English Dub Review: Kakuriyo -Bed and Breakfast for Spirits- “A Rival Has Arrived at the Ayakashi Inn”

Who could this new rival be?

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Aoi has performed splendidly in taking care of the illustrious Ayakashi couple who came to the inn to try her cooking. With that success, she’s firmly earned her place among the residents of the inn. After she recovers from her post-dinner exhausted coma, Aoi has a heart to heart with the female lord, Ritsuko, and learns the story of how she met her Ayakashi husband.

After, Aoi is treated to a day of pampering and relaxation at the inn as thanks for her efforts, and she finds herself enjoying a nice bath and a lovely dinner set. After her spa day, she spends time with the master and finds herself bonding with the master more and more.

After, the master heads out the Apparent Realm, leaving the inn without its leader. Just as he leaves, two demonic looking guests arrive at the inn, bringing ill portent for next week’s episode.

Our Take:

This week’s edition of Kakuriyo is a mundane exercise in finding ways to kill time for 22 minutes. Its plot is thin, weak and only sparsely spread out through the episode’s many, many scenes of pointless discussion of spirit cuisine. The amount of filler present in this episode is staggering, with the same animations being used again and again while the characters smile at each other and continuously agree about how nice the food they’re eating is. As you might imagine, its a tedious exercise, and this episode doesn’t really offer anything to make the episode more interesting. Nor does it even get to the “Rival” at the Ayakashi Inn until the last minute of the episode.

Of particular criticism is how much the scenes between Aoi and the master simply don’t work. The chemistry between these two is clunky and awkward; it shambles along, sputtering through the flat deliveries and poor banter the scenes between them entail. Not to mention I don’t really understand where they are in the “Will they, won’t they” angle the show seems to be playing at. Aoi’s opinion of the master seems to change depending on what the plot demands. Though, by having Aoi’s relationship with the master put into a larger context by putting it alongside the relationship of the two Ayakashi lords. It’s a small consideration, but a noticeable one. Given a rewrite on some of the scripts, this comparison might have worked better in tying the episode together, but ultimately the show falls short.

A couple chuckles were to be had when Aoi stays at the inn and waited for it on hand and foot by the many servants there. Aoi and Akatsuki have a nice little back and forth that works to a good degree. Of course, it doesn’t count for much when the rest of her time at the inn is crammed to the brim with weak expositional dialogue.

It’s becoming increasingly noticeable as well that this series has way too many characters to keep up with. Each episode seems to add a new member of the main cast but we rarely get to spend time with the other ones already introduced, save for the master, Aoi, and Ginji. If we could slow down the relentless parade of characters constantly being added, we might be able to spend time with the ones we know and develop them out further. Hints of such development do peek in from time to time, but it never really lasts long. I imagine if you wanted to, you could completely skip this episode and be no worse off for it plot-wise. Not a good watch.