English Dub Review: AYAKA: A Story of Bonds and Wounds “I Definitely Drank Too Much”

Overview:

Jingi takes a job to help with Yukito’s training, which proves to be a bigger task than they first thought.

Our Take:

Yukito is still trying to gain better control of his powers. Jingi shows him a technique that creates a humanoid-esque figure using water that absorbs surrounding moisture. Yukito should be able to use that technique as well once he can control his powers better. Jingi also tells Yukito about the debt his drinking has gotten him into and they look for a job to help pay it off.

The job involves taking out an ara-mitama that’s causing trouble at the canal. They pacified one in the previous episode, but this one’s a little different. It turns out that Jingi caused this problem himself, which explains why it only targets him.

This episode continues some of the intrigue that the first episode initiated. However, I’m starting to see that Jingi is more of a one-note character than I first thought. He’s an alcoholic troublemaker who just so happens to be skilled at magic. However, the latter trait is overshadowed by the former. This is made even more apparent when it’s revealed how the ara-mitama was formed.

As a whole, this episode is a little more boring than the previous. It’s still fine, but the action and the plot are both a bit underwhelming. We do meet some new characters that seem to have some importance at least, especially Huruaki Kurama. He trained under Yukito’s father, so he gives Yukito some helpful information.

It’s still possible for the show to pick up, so I don’t think this episode is a huge step back. After all, it still has a few strengths. It just needs to capitalize on them and maybe progress the plot a little quicker.