This episode was an absolute roller coaster and I had a ton of fun! I mean, can you really go wrong with an episode about ninja cats regardless of the genre? I was never sure what emotion I should have been feeling at any given time – were they going for humor? Or were they trying to instill fear? Either way whatever the result was just made me want to laugh, it really was just a lot of fun!
There really wasn’t anything I didn’t enjoy in this episode. Yeah, it was a rollercoaster and it was all over the place, but it really seemed to fit the pacing of the episode. We were introduced to Akari Seto, who I hope they keep around for the coming episodes. I know Sorao probably won’t be too fond of it, but I think she can shake up the dynamic between the two or at the very least can use her karate skills at whatever the Otherside throws at them. I mean, they’re going to run out of bullets at some point so perhaps hand to hand combat may be useful in saving their lives. Or perhaps, she’ll take a roll similar to Kozakura and not actually travel with the duo, but she still offers support as their friend (but really, if anything she’s definitely a lead to Satsuki).
Speaking of Kozakura, her interactions in this episode were great as well even if what they amounted to was scolding Toriko and Satsuki for making an absurd purchase while drunk. She’s practically the mom friend, but not by choice. I do hope her “Tanuki” plushie toy has been keeping her safe since she returned from the Otherside. I hope it will make an appearance again.
As for this week’s “monster / urban legend / creepy pasta” I really like that they were able to enter the in between world again, despite me not really understanding what that entails. I loved that they had the conversation about whether or not Sorao would be able to shoot a cat, which is honestly just interesting considering last week, she said that she’d be willing to shoot at a human no problem. But a cat? Oh, that would take a major push. And honestly, I understand why she’s hesitant in even taking on the request because she didn’t want the image of a cat to be ruined for her. I watched this episode with both my cats sitting with me and honestly, I thought the same thing – would I be able to look at them the same if they turned out to be some horrible grotesque monster? Probably, but still! I’m much happier just seeing them as ninjas rather than creepy monsters.
All in all, this was a good episode even if the tone was completely different than previous episodes. Even though they added some creepy elements, I honestly can only sum it up as a “fun” episode. Sure, they were being attacked by cats who were genuinely trying to harm them, but can you really be mad at cat for that long? And so, it looks like next week we’re going to jump back into the serious territory since we ended off this episode talking about Satsuki once more. I’m honestly a little scared to see what’s going to happen with her in the coming episodes – part of me hopes that she isn’t going to be the “final boss”. But that’s all just speculation so I’m excited to see what will come out in the upcoming weeks! Also, I would just like to say, they put in a Shining reference when they were trying to run away from the cafe, but they really missed out on the opportunity to change the name of Cafe Pause into Cafe Paws.
