Was Jirobo’s body in good shape? I’m afraid not.
This schedule has so many bubble series right now that I’ve started to layer them in my mind. Tonari no Youkai-san is what I would call an “upper bubble” show. I’m definitely leaning towards sticking with it (unlike, say, Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai). It hasn’t quite closed the deal yet, mainly because there are still moments where things feel forced for dramatic purposes rather than authentic. On the whole it’s certainly doing more right than wrong. and it certainly sits squarely in my strike zone, which never hurts.
This week’s nue business starts with Buchio and his family. These have tended to be slightly lighter in tone than the chapters dealing with Mu-chan, but there were certainly hints of darker goings on here. A nue has been spotted near town, which has residents on alert (as with humans, there are good and bad youkai in this mythology). The nue is one of the most legendary youkai in Japanese folklore, a chimera (head of monkey, body of tiger – or tanuki, depending on region – tail of serpent) whose voice casts misfortune on those who hear it. Heck, one even appears in Heike Monogatari (which no doubt did a lot to boost its status).
It’s the appearance of the nue which pushes Buchio to finally master transformation, more or less – driven by his intense desire to protect Takumi. He transforms into a samurai (in legend Minamoto no Yoshiie) to frighten it off. Buchio’s love for his human family is seriously intense, and seems to be behind everything that’s happened to him – which is pretty heartwarming, actually. Later Takumi decides to try to fool his mother by having Buchio transform into him, but a mother knows (not hard in this case). That business about misfortune seems like a Chekov’s nue – both Takumi and Buchio certainly heard that voice loud and clear.
The serpent subplot that was introduced last week was resolved (for now) with alacrity. This business about tengu (mountain tengu at least) having a “parent body” in the form of a tree or rock imbued with the power of the Yama no Kami is a new one on me – it may be series-specific or I may just have been unaware of that detail. Either way that’s certainly behind what the serpent Mu-chan encountered was up to last week, and she managed to weaken the seal on the serpent enough to where Jirobo was forced to deal with things here.
Apparently Jiro – in charge of protecting the village when Tazenbou went off to war a long time ago – battled the serpent, who was trying to use the village as a nest to bear its child. There’s a backstory there too – she was the lover of a Water God, driven mad with rage after being poisoned and awakening to find him in love with another. Jiro was, in effect, trying to sacrifice himself here to let her vengeful spirit move on – both for its own sake and that of the mountain and village. But his connections to the others were too powerful to allow that to happen.
In general, I think Tonari no Youkai-san is getting the balance between its dual natures pretty much right so far. I’d like to see a little more explanation as to just how this village got to be the way it is, and whether the whole world (or at least Japan) operates the same way. But as to the stories and characters themselves, there have been more hits than misses. It’s a fantasy in more than just the obvious sense, a nostalgic view of a rural Japanese lifestyle that’s all but extinct. There’s a place for that to be sure – at least it can be kept alive in fiction if not real life, even if it requires the addition of youkai to make it work.
Nadavu
April 21, 2024 at 11:16 pmMy guess was that we will be fed idealized slice of life for a few episodes before things go terribly dark, but it now seems like things will progress in a dual manner, with a lightheartedness and darkness featured on the A and B plots, but not really mixing with each other. Still early to say, but I feel a sense of miss here
Collectr
April 22, 2024 at 3:32 amA nue was also an agent of destruction in Amatsuki, attacking the protagonist and blinding him in one eye – or rather, imbuing him with a spirit eye, which can see otherwise invisible yokai and spirits.
Joshua
April 22, 2024 at 7:18 amI discovered that Aimi Yamauchi, the director of Ryman’s Club, arguably one of Lidenfilms’ better shows they’ve put out, is directing this show. Given that she’s easily one of the studios’ best assets they’ve got, that she’s helming this adaptation does show a lot of confidence for me to watch it until the end.
Guardian Enzo
April 22, 2024 at 8:39 amI liked Ryman’s Club a lot too, but I would argue Liden has generally speaking raised their game a lot in the last two years.
Joshua
April 22, 2024 at 10:22 pmOf course, not everything is created equal as in the case of how Tokyo Revengers still looks like a stiff, stilted piece of shit that is somehow getting less animation priority compared to the Kenshin reboot, despite being their biggest show dubiously. This by comparison looks decent in its production much like Ryman’s Club.
I mean, if we’re talking studios that were in the place Lidenfilms was at a few years ago seemingly putting out nothing but shitty adaptations, there’s Yokohama Animation Lab and their mangling of Maho to Yajuu, The Kingdoms of Ruin and this season’s Whisper Me A Love Song (done in conjunction with The New Gate at the same time).
Nicc
April 25, 2024 at 4:28 amThere was more action than expected for this kind of series in this episode. It starts out with how Buchio was rescued and then taken into the family. It sets up the events for what happens next. Buchio and Takumi are walking around one day and reading a flyer about a nue being spotted. It’s a dangerous youkai and so they’re going to be picked up from somewhere instead of continuing to walk. However, it does show up and the only way to scare it off is with a bow and arrow because that was how one was killed in the past. With nowhere to run or hide, Buchio is indeed forced to master his transformation right there and then. It’s convincing enough the frighten the nue. Yep, it was heartwarming to see that Buchio loves his family that much and even when he was terrified of the nue. While Buchio has achieved a certain mastery of transforming, his acting skills could use some more work as mom already figured out something was up even before his eyes gave the game away. As for the nue, that’s probably up to Jiro to deal with and we’ll see a lot more of him soon.
We do get the resolution about the serpent subplot from the last episode. It goes all the way back to a hundred years ago. Tazenbou went off to war with other tengu and leaving Jiro in charge of protecting the village. That’s when a huge serpent attacked the village, intent of making it its nest. Jiro managed to defeat it, but not before the serpent cursed him in its death throes. Right, the serpent had a past (I think she was the water god and the human man was her lover), but was poisoned by a jealous rival. She survived the attempt at her life, but then saw her lover had already moved on. In her despair, she became a vengeful spirit and went on to cause natural disasters. It was explained earlier that landslides are either natural or caused by a serpent moving through the area.
Jiro offered himself as a sacrifice so that the serpent could move on. I’ve never heard about the lore about tengu having a parent body, either. As you said, he already had too many connections to the people here for that to happen as group goes to help rescue him. The barrier on the tree is restored and the serpent passes on. After that, the festival goes off without a hitch. That after-credits scene is interesting as it takes place in a city. I wonder if it’s a government official who may be paying a visit to the village to check up on Buchio. Or, maybe he needs Buchio to stamp some paperwork. As a cat, he should be able to use a paw in place of a hanko, yes? Indeed, I also want to see some more background regarding the village. Is this unique to this village or if there are other places like that. That means that those blurry, grainy photos of sasquatch may actually be showing a real creature in this universe, go figure.