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The Kyoto Hunters

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The Kyoto Yokai Hunters

By Naoyuki Sato

It was a normal day when I saw a yokai. I was walking home from a long day at school. It was a new school in Kyoto. My family moved to Japan for my Dads job. I moved a lot because of my dads job. This time he said that this would be the last move, I hoped it would. I had always wanted to live in Japan. I was thinking about my first day at school when something moved in the trees next to me. When I turned to see what it was I saw a humanoid shape but it was moving too fast to see it fully, “Maybe it was a deer.” I said to myself.

When I got home my mom was in the living room. “How was school today, Honey.” she asked me, looking up from her japanese language app. “It was fine.” I told her. My mom knows the moves are hard so she doesn’t pry and goes back to her app.  I go to my room and on the bed is a box. There’s a note on the box from my dad that says “I know the moves are hard and you handle them so well, since this is it, here’s a present for putting up with it.” Filled with curiosity, I opened the box. It’s a katana and there’s another note, not from Dad, from the manufacturer, “大正時代以前に魔を祓うために使われていた希少な日輪刀を手に入れました。この刀を誇りを持って振るい、成功をお祈りします。 – 田中慎介。” I grab my phone and go to my translator app which tells me what it says, “You have acquired a rare Sun Sword, originally used to exorcise demons and yokai in the taisho era and earlier. Wield this sword with pride and I pray for success. – Shinsuke Tanaka.” The note was cool but mostly looked at the user manual to figure out how to not break this thing or ruin it. 

After reading the user manual, I unsheathed the sword. The blade looked liquid, with a mix of blue, white, and green. The hilt was metal squares that made a spiral pattern with circle gems inlaid between them. The sheath itself was black, the handle green and black. It was light in my hand when I swung the sword, almost like it was made for me. “Will, come down here.” I hear my mom yell. “Coming.” I yell back. I put the sword back in the sheath,laid it on my bed, and went to my mom. She was at the door, with a girl from my school, Emi Watanabe. Why was she here? “Hi, what brings you here?” I asked her, and she replied, in perfect English, “Hi, I was walking home from school, and I wondered if you were invited to the festival or knew when it was.” “No, I didn’t know there was a festival. When is it?” I replied. “It’s in three weeks on Thursday.” she said “thanks.” I say, then she left.

After Emi left, I went for a walk around town. I needed to think, and a walk in Kyoto was just what I needed. After 30 minutes of walking I was at the spot where I saw that humanoid shape in the forest when I was walking home from school. I don’t know why but I brought my katana along. When I recalled what happened after school with the humanoid thing, I saw a path to a small temple or shrine. I decided to check it out. When I got there something seemed off about this place, then I saw a hand, a severed hand. There was blood trailing away from the hand to the back of the temple. Grabbing my sword’s hilt, I followed the trail of blood. 

When I got to the back I saw who’s hand it was. I saw Emi Watanabe’s cold body, her blood everywhere. She was the only person in class who helped me with problems in Japanese, she was even nice enough to wonder if I knew when the festival was or if anyone told me about it. Now she was dead, brutally murdered. I almost threw up from the sight of it, but I stopped myself and looked around to find any clues of where the murderer went. Bloody footprints led to the back door to the temple, I followed them. I unsheathed my sword, and went into the temple. Nothing was in here, or at least I couldn’t see them, but they were here. “Show yourself!” I called out into the dark. “Have you come to join her?” Someone replied in the dark. “Well, I am still hungry. You will be very filling.” The voice said. I was disgusted by what they just said, they killed Emi and then ate her. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill her, she did nothing to you.” I called back, my anger filling the room. “Show yourself.” Then something moved in the dark, the killer. He was a little shorter than me, he was lean, but something wasn’t right. There was a flashlight on a shelf next to me, I grabbed it and shined the light at the murderer. I wish I hadn’t. His face was deformed with veins popping out of his forehead that looked like they were covering his skin. His teeth looked like shark’s teeth. “Are you scared?” He said barring his teeth. “No.” I spat out the lie. Finding my last bit of courage I jumped at the murderer. Unsheathing my sword I went for his head, but he blocked it with his arm. The sword went right through it like hot butter. I kept up with the attacks, driving him toward the main door. When I got him to the wall, I went for his head again, this time my sword met its mark. When I did he went up in flames, screaming and cursing. 

