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「さきぶれ」 (Sakibure)
“Portent”
My favorite part about this series so far is the dynamic between the yokai. The sulking of the Byobu Nozoki, the childish impatience of the Yanari bursting to tell their news, the overprotectiveness of Nikichi and Sasuke. The center of all these interactions is, of course, Ichitarou, who spoils the yokai with treats (much to the delight of everyone except for Nikichi and Sasuke), and pals around with them.
We were introduced to two new spooks this week- Noderabo (the ghost of a wayward priest) (Takahashi Shinya) and a Kawauso (a shape-shifting river otter) (Tomioka Misako), who stop Ichitarou and his guard yokai to update them on the killer on the identity of the victim- which they already knew. What the trio didn’t know was that the tradesman had lost a tool recently and did not have his tools with him at the crime scene- a curious turn of events for sure. I appreciated the small nuance of the yokai in this scene- for all of the special powers they have, they can still be quite childlike- needing to be told what to do next, getting excited over a reward of sweets. The boys don’t have time to stop and chat at length, waiting for a special “shipment” that needs extraordinary treatment judging from the bribes to the headman, the hushed tones, and entrusting the storehouse key to the bedridden bocchan.
I was assuming the shipment was something like opium or another drug- I was not expecting that. What that is a mummy sold piecemeal to customers willing to pay dearly for it- it even seemed to take Sasuke by surprise. That got kind of dark- the kind of people willing to buy a mummified person and chop it up as merchandise, regardless of whether or not it actually works as a treatment… I’m a little afraid to ask whose mummy it is or how they got it, but it certainly doesn’t paint the family in the best of lights.
Another blot on the family slate is the eldest son, Matsunosuke (Yamashita Seiichirou) – who is not dead contrary to the parents’ story, but alive and working somewhere in town along with other unwanted misfits. From the dinnertime conversation, I gather he was a love child and the missus threw him out. He seems like a pleasant enough fellow, but as this episode has shown, there’s more to this family than meets the eye. I do wonder if he has some kind of yokai connection too, but there’s still time to explore that. Now, how did Ichitarou find out about him? Through the yokai network (I’m assuming not Sasuke or Nikichi) or his sweets shop friend?
The murders are continuing on- the latest victim being a cat (Seriously, why a cat? They’re too cute for that). The headman pays another visit to Ichitarou, to deliver the news that the victim’s tools were sold off one by one. Hmmm….. Which pisses off the Yanari, as they found the news first, but because of human stuff like receiving customers, Ichi didn’t hear them out. I love the running joke that the yokai are the first to get the news, but the humans beat them to actually telling it. I find it interesting that Ichitarou kept trying to hide the yokai- I assumed that they were something only some people could see, but I guess not in this world.
The last part is where things really took a turn. It was already clear last week that Sasuke and Nikichi really don’t like the Byobu Nozoki after finding him complicit with bocchan’s dangerous outings. Yeah, sure, maybe it was irresponsible for the Byobu Nozoki to do that, but I don’ think it’s anything that merited the treatment he received at the hands of the guardian yokai. He just seems like a playful spirit- but maybe there’s more to the picture than that. Nikichi flips out at the Byobu Nozoki, giving him a beating, which Sasuke joins in on. Something is obviously off with these two- as Ichitarou notes, their eyes look odd, and they turn deaf ears onto Ichitarou’s pleas. Finally, he gets them to snap out of it after point blank asking them who their master is. Which is indeed a good question- they seem to kind of almost brush it off and their behavior here raises the question- could there reach a point where they’re totally out of Ichi’s control, and who is really behind them, pulling the strings?
That scene here casts a shadow over the yokai- they are not cute fuzzy beings- they are dangerous. This should send warning bells ringing in Ichitarou’s head. With how buddy buddy he is with all of the yokai, he can certainly be easily taken advantage of, if he isn’t already. I appreciate the added layer this gives the yokai characters and makes it more fascinating to watch- even more so than the mystery part, if I may say so.
