Kekkaishi ep.11

February 8, 2007 | 10 Comments

If there was one animated feature that I can blame for ruining my childhood, I'd say it was Bambi. I still remember how shocked I was when I saw Bambi's mother got shot by some hunters in the forest. A lot of years have passed since then and I thought I have completely forgotten about the scene and how traumatising it was for a 5 year old. Come to think of it, I've never seen that film again after that. Maybe my subconscious tries to protect my fragile mind. Thanks to this episode, however, I was immediately reminded of that movie again. This episode also proves once and for all that Sunrise is evil. It's not enough that they feature one scene of a deer getting slaughtered, they seem to revel in the act by featuring more deers getting maimed by humans. Joking aside, this is a great looking episode which I'm sure would look great on DVD. Although the animation used during the fight scenes are not completely fluid, it still feels grand.

The episode begins with 3 mysterious characters looking at the Karasumori site. One of them comments that it's worth the search since he can feel the power. Meanwhile, Yoshimori whines because neither Tokine nor Ayakashi has shown up. Because of this he orders Madarao to patrol the area. Unfortunately for Yoshi, his request is denied by Madarao, who's not feeling up to it. Yoshi is annoyed to hear this and wishes that Madarao would have obeyed his 'master' once in a while. This in return pisses Madarao, who orders Yoshi not to say stupid things like that because his only master is Hazama Tokimori. He's simply associate with the Sumimuras because of his master's order otherwise why else he would want to supervise a 'shorty' like Yoshimori. Now it's Yoshi's turn to be angry but Madarao ignores him and wonders if he'll ever meet a man like 'Tokimori-sama' again. This essentially results in Yoshi wasting the foods he's eating.

Before Yoshimori can say anything else, however, his Ayakashi sense is tingling. The two are then hears a short man asking Yoshimori if he's the man who guards this area. The short guy claims to be the Hell Prince, Hone-tarou. Yoshimori is not impressed and annoyed to see the little guy's theatrical act and decides to enclose the guy in Kekkai. Hone-tarou, however, manages to elude the Kekkai although he's clearly horrified by it. Yoshi tells the guy that he won't hurt the guy if the guy leaves the site along with his friends. The little Ayakashi becomes offended to hear this and throws a smoke bomb in retaliation. Instead of disappearing, however, the guy just run away like a little dwarf. Upon seeing this, Yoshimori uses his Nenshi to capture the guy and drag him back. Madarao is surprised to see Yoshimori able to use Nenshi so Yoshi tells him that he's been practicing. However, he complains that the technique is difficult to use.

Yoshimori mentions that he's heard the technique is often used for torture, scaring the living Hell out of Hone-tarou. Yoshimori feels bad upon seeing this, feeling as if he's picking on the weak. All of a sudden, Madarao senses another enemy so Yoshimori asks Hone-tarou to call his friends and tell them to leave the area. Hone-tarou refuses because betraying friends is the worst thing that a man can do. Yoshimori tries to remind Hone-tarou that he's an Ayakashi but his word gets interrupted when something comes charging at them. The attacker turns out to be Hone-tarou's friend, Uhosuke, an Ayakashi in the form of the monkey king. Thanks to his reflex, Yoshimori manages to evade the attack and capture the Ayakashi. Hone-tarou who fears for his friend's life runs in front of Uhosuke. He then begs Yoshimori not to kill his friend since Yoshimori already got him as a hostage.

Yoshimori agrees not to kill his friend on the condition that Hone-tarou takes his friend out of this place. Before he can finish his sentence, however, another Ayakashi called Nagao already attacks him. Thankfully Tokine manages to capture it using her Kekkai. She then asks Yoshimori about the identity of the three Ayakashi but Yoshimori doesn't know either. All of a sudden Madarao starts to growl towards a direction. A black wolf/dog appears and scolds the three Ayakashi for their inability to buy him some time. The three Ayakashi seem happy to see their 'boss' but much to their surprise, the black dog tore Yoshimori's kekkai using its power. He admits that he was planning to stay hidden for a little longer but he recognises a familiar smell. The dog then addresses Madarao using 'Ginro' and tells the spirit dog that it's been 400 years since they last met. In return Madarao tells the dog that it's been a while since he used that name.

Madarao admits that he's surprised to see the dog, whose name turns out to be Kouya, in this place. In response Kouya tells Madarao that the spirit dog doesn't look like he's in a good shape. Yoshimori who's been left out of the conversation decides to ask Madarao if Kouya is his acquintance. Madarao confirms that it's someone that he knew a long time ago. Upon hearing Yoshimori talking, Kouya becomes angry and tells Madarao that he doesn't like the fact that Madarao is still hanging out with humans. As soon as he said this, Kouya launches an attack towards Yoshimori and Madarao so Yoshimori quickly erects a Kekkai to protect himself and Madarao. Much to his surprise, the Kekkai dissolves upon contact with Kouya's power. Yoshimori is worried about this since Kouya is not even serious yet and in addition to this, the dog is quite fast. Hakubi recognise Kouya as well but he tells Tokine that Kouya and Madarao are now Yoshi's problem.

