Kuragehime - Episode 10

It may be the morning after a night's sake drinking for Tsukimi, but luckily it appears that she isn't hungover as this penultimate episode of Kuragehime begins - a good job too, as Kuranosuke is up bright and early as he aggressively pursues his dream of creating a jellyfish-themed dress.

Of course, knowing a lot about what clothes to wear is very different to actually making them; not that this stops Kuranosuke as he pushes forth regardless.  Needless to say this ends in what initially appears to be a disastrous attempt to make a skirt, and even a little sewing assistance from the master of this particular art Chieko can do anything to save it... however, this lifeless effort is soon saved by Tsukimi's jellyfish otaku proclivities, as she determinedly sets about making it more jellyfish-like, with some surprising results.  Cue a visit to the Koibuchi residence to finish the job, although Chieko and Jiji both have to be bribed to do so simply so that they can force Tsukimi into going against her will; looks like she's still far from over those revelations about Shuu last week.

Speaking of which, the older Koibuchi brother is still well and truly under the thumb of Inari, who continues to press all of the right buttons to lead him along and causing him all sorts of panic.  That said, it's a little difficult to discern Shuu's actual feelings and emotions here - while his daydreams of a simple life with Tsukimi are interrupted by Shouko at one point, his concern for her well-being throughout this episode seems to go further than simply worrying about his own career.  Of course, this being the next to last episode means that the future of Amamizuka well and truly hangs in the balance come the end of this instalment.

With so little time left for the series, this episode was quite surprisingly leisurely in going about its business - rather than rushing through things it continues to be steady in its pacing and build-up, which allows us plenty of time to focus on some of its major characters and points as we build up to the closest this show has come to a cliff-hanger alongside another revelation about the real reason for Kuranosuke's cross-dressing.  This made for an enjoyable instalment once again (with Hanamori now seemingly entrenched as the show's superb comic relief character), but I can only wonder how Kuragehime hopes to tie up all of its loose ends in a single episode.  We shall just have to wait and see, I suppose.