After he was just a pile of ash, went back outside where someone seemed to be waiting for me. He was my age, maybe a little older, and he also had a sword. Eyeing  my sword he asked “Do I know you?” Confused, I replied “No, are you from Horikawa High School?” “No, I am not,” He replied “But how did you kill that thing?” He had seen me fight the murderer. Grabbing my sword’s hilt, I asked him, “What do you mean?” “I know you fought the yokai that killed that girl. How did you do it? Killing a yokai is impossible without a Sun sword, so how did you do it?” He replied. I was confused so I told him what had happened.

…….Later…….

I learned the kids name was Kengo Takemoto, and he was a Yokai Hunter, which are people who protect others from yokai. They are a special agency that is unidentified by the government. Kengo invited me to join, I accepted his offer, I wanted to protect others from the same fate as Emi. “There is a selection test to join in a week.” Kengo told me and he gave me a training regiment to get ready for it. 

The training was hard, I had to go up to the top of a mountain, then I had to do 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 200 jumping squats, and 100 pull-ups. The thin air made it harder to do, but pushed through. After the work-out I had to run down the mountain, through the woods ducking trees and rocks. It was tiring, but I was doing this to help people and to avenge Emi’s death. 

The day of the selection test arrived. There were at least 30 people there, most were around high school age, but a few looked to be in middle school and a few were adults. Everyone was wearing traditional kimonos, which was how the officials knew that you were participating in the test, not running it. The test was held on a mountain with walls surrounding it, so yokai couldn’t escape. “Welcome to the Yokai Hunter Selection Test.” boomed a voice from a microphone. “My name is Shinsuke Tanaka, and I am the president of the Yokai Hunter Corp. Today you will be taking part in the test to join this corp, and protect humanity from the yokai.” 

President Tanaka told us the rules of the test, you had to make it to the other side of the mountain, which is infested with yokai, by sunrise. You could forfeit if you wanted to by shooting a flare up and some hunters would take you to the start. The test would start at sunset, which was in twenty minutes, and I was getting nervous. “You got this.” I said to myself, as some reassurance. I looked at my sword and remembered the first time I held it, I remembered when Emi came to ask me about the festival, I remembered her death, and I remembered Kengo, who took his time to make a training regiment for me. These memories eased my nerves and helped me focus. “Now,” boomed the President’s voice, “let the test begin.” 

I didn’t see a yokai until an hour into the test, which I killed when it pounced at me. After a little while, I heard someone cry out in pain, instinctively I ran to help where I saw a giant yokai lunge at a kid who looked like he was in middle school. I ran to help, and severed the yokai’s outstretched arm, “Run.” I told the kid, who followed my order. The yokai seemed to be calculating his newly severed arm and then, faster than I could see his arm was back. But I didn’t hesitate and decapitated the yokai. It seemed to take an eternity before I saw anyone else. When I did see someone they were running away from me, and then I saw why the finish line was right there so I sprinted toward it. Then out of nowhere a yokai pounced on me, I had no time to react and was thrown into a tree, unsheathing my sword I went on the attack. This yokai had four arms which made it harder to lay a hit on it, but I had a plan. I went for his legs, knocking it over, creating an opening for a decapitating move, which I took. After  the yokai was ashes I ran to the finish line, passing the test.

When the sunrise came and the search party combed the forest on the mountain for any participants who had died taking the test, it was time for the selection ceremony. Only seven of the participants passed out of the thirty.  “Congratulations on passing the test.” The president said, “You seven are the next generation, stand proud, and may your blades serve you well in your new life as a Yokai Hunter.”

The End

Gen V S1 E1-E4

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I am finally getting caught up with most of the TV shows and that meant that I got to Amazon Prime’s Gen V.

The spin-off of The Boys had a surprisingly good season one and this new season leads right into some of the major events going on in that series.

First of all, we had to deal with the real life loss of actor Chance Perdomo, who played Andre in season one, was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2024. Andre was a major character among the ensemble of Gen V so decisions had to be made. The show decided against recasting the role and decided instead to kill the character off-screen. While it was an uncomfortable idea, the death of Andre provided motivation for several of the characters to move forward.

We have a new Dean of Godolkin University and he is the new big bad of season two. Cypher is very mysterious and manipulative.

