[DreamSword]

Episode 4: Kaguya

The twist of this episode is incredibly obvious.

Still, regardless of that, I actually rather liked this episode. Does it do anything exceptional? No, but what it does do it does in an enjoyable way.

So what's the set up? Tons of suitors are lining up for a chance at marrying the beautiful blue-eyed princess Kaguya, who appears to task everyone who wishes to marry her with presenting her with an incredibly rare treasure.

These treasures then attract a Horror, who murders the suitors and takes their belongings for itself, yet leaves Kaguya completely unharmed. Seimei instantly suspects Kaguya to be the Horror, but Raiko believes the truth to be something a bit less straight-forward.

Certainly, it's a rather basic mystery with a solution that's you can see coming a mile away, but the trade off to that is an episode showcasing how our main tripo goes about doing their everyday jobs as Horror Hunters. They're know their stuff, and know how important their duty is above all else. While he'd rather not have to, Raiko has no problem killing Kaguya if she is infact a Horror.

We also get a bunch of cute character moments out of the whole situation too. Such as Kintoki praising Raiko for Raiko's' disinterest in women and sexual affairs, with Seimei snapping back that she doesn't see any of what Kintoki says as a compliment. You can tell that these three have known eachother for a long time, and as such are comfortable with and trust in one another quite alot. While not done in any sort of super big way, it gets the message across.

Not to mention that while the action in this one is quick and to the point as has been the standard with this show so far, this episode ups it by making the fight at the end a rather stylish one too. It sort of reminded me of the first half of Kamen Rider Hibiki in that aspect. Just alot less musical instruments. The transformation sequence ended up being a bit less flashy as a trade off, though. Still, I'd rather have a short and stylish action scene than a long and sloppily done one(and boy have I seen plenty of those).

In the end, it's a completely episodic affair with a basic mystery plot that shows our main three doing what they know how to do best, and really, there ain't nothing wrong with that. Good episode.