Alright, we just had one big fight, so you know what that means: an entire episode to talk about what just happened.

— As I was skipping through the OP, I noticed that the middle brother still gets to stand with the rest of the gang. Asuma might have dubious intentions — as well as the methods to achieve his aims — but he’s more than likely not the big bad of this show. I doubt we’ve even gotten a hint at who that might be. This show’s pacing has been rather glacial.

— To his credit, most generic big bads wouldn’t get sentimental about retrieving the dead bodies of missing former comrades.

— So to clarify, Asuma wasn’t even Tenaga-Ashinaga’s master. He just wanted to tail Yuru and Dera, so he had nothing to do with those freaky Daemons. Rather, said Daemons were freed by Ken, who didn’t know what he was dealing with. Who’s Ken? He’s a half-Japanese, half-Ethiopian kid who also happens to be Dera’s half-brother. Well, that’s random.

— But then we get an even bigger twist: Dera’s father taught Yuru’s parents how to escape the village! Okay, but why would he not tell his son this? And the old lady is right: the Tadera helped his parents, but they ended up relying on the Kagemori for safety and shelter? What is going on?

— Ken doesn’t have a clue about Yuru’s parents’ whereabouts, and I wouldn’t expect otherwise. Seems like this will be a long-running plot thread — a mystery that will keep us guessing and (more importantly) watching.

— Dera is so blase about whether or not his old man might still be alive. Anyway, dad didn’t agree with the twins tradition, dad was blackmailed by Yuru’s mom, etc. What’s up with Tenaga-Ashinaga then? Ken recently lost his mother and his dad is being a deadbeat, so he thought he could acquire power by awakening them. But power to do what? Anyway, he didn’t know Tenaga-Ashinaga was evil, tried to seal it away, didn’t mean to put Yuru and Dera in danger, blah blah blah.

— Don’t really love this portion of the episode. It’s just them sitting around, dumping exposition on us. I guess you gotta account for all the budget spent on last week’s action.

— I guess Hana cares a little.

— Nope, she’s just cheap. Now, if she had to pay American medical bills…

— To be fair, she suddenly has a new mouth to feed. And growing teens do eat a lot! Maybe they should just show Yuru how to get to a nearby forest so he can do some hunting.

— I like how the entire time the cat is just trying to play with the Ken’s hair. It might be a Daemon, but all orange cats share the same singular brain cell.

— The funny thing is, all this information but we don’t even know how the Ken’s mother died. Natural causes? Illness? Murdered? I mean, he’s only 13 so why is she dead already? But his mother left him a boatload of money, which instantly flips Hana’s opinion on whether or not to let Ken stay. Convenient, isn’t it?

— More importantly, dad is still around and making regular deposits into the bank account. What more can you ask for! Raise his kid? Give the kid emotional support because he just lost his mom? Not let the kid cry at night because he has to go live with a bunch of strangers? Perish the thought. Look, I know the birth rate is declining and all — plus, there’s the fact that Ken’s mixed blood so he might face some discrimination — but the best we can do is pump out babies. Actually taking an active role in bringing the kid up is beyond these men, alright? Only fuck. No care-taking.

— On top of looking for the twins’ parents, we have a new quest to find Dera and Ken’s dad. Unfortunately, no one has any pictures of the man. Ken’s mom didn’t even know about him. Sheesh, talk about shady. There’s a good chance the old man might have other children out there other than Ken. From what I’ve already seen, the verdict is already in: he’s a shithead. I can talk because I was also abandoned by my biological father.

— Ah, the marvels of modern life in a developed country: being able to bathe whenever we want.

— So this whole episode was mostly about introducing Ken and adding more to the mystery. Like I said, the pacing has been glacial.