Uchouten Kazoku S2 – 09

The cutest couple in the cutest matching scarves

Whew, I’m finally on time with an Eccentric Family post. I don’t know what I would have done if I tried to blog more shows than this.

Sorry to start things off on a sour note, but I’ve been getting annoyed at how disjointed this season feels. Yes, Uchouten Kazoku is known for having a series of seemingly unrelated stories that somehow tie together, but somehow the continuity seems even shakier than usual. Oftentimes, an episode will end with what should be a big cliffhanger, only for things to go back to normal the very next episode. Gyokuran gets sucked into a shogi board…and then it ends up being nothing. Benten gets defeated by Nidaime…and the next episode she’s flouncing about with her usual smirks. Yasaburo contemplates life alone in the mountains and remembers a huge secret about Kaisei…and then he’s back to normal in this episode.

I don’t think Akadama owns a single clock and maybe that’s why he has no concept of day or night

It’s so frustrating how these events don’t continue from episode to episode, leaving me feeling like I’ve missed an important, bridging moment. It’s weird. It’s not as if the events never happened (eg. Benten is still sore from her defeat), but it’s so jolting to go into the next episode and suddenly everyone is fine. It’s almost as if these things are only brought up again when it’s convenient for the story.

I’m just so surprised can’t Yasaburo is himself again just like that. It feels cheap. While it’s nice to get back to silly trickery and his antics interacting with tengu, I don’t think that was appropriate timing for him to just dive back in. It’s so rare for him to be depressed that it feels like it should have been more a major, lasting event. It’s like they’re caught between wanting to tell a series of cute, fluffy vignettes and telling a grander story and can’t commit to one or the other.

He even has an hour glass. THIS GUY.

Griping aside, I’m glad to see more of Nidaime because he’s such an interesting guy. I love just how much his house and appearance speaks about who he is. Unlike Akadama’s cramped and messy apartment in the heart of the bustling city, he lives in a spacious mansion on the outskirts. We see him meticulously polishing a pipe, even though I don’t recall him ever smoking. I’m glad they brought him back in as a overseer of the tanuki community as they select their Trick Magister. Although he claims that he’s not interested in the affairs of others, I think he has a bit of Akadama’s tsundere streak in him. When Benten appears to try and usurp his position, Nidaime goes out of his way to poke his nose in and see what’s up. Yeah, he cares.

This episode made me question if Nidaime truly hates Benten as much as he claims. He gets unnaturally irritated when Yasaburo suggests he’s actually quite kind to her. Considering his usual calmness, it’s strange to see him frazzled. They also seemed to have a bit of a moment in London, with Nidaime staring at her more in awe than his current glare on a dreary day when they first met. It’s…complicated. Maybe he actually does like her. He goes out of his way to bitterly call her Akadama’s lover and he seems to show up wherever she is even though he claims it’s because of their rivalry.

It’s interesting…but I’d actually be a little disappointed if he fell for Benten. Afterall, everyone falls for Benten. Even Yasaburo likes her and she wants to eat him. It’s not an exciting development for yet another dude to develop a one-sided, entirely hopeless crush on Benten. What made their rivalry so great is that for once, Benten’s charms didn’t work. She was outmatched in every regard and couldn’t simply weasel her way out of this one. If even Nidaime falls for her, that makes Benten seem all-powerful once again. I want Nidaime’s weakness to be something different.

At the very least, things are still exciting between the two tengu. Given the usual Uchouten Kazoku S2 track record though, I’m not getting my hopes up for an epic showdown next week. They might just exchange words than float away, because these cliffhangers are so horribly misleading. Still, the election stuff offers some interesting potential for a cohesive finale that has an actual direction.

So a hurricane can’t make him lose his transformation but the sight of Kaisei can? Oh buddy…

About Overcooled

A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.