Well, it was a bit of a wait, but this episode definitely delivered. Gyuki’s climax definitely was worth the wait, and this episode really changed the course of this series now that Rikuo stopped running away from his demon side, while at the same time not abandoning his human side as Gyuki suggested. It’s great to already see character-development at this stage in the series.
I also see why the previous episode was so necessary, as it really explained the loyalty behind Gyuki’s actions, added to Gyuki’s pride as a youkai. In either case, it’s great to see that the people in this series are willing to grab their own responsibilities instead of running away. I guess that that was the entire point of these introduction arcs.
I do hope that either Rikuo’s classmates will develop like this, or that the story is indeed going to move away from them, as the youkai part of this series is looking to be a lot more interesting than the human part. I understand why they were necessary, though.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Rikuo certainly embraced his youkai side but regarding his human side… It’ll take him a while to completely accept it.
Next episode preview promises to be really interesting, at least it’s manga counterpart really was. I think that since the production team has managed to do a nice performance with the atmosphere, the outcome will be good… I just wonder if they intend to use two episodes for that part or just one for this mini-arc.
In the manga after this point Rikuo starts to focus more on the yokai activities so, while his classmates are still there in the background a good deal of the time they don’t really get developed (with the exception of Yura).
Personally I’d like it more if they focus more on ta ‘YO GUIZ, I’M A BADASS YOUKAI LEADER’ instead of ‘Oh lolololol we’re stupid kids who want ta like look at ghosts and stuff :V’.
But that’s just me, obviously nobody else agrees :V