AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHEN OODANNA GAVE AOI THE KEY SHE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANXIOUS BECAUSE MY HEART IS INCOHERENTLY SCREAMING RIGHT NOW! AND THEN A KISS ON TOP OF THAT?!?!?!?!?! HOLY SHIT.
I wasn’t expecting things to go from zero to one-hundred this soon! Oh my god, my heart is pounding and aching so hard right now-– MY EMOTIONS!!!! It was so calm during the first half, to the point you’d mistakenly think maybe this was going to be a chill episode– BUT NOOOOOOOO~! As soon as the festival ended the tension was building up and so much happened in like a span of five minutes. Talk about suddenly thrown onto a roller-coaster of emotions man!
Where do I even begin? Okay, you know what, let’s start with the big thing: The kiss— because holy smokes! With the way Oodanna had been drawing the line between them for the past two episodes, I was not anticipating them to kiss anytime soon. But after what transpired, it’s rather self-explanatory why a kiss did happen.
Despite the fact Oodanna been trying to distance himself from Aoi, she on the other-hand made it her mission not to let this one go, and expresses as much. Oodanna however still stubbornly refused to budge on this issue, but at the very least he did explain more as to why he’s afraid to do so. And the reason for that is: He’s genuinely afraid and utterly convinced that Aoi would come to hate him once she learns who he truly is. But it also raises a lot of questions as to why because of the way he frames it. What is it about his true identity that Aoi would hate about him? He keeps going on about ‘being an Ogre after-all’, so what’s beyond that? What’s worse than being that? Is it something else entirely, or does it have to do with his history? I have so many questions!!!
But as much as Oodanna would much rather her not uncover this truth about him, it’s probably because he had an inkling to why he had been summoned by the Ayakashi King, that he had chose to leave the obsidian key in her hands. We can sum up that much given in last week’s episode, he had been continuously advising of what Aoi should do should anything happen when he’s gone. He told her how to make use of the manor and its garden, and now handing her the key (which, in all likelihood, may be used for, or somewhere inside the mansion). This is not just prioritizing her safety, but it also goes to show Oodanna at least wants to give Aoi the power of choice.
His unease however wasn’t missed by Aoi. At that point, the tension in the air was so palpable, that it made her (and myself included) feel terribly anxious. The most unsettling feeling about it was the awful feeling that he was about to disappear– and lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened.
So because she had feared as much, Aoi knew in her heart that if she didn’t tell Oodanna her earnest feelings, as well as convey her heartfelt conviction that she’d never come to hate him at that very moment, she would certainly regret it.
And boy did that pay off in a big way, because we saw how Oodanna was not expecting to hear that from her! Especially after coming off of last week where he said he’d be willing to wait as long as it takes. What Aoi said to him was as close as a confession as it’d get, and we can clearly see it meant so, so much to him to hear that. And on top of probably knowing why he was being summoned by the Imperial Courts, it’s no wonder he finally surrendered to his yearning feelings and kissed her. He needed to let her know just how much that meant to him, and reaffirm how much he loves and cherishes her.
GOSH MY HEART IS STILL POUNDING!!!!!
BUT SHIT MAN, this is where things get ugly! The moment Oodanna had left to Youto, that was the last Aoi had seen and heard of him. A month passes and guess who does show up? Bloody Raiju. Of all people, it had to be this motherfucker?! And he’s now the new master of Tenjin-ya? Seriously, what the fuck is going on!? What the hell did he have on Oodanna for that to happen!? SHIT!!!! Talk about the absolute worst person to put in power. He was bad enough as a V.I.P. guest at Orio-ya, now he’s the master of Tenjin-ya?! Fuck that!
On the side note… Not gonna lie, but seeing Raiju again really miss Season 1 character designs. The baby face isn’t helping right now, and that’s my main gripe at the moment. There’s definitely times when we see really good quality that comes out, so I hope they tap into that more with him… Otherwise it’s going to break the immersion when he begins acting like a menace again. That said, at least they didn’t randomly change the animation style when the kiss happened this time!
Apart from the highlight of the kiss and bombshell ending to the episode, we do need to take a moment to appreciate Oodanna (to his credit) eating all of Aoi’s pumpkin based dishes, as well not to forget O-Ryo’s and Kasuga’s precious bond.
As promised, Oodanna showed up at the end of the Fall Festival to eat the pumpkin dishes Aoi had prepared for him. It was really cute to see how visibly nervous he was about eating food he generally doesn’t like. But even when it comes to food he dislikes, he’ll always eat Aoi’s cooking. Fortunately he did enjoy it more than he had anticipated thanks to her mixing it with other flavours like chili mix and meat. She figured he’d enjoy it more if he couldn’t taste the pumpkin as much, which was very sweet.
Last but not least, Kasuga has finally retired from Tenjin-ya. Her last day was on the final day of the festival. She worked hard at Moonflower and then got to some a bit more time under O-Ryo’s guidance once she had finally pulled herself together. O-Ryo cares for Kasuga like a sister, and the whole idea of her living in the bitterly cold Northern Lands worried her as she, who was born there, knows how difficult it is. But O-Ryo also knows, although small, Kasuga is mighty and she’ll do just fine. It’s good the two were able to spend the remaining time working together before her send off. O-Ryo even gifted her her bell to carry with her.
And with that said, so god help us having to wait for the next episode. Even after finishing writing this up, my heart is still screaming right now! See you next week!
