Ah, hello old friend. At least YOU’RE continuing with me unlike SOMEONE who lied to me who shall remain nameless coughgatecough. As such, we are continuing on our adventure with Ushio who is searching for his mother. And that giant monster who her barrier is protecting is not too happy with his beast spear shenanigans. So what does he do about it? Let’s find out.
So Ushio and Tora FINALLY make it to Hokkaido where they are on their way to find Ushio’s mom. (hey, they still got their faster than Saiyuki getting…well…ANYWHERE) Upon arriving there a mist rolls in and a girl shows up in front of Ushio. We learn that this girl is one of the four who is pissed off because they were trained to wield the spear and he got it instead. So they’re all a little butt hurt.
She then tries to attack Ushio, but he pulls the whole “I don’t hit girls” Card. ughhhhhhhhhhh. Really Ushio? You’re going to be one of THOSE characters? See, this is why I stopped liking Sanji from One Piece. Look, i’m all for not randomly walking around slapping women…or well…ANYONE for that matter, but flat out refusing to fight someone based on the fact that they have 2 X chromsones when they are a trained warrior isn’t chivalrous, it’s INSULTING.
If you are a trained warrior and you want to duke it out with someone you deem a challenge, if your opponent refuses to fight you based on your gender, that’s incredibly insulting and sexist. You lost points Ushio. Not cool.
So…anyway she then goes on this tirade about how him having the spear has caused people grief and how if she had the spear it wouldn’t be an issue. Realizing this, Ushio lets her have the spear and she leaves.
As she does so, the demon that the big baddie shows up but ignores Ushio and follows the girl holding the spear. It attacks her and tries to use the spear, however it doesn’t respond to her because she’s not the rightful owner. She gets tied up by the demon and Ushio comes, taking the spear back and saves her.
She leaves claiming that she will learn why the spear didn’t accept her and come back later.
We then meet our second possible spear wielder who looks a lot like an American…but strangely isn’t.
Not sure why he ISN’T an American but..you know, whatever. However he isn’t really interested in Ushio, he’s interested in Tora. Tora separates from Ushio who goes off on a bus. Meanwhile the guy starts questioning Tora on why he’s hanging around Ushio and not killing him.
They get in a fight (fighting Tora with his Miroku staff) and he eventually pins Tora up against a wall. He ends up ripping off his own limbs to beat him, but doesn’t kill him, telling him that he’s not sure why he’s with Ushio, other than that fact that when he’s around him, he’s never bored.
And that’s basically where the episode ends.
This episode wasn’t….BAD persay it just… rather than having certain issues such as Ushio’s insecurities or Tora’s reasonings subtely released through their actions, they basically brazenly made them flat out say it to the audience. I think this is beneath this show as usually it’s better with its subtlety. This was the “HEY LOOK AT THE REASONING!” kind of episode and… I don’t know, it made the episode feel….cheap.
I mean, it got it’s point across…but..I don’t know. it felt off.
The characters do eventually have to come to terms with themselves and I appreciate the effort of making their actions have weight and consequences, but this method felt a little forced, especially with Tora.
The fights were..okay? in this episode. They weren’t as cool as some of the previous ones because you knew they were going to end in non-lethality. Also I was pretty pissed at Ushio’s “I don’t fight girls” nonsense. I just…that’s really outdated, sexist, and annoying. It pissed me off when Sanji did it, and it pisses me off here. It doesn’t make you look cool. It makes you look Chauvenistic.
This episode put another stop on the road to finding his mother and didn’t really do a whole lot for forwarding the plot. So..um….5/10?
Yeah.
Episode 5/10
-Hideki