WHEW. I’m glad that the outcome that we got was not the worst possible one, and March gets to live another day! Congrats on not getting sacrificed to the gods, March! But I don’t think we’re in the clear just yet. The next episode looks like they are going to have a little bit of fun, but when you stumble across an immortal being that took down a god that you’ve been sacrificing young children to, I understand the desire to experiment. Just… don’t harm March.
All around, I think this was a pretty solid episode! Though, most of it was just allowing the suspense to build up. Before March is found again, she has a chance to name the immortal creature, Fushi or Fu-chan. While Fushi doesn’t exactly know what that means, it has still managed to form a bond with March, even if it is just following that instinct of getting some food. It doesn’t know what is going to happen to March, and doesn’t really have the capacity to understand, but it does know that March has been the one kind enough to give him food. And so, when March is taken away and we no longer see Fushi the scenario becomes surprisingly eerie. On the one hand, I’m worried that Fushi will continue walking and never see March again, but on the other I’m consistently hoping he will show up and save the day. Which does turn out to be true, but I was in suspense for so long!
Meanwhile, March has since consumed some funky tasting black jelly that has put her to sleep and Parona is doing her best to escape and save March. And man… I thought March was lucky, Parona had so many near death experiences, I’m impressed she’s still alive with no broken bones! I mean, she was almost killed by Oniguma while she was tied to a tree, almost killed again by Oniguma on the cliff, she survived the fall off the cliff, and then finally when she went to protect March from Oniguma she was pretty aggressively through off. It’s honestly impressive that she’s not more beaten up! (And on that note… can we talk about the soldier who was surprised to find out that Oniguma was real? Like bro??? You’ve been sacrificing young girls to this creatur for how long????) I’d like to think the encounter between Parona and Fushi was fated, but seeing as they travelled separately, I think it just served to add to the stress of not knowing whether or not March was going to be okay. Even if Parona would have tagged along with Fushi, they wouldn’t have been able to hold a conversation or discuss strategy. It was probably for the better that she went ahead and tried to rescue March from the alter herself.
But!! When Fushi showed up?? That was one heck of a fight! Initially, I thought there was going to be some resolution with Oniguma which involved pulling out the spikes from his body. I mean, I’d be pretty darn mad if I had a bunch of stakes sticking out of my body and people kept trying to shoot me to add more. But dang… I was absolutely not expecting Fushi and Oniguma to go head-to-head. Quite literally, Fushi lost his head in that fight. And in turn that led to a pretty solid twist! I wasn’t expecting him to be able to revert back to the wolf form, I thought he was going to keep on fighting with that flimsy body form. That fight was absolutely brutal. I can’t even put into words what I felt when watching it. I wanted to look away, but at the same time I couldn’t look away. But at the end of the day, if Fushi hadn’t been there, everyone would have been screwed.
The second half was incredibly stressful with both the battle as well as just determining March’s state. But I really liked the ending of the episode. It was one that gave me a smile! March was able to give another pear to Fushi, which she naturally didn’t recognize, while Parona was holding her back, talking about how dangerous Fushi was. But March, the sweet and innocent child she is, still calls him a puppy and releases the pear. And then to have Fushi say “A-ri-ga-to-u”???? That was a great way to end the episode! Fushi is growing and learning! The journey is just getting started!
I’m thoroughly surprised by this anime. I went into it absolutely worried that it wouldn’t live up to expectation and while it’s taking a different approach than I thought, I’m pleasantly surprised. I still feel like it’s still too early to call this anime since we’re just getting started, but each episode has been enjoyable. I’m afraid that I’m going to get hit with episode 1 levels of devastation again. I can’t wait for next week! The story is engaging, and the music is captivating! I hope March, Parona, and Fushi will be okay!
