Past reflections means present frustrations and recycling
What They Say:
Long ago, a ferocious monster terrorized the land, until a samurai, wielding the legendary “Beast Spear”, sealed him away. 500 years later, a middle school student named Ushio Aotsuki accidentally uncovers the monster in a hidden cellar under his family’s temple. The unsealed monster and the spear attract many other supernatural creatures to the temple and Ushio is forced to release the monster in order to defeat them. Ushio names the monster “Tora” and unwillingly work together to battle other spirits and demons.
The Review:
Content (warning as portions of this review may contain spoilers):
I’ve been somewhat lamenting for a while now that some of the show’s monster-of-the-week stories feel a bit too slow for something that has to cover 30+ volumes of content in 39 episodes. In it’s defense though, the show’s generally been pretty good at making me second guess those worries There’s usually always something that either introduces a recurring character or ties into the main story and manages it manages to keep things steady even at it’s slowest…until now.
This week the show decides to take a break from our titular duo’s road trip…to look back on how Nakamura and Inoue are faring without him. Cue 8 minutes of every tsundere cliche you can imagine as Nakamura tries to convince everyone around here that she’s definently not worried about Ushio despite the fact that she clearly is and while it’s kind of cute it’s mostly groan-inducing. Even more so when we’re treated to a flashback to their childhood that explains her obvious crush on him and it’s all par-the-course (guess what kind of animal he saved her from? Hint: it barks) in the not-so-fun way as compared to the show’s usual cliches.
So where are our heroes in question while this is all happening? Chilling at the house the Kamitachi demons were staying at, which they apparently somehow never left despite how jarring that seems coming from last week’s completely different plot. While walking outside, Ushio sees a reflection of Nakamura in the water called a water mirror and the Kamitachis take him to see a demon called the Elder of Mirrors to find out what’s going on. Turns out that Inoue’s parents brought a cursed mirror and it’s decided that it wants to take Inoue for it’s bride. Not only is it kind of recycling two previous stories at once, but it also feels a bit unnecessarily rape-y is she ends up naked before nearly being at it’s mercy.
Ushio uses the elder’s powers to hop through a mirror portal back home so he can save her, and Nakamura tags along for the ride though she doesn’t seem to realize who he is despite the only difference being the long 80’s hair. Though it doesn’t take too long for her to put two and two together after he manages to complete the rescue…well if it weren’t for the fact that she and Inoue think the whole thing was a dream. I can kind of buy that for Nakamura, but given Inoue’s already privy to Ushio’s demon hunting activities, it seems weird that she’d just shurg it off like that (especially given she’s still naked by the end of it). Ultimately, I’m not really sure why they felt this story needed to be covered since we’re back to square one with Nakamura knowing nothing about Ushio’s exploits. Maybe we’ll see the Mirror Elder again or something? I dunno. Anyway I chalk this one up as a bit of a loss, though since next week’s episode looks to be the start of a multi-episode even that should likely fare a lot better.
In Summary:
Ushio & Tora takes another side detour, those this one is the first to feel like a waste of time. It’s not an outright horrible episode, but a combination of recycled threats and dull tsundere jokes makes this one a bit of slow burner. Hopefully next week’s multi-parter turns out stronger.
Grade: B-
