Subculture Anime Blog

Master of puppets.

Summary:

While Toru is walking home one day, he runs into a strange girl with two puppets on her hands. This girl is, of course, Mubyo. Mubyo asks if Toru is happy, stating that she isn’t because she has lost the Sakasaen. Mubyo wishes for Toru to help her search for it, and when she sees that he is wearing some of Tenko’s hair, she suggests that they go to his home. With this, Mubyo finally reveals that she is a neighboring god. Mubyo attempts to explain the Sakasaen’s importance to Toru as she walks with him, but Toru does not really understand. He does realize that it is an important item to her, however. When Toru mentions Kai, who should have visited Mubyo recently, Mubyo explains that he did not know the current location of the Sakasaen. When Mubyo finally meets Tenko, she is shocked that she refuses to help. Although Tenko believes the Sakasaen has nothing to do with her, Mubyo states that her preforming the Mitama Okuri was what caused her loss. Even though Tenko still does not wish to help, her decision is changed by Toru who wishes to.

While riding home, Noboru sees a yokai in front of him. Although the yokai attempts to stop him, Noboru simply rides past him. Toru and the others meanwhile visit Ebisu, but they find that he does not have any solid information for them. When Noboru meets with the rest of the group, Mubyo becomes alerted at the mention of the raccoon-like yokai. Mubyo again asks for help, and Tenko is forced to because of Toru’s wishes. When the group reaches the school, they discover that Ittou is now working there. When Tenko becomes distracted by the school pool, however, Mubyo takes the chance to take Toru away. Inside the school, Mubyo reveals that she actually knows the location of the Sakasaen. It’s location, however, is inside his head. Mubyo makes Toru realize what kind of danger he is in, but Ittou seemingly appears to save him. While on the school roof, Toru expresses his belief that the Sakasaen isn’t in his head. This actually angers Ittou, but Daigoro soon appears to realize that the person in front of them is not the real Ittou.

Ironically, the Sakasaen is actually around Daigoro’s neck. The false Ittou catches Toru, but Tenko finally catches up to them. With a single attack, she reveals the impostor’s true identity as the raccoon yokai from earlier. Mubyo soon arrives, however, then freezing Tenko and Toru in their places. She again threatens to take the Sakasaen from the inside of Toru’s head, not giving him a chance to speak. Before she can do this, however, Tenko reveals that she has created a copy of herself. Tenko and Mubyo engage in combat, but after only a short while, Tenko gains the upper hand. Mubyo warns Tenko what would happen if she were to go up again a god, but Tenko is only concerned that she had gone against her master Toru. She also makes Mubyo realize that Kai had told a lie to her in order to get back at Toru and the others. Breaking the atmosphere afterwards, Toru simply reveals the real Sakasaen and gives it to Mubyo. In the meantime, a bird contacts a yokai about what has happened.

Preview: More battle time.

Impression:

Wow, this episode was great! Obviously, after watching last week’s episode, today’s delt with the introduction of Mubyo. Her voice instantly hit base with me, and it turns out that she’s played by Mizuhashi Kaori. This seiyu has played a lot of roles that I’m familiar with, but who she reminded me the most of after this episode was Miyako of Hidamari Sketch. This made me get excited of a whole lot of things, but that’s probably off subject for this post. I can’t say I was surprised that Mubyo suddenly turned on the group, because despite her fun atmosphere, the end of last week just had too much obvious foreshadowing. The battle at the end of this episode was totally DBZ, and it was awesome. This show really knows when it can be serious and cool. I definitely liked Mubyo’s cheerful personality a lot more though. I might have not thought about this if someone hadn’t mentioned it earlier today, but the puppet thing is totally similar to Natsumi’s hobbies in Sketchbook. Wow, this episode has me remembering all kinds of great slice of life, huh? Also of note, Tenko’s hair finally grew back for great justice. The revealing that she can only follow her master’s orders was awesome too. Doujins anyone? Next week looks pretty exciting, and I’m already pumped to see more.