Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi Episode 22

Oh boy, the time has finally come. Raiju has officially left his room and sought Aoi out to play with. It is no surprise that Raiju wants to eat her, but he wants to play with his food first, and use her as the source of chaos for the ceremony. And what better way to do that than to put a spell on her and trap her in her worst nightmare!!!!

God damn it Aoi, you should’ve spat out that candy! (But then again he probably would’ve forced her to swallow it… probably better she swallowed it on her own….) And unfortunately for Aoi, she did the one thing she should have never done: Reveal her weakness, especially to a dangerous Ayakashi like Raiju. I can’t believe she actually blurted it out to him. Naive? Desperate for him to stop tormenting her? Take your pick. Either way, she made herself into the perfect toy for him to play with, and now he gets to torture her with one of the things she fears most. If he had known about her trauma of being starved, I have no doubt in my mind he would have probably tried to have starved her too. I don’t know how long Raiju plans on keeping her in this condition, perhaps he intends to trap her in that state until she misses the ceremony. While it could possibly end up being a ‘few days’, being trapped in a dream based on trauma for that long is essentially torture. Who knows what else he will throw in there to make her life more miserable. The biggest problem right now, is for the rest of the group to identify the problem. They have no idea what happened between her and Raiju, so will they believe she simply collapsed or will they sense something amiss? Or will Raiju make the bold move and reveal he is the one responsible for it? The guy says he loves being hated by others, so he might just do that. Or actually, maybe it will be Ai who tells them, because she is the sole witness who was with Aoi the entire time. Either way, I hope for Aoi’s sake it won’t be long.

But I have to be honest here: The overall execution of the confrontation between Raiju and Aoi could have been so much better had they actually done a better job with the presentation of Raiju’s expressions. I mean they aren’t bad, but I definitely feel like they could have been more… intense? It is such a shame, because Raju’s voice actor absolutely nailed it! He did he job, and creeped me out, especially with the way he greet Aoi, holy shit– that was SO EERIE!!!!

Unfortunately targeting Aoi was just another one of the many problems Raiju is causing. This week we learned why he is a VIP Guest Ranmaru is constantly reporting to, and how everyone has to suck up to him. Supposedly he is the only one who can identify what the Hourai Gem Branch looks like, and is the only one who is willing to do it. Unfortunately for them, he is abusing his role by causing chaos for the shit and giggles. It sickens me how he loves being despised by others, by toying with them as he pleases, that’s why he is always picking on the Southern Lands during the critical time of the ceremony.

I do want to quickly note what we learned about the Hourai Gem Branch. It has a very interesting and unexpected history behind it!

• It is a foreign tree with spiritual powers (I bet on it originally came from the Eternal Realm)
• It was given to the Ayakashi King as a Gift
• The tree was lost in the Great Youto Fire, that went down in the Hidden Realm’s History, only a few branches survived
• Nobody knows who those were passed on to through the years

Although they showed us a very different image of what the Hourai Gem Branch looked like, I am inclined to believe it may have been modified over the years. Because at this point, who would be the one to bring it in or find it besides Ranmaru if it’s not Aoi’s hairpin? If so, I am hoping that Ranmaru did find success when he visited Youto. I highly doubt he would actually announce it to Raiju, especially if he were able to verify it with reliable sources of his own. After-all, Ranmaru isn’t stupid. On top of that, I would say he seems a bit more relaxed since his return. He isn’t snapping at Aoi and others as he usually would, but maybe it’s because he received the validation she has spoken with Princess Iso. However even if he did succeed, Raiju has another way of interfering with the ceremony by making it impossible for Aoi to cook. Frankly, when he said that, I thought I thought he might go as far as breaking her hands or something, but putting her under a spell is certainly a more discreet way to interfere with the process without any evidence tied to him that he is the one responsible for it.

Before shit hit the fan, we were given some heart-thumping scenes with the discussion of love and relationships between Aoi and Ginji. Finally, the two of them got their chance to share a drink together as promised. It was really cute to see the two of them discuss the subject, but oh my god! GINJI! YOU ARE KILLING ME HERE!!!!! The expressions he makes hurts my heart so much. FFFFF—- don’t tell me Ginji doesn’t like Aoi, he totally likes her— oh my god, what if he doesn’t even realize it himself?! He says he never experienced love so… Oh god it’s going to hurt even more if that’s the case! That will make things so complicated. My heart can’t take this. I want Ginji to be happy, but… I’M SORRY GINJI I LOVE YOU, BUT I SHIP OODANNA x AOI MORE THAN YOU.