I do love how the group is kind of getting back together, even after the horrible things that they have done to each other. It sure looked like, after episode one, that Jordan had killed Cate. I am glad Cate survived as the entire event has led to a tentative reunion between Cate, Marie, Jordan, and Emma.

Gen V continues to have the same kind of shocking moments that are typical on The Boys, and the characters from The Boys are referenced constantly Starlight even made a cameo in one of the episodes, trying to recruit Marie to help her out. She mentioned one of the mysteries of the season, which was Odessa. It appeared as if Odessa was Marie, but that has all been questionable.

Episodes will release every Wednesday, so I will be watching them when I can. This kick off has been very enjoyable so far and I am deeply invested in the mysteries of the show. I am curious to see how this show will eventually play into the final season of The Boys.

Ne Zha II

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If you were not someone who followed box office results, you would not have any idea the answer to the question, “What is the biggest worldwide box office film of 2025?” The answer is the Chinese film Ne Zha II. It has nearly reached $2 billion worldwide, with not much of that total coming from domestic.

Ne Zha II is receiving a wide release in the US, which could push the film to join the $2 billion club.

According to IMDB, “After a great catastrophe, the souls of Nezha and Aobing are saved, but their bodies face ruin. To give them new life, Taiyi Zhenren turns to the mystical seven-colored lotus in a daring bid to rebuild them and change their fate.“

I am going to start off with the strength of this movie. It is, perhaps, the most spectacularly animated movie I have ever seen. Everything about the imagery on the screen was absolutely stunning. The images, the character design, the backgrounds, art design, the colors…. it was legitimately the greatest looking animated movie I have ever seen and that is saying quite a lot.

I usually prefer when a live action film uses subtitles instead of dubbing because the original voices tend to have the proper emotion. That is not usually the case with animated films that I have seen dubbed. Ne Zha II was dubbed with English and, if I am being honest, I was unimpressed with the voice over work. Part of that may have been how the main character of Ne Zha sounded, as he was screaming in that Anime manner, and I have never been a fan of that. None of the voices stood out to me and I found that a weakness of this version of the film. Of course, I do not speak Chinese, so there is that.

The story was a touch confusing, and that might be because this is a sequel to a film from 2019 that I had never seen. I think they updated that part in the opening exposition, or, at least, that is what I guessed. There was another part of the film that I did not love and that was the attempts at humor. I did not find most of the humor to work and I might have preferred them to stick to the action.

Speaking of the action, it was exceptional. This was part of the animation and it was wonderfully laid out and was amazing to look at in every battle. Everything was laid out perfectly and helped build the tension of the film and most of the action also helped to develop the characters.

Ne Zha II is a massive success and is one of the most visually stunning films of all time. It is also the most successful monetary film of all time too. I am glad that I got a chance to see it even the movie may have a few drawbacks when it comes to story and time. It was certainly worth the two and a half hours it took to watch it.

3.9 stars

Stick S1 E5, E6, E7, E8, E9

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So I wanted to catch up on Stick, which is on Apple TV + and has episodes dropping on Wednesdays. I do believe the final episode of the season is this week, so I had five episodes to run through in order to get caught up.

Stick is such a great show and it is a easy watch as the episodes run around 30 minutes. It is also very well-written and compelling in a sport that does not truly entice me much.

Much like the F1: The Movie and auto racing, a film/show can be entertaining and engaging if it is intelligent and well-written, acted and smartly plotted out even if I am not a fan of the sport involved. I am not a fan of golf, but Stick is far more than just about golf.

The story of Pryce trying to help Santi to become the best he could be in the world of golf took a lot of turns, some that very not necessarily positive, but everything worked well.

That is, until Santi’s father showed up at the end of episode nine. That feels like one more major hurdle for the characters to overcome.

Some other cool highlights of the five episodes include:

  • The truth with Zero and Pryce’s deal coming out rocked Santi’s world. We knew that was going to happen when it first happened.
  • Santi and Zero have sex. This was surprising… especially with Santi looking for advice from Pryce. I really thought Pryce was going to respond differently and I liked the uncommon response he had.
  • Timothy Olyphant is always a welcome actor in any show I am watching.
  • Mitts and Elena’s relationship comes around. I like them together.
  • We get more with Pryce and his dead son. The dream of Pryce with his son, Jett, was really hard to watch.
  • The whole scam to try and get Santi into a pro PGA tournament was strange, but cool.

