Sword of the Demon Hunter

Episode 18

Dull, dull, dull! I'm hesitant to be so harsh on what is, in basic terms, a perfectly inoffensive episode, with the usual classy presentation and some tender moments, many of them between our hero and his cute-as-a-button daughter, who's now out of diapers and dissing plain-tasting ramen at her dad's favorite restaurant. But it's all so redundant. Episode 16 gave Jinya a rest stop only two weeks ago, and that was far better done. Moreover, this week's story skips obvious opportunities to make things more interesting.

For one thing, much of the episode consists of a visit to Jinya's samurai friend Miura, but we don't get a glimpse or even a mention of his wife, who, of course, is an old friend of Jinya's too. (The marriage was confirmed in episode 15.) Why on earth is she being kept off-screen? We want to see how much she's changed since her last appearance, or perhaps how little. What kind of couple do she and Miura make? Can you even imagine them together? For heaven's sake, this is a slice of life episode, so give us some interesting ordinary life!

The episode also involves the return of the Kyoto exorcist Akitsu, last seen in the first season. What he's up to is a mystery until the end, but it finally turns out that he's non-violently exorcising a neglected object, a tea caddy. But given the number of spirits that inhabit Demon Hunter's world, couldn't we have seen this forlorn caddy spirit, depicted in some whimsical way through the episode to liven things up for us? There's a whole anime series that draws huge charm from precisely that device, 2018's We Rent Tsukumogami, which is similarly set in nineteenth-century Edo.

This is a “calm before the storm” episode – the dateline at the start is 1867, on the brink of the political upheaval of the Meiji Restoration, and that lies behind much of the dialogue. Akitsu contemplates a painting of cherry blossom, the epitome of ephemeral life, and comments on how the painted blossom can endure a century. Miura is unnerved by Akitsu's news of unrest in Kyoto and asks Jinya if they can spar sometime. Jinya himself is frequently reminded of Suzune, and Akitsu seems to confirm she's about to re-enter the story, having been mostly absent this season.

All of this is still not enough to make a substantial episode, or a satisfying one. The pity is that it could have so obviously been better.

Rating: Sword of the Demon Hunter is currently streaming on HIDIVE.