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Ushio & Tora
Episode 15

by Lauren Orsini,

How would you rate episode 15 of
Ushio & Tora ?
Community score: 4.1

Every anime based on a manga has a difficult decision to make. They can create a loyal adaptation to appease longtime readers, or they can adjust the material to better suit a thirty-minute time block for new viewers. Ushio & Tora appears to be opting for the former, and its structure has been suffering for that lately. A repetitive plot and an overabundance of new character introductions have this anime stalling where it usually soars, but its endearing main characters and irresistible '90s charm keep it watchable.

Ushio should do the world a favor and never ride public transportation again. This is the third time that a bus (or airplane) he's on has become possessed, and it's getting old. In the past fifteen episodes we've seen all kinds of fantastic modes of getting around, including transportation through mirrors. (When we later see the mirror yokai in this episode, all I can think is, why didn't Ushio just mirror his way to Hokkaido?) While Ushio has always felt sufficiently terrible about putting innocent people in danger because he decided to ride a bus, this episode escalates his concern to straight-up angst. I see it as a “third time's a charm” situation, where Ushio is coming to terms with the idea that his presence can hurt the people he wants to save.

During the bus sequence, Ushio and Tora's new pal Akiba proves invaluable. From his easygoing attitude to his masterful ability as a fighter to his crazy eyebrows, I get the feeling that Akiba is going to be one of my favorite new characters. However, Moritsuna and his little sister Jun are a more difficult sell. Moritsuna's arc takes up about 15 minutes of this episode, beginning with his baffling drug trip interlude and concluding with his apparent death. What? That's far from enough time to get acquainted with this latest would-be Beast Spear wielder, much less care about what happens to him. It could be a setup to endear us to Jun as a sympathetic character, but I don't buy it.

The episode concludes ambiguously, so it's hard to tell what's up with Moritsuna. He's being possessed by the Hakumen no Mono, that's for sure, but did Ushio tossing the Beast Spear at him really break the curse? There's a red-tinged flashback where a wild-eyed Moritsuna appears to Jun covered in blood. This is decades before the demon possessed him, which led me to think he was just a bad egg. But when he has a moment of lucidity at the end, resembling neither his psycho childhood or present self, it's more likely that this is a poorly conveyed first impression of a soon-to-be ally.

What makes this episode worthwhile is how charmingly '90s it is. More character interaction means more wacky facial expressions. In between external threats and interpersonal conflicts, there's still time for Akiba to rib Ushio about having a crush on a girl. Tora's increasingly unbelievable tsundere act, combined with his sly sense of humor, keep an episode about life, death, and betrayal from getting too heavy. And of course, I'm still not tired of this decade-spanning art style, which blends '90s character designs and slick animation.

Two loosely connected plots, one a spillover from last episode and one left unfinished until next time, will not bother people who plan to watch Ushio & Tora in one sitting. But looking at it from week to week, this is an awkward and uneven piece of the story to process. Bad pacing is unusual for Ushio & Tora, and it's likely a result of a storyline that loyally follows the manga. I'm hoping that once all four would-be Beast Spear wielders are revealed, we can get back to a more substantial structure that better fits the show's twenty-minute runtime.

Rating: B-

Ushio & Tora is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.


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