Maybe I spoke too soon about Yura not being in the game in the Rikuo sweepstakes.  After not appearing at all last week, she has the spotlight in a strong second episode of the second season.

It continues to look as if we’re going to have a more taut, focused style to the second season to go along with a somewhat darker tone. There’s certainly still comedy here – you have Aotabo and Kurotabo going to a bar to mack youkai chicks only to find lame imposters using their names to cop a feel with the cuties on staff. You have a few moments with the Supernatural Squad, which is always good for a laugh. But so far, it’s clear that the emphasis is going to be on the drama, and this time it involves Yura’s family.

While the others search for her, wondering why she hasn’t been in school, Yura is training hard on her own. Meanwhile her older brother Ryuji is in town to kick some youkai butt with his assistant/student Mamiryu. The fact that he was able to leave Aotabo unconscious is proof that Ryuji is a strong onmyouji, and his packs a general “destroy evil immediately” mentality – kind of a “Shinsengumi Shikigami” if you will. When he and Mamiryu stumble upon Rikuo and Yura in the quiet alley where she’s been training, trouble ensues.

It isn’t really clear what the full story with Yura and her family is – why she’s off on her own. What is clear, though, is that she isn’t completely surprised when Ryuji tells her that Rikuo is a youkai. Of course being the onmyouji she is, she sensed it all along, yet she denied it to herself. She even wills her brother not to say it aloud. Why would she deny the truth that if you didn’t like Rikuo? That’s the obvious question, and I suppose it’s a question of what sort of like it is. Their relationship (and indeed the story) are fundamentally changed now, as Rikuo was forced to reveal his true form to defend her against her brother’s attacks. For his part Ryuji seems pretty cold-blooded, and his “infiltration” style of shikigami is nasty to say the least.

Based on past history with Nurarihyon I’m sure this isn’t the main arc of the season, but it’s an interesting way to get started. What better way to call attention to the central dilemma of Rikuo’s life – the split between his human and youkai sides – than to force him to reveal himself to the one friend who would be his mortal enemy if she knew it?