The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife

Episode 9

When it comes to shows about different species interacting, there's always an underlying theme of cohabitation. What might appear normal to one group or subset of people could be absolutely terrifying to another. It's why I'm not always fond of shows that use this as an allegory for things like racism, because a lot of these shows will bring up legitimate, unnerving stuff that doesn't really happen in the real world to create a proper parallel. I much prefer it when a show gets into the specifics of why an average person or species might have difficulty interacting due to unique idiosyncrasies. This show was already playing with that idea with certain characters, but before, it was always more from a personal perspective. This episode went in the direction I hoped it would, showing how those insecurities can affect an actual relationship.

Even though the majority of this episode involves Tounome trying to solve the mystery, that's not really its heart. It was definitely funny, and a lot of that came down to the innkeeper herself. I love how she was practically drawn in a different art style, and her voice actress is selling all of those screaming lines. Plus, the little slice-of-life moments that were spliced into the episode were really nice. It's nice that Tounome and Yakou are able to bond over their inability to fully enjoy a hot spring for completely different reasons. However, the mystery was very predictable and mundane, even if it did still tie into that theme of interspecies miscommunication. I think the show could've made the case a little bit more interesting, especially since it was building up to a very obvious payoff.

But that's fine because the final five minutes of the episode really sell the rest of it. This finally goes into that ominous cliffhanger that last week left me on. It's been hinted that Tounome was already in a previous relationship, and he was hiding an issue from Yakou. The show also had been very vague about him stalling on wanting to be intimate with Yakou. I originally chalked that up to him being insecure, but turns out the answer was a bit more traumatic than that. Tounome is really well-mannered and put together, but that's mostly because he's been through a lot, thanks to his very nature of being invisible.

Tounome being in a previous relationship explains why he's so casual about it compared to Yakou. However, that relationship ended poorly because the last time they tried to be intimate, Tounome's former partner was actually afraid of lying with him. Everyone expresses physical intimacy differently, but I can understand the idea of being afraid of not physically seeing your partner or what they are doing to you. There's casual intimacy, like being able to see the face that you're kissing, but getting into more extreme stuff like sex can come off as very haunting. It's actually really ironic that the episode was about a false haunting allegation, and yet the flashback with Tounome's former partner actually portrayed a haunting experience. But just because I can sort of understand why that can be scary, that doesn't mean that I think that Tounome deserved that. That's the kind of stuff that leaves a deep scar and adds another layer to why he's been holding back so much; it's for his sake as much as it is for hers.

Granted, Yakou shouldn't have that problem because she can't physically see him at all anyway. In fact, she can't physically see anything because she's blind, so she's always had to go through her life imagining things or not knowing when things are going to happen. Again, the show lays it on very thick that her being blind allows her to avoid a lot of the problems and fears that Tounome would experience with somebody else. I'm a little iffy on just how pivotal they're making her being blind to the success of their relationship, but the point of that scene is to try to convey that Yakou is not afraid of him. There are a lot of people who are afraid of what they can't see, but Yakou has never been afraid of not being able to see. I've seen in previous episodes that she's actually very frank and matter-of-fact about not being able to see anything, which is why she doesn't like it when people treat her too childishly or with too much caution. So I like the fact that she was able to physically and emotionally reaffirm Tounome's desire for physical intimacy because that's what she also wants. I'm not sure if the end of the episode implies that they are going to start engaging in physical intimacy from this point, but this is genuinely a nice step forward in their relationship.

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The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.