Oh ho ho what an interesting turn of events. Just who exactly is Sorao and does she actually have a relation to Satsuki? Or is it possible that she is Satsuki? I’ll admit, that was a rather interesting development to come out of this week’s episode and I feel like it caught me completely off guard. For so long I’ve been led to believe that these two were very very different, but perhaps there’s a bit more hiding underneath the surface. I already can’t wait to see what more they’ll discover next week!
But, given that it was the twist at the end of the episode, I won’t spend too much time talking about it and instead focus on the “urban legend” or “real-life horror story” of the week – Teeth! Akari is back and it looks like she has another situation needing the help of Sorao and Toriko. And before I go any further, I would just like to say that Akari has good taste in manga. I was absolutely obsessed with Spiral when I got my first volume. I was so surprised!! But it reminded me that I need to pick up the manga again. Anyways! Aside from her manga, it looks like one of her friends has been gifted some teeth by a talking monkey. Which, I have to admit is just creepier that a lot of the things we’ve seen in the Otherside. When taking the Otherside into account, I can expect creepy and frightening things to show up. But to have it happen in the “real” world is much more terrifying. I really can’t blame Nattsun for disposing of the monkey’s gift… I probably would have done the same.
One of the things that I really liked about this episode was Sorao telling the story of Kano Sannuki and how it ended in a pretty tame way: Monkey gives you human teeth, old lady comes by and asks for the teeth, you give her the teeth, and then everything is good. But the real twist come when one of the steps can’t be completed. Unfortunately, that’s also where I started having a hard time following the episode. Once they arrived at Nattsun’s home, I really felt like they tried to include a lot of things that they just didn’t have quite enough time for. First, we have the suicide, which makes sense given the description of the body and the legend, but then the shrine and the missing dog head. Perhaps this is just one of those situations where I’m trying to make sense out of something that doesn’t. But in the end the only thing useful they found was a jar full of teeth! And even then, what does one do with a jar full of teeth?
Still, we were able to finally get another perspective of Satsuki. From both Toriko and Akari, Satsuki really seems like a powerhouse girl. Someone that they both believe in and admire. But from Nattsun’s perspective, there was always something off putting about her and to finally see a memory definitely started to jog the question: “Who exactly was Satsuki”? She’s more than just a friend to Toriko who has gone missing. There’s something else there and I can’t wait to see how we’ll gather more information on her in future episodes. Is Sorao actually Satsuki? Perhaps her body’s been taken over? Is it just a coincidence? The possibilities are endless right now!
But back to Nattsun’s situation, I… don’t really get what happened between Akari and Satsuki. I get that it has something to do with Sorao’s eye and probably that Akari has some Otherside nature within her… but they didn’t really explain what was going on except for a quick comment from Toriko. But it’s pretty cool that Sorao can do something like that, but does it only affect Akari? Or is this something she’s been able to do for a while, but has opted not to do it? Either way, at least Akari’s fists were able to save the day. So, all in all a good end to the episode!
Still, at the end of the day, regardless of what happened in this episode, my biggest takeaway is that Satsuki is becoming more and more ominous and I absolutely can’t wait to see if there will be a big reveal with her. Whether it turns out that she’s been with us this whole time or she’s turned into another one of the Otherside’s creatures, there’s a lot of potential with this development. So, with that! I’m looking forward to what will be coming next. But in the meantime, I hope Toriko and Sorao can share a cute moment like Akari and Nattsun did.
