With Yunagi’s illusion ability to manifest Jinya’s true feelings, he realizes that he always wanted a loving, normal life with Shirayuki. All of the sudden, he now has a baby and that realization of what he values out of life continues..
Video Review
What Stands Out About This Episode?
Father Time Always Wins, But..
Father time catches up to everyone and we know that Jinya will live on to modern times, meaning every relationship he builds during his time at the Soba Shop will eventually be a distant memory. This episode is the continuance of that reality of “Soba Naotsuga.” He is the older brother to Miura, but goes by a different name now as he raises his demon daughter, Ofuu, that he saved from being trapped in her own sorrows of disaster. Running this Soba Shop with Ofuu over the years at his advanced age has finally shown that time catches up to everyone and we are now faced with the reality that our “home base” location in the Soba Shop may soon see some major unraveling.
With this growing reality that the old man Soba Naotsuga may not last much longer, this brings up many of the other aspects of growth for Jinya. For many of the relationships that Jinya built throughout the first season, we’ve seen some relationships prosper and last, while others end in disaster like with his step-sister Natsu and biological father in Juuzou. Like the Frieren story that spanned over centuries, Sword of the Demon Hunter echoes similar themes of the entirety of one’s human life and how that affects generations onward.
In Jinya’s case, he is learning much about what life has to offer and all the lessons that come from each individual he crosses paths with. In this episode in particular, Jinya has acknowledged that his path in life has strayed very far and feels non-resolute on his path. For some reason, he felt the need to carry on being Nomari’s father from Yunagi’s wish. It’s kind of poetic as Jinya is a ronin, but at the same time, we know he must eventually face his half-demon sister in Suzune at some point.
A Resolute Man of DISHONOR
This takes us next to the dichotomy of Jinya’s path in life, being one of carving out a uniform purpose, while the mass serial YEETER in Kiichi Okada—has 100% dedicated his life to being the ultimate swordsman.
If the previous episode was another confirmation of Jinya’s regret of not following the life he actually wanted like the illusion he had with Yunagi and Nomari, then this episode builds upon that realization of regret as well. This is an absolute 180 from his time as a Sentinel in Kadono. At the time, he felt his one and true duty was to protect the Itsukihime—even casting aside his love for Shirayuki, by allowing himself to get NTR’d by Kiyomasa.. Now, he is realizing through the lens of Kiichi, who threw away everything — friends, family, mentors, and even the Bushido Code of Honor—casting everything away that doesn’t help him achieve his one true goal of being “the steel of the sword” itself.
One thing to point out is that Jinya does feel a level of envy and respect for the path of Kiichi’s, who can dedicate everything to one goal and skill. As the episode moves back to the present in 2009, we see both Kiichi and Jinya speaking to each other in the present with Kiichi working as a store manager of a convenience store. For a man like Kiichi, to dedicate his life to being a swordsman and throwing everything away to the extremes—it looks like even he had to decide that life has other callings than that one very thing. Although, he still calls Jinya’s answer of “having his blade be a little dull due to excess, meaing he can’t slash everything,” as being contradictory.
Overall, the big lesson here is Jinya’s change of perspective. It’s how he moved from having one true goal and purpose in Kadono to protect the Itsukihime—to being a wandering ronin, trying to figure life’s new path out. All the while in this process of figuring everything out, he picked up “excess” in friends, family and the other joys in life. Although, that may have taken away his ability to be more special at one particular thing or to fulfill his main goal of tracking down Suzune, fulfillment in life is more than just that one thing. Kiichi’s position as the store manager may even be his own acceptance of a rebrand of life as well, since being the ultimate swordsman isn’t exactly as meaningful in the present..
Miscellaneous
Two episodes ago it was Bunkyu Year 2 (1862) with the introduction of Japan’s internal conflict between the Tokugawa Shogunate and the Emperor, and in the previous episode with Yunagi that led to Jinya becoming a father, it was Bunkyu Year 3 (1863). This naturally leads us to this current episode’s time period of Genji Year 1 (1864).
Nakai Kazuya plays Okada Kiichi, who dedicated his life to being a master swordsman like Kazuya’s most notable role in Roronoa Zoro!
Who is Kaoru Azusaya, referred to as Asagao?! Comment below who you think it is!
OTAKU SINH 