There was a lot of enjoyment in these episodes and I have grown to like these characters.

Paradise S1 E7

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“The Day”

Holy $%^$

Flashback episode and WHAT A FLASHBACK episode. Man this was tense. The show finally showed us the day when everything changed. We learned what happened to the earth that sent the Americans into the plan to go inside the Colorado mountain.

And man, was it powerful.

I mean, this was something else.

Not only the flashback, but the bookend scenes with Xavier and Sinatra was absolutely jaw-dropping. I found myself hating Sinatra almost as much as I used to hate the Cigarette Smoking Man on the X-Files. I was yelling for Xavier to put a bullet in her head, just like I used to want Mulder to do to CSM.

Sterling K. Brown and James Marsden are absolutely tremendous in this episode. Both of them gave amazing, Emmy-worthy performances in this episode as they dealt with the crisis of the earth’s downfall and the President’s drastic decisions prior to entering the mountain.

The tying of the events of The Day with the Cuban Missile Crisis is a stroke of genius and amazing writing. The determination of President Bradford in his decision to set off the huge EMP instead of launching the nuclear armory from the nuclear football is stunning. Could he have save the world with his choice?

Hearing Teri’s voice at the end was shocking and made me just hate Sinatra (aka Samantha all the more).

Plus, Sinatra told Xavier that the DNA found at the President’s murder site did not match anyone from inside the mountain, meaning that the murderer came from outside. I am not sure I believe her, but it is a massive twist if true.

This was the best episode of the season so far in a show that is chocked full of amazing episodes. Such a great hour of television on Hulu (or Disney +).

The White Lotus S2 E4, E5

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“In the Sandbox”

“That’s Amore”

It was two interesting episodes that seemingly flipped my opinions on some of the characters from the first three shows of season two.

This was the first time that I was interested in the two prostitutes who had been hanging around the White Lotus, Mia and Lucia, had been a distraction for much of the first three episodes, but, for some reason, I started to enjoy their presence in these two. Mia’s relationship with Albie felt sweet. I was a little uncertain because it felt like she might be taking advantage of him. Then Lucia’s accidental poisoning of the piano player led to her to gt a chance to play the piano.

Tanya, whom I already like, was able to get out of her depression over Greg’s leaving when she came across a group of gay men who invited her into their circle. I’m still not sure about the overall positiveness of this though. The end of episode five made me wonder. Still, it was nice to see Tanya apparently happy for a bit at least.

I was rooting for Portia, but her hooking up with Jack felt beneath her, and I was not sure I liked that storyline piece.

This was also the first time that I got into the story with Dominic and his father Bert. There was a scene between the two of them at dinner that brought this troubled relationship to light, making me understand these two way more than discussions of The Godfather ever did.

Aubrey Plaza’s Harper, who had been my favorite character up until these episodes, found a condom wrapper in the apartment and became extremely unhappy with Ethan. This entire arc has done nothing but make me dislike Harper and make me feel sorry for Ethan. It feels at this point that Ethan is way better than any of the people he is with, whether it be Harper or his best friend, Cameron, who is just a creep.

I do think that the show has begun to hint at who the bodies are going to be and we had a couple of characters go out to the water in moments of melancholy and close their eyes. It was both Dominic and Harper at different points during these episodes. I do not know if this is meant to be red herrings, but these two are easily the most depressed characters on the canvas right now, even lower than Tanya.

Two more episodes to go before I start season three.

What If … ? S3 E1

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“What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers”

I am very happy to have What If…? back once more over holiday break, releasing daily for my entertainment pleasure. I love this release schedule which they started last year. They are releasing the eight episodes daily, starting on December 22 and running through December 29. It gives me something to look forward to every day.

What If…? has been a fairly consistent show over the three seasons. It has been enjoyable, but perhaps not outstanding. It is typically really good, fun and entertaining. This first episode feels like it falls right into that category.

The What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers episode had a new team of Avengers with their giant mech technology, much like Voltron or the Power Rangers, and they took on some gamma beasts created in the Gamma War.

One of the best parts of What If…? is the use of the actual live action actors for voices in the animated shows. This episode included Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, and David Harbour as Red Guardian.

