#hakushurin

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Haigakura Episode 3 Review - Immortals And Queen Mother

Ah, I get it now. This story is mainly episodic, but the next story usually is built up towards the post-credit scene or at the end. For example, in the first episode, Shouri and Tekkai were talking about something that has to do with a mission Ichiyo needs to take (hopefully I’m right with this because there weren’t any subtitles during that segment). In Episode 2, the entire episode was about said mission and towards the end, Hakushurin and Hakugo show up, which then transitions to this episode which is all about Hakushurin and her past with Ichiyo. The post-credit scene mentioned how Ichiyo and Tenko met, so the next episode will be their meeting. I think I solved the case. Though, I still do wonder why the story jumps around…

I do like that the intro gives a little snippet of the world building. This episode talks about the Eight Immortals who serves the Queen Mother of the West. What they do isn’t fully specified. It’s just to let viewers know they exist. The episode do have the eight immortals show up, but they’re not fully introduced. I do recognize Tekkai in the background but I don’t know who the rest are. Shouri is one of them too. The immortals serve the Queen Mother of the West, but what that person does isn’t specified either as the previous one died and Hakushurin is apparently chosen as her successor. How and why are never told.

While Hakushurin’s life has turned upside down because of these sudden turn of events, that’s how she was able to meet Ichiyo. Remember that this is the memory of how Hakushurin met Ichiyo as told from the previous episode’s post-credit scene. Ichiyo gave her candy and always kept her company. It makes me wonder if Hakushurin’s role is to be his love interest. What I found interesting was that Ichiyo was already a Kashi and had Tenko with him. I honestly can’t wait for next week to see how they met. Tenko from the past, with his long white hair and stoic visage, looked gorgeous. I bet Shungei had been abruptly enamored with him.

Because of the nature of this episode, so many characters are introduced. We have the episode’s star Hakushurin, a playful tomboyish girl who sucks at martial arts, but still does her best. She’s best friends with Sanu, Shouri’s son, who is a filial son looking after his ill mother and despises his father for not visiting her when she needed it most. There’s Shungei who refused Sanu’s request—what a jerk. There’s Koumei who’s like Hakushurin’s tutor? Then we have Saiwa, who’s Ichiyo’s mentor. Then there’s Hiki, who’s one of the Four Perils and has a bad leg. I like his character design, but he gives sus vibes. There’s also Hakugo who’s Ichiyo’s cat daddy, and a Divine Beast. I hope we learn how Ichiyo met Hakugo.

The voice cast is superb. The entire cast is just big names. There’s Lynn who plays Hakushurin, Ryota Suzuki who plays Sanu and Hiro Shimono who plays Saiwa to name a few. I was most surprised with Daisuke Hirakawa as Koumei because I didn’t recognize it was him until I saw his name in the credits. Dang, he should use that effeminate voice more often. Ryohei Kimura voices Hiki. Most of all, young Ichiyo is played by none other than Junko Takeuchi. Ichiyo has the voices of Aquamarine Hoshino and Naruto Uzumaki within him. Crazy.

Overall, this was a nice episode that focuses more on characters that aren’t Ichiyo and Tenko, but the fact that the anime jumps around does get a little confusing. Still, I’m not going to drop it. What are your thoughts on this episode?

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Haigakura Episode 4 Review - How They Met

It took four episodes to find out why Ichiyo became a Kashi and what his motives are. His motives are to save his cat dad Hakugou who has been chosen by the previous Queen Mother of the West as a sacrificial pillar. That’s why he became a kashi in order to find a powerful being that can replace him. He also hates the Queen Mother of the West because of this, but ironically, his friend Hakushurin has been chosen as the next Queen Mother which shocked him when finding this out from Sanu.

This episode is also an origin story of how Ichiyo and Tenko met. Tenko was once a dangerous being known as Souryu who long has been sealed away in the depths of a forest. Ichiyo encounters him and is able to form a pact with him. Though, there is something clearly special about Ichiyo with the way he has wings on his neck and sings a lot differently than he does in the present. Could it be that the neck bandages suppress his singing voice?

Tenko in the past was a bit aloof and also amnesiac. Despite that, he was willing to accept Ichiyo and serve him. However, he seems to have forgotten his name. Tenko from the past was gorgeous. He sort of gives Inuyasha vibes from how he was encountered to the long white hair. On top of that, spending time with the Kashi Ministry Head had gotten Tenko to become the red-haired one we see today. How did the change happen? How did this red Tenko come to be? Split personality? Dormant state?

Other than that, there are a LOT of characters introduced in this episode and I can’t keep up! We have Sonto, the head of the Kashi Ministry, voiced by Satoshi Hino. He seems like a silly character with how he tells Ichiyo to not do this and that, but he does it himself. Then there’s Gaishi who looks like he could be Hiki’s twin, voiced by Tatsumaru Tachibana. Other than them, there’s also a guy in green with a scar on his face. I forgot his name, but he’s the one sort of responsible for changing Tenko from white to red. The Eight Immortals have shown up too. All of their designs are interesting. I do wonder if they’re good or bad. Though, the two people shown post-credit, the gas mask and the one in the bunny suit, reek of bad news.

It was nice seeing the origin story behind how Ichiyo met Tenko, but I wish this was shown earlier and not in Episode 4. I do wonder what’s going to happen next. What are your thoughts on this episode?