Management: I apparently forgot to post this back when the review actually went up. Woops!
This week’s Eccentric Family was… well, not the best. This season has had a variety of small issues keeping it below the level of the original all along, and this episode both leaned into those problems and also just wasn’t that interesting structurally. A show of Eccentric Family’s length and pedigree can’t really afford lull episodes, so I wasn’t happy to see this one, but I don’t really see it becoming a trend, either. Ah well!
You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below.
Yajiro sets off on his great journey
Yasaburo singing a little song to himself about always being a troublemaker. Trying to convince himself
Akadama refusing to be the observer for the Trick Magister election again
The Trick Magister derives his power from a tengu’s approval
Another echo of the previous season, with Yasaburo called in as the tengu expert
Yasaburo assumes Akadama is choosing Benten to head the ceremony because he wants to make it clear that she’s his successor
Yasaburo suggests they ask Nidaime for help. Yaichiro wisely says they probably shouldn’t stick themselves in the middle of a tengu succession conflict
Yasaburo claims he’ll take responsibility
“Are you asking me to become a tengu?” Nidaime is conflicted about their request, unsurprisingly
Nidaime and Yaichiro’s life goals couldn’t be more opposite. This does not endear Nidaime to this situation
Nidaime defending his behavior towards Benten, getting defensive about his “kindness”
Getting deeper into the Nidaime’s feelings towards his father, Benten, and the role he could possibly play
Ah, was that their unhappy meeting in London?
“The age of fools has passed.” The Ebisugawa twins are doing, uh, well
Kureichiro, Soun’s reputable son, offers a speech introducing Yaichiro
Benten arrives to object to the Nidaime observing
Once again, Benten responds to being cast as the villain by vamping it up, embracing it
So of course, Yasaburo’s plan immediately bites him in the ass, provoking the precise fight his brother was worried about