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Ushio & Tora
Episode 38

by Lauren Orsini,

How would you rate episode 38 of
Ushio & Tora (TV 2) ?
Community score: 4.3

This episode of Ushio & Tora is called “The End,” and at first it seems like that just might be the case. The Hakumen no Mono is bound in an impenetrable barrier, and humankind and monsterkind alike have sent their best troops to the front lines. However, the show isn't over yet. Now Ushio and Tora need to figure out what they can use to their advantage, since the Hakumen no Mono's physical strength, intellect, and raw hatred are formidable. This episode finds them discovering their emotional strengths over the Hakumen, and it's heartwarming. While this is a battle of good versus evil at its center, it's never that elementary. Through Ushio and Tora, we see the complex emotional strength behind that goodness.

There's no tragic backstory for the Hakumen no Mono. It is, and always has been, a being of violence and destruction. All the better to serve as a foil for Ushio, one of the sweetest and purest hearts in shounen protagonist history. This final arc has been something of a farewell tour, where everyone whose life has been touched by Ushio makes a cameo. “Through your battles, you created deep bonds with many,” the East Head tells Ushio. “Your travels weren't for naught.” (That's easy for him to say—the show is leagues better now than back when Ushio & Tora was a Monster of the Week anime.) Now all of those previous adventures are worth it to the viewers too. It's not only Reiko and Yuu who appear, but their deceased fathers, thanks to Saya's open door to the netherworld. There's Kirio and Bal-chan and Asako, who can't stop smiling as she makes emergency rice balls in this apocalyptic situation—that's the depth of the faith she has in Ushio. It's not Ushio's strength in particular that made so many people stand under his banner, it's his heart. We're reminded of that with his words to the Hakumen: “If I cry and I can cry all of someone's tears for them, I'll cry as many times as it takes.” I love what that line says about Ushio.

Meanwhile, barbed and bristly Tora hasn't touched quite as many hearts (not that MAYUKO seems to mind). For Ushio, this episode looks outward at the sheer range of people he's protected and moved, but for Tora, this episode looks inward at how he has changed. Last time, Tora was obsessed with sameness, noting that he's always fought alone, and dying alone wouldn't be anything but the norm. This time, it takes his living armor, the azafuse, to show him how different he's become since meeting Ushio. They mourn that had they met somebody like Ushio, they might not have turned to stone. “You have consumed many things from that boy. That is why you are strong.” Tora's goal has always been to eat Ushio, but this episode turns that goal into a kind of fairytale cheese: Tora, you've been eating Ushio all along! Perhaps this is what gives Tora his confidence back, because nobody can trash talk like Tora at his best.

The real clincher comes from the Hakumen no Mono's acknowledgement of Ushio and Tora's strengths. It shatters itself down to a third of its original size in order to fight them personally and transforms two of its tails into Tora and Ushio's ultimate attacks—Tora's lightning and Ushio's spear. The Hakumen is smart. It knows that it can match this pair in a fight. But Ushio and Tora are more than the sum of their physical strength, and the Hakumen knows this too. They have an energy that brought humans and monsters together. This episode may not be the end, but the end is in sight. It's satisfying to see all the loose ends getting carefully tied up, both in the outside universe, and in Ushio and Tora themselves. It's rewarding to see Ushio and Tora summon their emotional intelligence against the Hakumen's brute strength and scheming once and for all.

Rating: A

Ushio & Tora is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist


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