The rage of Benten.
What They Say:
Episode #9: “The Various Nidaime”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Yojiro seen off on his own journey of life, it’s time to turn our attention back to other matters.
It’s much easier to follow the events of this season compared to the first. The awe and wonder have worn off and it’s easier to focus on this season’s running themes and plot lines. Which is a good thing when you have to juggle all the titles and names that get thrown back and forth constantly. The show has been carefully seeding the events to come in prior episodes, which have lead up to the events of this episode, election of the new Trick Magister.
I was wondering since the first season what exactly the Trick Magister (Nise-emon) does in tanuki society, but I can only guess beyond it being a position of respect. Yaichiro has been working towards his father’s old title for awhile and his greatest obstacle has been cleared with the Ebisugawa family giving him their blessing. Things aren’t that easy though, they need a tengu to witness the whole thing.
Technically this is Akadama’s job. Like everything else which Akadama is supposed to do he blows off his responsibility to the tanuki who serve him. The tanuki start a stake out and send Yasaburo to attempt to convince him to no avail. Akadama tells him he will have Benten witness the ceremony, but the tanuki don’t want the scary tanuki eating lady as the officiant. She was, after all, responsible for the deaths of so many of their kind.
So Yasaburo comes up with an insane plan. He knows it’s a terrible idea and goes through with it anyway, basically because he feels he owes it to his people. Also, his grandmother told him to raise some mischief. He approaches the Nidaime, with his eldest brother in tow, and asks for him to be the tengu witness. Yasaburo uses two pieces of information to coerce the reluctant tengu to comply. He confirms that the Nidaime still thinks he owes Yasaburo for finding his furniture, and then he tells him Benten was chosen in his place. When that all fails Yasaburo resorts to begging until the Nidaime finally agrees.
I expect that the tanuki were hoping that Benten wouldn’t find out her position was usurped. It was wishful thinking on their part because she arrives in a cold fury, slighted and ready to mess with the furballs. She scares all of the tanuki back into tanuki form, all except Yasaburo. She blasts them with a burst of air from her fan and casually admits to her cruelty. If you’re still a Benten fan at this point I imagine you’re a masochist. As luck would have it the Nidaime chooses that moment to make his entrance, leaving this episode on a cliffhanger.
With the preview showing a good deal of Yajiro in the north I wonder how quickly the situation back home between Benten and the Nidaime will be resolved. Perhaps we’ll be left in suspense for longer than a week.
In Summary:
The tanuki have long served the tengu, and have vowed to stay out of tengu affairs. When those affairs start affecting tanuki life the others approach Yasaburo to make things right. He was correct to be wary of starting a war between a tengu who doesn’t want to be a tengu and a human hell-bent on becoming one. Benten’s power is unquestionable, but she’s still human, and not as powerful as the Nidaime. Three stubborn tengu will clash once again, but what will happen when the Nidaime thrashes Benten once again?
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
