Sword of the Demon Hunter

Episode 23

Well, so much for any hope of closure this season. We've just one episode left to go after this one, but rather than deliver on any of the previous episode's set-up – Suzune's return, the implied threat to Nomari, and multiple unanswered story questions – the series decides to go for some slack timeslip whimsy instead.

Kaoru, the shrine maiden who's Jinya's classmate in the twenty-first century, has popped up periodically through the series. However, she's never had any dimensionality. That doesn't change now she slips back in time to 19th-century Kyoto to (ostensibly) become part of the 'main' story. Her reactions to experiencing history are like the most vapid sightseer; it's just a mercy she doesn't whip out a phone and start recording reaction videos. If this episode were a one-shot OVA special, it might be a cute diversion, but this late in the series, it just feels like it's wasting time.

Like some previous episodes, the series itself reminds us of more interesting possibilities. As Akitsu's disciple, Heikichi points out, Kaoru could have been easily mistaken for a demon and hunted as such, which could have made for an exciting adventure. Later, Jinya reminisces about the kindly spirit Yunagi from Episode 16, who led him to Nomari. Bringing her back to the series would have been a far more welcome surprise than elevating the prattling Kaoru.

At least Jinya's conversation with Nomari is sweet enough. The girl reveals she's long known that Jinya isn't her biological dad, but it doesn't affect her feelings for him in the least. Her reflection that she could serve as his “mummy” when she's older makes a poignant childish sense, though viewers of Maquia - When the Promised Flower Blooms might wonder how she'll feel when she realizes daddy doesn't age like she does… That is, if tragedy doesn't part them first.

Overall, it's a weak episode, poorly constructed. It starts with a thread about a shrine that houses a mirror to heaven, only for all that to be pushed back to the next episode once Kaoru saunters in. Visually, I didn't see any embarrassing goofs as in the previous episode, but the characters often look lackluster and artless in their poses and head movements. Nomari sometimes looks attractively quirky when she's talking to Jinya, but sometimes she just looks plain weird.

I was expecting her to be involved in a last-minute cliffhanger, given all the signposting last time, but instead, the episode stops mid-conversation, completely lackadaisically. How could the series have opened with such fire and fury six months ago?

Rating:

Sword of the Demon Hunter is currently streaming on HIDIVE.