| Episode 5-8: Gotta say- disregarding the awkward prologue- this Anime has been good with story-telling so far. Episode 6 is my favorite so far; The identity of the 'Older Brother' became quite apparent when they kept showing how he looked and acted, but the overall delivery of the reveal was quite sweet and heart-warming. Episode 7 was also quite touching. I did not expect a sudden backstory relating to Jinya, much less for it to be just a casual, but very lovely story sharing that ended up having a connection to Jinya. I'm watching it for free so I have a 1-week delay, but I'm guessing the current consciousness of Natsu is actually Jinya's OG sister? It would make sense since it's already 2/3 of the cour and we've basically forgotten about her xD I wonder if they're gonna give this show a well-budgeted fight scene if/when Jinya fights a big boss this season (Akitsu?). GridironOtaku said: Did they mention this during the episode? I watched it on Bilibili and I didn't seem to have noticed it-- translation issues, probably (as usual to Bilibili xP).As it turns out, the guy's full name is actually Somegoro Akitsu III |
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| Episode 9 And by Somegoro Akitsu III, this guy inherited the famous craftsman's skills from his successor, which explains the name. Akitsu I is long dead, while his successor, dubbed Akitsu II, passed on the teachings. Nevertheless, he's quite dangerous seeing that his works have a life of their own as they fuse with demon energy, but it's nothing Jinya can't handle as he absorbed those demons, and threatened to absorb Akitsu himself before he explained everything and gave him a kogai to set the soul inside the kanzashi free. And with that, case closed. But seeing it jump to the present day just nine episodes in was rather unexpected as while I knew that it was eventually going to get to the present day, not this quickly. So now, Jinya is a century-old high school student going by the name of Jinya, and the shrine where the village he grew up in was located is now Jinta Shrine. They skipped quite a lot, but I'm hoping it's just a teaser rather than a straight-up time skip. |
| If this episode is a way to transition to "modern" day from the 1850s that is kind of neat, but if they are going to continue going back and forth, it's kind of weird....again, where is the main plot in all of this? |
| I don't blame the girl for falling asleep. |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
| Episode 10 And now, a school play where Jinya is reliving a moment in life he was involved in, and it makes me think that he wrote that play. It involves Naotsugu and a nameless prostitute who met in the rain. The harlot got possessed by a demon, but was saved. While I knew that Jinya still has a lot more story to tell about his life in the 19th century, doing this story through a play is quite brilliant. |
| Episode 11 And now, it's back to the 19th century after a brief glimpse of the far future that awaits Jinya. And it involves a mysterious booze called Yuki no Nagori that is quite dangerous to drink as it plays all sorts of tricks on the drinker's minds. Naotsugu and Akitsu III are involved in this case as they try to see what exactly is in it and what the effects are, and it looks like demons are somehow involved. Let's see where this goes as something is definitely up about this drink. |
| Episode 10: The way they told the story as both a stage play and showing the actual event were quite appealing to me. I could care less about Jinta's sister anymore, or any plot shenanigans-- just give me something like this every episode. I liked how Jinta was being so petty about Yotaka painting him as incompetent; Edgelord wants his aura respected xD On the nitpick side: they barely showcased the new character they introduced. |
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| hmm, that was Shirayuki's voice at the end...was that the spring where the sake came from? |
| Episode 12 That booze is evil, alright. After seeing demons popping up after somebody got drunk over the sake whose name translates to Snowy Remains, it's pretty clear that whoever made this sake has evil intentions. Those who drink it turn into demons as Jinya and Akitsu are out to destroy the source of this sinister sake. The guy who had been selling them is unwilling to give up his collection despite all the warnings, and even drank it in defiance. But he got the source of where it was produced, so that's where they are headed as some demon lady is behind the production of this extremely dangerous drink as some spring on a nearby mountain is where it came from. |
| Episode 11: Are there even demons here, or is this just a public advisory ad for responsible drinking? xD I liked how they used Jinya's neighbors as an indicator to the progression of the Lingering Snow's effect. That was quite creative. Zenji really had a diss track for Natsu xD I guess they're officially a ship now. At the beginning of the episode, I thought it was another time skip where Jinya and Ofuu was about to celebrate their upcoming marriage, or that Zenji and Natsu already did. I might just 'Straw Hat' the last episode when it airs (I have a one-week episode delay T-T) |
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| so they finally at least got around to looping back to the main story...but still no idea what the modern day parts have to do with it. |
