Kekkaishi ep.15

April 16, 2007 | 11 Comments

I think it's often easy to forget that Kekkaishi is a shounen series with not-so-big following. Having said that, I am still amazed of the animation and character design quality shown in this series. There is a good amount of polish given to the series that I haven't seen given to other series except maybe Death Note and D.Gray-Man. In those cases, however, they both are extremely popular series with large followings. On the other hand, I'm not sure if Kekkaishi has the same amount of followers. It's quite unfortunate if it doesn't because the story is a hell lot more entertaining than other shounen series so far. The colour scheme is also a lot more pleasant than most other shounen series, which is a surprise to me. I hope the series will maintain this quality once we get to a more intense arc.

In the aftermath of his plant-burning disaster, Masamori realises that Yoshimori is not tired even after using a large amount of energy. This makes him realises that Yoshimori's weaknesses is simply his inabiity to control his power. Meanwhile, Tokine is impressed upon seeing Masamori using many Shiki to clean up the mess. Yoshimori becomes jealous as usual but before he can make a fool of himself, Tokine's grandma already drags her jailbait granddaughter away. Yoshimori himself gets scolded by his grandpa for not realising that his action tonight will one day cause casualty outside the area. The next day, Yoshimori is still annoyed with everyone's criticism of his method. To make things worse, he starts seeing images of his classmates and teacher being killed by Ayakashi. Because Yoshimori is not paying attention to what his teacher told him, however, he's being punished and is ordered to stand outside while holding a bucket on top of his head.

While holding the bucket with a Kekkai, Yoshimori remembers how Masamori used to teach him to do similar thing. Because he's not concentrating on the Kekkai, Yoshimori ends up getting wet from the bucket of water. Meanwhile Masamori is on his way back to the Karasumori site and remembers how his subordinates once mentioned about how there is an organised group which is targeting the site. That night, a jealous Yoshimori tries to convince Tokine that she'd contract germs from Masamori if she keeps talking to the guy. At the same time, a mysterious man wearing sunglasses unleashes a Shiki in the form of a hideous bird. While this happens, Yoshimori continues to be jealous of Masamori and even wonders why Masamori is not the successor. Tokine immediately orders the boy not to say that in front of Masamori. Speaking of Masamori, he's now sitting on top of a Kekkai, observing Karasumori site, whose power has apparently grow since 5-6 years ago.

Yoshimori himself now wonders what Karasumori site is all about. He thinks the place is scary and Tokine agrees that lately she has difficulty understanding the place. At the same time, Masamori detects the presence of the hideous bird flying over the Karasumori site. He manages to capture said bird but once it is inside the Kekkai, the bird transform back into a piece of paper. Masamori is disturbed because the Houin on the Shiki is barely recognisable. It seems as if someone purposely make it hard to read. Not far from the area, the observer laments the fact that he's found. Meanwhile, Yoshimori wonders where Masamori could be right now but Madarao tells him that he doesn't know. According to the dog, Masamori doesn't emit smell, it feels as if he has a thin veil around himself. Yoshimori, however, believes that Masamori is nearby. He finds his brother standing near the moon. Because of this, Yoshimori uses his Kekkai to get there as well.

Yoshimori eventually manage to catch up with his brother and tells the guy that he intends on closing down the entire Karasumori site. Much to Yoshimori's surprise, Masamori actually thinks it is worth a try. However, getting anywhere near the Karasumori has become a crime in the past 400 years. It's a dangerous area where no one knows what will happen to you. He likens getting close to the power to getting touching King/God, which is punishable by offense. Masamori then leaves his brother because he has something else to do. Masamaori then asks Kurohime to investigate all paranormal activities throughout the city, causing the fish to blot out black ink throughout the area. The attempt, however, causes everyone including Tokine, who is busy fending off several Ayakashi, to get creep out. When the moon turns to red, Yoshimori realises that this power belongs to Masamori. Masamori himself finds out from Kurohime about the other Shiki bird so he goes to the area.

Meanwhile, the observer is surprised to see the extent of Masamori's power. Having said that, he have expected Masamori to find out about it sooner or later due to his association with a Tsukiakiba Shikigami. With that in mind, the observer grows some kind of long monstrous arm from his human hand and flees the area. Unfortunately by the time Masamori gets to the area, the observer has left so he can't figure out if the one who summons the Shiki was an Ayakashi or a human. The next day, Masamori is being advised by his grandpa to continue his training and to not get too close to Urakai. Masamori assures his grandpa that he'd put enough distance between him and the organisation itself. When his grandpa offers Masamori to go back home, Masamori tells him that Yoshimori is a lot better than him even his grandpa should know this. Before Masamori left, Yoshimori asks him to give the remaining of Kouya's hair a proper burial. The episode ends with Yoshimori feeling jealous of Masamori again when Tokine talks about him.

Impression:

The main focus in this episode seems to be Yoshimori and Masamori's relationship as brothers. While Yoshimori often gets jealous of his brother, it's obvious that he admires Masamori a lot. Masamori himself is quite aware that his brother has more power than himself. Although that part where he scans the entire town with Kurohime was awesome. It looks like his power has a slight dark tone to it in comparison to Yoshimori's power. From what we've seen so far, however, he mostly used it for the good though. I do wonder about his involvement in Urakai and it's possibly why he asked Yomi to spy for him. The most interesting part in this episode, however, belongs to the mysterious observer who unleashed two Shiki birds. While Masamori didn't see it, it's obvious that the guy is basically an Ayakashi inside a human body. I think that adds a touch of creepiness into the series. If an Ayakashi can possess human's body, how can a Kekkaishi distinguish one from the other?

Preview

On the next episode: Lord Uro.

© memento 2003