…I went on a forum and they called me mean things and I’ve had confidence issues since.
That’s one way to prove me wrong in almost all my theories in a single episode.
The episode began with a parodied version of The Hare of Inaba written by Sasami-san herself. I’m unable to tell if it was just put there for comedy, symbolism, or some sort of foreshadowing I didn’t catch. I’ll assume it’s the first.
Guess the shark’s response (Hint: The shark is her brother).
What followed was a recap of what we knew so far, then it offers us backstory to Sasami and Kamiomi’s past, and finally it blows minds with the revelation of the identity of the Yagami Sisters. In the end, we are given a twist that apparently only I was too stupid not to see coming. The episode is also almost devoid of any new kinds of weirdness, save for a third arm growing out of Sasami-san’s chest.
It’s not exactly chest missiles…
Characters
This episode was definitely focused on letting us know our cast of characters better. We were also introduced to the green-haired maiden of the Tsukuyomi Shrine from the opening, but her role this episode was so minor, I’m even unsure if we were even given her name.
Tsukuyomi Siblings
Descendents of the first heir to Amaterasu’s power, Ame-nigishi-kuni-nigishi-amatsuhiko-hiko-ho-no-ninigi-no-Mikoto (Ninigi-no-Mikoto for short), both of them used to live in the Tsukuyomi Shrine, an unholy place dedicated to control and pass down the power of Amaterasu through incestuous means. Sasami-san decided to run away one day, after neglecting to take the pill that removes all her personal desire, and took Kamiomi with her.
Sasami Tsukuyomi
Look how happy she is!
Sasami-san was revealed to have been holding the power of Amaterasu all along, but as her sole wish recently had been for her brother, who would and did anything for her, to be happy, the myriad gods caused alterations in order to please him. In fact, she seems to have a heavy conscience due to her brother’s complete devotion.
Also she is no longer a hikikomori because – get this – what was keeping her from going outside was an evil spirit that has now been exorcised! It’s sort of amusing how her agoraphobia which seemed to be such a central point of the story was so easily cured, with a dissatisfying explanation. Though if you want to dive deeper into it, it could be said that her love for her brother is what ultimately led to the cure.
Kamiomi Tsukuyomi
Red Blue: gives you wings another arm.
Trained as a priest to hide his face and tend to all of Sasami’s needs. He is compared to a robot, who would follow any of her commands and never betray her. Considering his life before leaving the shrine was dedicated to Sasami-san, it explains why all he can think about 24/7 is her. After running away, he comforted his sister who was started to feel regret and guilt, and promised to endure all suffering for her.
Yagami Sisters
The Yagami Sisters physical presence in the material world were actually the fruit of Sasami-san’s wish, and exist to maintain the peace in her everyday life. They don’t seem to be simply personifications of the imperial regalia of Japan anymore, and their actual identities though, especially of the older one, was a surprise.
Tsurugi Yagami
If she still had her powers, the world would be an eroge.
Wait for it… Tsurugi Yagami is none other than… Amaterasu herself! Her story is similar enough to the real one that I detailed in last week’s post, but what I didn’t mention is that Amaterasu had passed down the Imperial Regalia to Ninigi-no-Mikoto, or in the case of Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, passed down her powers. She planned on getting back in business after the dude died, but instead he decided to resort to incest for passing down the powers. In the end, Tsurugi felt that she liked this world created by humans, and would let the Tsukuyomi Shrine take care of the tedious job of controlling the myriad gods while making sure they don’t do anything too stupid.
In the end, she was the one that helped Sasami-san get over her agoraphobia, and not Kagami as I had speculated, but I’m not discarding that theory entirely just yet…
Kagami Yagami
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlord.
The pun-loving cyborg god was created after Tsurugi (Amaterasu) cut off a part of herself that was cursed and some evil dude modified her with mechanical parts for her to be a walking heartless magical and modern weapon. Tsurugi didn’t want to see her being raised for evil, so she took her in.
Last week I theorized Kagami would be the one to cure Sasami’s agoraphobia because she was named after the Yata no Kagami mirror. Of course, that was not the case, but I also theorized she would play a key role in Sasami-san’s return to society, and if anything the episode strengthened that theory: during this episode’s credits (note: the credits have been different each time), Kamiomi asks Kagami if she could ask Sasami to put a little bit more effort into living, because “she might just listen to you”. When she questions his reasoning, he says “I think we’ll find out [why] very soon.” Oooh, foreshadowing.
Tama Yagami
Tama’s mahou shoujo transformation (just kidding).
The perpetually hungry innocent girl is another god created from a part of Amaterasu, and all she knows is that the “almighty God created her,” unaware that it was her own “sister”. Tsurugi wishes for Tama to succeed her if she were to get Amaterasu’s power back – which in my opinion would be a terrible idea since the whole world would be altered into a pile of food to be devoured by her.
Wrapping Up
I *had* to put this somewhere.
This episode wasn’t the easiest one to follow along. It wasn’t the easiest one to write about. It definitely had a lot to take in. I have almost no idea what direction we’re heading to next, and this is exciting.
[polldaddy poll=6856737]