I retract whatever relief or tiniest bit of gratitude I have towards Kirinmaru last week, his obsessive and twisted love towards his daughter, Rion, was truly sickening. It turned out that Kirinmaru had anticipated that Zenzeiken would be stolen, so he placed a curse into the sword that would deprive its user their Kon each time it was used until the user is nothing more than an empty husk. This explained Towa’s condition in the previous episode after she pushed herself to use the Zanzeiken to its limit. Kirinmaru’s obsession in keeping his daughter alive led him to make it the sword’s user would die and then he would place Rion’s soul inside the body in return. Had Akuru didn’t save Towa, her empty body would’ve become Rion’s new vessel.
Rion, of course, refused to be revived that way, especially knowing that Towa, whom she has considered her friend, would be the sacrifice to become her new vessel. The fight between Rion and Riku vs Kirinmaru showed that in spite of Rion believing that her father was wrong and she no longer has any attachment to him, this was false. Rion, in the end, hesitated to deliver the finishing blow that could’ve killed Kirinmaru. Her hesitation consequently severely injured Riku, who took the blow of her weapon instead. I doubt that Riku is dead but…NO! RIKUUU! HOW DARE YOU, KIRINMARU! GO DIE ALREADY! JUST DIE! DIE!
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Kirinmaru successfully forced his way into the Reiwa era by entering the portal after the girls went through before it was closed and used his connection with Kirin as his guide. On the topic of Kirin, Kirinmaru claimed that Kirin was calling for him to save the Reiwa era. I assumed that Kirin’s way in saving humanity in the modern era was by having his original self to come and destroy the comet. But I wonder if that means he agree that Kirinmaru should rule over both humans and demons alike.
On the Half-Demon Princesses’ side, Towa and Setsuna’s grandmother, as always, never made it easy like she did to her own son, Sesshomaru. This time, she gave the girls test by summoning the personification of demons’ hatred for unable to cross through time, Meidomaru. She met her granddaughters for the first time, yet she didn’t show any particular reaction. But I do know she at least didn’t hate her granddaughters. I never expected her to be an affectionate mother, so I also never expected her to be one as a grandmother either. She was the type of person who would do things based on her amusement, and would think twice to entertain herself even at the expense of her own blood family.
However, I noticed that her reaction was different when Moroha was introduced to her. It was very subtle and brief, but Sesshomaru’s mother seemed to be displeased by Moroha’s presence, which I suspected due to her connection to Izayoi, her husband’s second wife. Zero implied that just like her, Sesshomaru’s mother disliked or maybe even resented Izayoi. Too bad, that looks like we’ll never get the answer as it’s not the focus, and she’s not the emotional type who even if she resent someone, she won’t show it so clearly like Zero did.
But I do appreciate that Sesshomaru’s mother, like she did to her son, gave a warning to her granddaughter that her Zanzeiken was cursed. Despite knowing the curse, the ever honest and down-to-eart Towa didn’t have any ounce of doubt against Rion, believing that Rion herself didn’t know about the curse. While sometimes her honesty could get her into trouble as its equal to being naive, this time it did right because Rion was indeed innocent. With the revelation of the Zanzeiken’s curse, now I understand why the real Kikujumonji was introduced late in the series. Towa perhaps will use the sword if Zanzeiken proves to be too much for her to handle. Since the girls already went across time, Kohaku and Hisui most likely will deliver the sword by using the Bone Eater’s Well.
This episode wasn’t so bad, but still lackluster. The fights were not engaging at all and predictable. Then again, Yashahime’s main charm was not in the battle sequences, so it wasn’t that disappointing. Now that the girls have returned to the Reiwa era, I wonder how they’ll confront Kirin, their only lead to the comet. And I love seeing Setsuna and Moroha get to wear modern clothes again!