Yoshimori tells Madarao that it seems that Kouya knows Madarao a lot more than Madarao admits since the attack was directed towards him. Madarao denies that the attack was directed specifically towards Yoshimori. The truth is Kouya hates human civilisation. Madarao then tells Yoshimori a story of the time when he and Kouya lived on a mountain 500 years ago. A flashback revealed how the two used to hunt deer together and at one point Kouya pointed out that they can keep eating tasty meat as long as they work together. However, there was a war happening around the area and humans destroyed the mountain. Because of this, Madarao suggested to Kouya that they move to another mountain. Despite Kouya's initial reluctance he eventually agreed after he saw Madarao's weakened body. However, even after they move, nothing changed. In the end Madarao died of starvation while Kouya was killed by men.

In the present time, Kouya tells Madarao that he'll forget Madarao's betrayal if he agrees to team up with him again. Madarao, however, refuses, claiming that he's cut ties with Kouya back then. Upon hearing this, Yoshimori wonders what Kouya meant with 'betrayal'. Madarao explains that after he died, he couldn't rest in peace so his soul wondered to the mountain as a ghost. Later on, he met Kouya, who has returned as a ghost as well. The two began hunting together again but Kouya had turned a lot more vicious than he was before his death. One day, however, the two encountered Hazama Tokimori and Hakubi. It was then that Tokimori declared that he's there to exterminate Kouya and Madarao actually fell in love with him. Yoshimori is weirded out by this sudden change in the story but Madarao confirms that the reason he broke things off with Kouya was because he fell in love with Hazama Tokimori.

Madarao doesn't see what's wrong about falling in love. He claims that it was then that he realised why he couldn't rest in peace. He believes he was destined to meet Hazama Tokimori. Yoshimori sweatdrops upon hearing this and reminds Madarao that he's a dog but Madarao doesn't care one way or the other. All of a sudden, Hone-tarou and Uhosuke charge in, trying to launch a sneak attack. Unfortunately for them, Tokine easily captures them inside a Kekkai. Kouya is not happy upon seeing this and ends up lashing out at them using his power. The result causes Uhosuke to fall unconscious. Yoshimori is angry that Kouya hurts his own comrades but Kouya denies that those 3 are his comrades. He's sick of their incompetence and inability to do anyting right. He believes that 'Ginro' was the best partner he's ever had. Madarao quickly dismisses the suggestion by telling Kouya to leave him alone as he requested before.

Kouya points out that Yoshimori is not Hazama Tokimori, a statement which Madarao agrees. However, he knows Yoshimori's family a lot longer than he knows Kouya and he enjoys his life. In response, Kouya intends on eliminating Madarao's relationship with Yoshimori's family so he would come with Kouya. Madarao warns Yoshimori that Kouya is serious about this so there's no point in trying to avoid killing him. If anything that would just get Yoshimori killed. Because of this, Madarao asks Yoshimori to remove the bead around his neck so he can terminate Kouya. Yoshimori hesitates to do this because his grandfather once told him that he must never undo the beads since it is a seal to keep Madarao in check. Madarao insists that Yoshimori takes it off. He tells Yoshimori that it was him who asked Hazama Tokimori to release Kouya even though he knew what Kouya would become if the dog was allowed to live.

Eventually Yoshimori agrees to undo the beads but this means Madarao owes him a favour. Madarao promises that he'd deal with it once he completed this task. As soon as Yoshimori undo the beads, a bright light shoots out from Madarao's box in his home and travels straight into the school ground, exploding right in front of everyone else. When the dust settles, both Kouya and Madarao have grown into a humongous size. Kouya praises Madarao's fur, which according to him, was as beautiful as it once was. However, he warns Madarao that he's never won in a fight against him. In retaliation Madarao tells Kouya that back then he simply let Kouya win. This time, however, he won't let it happen. After kicking Yoshimori aside, Madarao and Kouya begins fighting each other. While this happens, Yoshimori decides to evacuate Kouya's comrades to a safer place. While helping him Tokine wonders what Yoshi is going to do with the dogs.

Yoshimori thinks they should leave it to Madarao since he promised to take care of it. However, he's not going to leave them alone. After Yoshimori left, Tokine wonders if Hakubi doesn't want to help Madarao. Hakubi claims he's not Madarao's friend and besides, he doesn't want Tokine to have to clean up the mess later on. At the same time, the battle between Madarao and Kouya continues to remain strong. At one point, however, Kouya manages to knock Madarao aside and injure the dog. Madarao, however, stands up once again, telling Kouya that he thinks it's sad that Kouya carries always carries this hatred with him. While it's true that he hasn't been fighting like this for a while and he may not be able to deal with Kouya's speed. However, it was him who let Kouya to be free so even if it costs his life, he must end Kouya's life. With that said, Madarao creates clones of himself to surround Kouya. Kouya, however, manages to identify the real Madarao from the clones. The episode ends in cliffhanger with the two stabbing each other with their tail.

Preview

Impression:

I love the massive battle between Madarao and Kouya. I just wish it was longer and uninterrupted. The design for Madarao's real form is also awesome and reminds me of the Kyuubi from Naruto. Although if I have to choose, I prefer the spirit dog version since it's a lot cuter. It was amusing to know that Madarao left Kouya behind because he was in love with a human. I do wonder how he managed to convince Hazama Tokimura that he's not vicious like Kouya. The 3 Ayakashi who accompanied Kouya was hilarious to say the least. I can't remember the previous episodes very well but I think this is the first time we see Ayakashi which are human-like in appearance. This plot point would become increasingly important later on but I guess it doesn't mean much at this point in time. Anyway, the theme of this episode seems to be the old friendship of Kouya and Madarao and how Kouya felt left behind when Madarao ditched him.

© memento 2003