English Dub Review: Kakuriyo -Bed and Breakfast for Spirits- “Life-or-Death Hunt for the Gem Branch”

“Life or Death” is a bit of an exaggeration…

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Aoi, Ranmaru and Ginji head into the world inside the painting to find the Gem Branch, the final ingredient required for the southern lands ritual. The three of them trek through the painted world, encountering obstacles along the way, and taking a couple of stops to enjoy Aoi’s cooking. An illusory image of Princess Iso nearly causes Aoi and Ranmaru to fall off a cliff and die, but they manage to make it through okay. Eventually, the three of them find the Gem Branch and go back to the Hidden Realm successful, though Aoi still doesn’t have her sense of smell and worries this will ruin her chance to cook the Ocean Treasure dishes for the ritual.

Our Take:

This episode is more of an adventure than most, since Aoi, Ginji and Ranmaru are actually going out and doing things instead of chilling out at the inn. Of course, there’s always an excuse for Aoi to get some cooking done, so of course, their time in the painting ends up with Aoi making hot cocoa and sandwiches, the only form of agency her hapless character can have on this story. Of course, as always, everyone ends up pining over Aoi and her “amazing” cooking skills, even when this should be a time where, I dunno, there might be some tension in the show for once.

The painted world is somewhat dangerous but never feels like more than a black and white version of the regularly hidden realm. In fact, it seems as if the shrewd studio working on this show has just taken art assets they already have and drained the color out of them to try and pass them off as a new setting.

The episode is slow and meandering, relying heavily on exposition from Ginji on Ranmaru’s bad attitude, once again relying on “Tell, don’t show” to tell this meek and bland story. Ginji and Ranmaru’s respective lines are poorly written and sound, well, inhuman. A problem that has plagued almost all of the characters in this show so far. And, of course, because the animation is so stiff, the only way the show can impart feeling and characterization is through excessively wordy and sentimental dialogue. Ranmaru is a barking loudmouth to the end, while Ginji is so overbearing and perfect that I want to barf.

Things do kick up a little bit in the latter half of the episode when Ginji and Aoi remember the power that illusions can half in this place. Princess Iso’s somewhat haunting image generates some tension here, especially when it ends up leading Aoi and Ranmaru off a cliff. Following their descent off the cliffs, (and somehow surviving the fall undamaged) the two share a moment together that softens up Ranmaru somewhat.

The episode’s ending does a decent job of resolving the conflict between Ginji and Ranmaru, if you’ve cared enough about them thus far to expect some resolution to their conflict. Still, things are about as expected for Kakuriyo this week; another lukewarm episode, stiff and bland, without much to excite or entertain.

Score
3/10