Okay I’m glad to say that it looks this isn’t going in the direction I feared it going. That’s a good thing because last week, boy… I was really… really not sure about it. I had some scathing words for it because I was so appalled by what I was seeing from Reiya. The way he was just steamrolling and Yuzu was just taking it was driving me up the wall! I get it, but things were moving too fast without even consulting her!
While I don’t like the way Reiya went about it, the whole thing to make arrangements so Yuzu could be adopted by her grandparents was a good thing and a necessity. She absolutely needed to get out of that house before anything worse happened to her, and she was never going to tell her grandparents because she didn’t want to be a burden on them.
With the adoption papers were settled, it was decided she will not be living with her grandparents (go figure), but I can’t tell you how relieved I was to see Yuzu did not succumb to the gas-lighting she was subjected to today when they went to sign the adoption papers off. She recognized the abuse and the neglect she has put up with all these years, and acknowledged that she was never going to be accepted by her family. She recognized and understood the ones who truly gave her the love and protection were her grandparents. I’m very glad this isn’t going to get dragged out because it means it’s putting this behind her sooner than later. And most importantly, this development also serves as a critical firewall in a sense, because now Yuzu can focus on getting even stronger and more independent without being in that abusive household. Remember, the dark thoughts Reiya had last week about making her dependent on him still stand, and needs to be addressed. (Unless it gets swept under the rug and we never hear of it again.)
But thankfully Yuzu has shown us this week that now that she has made peace leaving her household, her eyes are wide open. Having witnessed Reiya’s scary coldblooded side, she knows while he’s been nice to her, there’s that side of him she needs to be very aware of, and admitted it scared her. (Though lets be a real about one thing: It was sort of glossed over when her grandmother reassured her all of that was because Reiya was angry on her behalf. I guess I’ll just be happy that at the very least, both Yuzu and her grandparents were justifiably spooked when they saw how ruthless Reiya was. So as long as they don’t anger him, they won’t have to worry so much about, but I digress). And frankly, it’s super important that Yuzu actually saw this side of him to know who she’s dealing with. The only thing she doesn’t know yet is the extent of Reiya’s ruthlessness. That’s something we got from Youta instead, who knows Reiya’s character very well, and recognizes it’s not like what Karin thinks, pitying Yuzu. Reiya’s described to be not capable of showing care to anybody (even if they were hurt and dying) unless it’s his bride.
It has also finally sunk in what it means for her to be ‘his bride’. It’s understandable how surreal it was for her considering how fast all of this unfolded. Hopefully this means we’ll see them actually trying to get to know each other next week… like seriously, with main family stuff out of the way, surely… now we’ll actually see them trying to get to know each other, right?!
While there’s obviously a power imbalance at play here, this episode did show us however that Demons are not immune to being manipulated by evil and shrewd brides– and not in a good way. So this kind of abuse can be applied by both parties. Karin was a prime example of that when she commanded Youta to do whatever it takes to tear her sister away from Reiya, and bring her back home— to which I actually yelled out: DON’T DO IT YOUTA! REALLY?! OH MY FUCKING GOD. THE MANIPULATION OF DEMON’S BRIDES ARE SCARY!
Frankly, I had hoped for a hot second that Youta was actually going to drop Karin as a bride. Youta’s rational side knows he can’t go up against Reiya, and challenging him could mean the very destruction of his clan. Yet… this choke-hold these ‘chosen brides’ have on them, can be something akin to a chained leash. Karin knows exactly how to keep him wrapped around her fingers, manipulating him with intimacy to do things that he knows, is a very bad idea for both him and his clan. That’s just so messed up, because scary love-dose infatuation with ‘the bride is always right, I must may the bride happy’ is on track to not only getting himself killed (when he already knows he was lucky enough to have been spared), but also could result the demise of his entire clan. Man, now I kinda of feel bad for the guy… Talk about the absolute worst kind of person to be ‘destined’ with.
But no really, as soon as that bitch kissed him, I knew what was about to unfold. Not only that, it showed us how Karin knows exactly how to get what she wants. She’s so selfishly driven by her narcissism and superiority complex, she can’t accept the idea that Yuzu has it better than her. So she’s now dragging Youta and his whole clan into a feud with the worst demon they could possibly pick a fight with, all because of her ego. It just goes to show that Karin doesn’t love Youta, she loves his wealth and power. That’s why she was so peeved at the fact Yuzu has been chosen by someone even more powerful than a Fox Demon (whom she had believed all this time, was the most powerful demon).
As for Yuzu’s parents, we already knew they were trash, but boy… this episode really showed how ghoulish they were. From arguing with the grandparents about how ‘Karin’s a bride, so she’s special’ (to which, they were NOT putting up with any of that crap), to Yuzu’s father having no qualms of attempting to beat her in front of the very people who were there to rescue her from this very abuse, they were not afraid to show their true colours. Fortunately they were very slow on the uptake when it came to learning Reiya’s class, because as predicted, the second they learned Yuzu was chosen by an Ogre from the Kiryuin family, they were already trying to come up with ways to get Yuzu back and butter-up to him– which is so appalling how they didn’t even acknowledge nor seem to care their abuse is what got them blacklisted in the first place. And the freaking audacity to turn to Youta and ask for his help to gain back the title as her parents– not even showing any consideration how he was just punished for harming Yuzu. Disgusting. This just proved their daughters are nothing more than pawns for wealth and power.
Overall this was a much better episode, and so I will be continuing my coverage of this. I will admit it is a toss-up of whether I’ll fully enjoy this or not, but for now I’m pleased to see that the ‘Demon’s Infatuation’ has been properly established, making it a good plot-point for upcoming conflicts that they will need to address.
