As expected, Ten Shu Mono Gatari ends just as morbid as Yotsuya Kaidan. While the latter ended a bit too predictable, with the rats and all, the former delivers a much better and satisfying ending. The deaths actually make sense this time. We start with Zusho-no-Suke and Tomi Hime standing in the highest room of the castle, and watching the local army stand at the gates. Tomi Hime wants to defend the castle, and the old woman shows her civil side.
What then starts is a horrible bloodbath between the minor forgotten gods and the local army. The local army may have 1000 people at its command, the forgotten gods remain forgotten gods, who have the ability to take out ten men at a time. I guess I don’t have to say that they gladly make use of this. But then again, the forgotten gods have weakened. Not as in, they can only cast a few skills before their MP is up, but as in the fact that once they get hit, they’re dead, just like any other human. They still don’t know how to mask this weakness, so eventually every forgotten god except Tomi Hime ends up killed. It was great to see that the creators showed the scenes from both parties point of view. It gives so much more backgrounds than when just one side is put in the spotlights.
Tomi Hime and Zusho-no-Suke, meanwhile have problems of their own. First, the old woman tries to kill Zusho-no-Suke after all. He gets saved by his ‘wife’, feeling extremely jealous. Then, she finally realizes that Zusho loves Tomi Hime, and not her. She forces him to go with her, and we’re in for a pleasant surprise, as it appears that Zusho has turned into a forgotten god himself, as his face gets a total make-over. In a bad way. By seeing this, the wife runs away. Zusho and Tomi Hime then decide to defend the castle themselves.
When Tomi Hime, however, finds out about the fate of the other residents of the castle, she goes berserk, complete with a number of extra hands and a pair of wings. Every soldier outside gets killed by her, while Susho himself takes care of the soldiers inside the castle. The landlord is the last of the army to perish. It might be a bit morbid and predictable, but I liked the way it was carried out.
Afterwards, when we think that the ending couldn’t have been more obvious, we get to see a great final scene, as the two demons, without much success, try to search for valuable things in the castle, which got burned to the ground during the battle. Then they see three figures flying in the sky. They make some remarks, and leave. I loved this part. Overall, Ten Shu Mono Gatari was a very nice story to see. I still find Yotsuya Kaidan’s craziness better, though. Furthermore, where, exactly, was the ‘horror’ part?