HOOfan_1 said: It almost felt like they wanted us to forget about the first episode and Jinya's sister xDso they finally at least got around to looping back to the main story...but still no idea what the modern day parts have to do with it. This entire season/cour feels like a prologue to what they really want to sell tell. It'll be a bit sad when they finally settled with the modern day-- Jinya's character circle in the past already has a well-established chemistry. |
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| Episode 12 & 13: They seem to have forgotten that Naotsugu drank some of the wine too. But Natsu's father did endure it for long as well without the attitude side effect so, I guess they're just built different. Speaking of Natsu's father, can't believe I forgot that he's Jinya's father too, which in turn didn't make me expect the turn of events. That last moment felt lacking to me though-- They should've at least given a hint that he still had a bit of his sense and kind of said at least a single word to Jinya to make it easier for him to make the decision. It could've been more of an emotional moment; I guess that's really the show's weakness. I guess we won't see more of lively Natsu anymore. Might even be used as another future weapon against Jinya by his sister. 7/10 for this 1st cour. The show's really good at storytelling-- makes me want to read the novel. But it also really sucks at giving character deaths, aftermath reactions, or closure the right emotions that it should have, or at least satisfying ones. I'll keep watching for the episodic storytelling, but don't give a damn about the main plot anymore. |
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| Episode 14 Going to show that this show will jump around in time, the second half starts off with a story that takes place back when Jinya was living in Kadono village as Jinta. There's a demon on the loose and Jinta is out to hunt him down. It turns out that the demon is Kiyomasa, a village priest who is a jealous man with an inferiority complex. As he had become a demon, Jinta had to cut him down. So with that, the story returns to where it left off as Jinya went back to Shirayuki's grave to pay his respects, and continues on his journey that has entered the Bakumatsu era, all while Miura has picked up the sword knowing the battles ahead. Pretty much, this is just setup and a look back before things get even more serious in a big way. |
| feels like a wasted episode, it was more or less a retelling of the last half of the first episode |
| Episode 15 And now, the show's main story continues after a flash forward episode and just last week, a flashback episode. Jinya hears rumors about a cursed sword and goes to deal with it as there's a lot of political backstabbing going on. Sugino is the one who crafted the curse sword to assassinate Zuizan, the Tosa Imperialist Party leader. After gathering some intel from Tsuchiura, who is Hatakeyama's aide who has a bone to pick with somebody who betrayed him, he takes action. He dislodges the sword from Sugino and absorbs its power where he learns that Sugino became possessed by the sword and then killed his wife in his possessed state. This goes to show that it's a bad idea to mess with demonic powers unless you know how to handle them. Sugino thought his sword was the key to taking down a political enemy, but it took his wife and humanity along with it, but at least he got his humanity back. |
| This show continues to spin its wheels and do absolutely nothing to move the plot forward |
| Episodes 14 & 15: I am bummed and disappointed. They teased Jinya being in the modern era and finally brought back to the screen his sister, then they just went back to the usual telling of Jinya's backstory. I would've at least appreciated them starting this 2nd Cour showing him in the modern day before they went back to his past as he starts reminiscing. I may be interested in the lore and appreciate how they tell the story, but not to the point for being tricked for it. I'll keep watching for now, but this is getting a 6/10 at best from me by the end of it all. The new OP and ED doesn't feel as fit as the first ones. I got hooked by the intro of the OP since it sounded like early 2000s rock music, but then the rest of it went a bit mild-- it's growing on me though. |
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| Episode 16 And Jinya has become a father, or at least a foster one as he absorbs another demon, this time it's the silver fox demon Yunagi, who is an Amanojaku who can trick people with her lies. Yunagi and Jinya have a chat about the story Urikohime and the Amanojaku where Urikohime was raised with love by her adoptive parents, but everything fell apart when she was tricked by the Amanojaku. So in the end, by absorbing Yunagi and learning about her mind manipulation power, it was to find an abandoned baby as Jinya takes her in and given the name Nomari. Lots of talk here, but it all produced something good to come out of it. |
| I hadn't watched this in a few weeks so took a peek at the last few episodes. Unfortunately the story is still screwing around in the past and from what people are posting the main storyline is going nowhere. I don't have any interest in seeing more of the same so I'm dropping this. |
| Cursive is the future. - Nate Bargatze |
| Well, I just go around to watching episode 16, and I am not sure I understand exactly what happened with Yunagi. Seems like she and he were saying at the end, that he did not kill her, and everything about her in his "dream" and the fox and fire were just illusions. So, is she already dead and somehow she set up some sort of illusion that continued after her death to lure people to the temple to find the kid? But yes, the main story still seems to be going nowhere. |
