Title: Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits Vol. 9
Author: Midori Yuma (Story), Waco Ioka (Art), Laruha (Character Art)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 147
Genre: Supernatural
Publication Date: April 9, 2024
The Story
After a 13-month gap, we return with the ninth volume of Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits! The guests from Orio-ya were still there and, right away, we meet Hatori, the General Manager of Orio-ya who came in right at closing time; however, Aoi was very accommodating and treated him to a meal of curry rice. He ends up giving her some tips which is perplexing since he’s from a rival inn. Once Akatsuki scolds him for talking to Aoi and then scolds Aoi for serving a rival, the one-eyed children go missing!
Ginji, Akatsuki, and Aoi split up to look for them along with the rest of the Tenjin-ya staff. Akatsuki and Aoi go underground and we get to see how a lot of things at Tenjin-ya are made… and how it’s a bunch of rat demons making it. I guess even the spirit world has its… ahem… cheap labor solutions. We find out the children were looking for something they lost.
After this, the summer heat ramps up and the inn faces another crisis… all of the ice women are sick with food poison and they are running out of ice! Not only is ice needed for refreshments but it’s also used to power their air conditioning! Ginji places an emergency order for some more ice; however, he too falls ill! It’s up to Aoi to help nurse him back to health and do so fast because the Odanna is on his way back!
Characters
Hmm… I can’t truly say that there was a lot of character development; however, Akatsuki did get some considerable screen time where the one-eyed children learned he wasn’t as gruff and mean as he seemed. Because as such, Akatsuki learned a little bit about being more accommodating and friendly… at least outwardly… so that he wouldn’t instill fear into the hearts of his young guests… or adult guests, too. Whether or not he carries that lesson forward remains to be seen.
Outside of that, due to Ginji getting sick, he realizes that he needs to learn how to ask for help and not shoulder everything himself.
Then, there is Hatori. Akatsuki claimed he was a womanizer; however, he never acted that way towards Aoi. He was quite helpful (maybe that’s his game?) and even gave her tips as to what she could add to the inn’s gift shop as he learned what customers liked from being the General Manager at Orio-ya. For someone who was described as lustful and cunning, he seemed anything but.
Final Thoughts
To be honest, there wasn’t much to this volume. Outside of meeting Hatori and a little bit of drama with missing children and missing ice, the bulk of this volume involved talking about food like how to make curry rice with summer vegetables and Japanese pears, or how to make a re-energizing dish out of grilled miso, broth, and cucumbers. One thing is for certain, whenever this manga goes Food Network levels of description, you better read it on a full stomach. Heck, I ate lunch before reading this and I’m still hungry.
Typically, this series loves to end their volumes in the most normal way possible; however, not this time. It’s a bit refreshing to see some semblance of a cliffhanger, albeit a mild one. With the Odanna’s return, Aoi has some bartering to do. It would have been a bit more suspenseful if she already hadn’t talked about the Odanna bringing her stuff like packaged yeast and chocolate from his travels because now we know what she will be bartering for so I guess the mystery is HOW she is going to barter for these items. Then again, why would she need to barter? The Odanna is practically engaged to her and loves to shower her with gifts. Wouldn’t he just hand them over?
A bit weird but I guess we’ll see where this leads in Vol. 10… next year, probably. See you all in 2025?
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
