!! Please note that this review will contain some spoilers!!

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is another cozy anime which could make your stomach growl. Literally. The synopsis of this anime is about a young girl, Tsubaki Aoi, being taken away into the ayakashi realm against her will. She later learned from the Master Orge, the owner of the renown Tenjin-ya Inn, that she was to submit herself to be his bride as collateral damage her late grandfather, Tsubaki Shiro, left behind. Not willing to become an ayakashi's bride, Aoi was determine to work in the inn and pay off her grandfather's debt.

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Throughout the series, we see Aoi being subjected to mistreatment from the fellow ayakashi in the inn. Her only ally was Ginji, a fox spirit and also the young master of the inn (second in-charge from the Master Orge), who supported her all the way and tried to shield her from harm. It is not known if Ginji harbours any romantic feelings to Aoi in the series based on how much he frets around her, but he is the only ayakashi in the series who is openly caring and concerned for her well-being.

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However, we also see how Aoi manages to capture the hearts of the various ayakashi in the inn by being concerned and frequently cooking for them. It has been established in the show that Aoi, like her late grandfather Shiro, has high spiritual powers, which enables her to transfer a small part of her spiritual powers into the food she makes, which in turn grants strength to the ayakashi who eats her food and recovers quickly. One example would be Oryou, a yuki onna (snow woman), who caught a fever.

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Aoi's food in the series has constantly made me crave for it countless times, from wanting to chew on a nata de coco, to savouring dumplings dipped in vinegar, and to also drooling over the stewed pork belly. Gosh... talking about this now is making me hungry again...

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Basically, seeing the dishes is like watching Howl cooking breakfast in Howl's Moving Castle.

▶ (Video Source: Netflix Anime on YouTube)

Ahem, ANYWAY....

The series is technically split into two parts despite it being a 26 episode series. The first part covers her life in Tenjin-ya, while in the second part, she was taken away to Oriya. Her life at Oriya kind of mirrors what she experienced in Tenjin-ya, except that the ayakashi here are somewhat more stubborn and proud...

But it is also in this second part where the lore started to get interesting. Firstly, Aoi has been adamant in paying off her debt and never becoming the Master Orge's bride. This is actually the most obvious one as we could see Aoi beginning to harbour romantic feelings for the Master Orge.

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Secondly, and I feel this should be covered in the upcoming new season, the Master Orge seems to have chosen Aoi to be his bride long before Shiro wrecked havoc and incurred a debt in Tenjin-ya. This has left a major cliff hanger in the series as it was never addressed, even towards the end of the show once Aoi found out the identity of the ayakashi who saved her a long time ago.

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To be honest, I have watched this anime a few times prior to finding Anilist, and this cliffhanger has always irritate me because there is no clear answer to why the Master Orge saved her a long time ago. I really hope the upcoming season in 2025 will give some answers to this mystery.

And finally, there is one character's background I really want to learn more about and that is Byakuya, the finance chief of Tenjin-ya.

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As we all know, he was once a member of the royal court and resigned to become a finance chief in Tenjin-ya. It has also been established in the series that although he is no longer part of the royal court, he still maintains a good relationship with the others who remained. I mean... who doesn't?

Still, what got me curious about him is how revered he was when he was still working at the palace. There have been scenes in the second part of the series where he could easily scare an old ayakashi just by standing there. And also the fact that he blatantly called the emperor a fool right in front of him... to which the emperor laughed it off.

This really raises a lot of questions. Who exactly is he? What was his position in the royal court? What is his relationship to the royal family? ...and so many others...