Episode 11 – Sakuna: Of Rice And Spoil

Of all of the issues I anticipated from the present at this level, none would come shut literal instance of a Deus Ex Machina.

After final week’s cliffhanger, Sakuna and the others are ambushed by Ishimaru, who threatened to take Kaimaru hostage and instill in him the identical sense of hatred he felt. Nonetheless, Kaimaru’s physique begins to glow out of nowhere, forcing him to retreat. Kaimaru and the remainder of Sakuna’s human companions have someway begun to remodel into gods. Presumably this has one thing to do with their time on the island, however the mechanics behind this are unexplained. That is additionally how we study that Sakuna’s mom was as soon as human earlier than she gained the gown that Sakuna wears and ascended to the Lofty Realm, which looks like one thing we in all probability ought to have realized so much sooner. Perhaps this may all be defined within the recreation, nevertheless it just about comes out of nowhere right here and it form of distracted me from issues.

Too dangerous, as a result of the remainder of this episode is fairly robust. In between this little bit of literal divine intervention, we study extra concerning the intriguing shared historical past between Ishimaru and Tauemon. Ishimaru lived a quiet life as a carpenter or another kind of laborer earlier than the samurai stole every thing from him and compelled him into banditry to outlive. This instilled a deep hatred in him for everybody and every thing round him, till he started to steal from others identical to the samurai. He particularly resents the truth that Tauemon grew to become a bandit as a result of he couldn’t deal with being a samurai. Tauemon, then again, regrets lots of the decisions he’s made in his life and as soon as thought-about ending all of it, however has since determined to dwell within the hope that he’ll discover happiness in the future. As last-minute as this feels, it’s greater than robust sufficient to make up for it. Most of all, it does so much to make Tauemon some of the attention-grabbing characters within the sequence. Whereas this isn’t the primary time the present has touched on his former life as a bandit, he’s largely outlined by his clumsiness. Studying how a lot of his light nature comes from not making an attempt to drown in hatred like Ishimaru did was much more than I anticipated from him at this level. It’s probably the most nuance we’ve seen from the present to this point.

It was additionally attention-grabbing to see how a lot that previous nonetheless haunts him, as when Ishimaru begins to ravage the island with the fallen Ashigumo spirits, Tauemon begins to really feel accountable. This leads him to disclose the reality that regardless of every thing he stated, he nonetheless regrets being alive after every thing he did. Sakuna fortunately manages to persuade him of this by reminding him of what number of small pleasures he nonetheless has in life and decides to confront Ishimaru herself with some assist from the Ashigumo. Nonetheless, earlier than their battle can start, Ishimaru merges with the fallen Ashigumo spirits into a robust monster and proves to be greater than a match for the 2. This ends in Tauemon someway being the one to avoid wasting the day, as he manages to defeat him, claiming that Ishimaru died way back when he let his hatred eat him. Beneath totally different circumstances, this would appear like a reasonably lame writing alternative in itself, however the battle hardly issues, because the vital factor right here is Tauemon telling Ishimaru that it’s not too late to let go of his hatred and search forgiveness. Regardless of his discuss on the contrary, this appears to have reached Ishimaru on some degree, and he manages to attain some semblance of internal peace in his closing moments. Whereas this episode would undoubtedly have labored higher if Ishimaru had extra of a build-up as an antagonist, it nonetheless manages to land fairly nicely and hit tougher than it had any proper to.

Nearly as good because the Tauemon and Ishimaru stuff was, they weren’t the one ones affected by this week’s occasions. Sakuna is compelled to cope with how dangerous the island’s present state has grow to be. With the present circumstances, Girl Kamuhitsuki might intervene, and Tama warns Sakuna that if she does, she might decimate your complete island in her try and defeat Omizuchi. Not eager to lose every thing she and the others have constructed collectively a second time, Sakuna decides to tackle Omizuchi herself, setting the stage for the showdown. I’m not anticipating an excessive amount of from what’s virtually definitely taking part in out because the online game’s closing boss situation. Nonetheless, regardless of a couple of odd hiccups, the present has dealt with the Ishimaru stuff nicely sufficient that I’m prepared to be optimistic about this one. Hopefully, the present can pull off at the very least yet another shock for the finale and finish issues on a excessive be aware.

Judgement:

Sakuna: Of Rice And Spoil is at the moment streaming on Crunchyroll.