It’s episode 21. We’re getting into the home stretch of the series now, and has Machi finally met her match this week? We also learn about Rin’s deep, dark secret. Also, if you’re a fan of Machi’s evil eye, you’ll love this episode as we see many variations of it.
|
|
|
|
This episode starts with Ayane running around looking for Machi who is, once again, neglecting her chores. Machi, who is hiding, trips over a statue and accidentally releases Genjuumaru, a shape-shifting, two-tailed, mischievous demon. The chase begins when Machi is tricked and ends up getting clobbered by a pile of pine cones.
Meanwhile, Ikuto and Suzu are out fishing with little luck. Suzu mentions that it looks like it will be impossible to catch anything, which of course gets Ikuto into his “never lose” mode and he goes berserk while fishing. While Ikuto is doing that, Suzu takes a break and decides to feast on some mame-daifuku. Then Ikuto comes over to show her the bucket of fish he caught while he was in berserk-mode.
Ikuto goes back to catch some more when Suzu notices that she has more mame-daifuku than she had before. She’s about to take a bite when Machi shows up and throws a talisman on them, and they turn into rocks. Meanwhile, another talisman turns Ikuto’s fish harvest into a bucket of leaves. Machi also takes out Tonkatsu…despite the fact that Suzu is already holding him. She throws a talisman at the one Suzu is holding, and it jumps away, revealing it’s protruding bellybutton - a sure sign that it is Genjuumaru in disguise. Ikuto doesn’t buy all the demon business, however, as he’s never believed in supernatural stuff. He just thinks it is using disguises and magic tricks.
Once again he tricks Machi, causing her to fall into the water. Machi revs up into revenge mode as she realizes that Genjuumaru must be taking it’s revenge out on her because one of her decedents sealed it in the past. The trio chases it into the village where this time it transforms falling fruit into eels, which slither their way into Machi’s temple kimono.
The next victim is Mai, as the demon transforms itself into her double, and the trio can’t tell them apart. Machi is about to wap both of them with Ikuto gets an idea: he asks for the real one to show him the two moles on her shoulder. Of course, he made this up and the fake obliges by showing her moles. Iktuo tries to capture it, but it gets away again.
Next we see Rin, who is dressed up in really feminine clothing. The trio spot her and immediately suspect her as the demon, telling her that the real Rin would never wear such clothing. Machi tries to strip Rin, and Ikuto’s nose bleeding goes into high gear. Finally, Machi is able to strip her enough to see…that there is no protruding bellybutton - and thus it is the real Rin. Then the real demon shows up, and this time smashes a giant slab of tofu on top of Machi.
Next, the trio spot Chikage at a well. They ask if she’s seen the demon, and she says that it just jumped into the well. Machi jumps in after it, and then Chikage transforms back into the demon and runs away. The trio continue to chase it back through the village, where it is wrecking havoc. Suddenly Ayane shows up, and Machi immediately beats her up. Once again, Suzu checks and sees that she has a normal bellybutton, and Machi decides to move on. However, Ayane, already angry that Machi is dissing her chores, is mad that Machi just beat the crap out of her too. Machi tells her about whats going on and says that she should help too. Ayane demurs, but Machi convinces Ayane to help using her voodoo doll.
The next victim is Shinobu, who once again is faced with a double of herself, and starts battling it. Machi arrives and threatens to knock them both out if the fake isn’t revealed. However, Shinobu isn’t about to be beaten that easily, and uses her “multiple shadow clone” technique to duplicate herself. The foursome attack with the goal of revealing all of the Shinobu’s bellybuttons (though Ikuto is less enthusiastic about doing so), when Ikuto trips and accidentilly pulls down the real Shinobu’s skirt. Suzu finds the real one, but once again the demon gets away. Meanwhile, Ikuto is on the ground, lying in his own pool of nose-blood.
The foursome follow the demon but lose sight of it. Ikuto says that the demon tricked them all all day. Suzu, however, notices something wrong as Ikuto admits that it is a demon. She tells him that it might be impossible for them to catch it, and he readily agrees. Suzu then grabs Ikuto, and reveals his protruding bellybutton, showing that it is actually the demon in disguise. Machi then ties it up and seals it once again.
Ayane then wonders that, if they’ve been hanging with a fake Ikuto, where is the real one? Tonkatsu arrives and leads the group to a crater in which Ikuto is lying in with a giant lump on his head. However, Machi and Ayane decide that they better “check” to make sure that this Ikuto is the real one. After chasing him into the night, they finally corner him when the two finally go in for the final kill, but not without Machi shoving Ayane out of the way at the last instant. Unfortunately, she shoves Ayane into the statue, which breaks the seal on Genjuumaru once again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yet again, it’s a late-season filler episode (of course, the entire series is basically a series of filler episodes). No resolution towards who might get Ikuto. No resolution to whether he’ll be able to get off the island or not. No resolution to finishing out the “lords of the island” storyline, and I’m sure I’ve outlined other plot points I thought needed more episodes addressing them in earlier episodes.
This was a funny episode in that it was great finally being able to see Machi go against someone who was her equal in cunning, and so taken in isolation, I actually thought this was a better-than-average episode. I’m just wondering whether there are better things to spend the last 5 episode’s time on than episodes like this.
And since when did Ikuto get nosebleeds from just seeing bellybuttons? I can’t imagine what happens whenever he goes to the beach.
