Yes sir, Shabake has really leveled up nicely. Which I kind of expected, to be fair (to me). Slow-build novel adaptations tend to do that, as do these sorts of Shinto-themed series. Right now it’s succeeding on three different fronts – as a youkai series (though “ayakashi” would be more correct, and that’s what the script mostly uses), as a mystery, and as a character story. And that’s pretty impressive. Quietly Shabake has become something really good, and it has a serious dark side that many of its subgenre representatives do not.

Ichitarou is quietly (that word again) a very strong protagonist. His story has real pathos – he’s extremely kind yes, but also whip-smart. And he’s being smothered by the love (and other motives) of those around him. Ichitarou is a prisoner – in his house, in his life, in his frail body. But his mind is free, and he puts it to use in figuring out the links in all these strange murders. He doesn’t have many allies – as opposes to protectors. Even Nozoki-Byoubu is overprotective. Ekichi is the truest friend he has in this regard. Even he isn’t totally free of overprotectiveness, but he does act as an agent to help Ichitarou expand his world beyond its prison walls.

Meitantei Ichitarou has clearly succeeded in identifying what’s off about all these murders – and attempted ones. He can’t put the pieces together yet – that’s where his ayakashi squad comes in. His ayakashi street irregulars fan out across the town, trying to identify what piece of the carpenter’s set was never initially sold. The one who delivers the vital information is the Oribe no Chaki – a tsukumogami of a piece of Furuta Oribe ware (that name will be very familiar to anyone who’s watched or read Hyouge Mono). It’s the ink line – the tool a master carpenter uses to draw decorative straight lines on their finished pieces.

Sasuke and Nikichi are clearly very put out by Ichitarou’s line of investigation, even if it is proving to be on-point. He’s getting close to a truth they’d rather not reveal – a secret that would make him worry about “who he is”. That’s a tantalizing notion, but isn’t much-pursued for now. Rather, the ink line takes center stage, and again it’s the  Oribe no Chaki who connects the dots. The beautiful old ink line was probably just on the verge of becoming a tsukumogami when the original thief and killer – the vegetable seller – broke it. In its rage, it’s started possessing people and driving them to their strange behavior. And is searching for the mysterious medicine that can help it become a tsukumogami after all.

In fact we don’t revisit the storyline that was the entirety of last week’s (excellent) episode until the very end of this one. Eikichi tells Ichinosouke that his brother is in a pinch. He’s somewhat off about the specifics of Matsunosuke’s problems – he doesn’t know what Matsunosuke does. But the gist of it is on-point – he’s in trouble in the cooperage household and in danger of being banished. Kind-hearted Ichitrou decides to help his brother with a gift of financial assistance – and to get him to accept it, reveal his identity.

But Eikichi is accosted by a samurai along the way – obviously the most recent agent of the ink line. He’s not after the money but something else – and the shocking ending to this episode brings the crisis closer than ever to Ichitarou’s door. And now, looking back on all this, it seems clear that Ichitrou himself is the link Ichitarou is looking for. In fact, it seems very likely to me that Ichitarou is somehow the medicine the ink line seeks – that’s the only answer that explains everything that’s happened and been said so far.