#unuki

Apparently, the Indo family sin started from a man who lost his wife Hichi due to beheading and prayed to Unuki /Nonuki for her resurrection. He didn’t care if people died as long as she was brought back. It granted his wish and his wife was resurrected…only her head, though. In turn, a third of the village’s population had been sacrificed. Because of what Indo did, the villagers made it so that he has to carry Hichi’s head up to the mountains every five years to plead for forgiveness, which eventually becomes a family tradition where a son of the Indo family has to do it. Before, it was Kouhei, who died five years prior and now, it’s Hikaru who had to do it but also died…but got resurrected by Unuki/Nonuki.

I have to say, the revelation of the family’s sin is crazy. The traditions of the village make it seem as if the villagers have to control the family and force them to do the rituals, even if they don’t want to. It does make me wonder what would’ve happened if Hikaru had been born as a daughter and Kouhei still died on the mountain. Would the villagers make the women do it? Would they force an early arranged marriage onto the what-if female Hikaru and make her bear sons? What if she gives birth to a daughter and her lineage afterwards are just daughters? Would they make their husbands do it? I think that being able to see a contradiction against a tradition shows how asinine it is.

The episode also reveals that Nonuki is supposedly a fictitious deity. If it is, then that means all of these sacrifices that the Indo family made was essentially pointless. Still, I’m not really buying it. Unuki is real as Yoshiki found a picture of what supposedly is a sketch of Gehenna that looks like the patterns Unuki has. If you don’t know what Gehenna is, it’s basically a place of divine punishment, usually told in Christian, Islamic and Jewish religions. It’s usually described as a valley where sacrifices are taken to for divine punishment. Given how Christianity does play a part in this story, it’s fascinating to see someone actually using the concept of Gehenna as it’s not really mentioned much amongst Christians. Anyways, why I am not buying the Nonuki being fictitious theory is that I’m convinced Unuki and Nonuki are two different entities. What would Nonuki be? I don’t know! But I do know that Japanese storytelling always gives similar twists in their stories. I do know that Unuki is what Hikaru is, though.

Still, It was finally nice to see some characterization from Toshinori. I think this is the first time he has spoken a lot! He’s a man who avoids his family because of possible depression but he’s also a surprisingly well-read man with how much books he owns. Given how Yoshiki speaks and behaves, he probably got it from him as Yoshiki can be quite intellectual. I do wonder if Toshinori has studied folklore or if he just has a passion for it due to his fondness for reading and intense knowledge of the Indo family’s sin. Though, his distance from his family is possibly because he had feelings for Kouhei and is secretly gay. Still, I do like that being able to talk with Yoshiki does help Toshinori be able to have a slow start into moving on from his best friend’s death. He doesn’t seem to be a bad guy, but just someone who doesn’t really have no idea what to do with his own life.

It’s interesting how the similarities between Yoshiki and Toshinori also stems from them talking fondly about someone from the Indo family. Toshinori had talked about Kouhei to Yoshiki and then Yoshiki talked about the real Hikaru to the monster Hikaru who was curious about him. Apparently, the real Hikaru was like a manga protagonist, friendly and warm. It’s unfortunate that he died and I think that’s the point. Both Kouhei and Hikaru’s death were untimely and unfortunate. It shows that they’re just humans at the end of the day. At the end of the day, what the real Hikaru is like are just words spoken by someone who wants to think of him fondly. What Yoshiki said could just be what Hikaru is like to him but maybe the real Hikaru isn’t what Yoshiki idealizes him to be.

I do wonder if Unuki’s possession of HIkaru’s body is not permanent. Given how he loses control at times, it does make me wonder if the possession will wear off one day and Unuki would just be a formless being again. Also, if you noticed, Asako saw Hikaru “attacking” Yoshiki. I wonder how she’s going to deal with the reveal.

Remember how I said I didn’t trust Kurebayashi? Despite how she didn’t exorcise Hikaru as she felt empathy for him, someone seemed to be at her doorstep. Since it’s someone who hasn’t been shown before, I do think that it’s the company that Tanaka works for and if that lady at Kurebayashi’s door is an employee there, that would mean she’s either working for them or will be in the future. She’s seriously hard to predict…

Also, Hikaru’s mother’s name is Yuki, meaning she was the girl who Kouhei had confessed to and got rejected eleven times. I do wonder if she noticed something a little different about her son. I honestly feel sad for her because she essentially lost her husband and her son and all she has left is her father-in-law. She won’t be able to grow any older with her husband and she won’t see her son become an adult. Also, she’s voiced by Chie Nakamura, who is known for voicing Sakura Haruno from Naruto and was the first voice of Yui’s mother from Delicious Party Precure before getting replaced for the last fourth of the story due to health issues. I do hope she’s feeling better.

I didn’t realize how long this review was, wow. If you managed to read all of this, thank you so much! I appreciate you reading about an anime-only viewer’s perspective of a popular manga-turned-anime. Let me know what you thought about this episode!