| Episode 17 seems like even more of a waste than many of the other episodes. So was the story about the guy killing women and children a lie? Was he just trying to get Jinya killed, or was the guy killing just samurai, and some of them were aligned with his "master"? Then the jump to modern day, just seemed like a "see, the guy is still around" thing. |
| Episode 17 Here, Jinya is tasked to hunt down Okada, a swordsman who formerly served under Hatakeyama who has since become a serial killer. Jinya and Okada have a conversation about swordsmanship as the two have extremely different views on the matter. While Jinya uses it to protect and defend others with the sword being a tool of justice, Okada feels enlightened by it through killing others and making use of the blade, thinking it was built as a took for killing. As such, there was just no reasoning with him as Jinya slays Okada. After that, the story goes back to the future once again. |
| Episode 18 Akitsu brings a pretty extravagant-looking tea set wanting somebody who can make tea using it in order to exorcise a so-called ghost inside it, while meeting Nomari for the first time. Akitsu goes shopping and notices that all the dishware there were carefully crafted and have a story to tell. Then Naotsugu makes tea for Jinya and Akitsu as they tell their stories about their life. And after teatime, it's off to dealing with the ghost, but that was already taken care of. A laid-back episode here as it's just a friendly chat over some great tea with no demons to deal with. |
| We haven't seen anything of the girl his dad adopted since his dad turned into a demon. |
| I thought this episode was going to be all talking there until the end. Finally something to move the story forward though. I thought the master of the demon he fought at the end was against the government bringing foreigners into Japan...and Naotsugu said he had the same goal, so I am not understanding why the demon's boss would want Naotsugu dead. |
| Episode 19 As they say, all good things must come to an end. Jinya thought that he might live out his life to see Nomari grow up to be a fine lady with Ofuu as her foster mother, but all of the sudden he's being reminded that humans and demons can't live together, just like back in Kadono Village. Even though he could just lay down his sword and live a quiet life, he has an obligation to fulfill as a samurai, so he's off to Kyoto to overthrow the shogunate. And not to mention he stole an important document there and Tshuchiura has come to hunt him down as he's also a demon that serves the shogunate. And thus, Jinya must leave his family to deal with this matter, all while Naotsugu is a wanted man. The second half really dragged out to start things off, but now things are finally moving after being told that there will be lots of intense battles happening that will question Jinya's humanity, and demonity as well. |
| Episode 20 Jinya is at a loss after what transpired that had him revealing his demonic self to Nomari and Ofuu, something he hoped he would never have to do. He remembers the wish the shrine maiden at Kadono village made to live in peace. But with the shogun threatening peace the he has to spring into action. Meanwhile, Tsuchiura is questioning Yasuhide's orders, but is committed to his cause. He would like nothing more than for Jinya to stay out of this, but with Naotsugu involved in this war that Jinya has made up his mind to do whatever it takes to protect his life at home. While Tsuchiura's demonic body is tough as steel, Jinya just needs to absorb him instead. So now, things are getting back to what made it good after bumbling around with these side stories that seemingly don't have much of a purpose at all. |
| Episode 21 It turns out that Tsuchiura is just like Jinya, and not only because they are both demons. Tsuchiura just wanted a peaceful life with his wife, but she was just being used so that the soldiers there can kill him, and he lost his temper there that caused him to accidentally kill his wife. Likewise, Tsuchiura saw Jinya's memories and sees what role Suzune played in his life. Now that the two combatants understand each other better, they fight and Jinya wins with Tsuchiura happily being absorbed by Jinya. After that, Jinya takes out Yasuhide, who accepted his death with dignity knowing that he had no chance of winning without Tsuchiura, and he just wanted Japan to shut off foreign influences, but it's too late for that and that would hold the country back. Now that the truth about Jinya being a demon is bound to spread like wildfire that he leaves Edo with Nomari wanting to come along. In the meantime, somebody from Jinya's past arrives, so we'll see what her deal is. That duel goes to show that both of them are a victim of circumstance and that they truly wanted to be buddies. |
| Episode 22 And now, the story moves into the Meiji era where civilians carrying swords is illegal. Jinya, now having adopted his hometown village Kadono as his surname, runs a soba shop where he lives a quiet life with Nomari after he helped bring an end to the shogunate in Kyoto. But the demons just keep coming as he is tasked with slaying Jishibari, who is said to be a descendent of Shizuka Gozen, and the older sister of Himawari, who Jinya ran into the streets. Jishibari has the power to wield chains and has a spell where she can shackle anybody who gets wrapped around by it. Jinya totally underestimates how powerful Jishibari is, but at least does enough to defend himself and his client before they retreat. Things are feeling much different now that Japan is no longer being ruled by a shogun, but there are still plenty of demons around that are still out for blood. |