The first half of this episode felt as if it had too much exposition and, despite having a series of cool animation styles during the period, I thought there was too much telling and not enough showing. This is one of the overall issues with What If…?. Episodes are kept around 30 minutes and sometimes feel as if it is too short. This one felt like it would have been more compelling if it had been an hour. Maybe we could have seen some of the Gamma War instead of just using it as set up.

However, the second half of the show was solid and included some awesome giant robot vs. Kaiju type action, including Bruce Banner transforming himself into a gigantic Godzilla-like creature, I dubbed Hulkzilla as soon as I saw the scene. This was fun and an enjoyable action piece with a decent theme working.

Admittedly, after seeing some of the outstanding animated TV shows this year such as X-Men ’97 and Batman: The Caped Crusader, What If…? feels like a step down. That may not be fair, but when the genre is elevating its game, you expect other shows to step up too. What If…? episode one of season three was fine, but probably not as memorable as it could have been.

Shrinking S2 E10

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“Changing Patterns”

Okay, so perhaps this is not the season finale after all.

I really thought that this was the season finale. But when I pulled up the show on Apple TV +, I saw episode 11 listed for next Wednesday. So I guess this is not the final episode of the season. I do not know how many there are.

That does not bother me much because Shrinking is consistently one of the best written and entertaining shows on TV.

I had been wondering where this show was going as it seemed like most of the storylines were wrapped up over the last couple of episodes, but there were a couple that came raging back into the forefront.

In particular, the whole Louis/Alice friendship came back hard and heavy this week. Alice found out that Jimmy had told Louis to not see Alice again and that crushed her. Apparently, there are more legs to this as Alice told her father that he ruined another birthday.

Oh yeah, it was Alice’s 18 birthday. She was a little unfair in this situation in my opinion. I mean, Jimmy did find her a car just like his wife. Sure he can be blind in a lot of ways, but to say that he ruined the birthday felt a touch harsh.

There are some great development with all of the other characters too. Paul, Liz, Derek, Julie, and Gaby had solid arcs within this episode, but they all paled in comparison to the birthday escapades.

I wonder how many more episodes the season has for us?

Cobra Kai S6 Part 2 E6, E7, E8

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“Benvinguts a Barcelona”

“Dog in the Fight”

“Snakes on a Plane”

I watched the first three episodes of the second part of season six of Cobra Kai that came out on Netflix this weekend. The show had split into three sections for the final season. This middle part deals with the Sekai Taikai tournament in Barcelona, Spain.

Among the first three episodes, I thought there was one good one, and the other two were disappointing.

I thought episode seven was pretty good, as Daniel gets kidnapped by Kreese and put in a dog cage. The questions surrounding Miyagi’s past, which was a distraction in the first half of the season, was actually the only thing here that was interesting at all.

The rest of these episodes have so many immature, dumb moments. The first one started out with fart jokes. It went downhill quickly. The childish arguments between characters were meant to be conflicts, but they instead just seemed annoying. The conflicts were either easily resolvable, or not even worth the time.

Chozen arriving at the Sekai Taikai drunk was embarrassing. The whole issue between Hawk and Demetri is unrealistic. The apparent relationship between Chozen and Kim Da-Eun came out of nowhere as she took a totally flipped personality. The issue between Robbie and Miguel felt repetitive. Same with Sam and Tory. Devin’s whole arc is her guilt over giving Kenny a laxative and she drops that news to him over the phone.

There are a bunch of new karate fighters around with zero personality and crammed in stories, including one giant fighter whose sensei uses physical violence to train him.

They explained away Kreese’s availability here as the brushed aside the prison escape. And I guess Terry Silver is back, also somehow out of jail and backing one of the other dojos in the Sekai Taikai.

These have really taken a step back from previous episodes and I hope that it is just a matter of having to many episodes in a season (they have 15 overall, more than they usually have) and that this is not the way the remainder of the season would go, because, right now, I wish this show would have ended after the outstanding finale of season 5.

The Boys S4 E7

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“The Insider”

There is a lot to talk about with the penultimate episode of season seven of The Boys. I do not think that this show can be considered an allegory any longer. With the whole January 6th reference for the planned assassination of the president, as well as the obvious connections to our current political climate, the Boys is anything but subtle. The whole Christmas song, although very funny, might have been on the nose too much.

