The Eccentric Family 2

Episode 8

The death of Soun Ebisugawa causes all of Eccentric Family's main tanuki to reassess their place in society and their potential futures. His villainy was cruel and unconscionable, but it lent a kind of certainty to their world. There were antagonists and fault lines, and even if everyone was growing older, it didn't seem like things would ever truly change. But now both the brotherly scions of Kyoto are gone, and the next generation must find their own way.

The Eccentric Family 2's eighth episode opened with Soun's funeral, as grey clouds form an appropriately somber backdrop to a brief requiem for a monster. While Yasaburo's own feelings were mixed, his mother seemed to genuinely lament Soun's death. “Soun volunteered to marry into the Ebisugawas himself,” she murmured, and then wondered why this had to happen. In response to this, Yasaburo could only think “ah, so Mother doesn't understand.” The deaths of Soun and Soichiro are clear markers of generational shift, but so is the moment when you realize your parents are fallible in smaller ways, that your mother won't always know best.

Other characters prompted reflections on aging in their own ways. After the funeral, a charming scene of Gyokuran and Yasaburo offered many great examples of their own distinctive rapport. Yasaburo seems comfortable getting ragged on by Gyokuran in a way he isn't with basically anyone else - instead of snarking back or denying her charges, he lets her get her hits in without much defense. And so Yasaburo is only saved from Gyokuran's not-so-subtle hinting at a Yasaburo-Kaisei match by a warning of encroaching thunder.

Yasaburo rushed home to rescue his mother from the storm, leading into a sequence where the whole Shimogamo family took shelter from the rain together. This sequence was its own immediate reward, offering plenty of the great moments of familial love that represent The Eccentric Family at its most slice of life. Inherently adorable images like Mom and Yajiro snuggling were accompanied by reflections on what makes each of them lose their transformation, setting up a dramatic expectation for this episode's final act. The festivities were only interrupted by an unexpected arrival, as now-eldest Ebisugawa Kureichiro arrived to repent for his father's sins.

The meeting of Kureichiro and Yaichiro was this episode's centerpiece, clearly articulating its thematic core. With both their fathers gone, Kureichiro and Yaichiro were finally able to fulfill both their fathers' dreams, sealing promises of a unified family with a firm handshake. Neither of them may yet be the equal of their fathers in terms of power or societal influence, but they seem ready to assume their mantles nonetheless. Responsibility doesn't wait until you're ready for it - it arrives when it will, and you can only hope to be ready to bear it.

The episode's tanuki-centric focus on family, succession, and responsibility was briefly interrupted by a Benten vignette, where Yasaburo and Akadama spied on her brief date with Nidaime. This sequence was one of the most visually arresting of the episode, as a night festival and clifftop setting offered a vivid succession of deep forest reds and twinkling festival lights. It was also both funny and illustrative - the two's conversation opened with fun barbs like “that sounds insulting” prompting “because I said it to be insulting,” but ultimately segued into a true battle between two fundamentally antagonistic personalities.

After a series of seething exchanges, Nidaime eventually told Benten that he highly recommend she stop becoming a tengu. "There is nothing in that future for you." Nidaime's words were harsh, but not necessarily wrong, and the fact that he was able to say them at all points to his unique position in Benten's life. Up until now, basically no one has been able to challenge Benten's power - but that's also meant that no one has been able to engage her honestly, as an equal. No one has been able to tell Benten when she's wrong, when she might be making a mistake, or even meaningfully console her when she's down. When Benten has felt the strain of her experiences, she's flown up to the top of the Kyoto skyline, bearing her pain alone.

Benten is certainly injured by this critique, but she responds in kind, telling Nidaime “you're so indecisive. Why did you come back to this town?” Nidaime's fierce pride and anger toward his father are undercut by the fact that he came back to his father's city. He can't say it, but he likely does want to reconnect with his father, and he's suffering from much the same loneliness as Benten. Both Benten and Nidaime are simultaneously proud and full of weaknesses, and they each know the other's weak points. Their conversations are as dirty and desperate in meaning as they are haughty and heightened in affect.

The eighth episode concluded back with the tanukis, as the focus on familial succession that had underlined all the previous scenes finally centered on Yasaburo. Taking his brother out for dinner, Yaichiro requested that Yasaburo reinstate his engagement with Kaisei. “A tanuki like you needs to find a wife and settle down quick. I can just see you getting cooked in a hot pot.” In this scene, even the show's quasi-philosophical final threat was painted as a consequence of not growing up fast enough.

Yasaburo tried to defend himself by bringing up Yajiro, but Yaichiro responded that this was actually Yajiro's idea. It turned out that Yajiro was planning on leaving the city altogether, and presented with all these emblems of aging, Yasaburo lost his cool. He lashed out at Yaichiro, harshly stating that Yaichiro could never take their father's place. Yasaburo's words were unkind, but his feelings were totally clear - between being forced to take a greater role in the family and losing his confidante Yajiro, he's terrified of all the changes happening in his world. His feelings were expressed most poignantly at the mouth of Yajiro's well, reduced to the simple and vulnerable “please don't go.” But Yasaburo cannot remain the Shimogamos' errant son forever.

That doesn't mean he's not gonna try, though. The episode concluded with Yasaburo fully embracing his childish fears, tramping off into the woods and sulking in a tent for a week. Poking at a fire in a silly camping hat, Yasaburo appeared the vision of childish rebellion, as if he were planning on running away from home until his brother agreed to stay. His petulant attitude found its perfect mirror in Kaisei, who appeared to drag him home at Gyokuran's keen suggestion.

Kaisei ultimately revealed that the reason she's been hiding from him is that he can't hold his transformation around her - she herself is his secret weakness. Kaisei framed this fact as a tragedy, but after an episode like this, it seems natural that the people we love often bring us to our weakest point. Those we love are the people we entrust with the power to hurt us, to pierce us more deeply than any other. Yasaburo hurts and is hurt by his loved ones all throughout this episode, but I'm sure he wouldn't trade that hurt for anything. Our families see us at our weakest, and their embracing of our weakness makes us strong.

Overall: A

The Eccentric Family 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Nick writes about anime, storytelling, and the meaning of life at Wrong Every Time.