Surprise, surprise, Hatori and Tokihiko caused less problems than I expected. Ginji and the others were adamant to make sure the two were not going to stay at the inn, taking advantage of their full bookings… that is until Aoi volunteered to give up her room for them.
The two being present doesn’t appear to be as bad as I had initially expected it to be– however that could change at any given moment. Rather, the one I think we probably have to keep an eye on is Hatori. He seems to be having fun going around the inn, teasing Akatsuki in particular. In fact by the sound of it, it seems like he had worked at Tenjin-ya inn at some point, having appointed Akatsuki to work at the front desk. If that’s the case, I find it rather perplexing how his mocks Ginji as a traitor (having left Orio-ya Inn to work at their rivals), unless he were fired or elected to leave on his own. As for Tokihiko, he appears to have only come with one objective in mind, or is using whatever reason they had come to Tenjin-ya Inn, as an opportunity to see Shizuna.
We learned the two of them are mentor and apprentice, Tokihiko is the Chief Bath Caretaker, and provided Shizuna an opportunity for a better life by recruiting her to be his apprentice. The two of them worked at Orio-ya’s Inn, until one day, while Shizuna was out scouting grounds for a new hot spring, she ended up trekking in a dangerous place, and Tokihiko ended up getting badly wounded while protecting her. The wound left a scar, and now his powers end up leaking from it. Due to the incident, despite Tokihiko’s pleas, Shizuna was fired. Unemployed with no place to go, Oodanna finds her and hires her to work at his inn. These are the two main reasons why Shizuna will not leave the Tenjin-ya Inn.
It was so much fun to watch Aoi being a savvily getting Tokihiko and Shizuna to finally peacefully, have a proper conversation with each other. The two of them just couldn’t communicate to each other properly, Tokihiko being clingy and desperate, and Shizuna constantly flipping him over and fleeing. The two like each other very much, but were just too shy or awkward to do so. Aoi cleverly had the two help her cook together, making their favourite tomato (or red eggplants as they call it in the Hidden Realm). I loved how she weighed her options before proceeding, such as observing where the conversation was going and deciding whether or not she should return the hair-tie on Tokihiko’s behalf.
And I must say, the scene where Tokihiko and Shizuna the other hair-tie she had left behind back to Shizuna, I was squealing. It was SO ADORABLE. yes it was cheesy, but it was good cheese, the kind that doesn’t make me cringe!
Although Oodanna was not present this week, he still made his presence known by regularly emailing Aoi. He has heard what happened, so communicates is not limited to Aoi. He had asked her if there’s anything she needs in the Apparent Realm, and once she gives him a shopping list he delightfully replies with, “I hear running errands is one of the husbands’ duties in the apparently realm”. I probably laughed way harder than I should, but I couldn’t help it. You can tell Oodanna is having fun doing this kind of stuff, and I find it incredibly endearing.
But there was one little thing that stood out to me. Although Aoi is definitely developing feelings for him, she has also shown to have grown incredibly prideful of her job, and wonders how much Oodanna approves of her as one of his employees. It just goes to show, despite having opened Moonflower for the sake of getting out of marriage, it has become her passion. Of course cooking for Ayakashi has always been part of her life-style, but running a restaurant is an entirely different matter, as she must come up with new menus and such. In fact, one has to wonder if Aoi would have taken a similar path had she continued living in the Apparent Realm. As far as I am concerned, I don’t recall her formally studying anything in culinary field. She truly loves to cook.
This week’s episode was surprisingly fast-paced, making it feel a lot shorter than usual, but it was just as enjoyable. Although there is no preview, Chibi did mention something that alarmed me, and that is “Moonflower being torn apart”. There is a variety of ways this could unfold, but one has to wonder what or who will be behind it. If Moonflower really does get beaten up, yikes, that’s going to suck a lot of Aoi. But if there’s anyone who might do such a thing, I could see it possibly being the assassins, while attempting to target her again.
Also I hear there will be a new Opening Theme, which surprises me a bit— probably because I have come to love the current one so much. It is going to be a tough one to top since I still think this Opening song is one of the best of the entire Spring Season.
