Reiwa no Dara-san continues to spin its web of magic. It just does so many things well, this show. And really, it never misses a beat – every episode is completely in-character and thoroughly entertaining. Of the two Asahi Production/Suzuki Masato adaptations of ongoing manga airing on Thursday this season, this is by far the more likely to be a one and done. Super no Ura is more commercially successful and will likely get a full adaptation eventually, but for my money Reiwa no Dara-san is the better series.
One of the things it does is simultaneously tell the story of the present and the distant past. They inch together ever so slowly, but stand as independent timelines. We learned a fair bit in the past sequences this week. Apparently – because of the unique nature of Juurota and Yamatagi Madara’s relationship – his marrying a human woman is out of the question. And that’s a problem because he’s not going to live forever, and his bloodline is essential for maintaining the status quo on the mountain. So Nagi concocts a bill from his blood that allows him to pass his “bloodline” along to anyone who swallows it. It also increases fertility. And out of a combination of guilt and gratitude, there are plenty of villagers willing to be part of the plan.
Seven families received the bloodline, it seems. One of them certainly led to Saeko, the priestess we met back in Episode 3 (she took the name “Nagi”). Who the others are in the modern ear I’m not sure – I don’t recall anyone else with the character “Juu” in their family name. We’re now back in the present though, and it turns out Fudegi-sensei and Miwa-san are cousins. His mother constantly nags him about getting married, but he seems to have pretty much given up the ghost on that (we all know who Miwa is going to marry). Fudegi’s cat Arare – somewhere along the path to becoming a Bakeneko – is worried about this, and comes to Dara-san for help.
There’s an attempt made to hook Sensei up with Shino-san, the school nurse – she’s the one Kaoru-kun’s network tells him is eligible and fits in his target zone. So Dara-san gives him a “light curse” to get just sick enough to get taken to the nurse’s office. His usual hilarious antics are put to the service of matchmaking, but it seems to be of no avail – at least on his side, and there are hints she might be interested. She’s just fumbled a omiai though, so probably isn’t in the most receptive frame of mind for all that.
Finally, it’s time for another Orochi misadventure – which seems a weekly staple now, more or less. He’s getting some worship love from his new coven of middle schoolers, but not getting the juice out of it he wants. So he gets to work on Amane, pushing her to suggest a test of courage on the assumption that he can feast on the low-level spirits that prey on such things and get a big spike of middle school idolization power. Naturally the forbidden mountain is the obvious choice – Dara resists the idea but in the end she can never say no to the siblings.
Kaoru playing master of ceremonies is pretty funny, but even he makes sure the girls understand the guard rails here are no joke. As usual it all goes wrong for Orochi, who’s not even able to get a nibble in until an Ukiori appears on the bus home. He snarfs it down but unbeknownst to Orochi, Dara-san has been tagging along and sees everything. She recognizes his spiritual presence but mistakes him for a descendant of the original, who’s acting as a protector for the girls. That’s one bullet dodged for Orochi, but takes us one step closer to her finding out the truth (though I’m by no means sure that will mean a confrontation).
