English Dub Review: Shikizakura: “Partner / Ibara”

Overview: Kakeru (Bryson Baugus) proves that he maintains his free will to that of the Myoujin family by engaging in a battle with Inuzaka. 

Our Take: All in all, Shikizakura continues to play it’s stereotypical superhero bingo game with flying colors. It often never supersedes one’s expectations, but sticks to the formula in such a way that one is still able to get some simple enjoyment out of if they know and look forward to certain elements.  

Benio’s interrogation of Kakeru goes about as one would expect. She beats her head over a drum trying to prove Kakeru is the wicked witch of the west while also arguing with his incessant ranting about heroism versus the stark reality of what that job entails. We’ve been here at this plot point before and we’ll probably be here again before too long, which will most likely continue to have no effect on Kakeru as a character and be of pointless consequence. 

At least, this paint by numbers exchange leads to more being revealed about Oka’s mother and her role as a shrine maiden. This helps pave the way for a heartfelt plea of guilt and regret from Oka for how Kakeru was involved in the calamity eight years ago that goes a long way in establishing her as a deeper character. But it’s also these heart-to-heart moments that allow Kakeru to shine, even if it is run-of-the mill optimism that one has come to expect from these types of main protagonists. Beyond that, Oka and Kakeru’s honest kindness with one another tends to be another strong suit of their relationship that is put on display here once again. 

However, Kakeru’s genuine character traits also tend to slip my mind with how numb my brain becomes with his constant hero cries. As a funny aside, at one point it’s brought up how Kakeru has “mentioned” that he wants to become a hero. All I could do was both laugh and cry internally at the implied notion that he’s done this discreetly and think to myself, “Mentioned?! What the hell else does he talk about?!” 

Oka, Ryu, Haruko and Kaede put their faith in Kakeru to win in a brawl against to Inuzaka and reaffirm the Myoujin’s trust, and with the power of friendship at his side Kakeru unlocks newfound strength and proves yada yada yada. Suffice to say, the rest of this episode is pretty standard procedure if you’ve watched pretty much any type of Shonen. The few saving graces in the fight’s favor is Ibara, by subverting the zanier side of who he is with the understanding of how his crazed fighting fills a void within him while also watching him engage in different kind of fight than he and Kakeru have fought thus far in withstanding a huge, bulky berserker like Inuzuka. 

Ryou is also shown to have deeper motivations, in being motivated by loss and tragedy. Ryou’s mother acts a good way of communicating that to Kakeru with how telling that is of his uncompromising behavior with Kakeru especially. Also, it seems the Myoujin family are still up to no good which isn’t a big shocker considering how predictably the series has progressed throughout and, more than likely, will continue to do so for the remainder.