Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 8

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 8

Wakaba and Daitengu

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 8 probably would have been a really cool episode had I not been watching it in 480p quality. Unfortunately, it wasn’t uploaded to the site I normally watch it on, and I simply don’t have time to wait around for it.

So, that means I got to watch all the action of this episode without actually being able to tell what was happening. I know Yuna punched a lot of Vertex and Wakaba sliced some down as well. But I didn’t get a good look.

What makes that so unfortunate for this episode, in particular, is that we actually got to see (or, you did, hopefully) Wakaba’s contracted spirit. I really had my doubts that it was going to be revealed, as I detailed in my review of Episode 7.

Wakaba Nogi invoking Daitengu from the anime series Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter
Wakaba Nogi invoking Daitengu

The spirit Wakaba summons is Daitengu, which is just the greatest of the tengu. As far as I know, Daitengu isn’t a specific yokai in the way that Shuten-douji is. It’s more of a title or class of yokai.

So, what is a Daitengu or tengu? Are you familiar with those red Japanese masks with long noses? That’s a tengu mask. If you’ve seen Demon Slayer, Sakonji Urokodaki, Tanjirou’s master, wears a tengu mask. But, anyway, they’re effectively mountain spirits, with the Daitengu being the strongest.

Now, because of the quality I watched the episode in, I couldn’t tell if the spirit we saw behind Wakaba had the stereotypical tengu nose. But, what I did notice was that Wakaba had wings as a prominent part of her Daitengu-fused design.

I looked into it, and it turns out that wings are actually a common trait of tengu. I never knew that, so thanks for teaching me something, Yuki Yuna.

Yuna’s Soul Lives On

In a development that wasn’t very surprising, while Yuna Yuki isn’t the descendant of Yuna Takashima, she is the reincarnation of her. I really don’t know anything about Shintoism, as I’ve said in previous reviews, so I’m not sure how much reincarnation plays a role in it.

But, I do know reincarnation is a big part of Buddhism, which is also a popular religion in Japan. So even if reincarnation isn’t a main part of Shintoism, it does still make sense for it to be included in this series that’s based on Japanese religion and mythology.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I like it. Even though Naruto is one of my favorite anime, I wasn’t a fan of the whole reincarnation concept in that one either. And I have to say Yuki Yuna did it worse. I mean, Yuna Yuki and Yuna Takashima look identical.

Yuna Yuki and Yuna Takashima from the anime series Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter
Yuna Yuki and Yuna Takashima

But, despite how cheesy I think this whole reincarnation thing is, we learned quite a bit about how this world and the gods work. For example, Yuna Takashima was able to reincarnate over the generations simply by declaring that she would. That’s pretty wild.

More importantly, we learned that after doing this (and dying), the Divine Tree actually allowed Yuna’s soul to be incorporated into it. And in case it wasn’t made clear, the Divine Tree is basically a combination of all the various gods.

That’s pretty interesting that the gods would invite Yuna’s soul to join them like that. However, it’s not as interesting, to me, as learning that the gods cursed Yuna Yuki for saving Togo. Remember how I’ve been saying that the gods aren’t on the side of the Heroes for the past few weeks?

It seems pretty obvious now that I’m right. But, I’m always right, so that’s to be expected.

The Sentinel’s Final Battle

Toward the end of the episode, it’s confirmed that the events of Wakaba’s journal do take place 300 years before the present timeline of the story. And, it’s revealed that after the first generation of heroes, there was a significant gap until a second generation was needed.

I don’t know if Sonoko’s hero group was the second generation or if there had been others before. But, in any event, it had been a while before a new batch of heroes was needed because the Taisha took the perfectly reasonable route of human sacrifice to appease the gods instead.

Why sacrificing Miko to the gods is a valid way to save the world is unknown to me. Maybe by sacrificing them, the Divine Tree gains a power boost and can fend for itself for a bit? I have no idea.

The Sentinels from the anime series Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter
The Sentinels

But, once again, this all makes the gods being against the heroes, at least to an extent, even more confusing. The heroes are literally the ones protecting the Divine Tree, and therefore the gods, from eradication. So why are they also being punished by the gods?

As far as I understand it, this is how everything works. The gods need protection, so they grant some of their power to the Heroes. Then, the gods punish the heroes for using that power. And when all the heroes have been punished (killed), the gods require the sacrifice of their devout followers to survive.

It seems to me like these gods just suck. Honestly, considering how little of the world still exists at this point in time, everyone might as well just decide to give up on the old gods. Stop worshipping them and allow the rest of the universe to be destroyed out of spite.

Conclusion

What do you think of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 8? Were you able to watch it in higher quality than 480p? Do you prefer Shuten-douji or Daitengu? And, how do you feel about Yuna Yuki being the reincarnation of Yuna Takashima? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 9 is available now.

2 Replies to “Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter Episode 8”

  1. Ummm… That’s not how Buddhism’s reincarnation works. In Buddhism, your soul will leave your body when you die, and then enter a new born life. Since Takashima’s soul still inside of Shinju-sama, it’s not possible for her to reincarnate as Yuuki.

    1. That makes sense to me. So I guess this particular reincarnation isn’t tied to Buddhism. But it’s clear there’s some sort of reincarnation going on here.

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