Ushio & Tora

Episode 8

Want to raise the stakes of any situation? Set it on a plane! In this episode of Ushio & Tora, the pair fly the unfriendly skies to battle one nasty, airborne yokai. The episode is entertaining as usual, with the pair's goofy hijinks giving way to badass teamwork when it counts, but this routine still feels like a step back. Now that the episodic storyline of Ushio & Tora is giving way to a deeper, more interesting serialized epic, it's hard to imagine viewers will continue to be satisfied with weekly monsters and only minor developments to the plot.

What makes Tora such a compelling nonhuman character is that his superhuman power is paired with a childlike fascination with the modern world. It's hard to get over the comic juxtaposition of an enormous fierce yokai capering like a kid when confronted with the airport. The airport is also where this week's main players are introduced—an Air Force lieutenant and Yuu, the daughter of his deceased colleague. Yuu, like most reasonable people, doesn't believe the lieutenant's story that her father was killed by a yokai. Over the next half hour, that's obviously going to change.

Yuu is afraid of flying due to the nature of her father's demise, and it's a great moment when a blushing Ushio takes her hand. Ushio is the moral center of the show—he's an embarrassed middle schooler, but he's still trying to do the right thing. Of course, it turns out that Yuu certainly has something to worry about. Even worse, it's Fusuma, the monster from the opening theme! Fusuma is one of the more memorable monsters we've seen so far, thanks to his wide-eyed gaping stare, but the fight ends up being pretty routine.

Like most of the battles in Ushio & Tora, the fight against Fusuma goes through several stages, as each Ushio and Tora attempt to battle alone, and finally settle on a bantering, quasi-antagonistic alliance through which they are more powerful and entertaining than either of them would be alone. “I don't want you to trust me, that's gross! You're just food to me,” Tora says to Ushio at one point, indicating that even though they've been through quite a bit together, Tora is holding steadfast to his contrary ways, much like the cat he resembles. Later, Ushio tricks Tora into helping him not by appealing to his humanity (if he even has any), but by dinging his yokai pride. It's great to see Tora furiously perform good deeds in an effort to show off his strength.

Cinematography-wise, the battle scenes on top of the plane were also compelling thanks to this show's masterful use of color to establish mood. When Fusuma is winning, the world is tinged green (and Tora is an interesting shade of chartreuse). But when Ushio and Tora team up, the sky returns to an optimistic blue.

Setting this battle on an airplane adds tension to this episode since fear of flying is such a common human concern. Even after the Weekly Monster has been vanquished, there's still the threat of the plane falling out of the sky. Anyone who has ever flown can relate at least a little to these fears, which adds to the episode even when it's clear that Fusuma is just the latest flavor of the week.

The only indication that this episode is part of the bigger quest arc established last week is Fusuma's intonation that if the Beast Spear is here, the "Hakumen no Mono" will reappear. Otherwise, the roaring entertainment of this episode is clouded by its Thing A Week feel, with characters, a monster, and a plot that are neatly wrapped up in 20 minutes.

Rating: B+

Ushio & Tora is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about anime and journalism at Otaku Journalist.