We also got a confirmation that the Mystery Ayakashi is Aoi’s first love. AND I KNEW IT. Well actually, I think it is safe to assume we all did. It was pretty obvious given how obsessed she is with wanting to find him. And when Ginji followed it up with how Oodanna would be interested in hearing that story, man, I have to pull the reigns to stop myself from allowing my inner fangirl’s wild speculations take over. I can’t tell how many ideas I have in my head right now.

But I wonder why Ginji said Oodanna would be interested in Aoi’s first love? Does he know something she doesn’t? Or does he believe Oodanna is Aoi’s first love? Does it it have to do with the possibility how Oodanna may be the Mystery Ayakashi? Man it’s really hard to say! (Actually has anyone seen the theory how the Mystery Ayakashi may be Oodanna and Ginji fused together of a sorts or something? At first I thought it was crazy, but after being a nerd about it, I gathered up all the screenshots and looked them over, and yeah, this actually might be a legit theory after-all! Perhaps this may actually explain why we kept on hearing their voices mix together, unless it was supposed to be used to deliver Aoi’s confusion and how her speculation of one over the other is influencing her memories— which is understandably hazy because she is starving to death.)

And it doesn’t surprise me that Ginji knows Oodanna is nearby working as a Fish Peddler, but it makes me wonder if Ranmaru knows it too. If that’s the case, well ahaha, Oodanna’s cover has been more or less blown, at least among those who know him. It was funny when Ginji asked Aoi if there has been any new development with Oodanna, she denied it (hahahah keep telling yourself that darling!). More importantly, I really liked how Aoi brought up the question that has been lingering in the back of her mind: Why does Oodanna want her to be his bride? Is it because she a collateral for a loan? Or because she is a human girl? As her feelings for him grow, Aoi wants to understand how he feels about her. He is a character that is is shrouded in mystery and difficult to read. He hasn’t quite opened up much about himself, much less continues to dodge the subject about his favourite food, has yet to reveal his name, and his up-bring and how long has he been self-conscious of being an ogre. Is it something that he exclusively feels self-conscious of around her, or is it something that has been stuck with him for a very long time? And the list goes on.

I suppose this would make it a good time to expand a bit on a couple of theories I have had for a while now. These are all in regards to possible explanations about Oodanna’s feelings and where they stem from. There are a few that I admit, feels a bit of a stretch, but hey you never know right?

A) Aoi is Oodanna’s first love, but he never got to confess his feelings to her in her past life before she died, or his love was unrequited. This is really just a tragic love story altogether. Haha! This may also give us a bit more details why he is self-conscious of being an Ogre.

B) Oodanna and Aoi were married in her past life. There is a possibility he may have thought she had remembered him, but when she shut him down after he brought her to the Hidden Realm, he was shocked and hurt.

C) Oodanna and Aoi were lovers and engaged, but she died before they were married, possibly killed. Both the hair pin and the ogre fire necklace originally belonged to her. This would be the reason why he referred to her as his bride, and now wife (because he feels like they are making progression with their relationship), because he can’t tell her they were lovers because she doesn’t remember.

D) Aoi saved Oodanna in one of her past lives. This theory comes from the speculation that Oodanna’s favourite food is the first meal she has given him. Say perhaps he were in the Human Realm and was starving, she possessed similar powers as she does now and made him a meal that helped him recover. This could have also perhaps contributed to making him into the generous ogre he is today, of helping others by giving them a job at his inn. This theory also ties together with her becoming his first love.

Another theory I have takes into consideration if Oodanna were to be the Mystery Ayakashi, one of the reasons why he hasn’t told Aoi he was the one who saved her is because either he feared she may be disappointed in learning it was an ogre who saved her, or he hoped for her to fall in love with him rather than the fact he saved her when she was a child.

That being said, with Raiju, the storms, and the subject of the Mystery Ayakashi bringing brought back into the mix, I would like to believe this is the ultimate build up to revealing who the Mystery Ayakashi is. That or perhaps we may learn one of Oodanna’s secrets. But if there’s one thing we might see, is Aoi seeking comfort with the pink shell Oodanna has given her on their date. I have been waiting for it to be used since the moment it has been introduced, and this seems to be about the right time for her to take it out since I doubt she would be able to summon Ai.
… Actually, I wonder if the pink shell will be used as the source to reach her? I feel like that’s the only thing she will have on her that would enable them to do that.

Oh man, is it next Monday yet? AH GEEZ, ITS SUCH A COMPLICATED FEELING WHEN THERE’S ONLY FOUR EPISODES LEFT! I I’m not ready for it to be over! *SOBS*