| So with 1 episode left to go, they decide to introduce time travel....at least it seems to be part of the overall plot I guess though...geeze there isn't much structure to this show |
| Episode 23 And to end this series, it's a two-parter involving somebody from the future who ends up time traveling into the past, the girl known as Asagao in this era as Jinya goes to the Aragi Inari Shrine to learn about the rumor surrounding the celestial maiden there. After bringing her in to stay at Jinya's home, Jinya gets a new outfit for Nomari, and he tells her who her real parents were, and her mom was a nasty person. So after a show that alternated between serious and laid-back, it looks like it will end on something laid-back. |
| (Episode 24 - FINAL) I feel stupid thinking that Asagao was from the past-- I didn't know that those Candy Apples didn't exist in the early days of Japan. Still not sure if the story will ultimately end up in the future, or if it's basically the end of journey point but, seems weird that Jinya would enter a High School for no reason at all, and that one of his rival demons have already settled into an eternal 9-5 job in the modern day. xD (This show better not do the 'age gap' romance stuff. I know he's somewhat immortal but, Jinya still went through the usual adulthood process, and is already in the 'new game+' point of his lifetime. xD) Also, he better have not totally dumped Ofuu. xD He already hit the jackpot with her. And they're also in the same situation (I think?) of not aging so, that relationship would feel so much proper than if he's to get all chummy with the modern day teenagers. 7/10. I really wish I'm familiar with all the Japanese legends they referenced in this show. I feel I could've appreciated this show so much more if I did-- I'd probably research those at some point and rewatch this series. But nevertheless, this show is really quite good with TV Drama-esque storytelling, which is the only reason the show has kept me hooked every time I'd get back to it, no matter how many times I put it on hold. The art and animation quality is definitely the show's glaring downside, which I presume was also the reason why it lacked action, despite it being very necessary for Jinya-- A demon hunter hunting demons. Distorted faces, mouth flaps, point-and-click web game quality of running animations, this really felt like a very low-budget project made in the late 2000s but only got released in 2025. xD |
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| Episode 24 (Finale) To end this show, Asagao, whose real name is Kaoru, returns to the present after spending some time in the past with Jinya and ends up meeting him again over a century later. She's back to the timeline she came from that happens during a festival at the shrine carrying the MC's name, but with one difference in that Jinya remembers meeting her in the past. And also, Jinya meets up with Chitose, who is now an old lady going by Chiyo, for the first time since leaving Kadono Village and learns what happened to that place as he now learns that the shrine there has been renamed in his honor. So with that, this show that oscillates between serious and laid-back comes to an end with it ending on a laid-back note. Final Thoughts This show had everything in place to become a great show with a strong opening episode and a story of soul searching during turbulent times. The show has a strong plot, interesting characters, and nice drama to make it worthwhile. That said, the show's biggest problem is the story construction as several parts just don't connect very well with the rest of the series, all while it has the bad tendency to start one thing without really finishing or building on the previous one. Story writing is solid, but would have been better if it had better construction. The other major issue are the production values as the artwork just didn't capture the feel of the show it could have been. So in all, story writing, character development, and drama are great, but story construction and production values hold it back. Grade: B- (7/10) |
| Can't believe I forgot about one of my biggest gripe about the show; they kept showing Jinta's sister every end of cour, only for her to not do anything. xD I know she somewhat did a thing or two in the previous one-- during the alcohol shenanigans but, her showing up again on screen only to intentionally get close to Jinta, pretending to not want to be seen, smirking and shid... it's getting quite irritating now xD She better reveal herself to Jinta during the first 3-6 episodes of the sequel. or I'll just consider her a running gag of the show. xD |
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| Wow, they avoided advancing the plot for 24 whole episodes. I honestly don't even understand why they had the background with his sister and the shrine maiden he loved, if all they were going to do was tease it every so often and not do a damn thing with it. Even brought his sister in as a cameo in the last episode as a big F YOU to people expecting them to do anything with the show. Honestly, the show might have been better if they just left out the background all together, could have been more like a Mushi Shi type show, but instead we all sat there waiting for the plot to actually move along. just because of the lack of moving the plot along, I give it a 6/10 |
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