Kamisama Dolls - Episode 10

Last week's instalment of Kamisama Dolls ended with the flourish of introducing us to a new character, bringing forth many a cry of "hang on, we only have a few episodes to go, what are you doing?".

Anyway, saying no more about the logic of introducing a character this late in the game, the girl in question is one Mahiru Hyuga - yet another individual to add to Kuga's "harem" and, of course, an important part of the Hyuga clan.  Mahiru also happens to have an impressively short temper, and as everyone around her immediately tells her to butt out and go it doesn't take long for her short fuse to be exhausted, causing her to go on something of a rampage with her kakashi Magatsuhi.

Eventually, it takes the combined effort of Utao and Koushirou's kakashi to take down Magatsuhi, but before we know it Mahiru is on the move again to her next appointment - a chat with a Tokyo politician currently running for re-election.  The man in question, Takeshi Hirashiro, is no ordinary politician though, as he too hails from Karakami village, and given his knowledge of said village's secrets he feels that the time is right to exploit those powers for his own ends.  With this in mind, Hirashiro has more than a passing interest in both Aki and Mahiru, although both individuals are surprised (and decidedly unimpressed) to find that they've been summoned with the same goal in mind before the latter's temper again gets the better of her.

With the dust seemingly settled on her outdoor skirmish, we do at least get to learn a little more of Kuga's back story, with a tale from his youth (and happier times hanging out with Aki) that leads to him bumping into both Mahiru and a particularly terrifying kakashi that can operate without human intervention, the latter of which Kyohei believes was responsible for "breaking his brain".  Is this the case?  Will it even have any bearing upon the remaining episodes?  Who knows...

Despite my misgivings about introducing a new character this late in the proverbial game, I have to admit that Mahiru's introduction has spiced things up a little within the series, if only for the short term by bringing us some more of the cool kakashi-led action that has really been the stand-out aspect of the show from the very start.  Drifting into yet more back story was perhaps not the most advisable way to follow this up however - it was a decent little tale in its own right but it felt shoe-horned in given all the exposition we'd been treated to a few episodes back, and it continues the suspicion that this manga adaptation has been slightly clumsily handled at times.  Goodness knows how Kamisama Dolls is expecting to resolve everything that it now has "in flight" in three episodes (I'm assuming it isn't going to even try to), but I suppose at least it has plenty to be getting on with as we head towards its finale.