Sticking with the singing puppets Christmas special, I do love what Ryan does at the end of the episode, stepping up and talking live on the television about how this isn’t right. He felt very sincere and affecting. The only trouble I had with it was that was not the way Ryan seemed to be going last episode. It felt like a very different response and so I am not sure what that character is actually feeling. Maybe it is supposed to be that way considering he is a teen and they can be inconsistent as a rule. I just am having a difficulty with the overall execution for this character.

The Deep, however, is completely different. His arc of the season has been a rough one, messing with his self-image and confounding what he wants. I actually gasped when he crashed that aquarium, which led to the death of his octopus lover. Tilda Swinton was genius level voice over in this episode as she voiced first the anger and betrayal felt by Ambrosius and then the despair as her love Deep allowed her to suffocate to death trapped in a closet. This was very much an allegory for domestic abuse and, because of this, the Deep took a step of a descent into losing what little humanity he had remianing.

What can we say about poor Hughie? He has taken such a beating this season, mostly emotionally. He lost his father. He was assaulted sexually by Tek Knight (and Ashley too). His girlfriend’s abortion is plastered across the TV (something, by the way, that we have not had a reaction from Hughie about. What was his thoughts of Annie’s choice?). And now a shapeshifter comes into his home with Annie and has sex with him in the form of Annie, all to get the info they had on Victoria. I feel so badly for Hughie this season and I think he will have a lot of problems moving forward.

The fight scene between Butcher and Starlight and The Deep and Black Noir in the Boys’ office was tremendous and gave us some cheer out loud moments. The arrival of A-Train to save the day and then the arrival of Mother’s Milk with a Gatlin gun were two amazing moments within this fight that were just sparkling hero moments. I used to hate A-Train, but his redemption is complete for me as I see him as a hero and, perhaps, my favorite character on the show. I hope he survives.

Homelander had a tough emotional episode that will clearly lead into whatever craziness is in store for the finale. Antony Starr’s sly side eye to Firecracker’s breast near the end of the show was utterly perfect. Homelander’s tears at A-Train being revealed as the leak was amazing. It gives you a glance inside the mind of him and his deep neuroses. Then he watches as his son speaks to the nation live on TV. This does not feel like it will end well.

I do not know where this is heading, but it seems apparent that next week’s episode will deal with the plot to assassinate the president on January 6th. That makes sense. How it all falls together, I have no idea. It does feel as if The Deep’s story is wrapping up and I wonder if he will be killed. I hope A-Train makes it through. How will Sister Sage work into this since Homelander fired her? Will Butcher live past this season? He did not look good at the end of E7.

I don’t know how this is wrapped up, but I can see a rocket lashed to this show heading into its final season after this.

Shogun S1 E2

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“Servants of Two Masters”

I got the chance today to watch the second episode of Shogun on Hulu. Both this episode and episode 1 dropped at the same time last week, but it did not fit into my schedule to see them both. I planned on getting to Shogun episode two before the weekend finished, and I was able to get it done. I think I enjoyed this episode more than I liked episode one, and I liked episode one a lot.

John was bounced around to different areas, from the palace to a prison then back to the palace as the people involved tried to determine how they were going to best use this ‘barbarian.’

Interestingly, we get the first interactions between John and Mariko, which I believe will become something much more than expected.

But John… when they offer you a bath… take it. Twice a week is okay.

Lord Toranaga clearly is looking as a mastermind with his machinations.

Next episode of Shogun drops late night Monday on Hulu.

Blue Eye Samurai S1 E2

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“A Unexpected Element”

Second episode was another banger. There is so much action and excitement in each of these first two episodes that I can believe how great this show has been perceived by the public.

Mizu was heading to a town to find a boat so she could pursue Shindo to his island fortress. Ringo had followed her there and, despite her attempts to shoo him away, he continued to follow her, making himself useful.

Taigen heads after Mizu in an attempt to reclaim his honor. He would find her at the end of the episode.

Prior to that, Mizu was confronted by The Four Fangs. She killed three of them, with the one survivor being a man named Chiaki who had come for a sword from Master Eiji. He was an assassin and Mizu had made a sword for him that was broken.

Back in the present, Mizu is able to kill Chiaki, but it nearly ended her. When Taigen approached Mizu, she told him to come on, but passed out. He moved forward, the show implying that he was going deal a killing blow.

Again, animation is gorgeous and the fight choreography is laid out wonderfully, especially with the fight on the cliff with the Four Fangs. That fight was remarkably clever and designed well.

This has been a great start to this season .