Ah Ushio and Tora, when i’m watching you I really do feel like i’ve been transported back to 90’s anime. Which.. isn’t really a bad thing. Now last week I talked about how much I liked the first episode and how nostalgic to the decade it felt. Does this episode keep up that charm or does it get old hat? Well let’s dig in to Ushio and Tora episode 2 and find out.
So the episode begins with Tora now living in Ushio’s house. He breaks the TV when he thinks there’s a samurai in there (you know, the usual time traveler stuff) and ends up going to school with Ushio to keep an eye on him because as he puts it “he’s haunting him.” That being said, Tora is, of course, invisible to the rest of the students. During the day, Ushio meets up with his two lady friends who tell him that they’re going to the old school building to get some old textbooks that were being kept there. Also being kept there is a stone statue of a samurai.
As the girls are getting the books the statue comes to life and attacks the girls.
Ushio senses this and runs off to find the girls, where one girl who is half stone had reached the school to tell them of what happened. Not being able to find the rest of the girls right away the police come and investigate. Ushio, knowing that Tora probably has some knowledge of what’s going on eventually worms it out of him that the creature is called a “Rock Eater” and it’s known for turning people to stone and then eating them. Ushio convinces Tora to tell him where the portal is that will take him to the Rock Eater’s lair and he uses the spear to cut his way in.
While there he finds the girls had been turned to stone and tries to fight off the statue. Unfortunately the statue wasn’t the real rock eater, but bugs inside the statue were.
The spear is knocked out of Ushio’s hand and he is slowly turned in to stone. At this point, Ushio asks Tora for help. Not to save himself, but to take the girls away so they at least can be saved. Confused by Ushio’s selflessness and the fact that he wanted to be the one to kill Ushio, Tora saves the girls and then comes to help Ushio.
Through sheer force of will, Ushio is able to summon the spear with his mind and shatter his rock body, freeing him and Ushio and Tora team up to battle the monster and defeat it.
The episode ends, seemingly with the two a little closer together and the news getting footage of them defeating the demon, but not knowing who they are.
This episode, was once again 90’s action awesome. Ushio and Tora do have that dark humor continuing on, that, once again still works very well. Ushio and Tora kind of have a buddy cop thing going on and honestly, their relationship is the thing I like most about this show. You can tell that they start out by hating each other, but as the episodes are progressing, you can tell that they’re developing more and more of a bond with each other, albeit it unwillingly.
I still am not a fan of the black haired chick. Mainly because I hate violent childhood friend tsunderes. For this trope she is not written poorly, I just detest violent tsunderes period. I like her friend more as she’s friendly and you know…not a bitch.
I know this show’s trying to put her forward as the “main girl” but really, she’s the only thing of this show I don’t enjoy. Everything else works fantastically. the humor is well placed, the art is straight out of 1995, and the plot, while not the most complicated thing in the world, is fun and very enjoyable.
So yeah, I still really enjoyed episode 2 and can’t wait for the next one. Not just to see their relationship grow, but also to see these two kick even more ass.
Episode 7.5/10