There are more ways than one to lose, but the opposite is just as true for Jinya, as he experiences how to handle this next life altering moment.
Video Review
What Stands Out About This Episode?
Coping with All Types of Losses
Losing implies that there is winning. In the same vein of wisdom of what Soba Sadanaga told Jinya for their last bowl of soba together, for a brief moment—you won in life.
Although the lessons of this episode drives home the bigger picture theme of life’s passing, it 100% applies to the lifespan of a human. On a shorter scale, there are moments in life through school, work, people in your life moving away and the abruptness of one gone too soon that you must deal with the sadness that follow suit.
Many recent popular animes that truly capture the essence of what time can do to you are The Apothecary Diaries and more specifically Frieren, due to the elven life span going on for centuries. The big takeaway being plucked from these stories often comes from accepting that your greater purpose comes with detours. These detours may be short or long and can result in wonderful failures or become experiences that last a lifetime.
As Jinya was fighting Tsuchiura, he had a visceral reaction of not being able to save the people closest to him like Juuzo, his biological father, Natsu, his step-sister and various other important characters that contributed much to his journey like Momosuke. Many of the people that he wanted to protect, ultimately ended with him being shunned or dismissed by the same people he built years of bond with. However, the big point of Jinya’s journey is to accept that while things may have ended poorly—you can’t dismiss all the times that were pure and good, which are times that you should cherish. This is the central lesson behind Sadanaga Miura’s passing. Those closest to you are just as important as your purpose in life. He was one of the rare relationships that Jinya that built that started great and ended with equal fulfillment.
On the other hand, it seems like we have another Natsu-like situation. We can comfortably say that Jinya and Naotsugu are at least “close friends” or are even best friends. However, no matter how many years of friendship you might have with a person, a traumatizing discovery, reasonable or not, will change their view of you. This isn’t the only time Jinya had to deal with bonds being broken like the one with Natsu. Natsu seeing the real Jinya YEETING off his biological father and adoptive father to Natsu that turned demon is all it may take for someone to ostracize you. While it may not ultimately end as poorly like with Natsu—Tsuchiura’s decision to stop the fight against Jinya hints otherwise.
The Pleasantry of Change
Who am I kidding? Change sucks, especially if you have something good going for you. In this case of Jinya, he is conflicted by all the people he has developed relationships with, along with the fact that he needs to focus on defeating demons and finding Suzune. This is in the middle of his dilemma from the answer we already received from Jinya in the future at the convenience store with Kiichi Okada. We know that he already admitted that living a “tainted” life with “baggage” is absolutely still rewarding. Even though his focus for over 100 years is to achieve some resolution with Suzune, all the bonds he’s built and lost are worth it.
This episode captures the middle of that dilemma of what he should do in his life after Sadanaga Miura, the Soba Shop owner, older brother of Naotsugu Miura and adoptive father to Ofuu passes on. What immediately presses his concerns is how the episode ended. Many in town knew of Jinya and so when he revealed his demon form when fighting Tsuchiura—no one will ever be able to see him the same again besides Ofuu and likely Nomari. Not only does Jinya’s physical location of what he once called “home,” will now be uprooted, he now has to deal with the aftermath of Nomari and Naotsugu seeing Jinya’s true demon form.
Miscellaneous
The episode begins and ends with the Asiatic dayflower “tsuyukasa.” They are short-lived flowers that bloom during the day and wither by the night, which was the perfect symbol for the episode.
OTAKU SINH 