Final Impression<\/strong><\/p>\n Wasn\u2019t expecting this to be the last episode of the season\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n Well that was superbly underwhelming way to follow up with being hunted down by the Ice Wolves. But it\u2019s exactly the lukewarm outcome I was expecting, and hoping they\u2019d avoid. Yet despite knowing that, I still hoped<\/em> something more dramatic would happen. Oh well, I knew I couldn\u2019t hold my breath for it.<\/p>\n As result, Aoi and Ginji wake up to find themselves in the care of the Snow Fairies. And while she was in the kitchen looking to prepare a meal to help Ginji recover, she spotted the rikodake mushrooms they were looking for and made some mochi ice-cream for the Lord of Winter in exchange for information where the mushrooms can be found.<\/p>\n And Ginji understands that better than anyone. That\u2019s why he\u2019s determined to see his role as her guardian through, vowing that he\u2019ll make sure that Odanna and Aoi meet again, and he\u2019ll be her protector until then.<\/p>\n From there on out, that\u2019s when the episode really started to feel rushed. To sum it up quickly:<\/p>\n The last bit with only 5 days remaining goes to show that yeah, they are definitely on a time crunch. While they manage to secure Kiyo\u2019s support for not just the Hachiyo system, but also to protect Odanna\u2019s position, we still don\u2019t know what the remaining five Hachiyo\u2019s think of this situation apart from Ranmaru and Zakuro. We also don\u2019t know yet whether or not they went ahead and revealed his identity to the public prior to this meeting. All of these things are still left up in the air. (Though at this point, I have my doubts that his identity will be publicly revealed, and if it does, it\u2019ll be such case of being leaked by Raiju out of sheer spite.)<\/em><\/p>\n And then, with only eight seconds left in the episode, they had Ougon-douji reveal Odanna\u2019s (presumably) true name: Setsu!<\/p>\n Way to end the season with that!!!!!!! It looks like as I\u2019m sure many of us suspected, either he\u2019s recovering in the secret mansion, or this may be a teaser flashback as to when Ougon-douji rescued him. Either way, we do know that Odanna\u2019s not in great condition at the moment, and if really did rescue Aoi and Ginji from the snowstorm, then that definitely took even more of a toll on him considering he might not be in good shape at the moment!<\/p>\n But that\u2019s it. That\u2019s the episode. And the final one for the season at that.<\/p>\n While this episode did have some good moments (Aoi realizing how much she misses Odanna, and supposedly his name-drop at the very last second)<\/em>, overall I\u2019m left feeling unsatisfied with this how this season ends. Honestly, I think it\u2019s bothering me more because<\/em> this was the final episode of the season. If this wasn\u2019t, then I could just shrug it off and look forward to the next one right? But here\u2019s the problem, for some reason they decided to make this season twelve episodes! And the worst part? We have no clue when Season 3 is going to be announced, there\u2019s no word whether this is even a split cour to guarantee that it\u2019ll be back by Spring 2026. If we were told at least that much, then maybe I wouldn\u2019t be so agitated right now. I even went to check their twitter page<\/a><\/strong>, and the only confirmation I got was that the broadcast for this season has ended. No word yet when or how<\/em> the sequel will be delivered. What I do know, is that it appears they are having rebroadcast of Season 1, so maybe we\u2019ll hear something about it after that? I dunno. But it is mildly concerning that we don\u2019t have a date announced for it right off the bat, especially after waiting this long for it.<\/p>\n So this is what I\u2019m hoping for. The absolute best case scenario<\/em> Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Honestly, coming into this week\u2019s episode, I was anxious about how this episode was going to go. That\u2019s because it was on Thursday last week when I discovered that this episode was going to be the last one. But even if I didn\u2019t know, with the way they ended this, I still would\u2019ve ended up feeling as disappointed as I am now. So let\u2019s just get the bad stuff out of the way first, and then wrap this up on a high note with the positives. Despite how stale these last few episodes have been, we really did get some great stuff that\u2019s worth to be noted.<\/p>\n The Bad #1: Inconsistent Character Designs and Animation Quality<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s kick this off with the blatant flaw of the season: The animation quality, and to make matters worse, the new character designs\u2026 namely, Odanna\u2019s.<\/p>\n Okay so first, it\u2019s not like they made him ugly\u2026\u00a0 But when\u00a0Season 2 was first announced and I watched the PV of it, I thought the new character designs were decent enough to be considered a glow up. But once I started watching,I realized that wasn\u2019t actually the case and that thought aged very poorly. Unfortunately, Odanna\u2019s \u201crevamped\u201d character design ended up being atrociously inconsistent. And considering we only got to see Odanna for three and half, (if you include his younger self)<\/em> episodes, yeah\u2026 You can quickly understand why that\u2019s a bad thing. Like compared to Season 1, while I criticized their choices to completely change the art-style during two intimate scenes. BUT THAT WAS ONLY TWO SCENES. TWO.<\/span> One for Odanna and Aoi, and another for Ginji and Aoi- same fancy style for that one intimate moment. The rest, sure animation quality dipped at times (as most show do)<\/em>, but at least Odanna\u2019s character design didn\u2019t show up every episode in a different art-style!