with everyone returning to Tenjin-ya and Aoi reopening Moonflower.
Final Thoughts
(Neo): And that was Kakuryo no Yadomeshi. How was this anime? Let’s break it down. The first half of the anime is slow but good as we see Aoi settle in to her new environment and not be welcomed by the residents. However, she steadily starts to win them over and in the process we do learn about these characters, their personality, their past, and relationships with each other. I even like the small scenes between Aoi and Odanna. It was a little confusing how he did a 180 on his treatment of Aoi, but I’m happy he was treating her nicely. They’re interactions were cute, you can tell Odanna does care about her, and even Aoi slowly starts to develop feelings for him.
(Yume): The second half is where things start to pick up as Aoi finds herself in a new area. It’s a little annoying that she had to do a repeat and win everyone over again, but thankfully it doesn’t take long and we instead get a brand new story while also focusing on the past of Ginji and Ranmaru. Where they make strong hints that Ginji may have feelings for Aoi. However, instead of turning this into a love triangle, they manage to keep the romance focused on Aoi and Odanna.
(Mira): The final part of the anime with Umi-bouzu was nice and heartbreaking. It’s hard to believe that after all these years they never stopped to talk to him, but at the same time it makes sense as he’s an unknown spirit and they all fear/respect it. Still, it was great to see Aoi face Umi-bouzu and give him an experience that he’ll never forget as well as changed the setup for these festivals moving forward for the better and seeing Odanna put Raiju is in his place without getting physical was cool and tells us how high up on the chain Odanna is.
(Yume): The world they’re in is nice and has a more traditional Japan feel to it. While the world may not be all exciting the inhabits are exciting as it’s so nice to see all these mythical creatures whether it be their human or natural forms.
(Neo): The animation looks dated. Even back then this animation looked dated and doesn’t really stand out all that much. The music on the other hand is very good. Keeping with the setting, the music is traditional Japanese which sets the mood of this anime perfectly and makes you feel like you have entered another world. It’s like going to shrine festival, it’s an amazing experience and makes you feel like you’ve entered another world.
Final Score
(Neo): My score for this anime is an 8/10.
(Yume): I’m giving it a 7.5/10.
(Mira): And I’m giving it a 8/10 as well. This brings are total score to 23.5/30 which averages out to 7.8. Going by our system the final score for Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is an 8/10. A very well told story that’s character focused and goes at a pace that everyone can follow. Definitely check it out when you get a chance as I’m sure you’ll all enjoy.
(Neo): There’s been no word of a second season but there have been talks of a second season being greenlit and coming down the line.
(Mira): Until that day comes we’ll have to stick with reading the novels.
(Yume): And that’ll do it for us. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.