Title: Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits Vol. 8
Author: Midori Yuma (Story), Waco Ioka (Art), Laruha (Character Art)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
Genre: Supernatural
Publication Date: March 7, 2023
The Story
It has been fourteen months since we last saw a volume of Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits. How have I missed you, old friend.
This volume mainly focuses on the hot springs of Tenjin-ya and, because of such, we get a nice little side story. With the Odana gone, it’s up to Ginji to run things. All of a sudden, they get an unexpected guest in the form of Hatori. With him is his ayakashi bulldog and Tokihiko. In addition to them, we get a look at Shizuna, the Tenjin-ya hot springs manager who lends Aoi a hair cord so her hair wouldn’t “contaminate” the hot spring.
It appears that Tokihiko and Shizuna have a past… but first, to set up their confrontation, Hatori and Tokihiko were about to be turned away due to showing up without a reservation but Aoi gives up her room to accommodate them. After they settle in, Tokihiko disappears to look for Shizuna. Aoi wants to return the head cord that she borrowed and that’s when she discovers the two of them having a bit of an argument. Aoi saves the day and gets Shizuna out of there and that’s when we learn about the history between them.
We shift gears and Aoi meets Ohii. Ohii sells shaved ice and is looking for new flavors. She proposes to work together with Aoi and suddenly, Aoi’s restaurant Yugao now has a shaved ice menu! This is perfect timing since it is summer in the land so shaved ice is sure to be a hit.
Characters
The biggest development here was definitely Shizuna and Tokihiko. Tokihiko is the manager of the hot springs at Orio-ya… Tenjin-ya’s biggest rival. He and Hatori show up unannounced so it is automatically assumed that they were there to spy on them while the Odana was away on business. Turns out, Tokihiko came to try and get Shizuna to return to Orio-ya where she originally worked.
From here, we learn that Shizuna didn’t exactly leave Orio-ya…. She got fired after she disobeyed Tokihiko to not go looking for a hot spring vein by herself. When she did, she awakened a demon ogre that had been sealed there. When Tokihiko showed up to save her, he received a scar on his forehead which turns out to be an ogre curse… something that cannot be healed or dispelled. Despite the mistake, he fought to protect Shizuna but she was still fired and left the inn. The Odana took her in and now she became the manager of the hot springs at Tenjin-ya.
Final Thoughts
It’s been a good while since the previous volume but while the main story hasn’t progressed, it was a pretty nice detour to flesh out some of the supporting characters. I wonder if this is really all there is to this story of if Hatori really did come to spy on Tenjin-ya. Hatori also has ties to Tenjin-ya as well so it doesn’t really make sense for him to have to spy on anyone. I have a feeling he was just roped into coming by Tokihiko and Tokihiko was just playing the part of the naïve companion to cover for his own selfish desires.
Outside of that, Yugao will now start selling shaved ice so I guess there’s that looming for Aoi on the horizon. There’s also the matter of the Odana’s trip and what will come of his return. The rest of the volume was just your typical “here’s some food. Let’s now describe the food with over-the-top descriptions and how the flavors and textures work together!” I seriously can’t stand that. I know television chefs do it to make food taste better than it seems so you can rush out, buy their cookbooks, download their recipes, and spend more money on food to make it yourself but… in the end… beef is beef… an orange is an orange. I don’t need to be told how the juices delicately leak from the soft and pulpy flesh, creating a river symphony of flavors that dance on the tip of my tongue. It’s a friggin orange!
Nevertheless… this was a pretty chill volume that opened up the world just a little more and showed the deeper ties between Tenjin-ya and Orio-ya. Hopefully, we’ll get to explore more of this in the future… possibly in 2024 when we get volume 9… maybe.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
