Oh my god, just when Aoi thinks she figured out the Mystery Ayakashi, she sees Ranmaru with the same mask that belonged to the Mystery Ayakashi. I have considered the possibility of this happening, and it would make a good twist, especially since many of us, including Aoi believed the Mystery Ayakashi had to be either Oodanna or Ginji. And when you think about it, and take into consideration of what we know about Ranmaru’s and Shiro’s poor relationship, perhaps he is the real reason why Shiro signed Aoi off as Oodanna’s bride, as a means to protect her.
Either way, should Ranmaru confront them, this will be the first time Aoi meeting him, and she is in a very vulnerable state right now. It would be an understatement to say her obsession with uncovering the mystery behind the Ayakashi who helped her in the past, is her greatest weakness. The main reason why Aoi is having a meltdown over the mask is because if Ranmaru does turn out to be the one who saved her when she was little, she undoubtedly going to feel torn about whose side she should be on, not only because she is going to feel indebted to the one who saved her life, but to some extent she feels quite strongly about the one who saved her. And that sucks because she has finally found a place where she belongs.
Up until the moment Orio-ya’s ship, this week was a laid-back episode. However make no mistake, it was quietly laying down the groundwork for the next arc. Starting with Ginji, who revealed he doesn’t feel like he is trusted among the employees, mostly in part of having come from their rival’s inn. So to some extent, this insecurity makes him feel like he needs to work even harder than the rest. Meanwhile, despite now being affiliated with Orio-ya Inn, Hatori has shown he still has a good relationship with not just the employees, but Oodanna as well. We don’t know what they were discussing before Aoi had clumsily interrupted their conversation, but it was cut off just when Hatori was going to mention something about Ginji. However it appears they were having a very important conversation earlier, one Hatori had told Oodanna to not forget about what they had discussed.
Oodanna and Ginji got even with having both beaten each other to the punch. Oodanna beat Ginji to the Aoi’s Drinking Debut, and Ginji beat Oodanna by preparing a substitute for Dry Yeast so Aoi could make bread. Both were terribly dejected when they learned Aoi already experienced/got what she needed by the other. But Ginji’s feelings for Aoi seems a lot more apparent, especially with this week’s ED Theme (I think it was a Ginji special this time? It looks like it, we will find out next week, where I suspect the New OP will finally debut). We certainly got a love triangle going on.
But it’s funny because like with Oodanna, I also sense a lot of chemistry between Ginji and Aoi. It is also worth noting, while Aoi is a lot more conscious of herself around Oodanna (probably because he isn’t shy of teasing her about being his bride), she doesn’t seem to be aware of her feelings towards Ginji. I always felt the two had a very strong friendship from the get go, but it is hard to say whether or not Ginji is really in the “Friend-Zone”. This week in particular highlighted how much she cares for him. She was so worried, she cried, and her eyes always seems to be drawn to him first, even when Oodanna is present. However while Ginji was staring off in the river alone, it took Aoi a moment to realize something wasn’t quite right, while Oodanna seems to have already sensed something was off about him. And Hatori wasn’t wrong when he described Ginji as a complete mystery. He is someone who is very hard to read, and as much as Aoi has so much faith and trust in him, he hasn’t done a lot to open up. He is full of secrets, and it’s just a matter of time before some of them will come out.
Overall I was surprised with how quickly Ginji’s sickness event was resolved. I thought it was going to be a lot more serious than it turned out to be, nor did I expect Oodanna to reappear as early as he did in the episode. I can’t complain though, because I did miss him and wanted him to be back on screen as soon as possible, and he did not disappoint. He was absolutely adorable as always when he was presented the much awaited bento, his eyes were sparkling like a child at a candy store! (God the food looks so good, now I’m hungry… as always!)
But you know what’s funny, Oodanna talks about how he doesn’t like to reveal his weakness to anyone, but it’s safe to say Aoi’s cooking is one of the greatest way to exploit him, because he will almost do anything for it, ahaha! He was also so proud of himself for fulfilling the errands Aoi had asked for him to do, taking immense pride in finally locating Dry Yeast, was was difficult to find… only to be told she didn’t need it after-all. (Girl you don’t say that! Keep that to yourself!) He is really embracing the role of being her “husband-to-be”, eagerly accepting any tasks that he believes would be expected of him, such as helping out with the cooking. But the poor guy was denied the right of completing one simple task of rinsing the rice, no thanks to Akatsuki snatching it away from him. Unfortunately he wasn’t given any other task, and was left to watch from the sidelines. I am a bit surprised he didn’t just snatch it back and tell Akatsuki to let him do it, but it was cute to see him pout about it. You could say he certainly showed a bit of his childish side this week!
With Ranmaru’s arrival I hope we will be able to see the him interact with our main trio. Worst case scenario, he ends up just staying on the ship, and Hatori and Tokihiko jump onto the ship with Nobu and hurry off back to the Orio-ya Inn. The story is getting spicy!
