MAO

Thank goodness Nanoka isn't alone in her investigation of the cult! She's got Otoya and Mao is conducting his own investigation by way of binding a demon spirit! So, y'know, typical supernatural detective stuff! Jeez Shoko, didn't have to sounds so smug about having predicted Yoriko's fathers' death! And I'm sure it's mighty convenient that Yoriko will just be able to hand the Shorinkyo sect her fathers' dojo. When in doubt, it's ALWAYS about real estate! Having a demon spirit at your beck and call is surprisingly convenient as both a light source, locator, AND to scare the heck out of bad guys. Ah yes, a secret cellar! Perfect for searching for clues AND for getting locked in there by Shoko! But also convenient for finding a shovel, which is great for freeing yourself AND discovering a bunch of decayed, skeletal, corpses! Priestess Shoko once upon a time DID have a psychic gift, enough that she was able to consult and predict things...but it faded with age and by then the Shorinkyo had grown into a full cult with her at the center of it, despite having no power and no control as Sogen started to run things HIS way. All she really has left is her last and only vision: a vision of the end. Otoya sounds WAY too proud of digging up those dead bodies. So Sogen was a dabbler in the spiritual arts, even if he basically stole a book of curses and tried to use it to facilitate his own obsession with power, even if it meant using believers to kill their parents and then kill them when they tried to expose him. It was satisfying seeing Mao give him a taste of his own curse medicine and show how you REALLY curse someone, enough to expose all his crimes. Shoko didn't seem to know about the murders, or at least she wasn't 100% sure of Sogen's role in it, so she was ultimately just a figurehead powerless to do anything to stop Sogen...her father. But she'll still take responsibility for her role in this. Sogen and Shoko are arrested, but honestly I hope they don't throw the book at Shoko. I feel like she was as much a victim of her father as anybody else was and she genuinely meant to help people, even as she was being arrested...because she just had to warn everyone of a disaster that will befall Japan. Poor Yoriko. All she wanted to do was save her father, but instead she had to think she might have poisoned him and was even willing to turn herself into the police to face justice for it. I guess it's better that she just knocked him out with a sedative so Sogen could kill him, so she was just as much a victim, but her father is still gone. Aaaaand she's likely to strike out with Mao in the romance department. Good news is that Nanoka made it back home with only an hour time difference! The bad news is that also means she can confirm with certainty a disaster heading straight for Mao's time: the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Felt like an average villain of the week episode. But the music when Mao was apprehending the father was really good, so I feel like this show has the potential to become really good when it tackles the main plot threads. The show is really teasing Mao's curse to be something truly awful, so I'm really curious to find out what's so bad about it. Hopefully they don't keep us waiting too long. The plot thread about the incoming Japanese Earthquake is also pretty interesting. I wonder if that was actually the moment Nanako got attacked as a child, since that town is still fine in this time period. It would be cool if this show builds up to that event becoming a really major plot moment. So far, Nanako and Mao's relationship hasn't really developed that much, so it kinda does feel like the main story hasn't really started yet. More than Mao, I'm really interested to find out more about Nanako. What really drives her. Because so far, she hasn't expressed that much emotion about the tragedies of her past.