Ushio to Tora – 07

When Umizatou mentioned that Ushio’s mother is still alive, Ushio obviously wanted to get the lowdown from his dad ASAP. After all, he’s been told all his life she wasn’t alive, and now that he’s grown up a lot more, wields the beast spear, is able to bend Tora to his will, and has slayed multiple high-level youkai, he believes he deserves the truth.

However, his dad slinks away before he can get any, and from there we’re offered a look at what Aotsuki Shigure is typically up to when not chilling in the house: sealing youkai, saving lives, and conferring with a counsel of five elders who sit in a room made of light (seriously, doesn’t that light get annoying after, like, five minutes?).

There, Sigure reports that the beast spear is out, in his son’s possession, and that the youkai Tora is haunting said son. The elders are taken aback by this news, certain that no mere child can wield the spear. Nevertheless, Shigure gets their leader, a female, to reluctantly allow him to personally test the competence of Ushio and Tora. If they fail the test, he’ll eliminate them both.

That night, Shigure tells Ushio in a roundabout way (by pushing cash his way) that in order to learn about his mom, he’ll have to go on a journey to Hokkaido. Then he turns his staff on Tora and initiates the test. Ushio believes his dad is trying to kill Tora, but Tora realizes something else is going on. Things get more complicated when three monks from Shigure’s sect roll in to try to confiscate the Beast Spear.

After Ushio came between his dad and Tora when they fought, it’s his dad and Tora who work together to fight off the monks. But Tora doesn’t kill them, explaining to Shigure that Ushio forbade him from killing or eating humans, and as long as Ushio has that spear, Tora will obey. So Ushio and Tora pass Shigure’s test, but Shigure may have made enemies of his sect by preventing them from doing their duty.

But Shigure will deal with all that. For now, he wants Ushio to start that journey to learn more about his mom, with Tora in tow. I kinda wish Asako was going with them too (indeed, neither girl appears at all this week), but even without her I’m sure Ushio and Tora will provide ample entertainment and action in their traveling adventures to come.