<\/p>\n This time? <\/em>We must have gotten at least three (maybe even four) <\/em>variations of Odanna\u2019s character design, and <\/em>only one of the three (or four looks) solid enough to satisfy me\u2013 namely the one that actually looks like an adult. (And much to my dismay, rarely used)\u2026 <\/em>It\u2019s actually ridiculous when you think about it! I\u2019m frustrated with how the main love interest been botched in such a way! For crying out loud, at least Ginji and the rest were consistent. Why couldn\u2019t they have done the same for Odanna?<\/em><\/p>\n Actually you know who else suffered from inconsistency. Raiju! He went from a manly sadistic face to a baby face, which stripped him of his aura entirely. Only once or twice this season we actually saw him get that signature punchable psycho face back.<\/p>\n And that was not the only problem with the animation this season, there\u2019s more! Blatantly obvious recycled frames, awful one-dimensional backgrounds (see episode 2 for that bullshit), <\/em>obvious still-frames and exclusion of mouth shots so they don\u2019t have to animated it. Oh right, Ginji\u2019s fox form was also quite pitiful at times, and don\u2019t even get me started on the bullshit scene of him just standing there while getting bitten by the Ice Wolves. Couldn\u2019t have at least made him attempt to them off? Uggghhhh.<\/p>\n So please, for the love of god, next season I hope they not only polish up the animation quality, but also pick the best version of Odanna\u2019s design and make sure everyone on the team follows suit with it so it\u2019s CONSISTENT\u00a0AND COHESIVE<\/em>. He doesn\u2019t deserve that kind of crap! HE\u2019S THE FREAKING MAIN CHARACTER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!!!<\/p>\n I will also add, the fact they decided to make this a 12 episode season did not help either. We only got to see Odanna 3 out of 12 episodes (not counting Byakuya\u2019s flashbacks of him). And now we have to wait god knows how long for the next one. If they said this was going to be a split cour, then at least we would be reassured it\u2019ll come back in the Spring!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog-media-cloud.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/2025\/12\/Kakuriyo-no-Yadomeshi-S2-Ep-12-img-0-768x432.png\")
Instead, the one who (indirectly) saved Aoi ended up being the Lord of the Winter. We\u2019ve heard about him once or twice when Kiyo took Ranmaru and Ginji to his shrines, but we never gotten a description what he was. Turns out\u2026 And gets this, he\u2019s a giant, <\/em>walking and talking tree. He was also fittingly dressed for the season as he was decorated with Christmas Ornaments. Yes, it was he who scared the Ice Wolves away by simply passing by <\/em>and making his presence known while doing so. So yeaaahhh\u2026. The way the encounter with the Ice Wolves was resolved in anticlimactic fashion. Frankly it fell so flat, that I felt it was almost<\/em> even pointless for it to have even happened in the first place. But the only reason that it wasn\u2019t, (though I\u2019d argue there was probably better ways to set this up),<\/em> was lead up to the next pinch Aoi found herself in.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog-media-cloud.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/2025\/12\/Kakuriyo-no-Yadomeshi-S2-Ep-12-img-4-768x432.png\")
Aoi needed to rescue Ginji and get the two of them out of danger. Staying at their old base camp and wait for Oryo to return was not an option when there was no telling whether or not the Ice Wolves would come back for them. So she had no choice but to push through the hazardous white-out conditions. Predictably, she didn\u2019t last long and passed out. But THIS WAS THE ONLY MOMENT<\/em> where we did see a strong implication<\/em> that Odanna may<\/em> have manged to come to their rescue. Interestingly however, instead of green ogre fire, it was blue this time. This is a particularly important detail because we saw in the last episode that Ginji\u2019s fire is actually red.\u00a0 (At least in this season anyways, I can\u2019t remember off the top of my head if we saw it in the last one!)<\/em> Naturally she was unconscious when this happened, because\u00a0 obviously we can\u2019t have Odanna\u2019s true form revealed just yet!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog-media-cloud.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/2025\/12\/Kakuriyo-no-Yadomeshi-S2-Ep-12-img-14-768x432.png\")
It was on their way to where they can find the rikodake mushrooms that we see Aoi finally break down. Seeing a red star reminded her of Odanna\u2019s eyes. It was then when she truly realized just how much she\u2019s worried about him. After-all, since she\u2019s powerless to do anything herself at the moment, she has no choice but to rely on the others for the rescue operation. As result Aoi has been doing her best to hold herself together. We\u2019ve seen her crack from time to time, and subconsciously been longing for him in her dreams, and but today marks the first time we\u2019re actually seeing her cry about it. She doesn\u2019t know yet whether she\u2019s actually in love with Odanna, and that\u2019s understandable considering she doesn\u2019t really<\/em> know him yet. But she\u2019s determined to do so, which is why she wants to see him so badly. And given the situation and what\u2019s at stake, she\u2019s genuinely scared that she\u2019ll never get to see him again.<\/p>\n\n
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(which is probably not going to happen)<\/em> <\/del>for this decision to pay-off, is that so Season 3 can have 24-26 episodes because the novel is actually still<\/em> going, and perhaps there\u2019s content in the volumes from here on out that would be better served as such. Yes, that\u2019s my pie in the sky hopes and dreams. But what we\u2019re probably going to get, another twelves or thirteen episodes covering the rest of Odanna\u2019s rescue arc. I\u2019m allowed to dream though right?<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog-media-cloud.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/2025\/11\/Kakuriyo-no-Yadomeshi-S2-Ep-6-img-0-768x432.png\")
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