English Dub Review: Tsugumomo “The Scent of Cherry Blossoms”

Does the series smell any good?

Spoilers Below

The intro to Tsugumomo immediately lets the audience know what it’s going to be about. “After many years, an object gains a soul, and eventually the power to transform.” That’s kind of vague, but it’s pretty cool. I’ll sign up for this.

Kazuya Kagami should be paying attention in school, but instead, he’s asleep, making way for some mysterious dreams. They involve a blue-haired young woman and Kazuya’s kimono sash. It’s a sash that belonged to his mother, whom he doesn’t really remember.

I can see where this is going. Unfortunately, Kazuya doesn’t, and the show drags a bit while he starts to figure it out. But I did have the advantage of getting the explanation in the intro.

While Kazuya is on the roof of the school, a vengeful black wig attacks him. He falls off the roof, but the kimono sash saves him. It then turns into the blue-haired, pointy-eared young woman. The wig (which is now attached to a human) and the woman fight.

She kills the wig, then explains: “The wig became possessed by your classmate’s feelings for you, creating an amasogi”. That’s a kind of life form that’s created by “strong but primitive desires”. It’s also like an instant “tsukumogami”, which is what the blue-haired woman is. Also, in exchange for saving Kazuya’s life, she takes him as her slave.

Later, back in Kazuya’s room, the tsukumogami reveals her name to be Kiriha. She states that she’s been in Kazuya’s life for a long time, but hasn’t seen him in quite a while. For the rest of the episode, she heavily implies that she’s his mother, but she doesn’t ever say it, so he never gets it. Well, perhaps it’s all just an audience ruse, anyway. 

They fall asleep in the same bed, which at first, Kazuya protests. But Kiriha reminds him that they’ve always slept in the same bed, she was just in sash form.

Much of this, like the concept of the tsukumogami, is based on Japanese folklore. At many points, I feel that the show is pulling from that cultural background, but since I’ve not experienced that, it comes across as something missing. But then, if I were already very familiar with the idea, I think I would be even more frustrated that Kazuya isn’t putting the pieces together more quickly.

Either way, with most of the setup out of the way, hopefully now we can jump right into this mystery.