Maternal instinct
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):
If you thought Ushio and Tora was done with emotional stuff for awhile, think again. This week’s episode brings us another super sappy entry for the show, and while it’s not as ludicrously powerful as last week’s in that respect it’s still pretty good. In the process though, it also manages to set up an major new element for things going forward and one that’s while not too unpredictable for the kind of show this is, helps in really bringing home this episode’s theme.
So in case anyone hasn’t been keeping track, there’s four other Beast Spear candidates out there besides Ushio and we’ve only met three of them so far. This week finally introduces us to the last one in the form of a creepy little boy named Kirio who similar to Nagare isn’t very interested in the Spear itself. Instead he has his own weapon called the Elzaar Scythe along with his own personal demon bodyguards and feels that he’s much better equipped to take on Hakumen than Ushio. Before the two can finish fighting over who’s right though, Ushio’s dad arrives to tell them the Kouhamei sect is under attack by one of Hakumen’s avatars.
However rather than get into a brawl right away, Ushio is first asked to meet woman at the head of the sect called Oyakume. There’s a nice little scene between them where Ushio’s natural politeness reminds her of the family she left behind to guard Hakumen’s barrier before Ushio’s mom took over and her kindness makes Ushio wonder if that’s what it’s like to have a mother. When it comes to the actual battle against Hakumen’s avatar though, Ushio’s no match for it even with the spear and so Oyakume ends up sacrificing herself to hold it off.
Normally it’s pretty hard to feel anything for the death of a character we only really met in full a few minutes before hand, but like the scene with Ushio’s mom last week., the show does an effective job of selling us on Oyakume. Her brief interaction with Ushio is really sweet and I especially appreciate getting something like this after having actually seen what Ushio’s mom is like .It really makes the theme of maternal warmth it’s going for all the more effective and also has me looking forward to Ushio coming face to face with her soon. (Though as a whole I have to say for a crusty old 90’s shonen, Ushio & Tora is unusually good about actually demonstrating the maternal/supportive traits of it’s female characters as a strength, rather than just saying they are)
If like me you were wondering why this episode was titled after a character who frankly isn’t the actual focus of it, there’s a pretty big reason behind it. We find out near the end of the episode that Kirio’s actually working for the current human host of Hakumen who he sees as a mother. It’s not a terribly surprising revelation (the creepy kid, in league with the villain? Shocker.)Unlike what we see between Ushio and Oyakume though, this is more a demonstration of how maternal warmth can be used to manipulate a child rather than support them as it’s clear he doesn’t seem to be aware of who she actually is, or that she just wants him to remove the Beast Spear as an obstacle. At any rate it should certainly make for a fun confrontation when he goes after Ushio next week, and while I wouldn’t be surprised if the show doesn’t do too much else with this parallel, it’s one that definitely makes this episode stronger.
In Summary:
The show hits us with another emotion-driven episode and while it’s not as strong as last week’s, it’s still more than effective at getting the job done. Ushio’s brief meeting with Oyakume does what it needs to and really sells the idea of how important motherhood can be which makes a nice little parallel to the reveal at the end concerning Kirio and Hakumen. The show’s really starting to ramp things up and I’m looking forward to a full on showdown between Ushio and Kirio next week.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, Hulu
