EPISODE 2
After the quarrel that left Hyoma got beaten up by Botan’s tsukumogamis, they’re able to sit down and clarify things with Hyoma willingly admitted he is partially at fault instead of pinning the blame entirely on the tsukumogami despite his hatred for them. However, Hyoma still messed up his first impression to Botan when he just made assumptions that Botan is being threatened by the tsukumogami to act like a family and they’re just using her. Botan has every right to be angry at Hyoma. Who wouldn’t be angry when someone badmouth people precious to you, especially when those people are the family you ever have? Hyoma made those assumption based solely on how he views tsukumogami. It’s understandable that Hyoma only has bad thoughts about tsukumogami because of his past, but that still doesn’t give him the right to judge that others feel the same way.
It’s not long for me to like Botan. At first glance, Botan seems to be ordinary kind-hearted young woman, but it’s obvious there’s more to her than what she appears to be. She’s kind-hearted, but she’s strong-willed and she knows how to discipline her tsukumogami when they made mistake. When Hyoma started badmouthing them right to her face, Botan doesn’t take it kindly and made it clear to him that she lives with the tsukumogami out of her own free will and she genuinely loves them as her family. I gave her a round applause when she defended them and gave Hyoma the ultimatum to gain the trust of her tsukumogami within 3 days or he’ll be kicked out of her house. Since Hyoma would be exiled from Saenome Clan if he doesn’t live with Botan for 1 year, he doesn’t have any choice but to earn the trust of the beings that he so detested.
Botan’s ultimatum is a good thing for Hyoma, because to fulfil her condition, like it or not he must spend times with the tsukumogami. Directly interacting with Nagi and the others became the first step for Hyoma to see for himself that they are different from the tsukumogami who killed his siblings. Doing missions with them gave Hyoma insight that these tsukumogami loves Botan like parents does for their daughter and all they want is for her to be happy, and they’ll defeat other tsukumogami if it’s needed for them to stay by her side.
Throughout his interaction with them, Hyoma stay true to his words of gaining their trust by actually trying to understand them while restraining his usually sharp tongue. When Suzuri pointed out for Hyoma to see more of other sides of themselves than just scowling at them, Hyoma was ready to retort, but he held back and after thinking it through, he agreed that there’s nothing wrong in them trying to know how human feels by doing what humans usually does and even protected Kagami from being attacked. Hyoma still can’t trust them completely, but he acknowledge that perhaps there were indeed tsukumogami that are different from the one that he knew.
Regardless of his reservations, Hyoma will endure working with them if it means he can become the head of Saenome Clan. It’s revealed that Hyoma aimed to become the head because he wants more information about the umbrella tsukumogami that killed his older siblings. The tsukumogami is still alive out there, but for some reason Hyoma couldn’t find any information about it, so he thinks becoming the head would give him more access of information that would lead him to the tsukumogami.
The first three tsukumogami to get spotlight in this episode are Nagi, Suzuri, and Kagami. Nagi can be said to be a similar type to Hyoma, both doesn’t hesitate when it comes to speaking their minds and can be quite reckless. Because of them are so straightforward, Nagi is more accepting of Hyoma, thus, became the first person to give his signature of approval for Hyouma to stay. Suzuri is a flirt and Kagami is like any other little girl who likes to eat snack, but don’t let their outward appearance and attitude fools you. Kagami has the ability to see through everything in the subject reflected, while Suzuri has a unique substance composition that made him immune to physical attack. Suzuri and Kagami were wary of Hyoma, but seeing that he keeps his promise of trying to understand them and even showed a bit concern was enough to know that Hyoma is a good person and they believe they can eventually get along with him.
The interaction between Hyoma and the tsukumogami is the most enjoyable part of this episode. As not only it gives opportunity to show what kind of characters some of the tsukumogami are, it also shows Hyoma slowly taking his first step towards his character development.
EPISODE 3
In this episode, Hyoma entered the last day of the promised deadline and only needed one more signature that would allow him to stay in Nagatsuki household. Botan is actually apologetic in setting such deadline and willing to forget about it, but Hyoma didn’t have the plan to back down and determined to get all the signatures. The problem is, the last tsukumogami that he must get the signature from is Yuu, the one who has the most bad impression of Hyoma since the beginning. While others are still more open in giving Hyoma a chance, but Yuu is close to none in accepting him.
Out of all Nagatsuki tsukumogami, Yuu is the most protective of Botan. She despise Hyoma for his hatred for the tsukumogami and most of all, for making her master cried. When it comes to Botan, Yuu is unforgiving to those who hurt her in anyway, and she only gave Hyoma two choices to get her signature: give up or take it from her by force. As she knew that giving up is not an option for Hyoma, she went straight with the second option and attacked him. I’m usually not too fond of overprotective character, but Yuu is appealing. She is no doubt a cute tsundere. She is usually very cold, but if someone pointed out how much she likes Botan, she’s turning almost into a blushing mess. The sight of her being embarrassed when Hyoma realized her love for Botan was very adorable and funny with how she responded to his comment. XD
Hyoma, again, made me proud in this episode. Even though he’s being attacked, Hyoma didn’t fight back against Yuu. He remembered how his grandfather told him to see for himself of what kind of tsukumogami in the Nagatsuki household. Despite only having stayed for two days, Hyoma is beginning to see that Yuu and the others are somewhat different, so he won’t fight her or any of them until he knows what that difference is. Again, I like how Hyoma doesn’t let his hatred to control his emotion and he’s open to give the tsukumogami a chance to prove him wrong.
We’re also introduced to the enemies who are hostile toward Nagatsuki tsukumogami, most likely because the Nagatsuki has no hesitation in fighting and sealing their fellow tsukumogami. Not only that, these enemies are the type who have killed a lot of humans. These type of tsukumogamis are exactly the type that Hyoma resent the most, so much that his bloodlust took over and he mercilessly killed them. It’s obvious that Hyoma’s hatred runs deep from the way he smiled before killing them. However, even then, his main drive is still to protect people.
Last but not the least, Botan seems to have hold some secret, one that might be threatened her life because her guardians are hoping that Hyoma may be able to save Botan. Seeing Botan being followed by many tsukumogami, I wonder if she has something that make her attracting tsukumogami to her. And the way they said she and Hyoma are a good match…do I sense a romance in that statement? 😀
