Title: Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits Vol. 11
Author: Midori Yuma (Story), Waco Ioka (Art), Laruha (Character Art)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 163
Genre: Supernatural
Publication Date: January 13, 2026
The Story
We pick up with Aoi getting captured by the members of Orio-ya and locked in a pretty lavish “prison” cell. In fact, it feels more like a room at a hotel, more than a jail. She manages to escape, but her inability to take her eyes off the sea gets her caught. Rather than get tossed back in her cell, she is brought around and given a bit of a tour until she runs into a familiar face… Lord Matsuda. Since he is a distinguished guest at Orio-ya for the upcoming fireworks festival, he wants to eat her food, so once again, food becomes the main excuse to keep Aoi out of trouble. Naturally, Lord Matsuda loved her cooking, so she was appointed as his personal chef while he stayed there. Ginji gets her set up in an old building for her to cook in… which seems awfully familiar.
Meanwhile, as she’s preparing meals and cleaning the old building, she runs into the twin chefs of Orio-ya… Kai and Mei. They only started working there a short while ago, so they don’t care about the tensions between the two establishments; however, they are in charge of cooking for a rather stuck-up customer… a rain woman who can make it rain in the southern lands when her temper gets out of control. If it rains during the fireworks festival, they will be out of a job, so they need Aoi’s help because she was recommended for the task. Our volume ends with her facing the challenge of exciting a customer who has become bored with the twins’ dishes!
Characters
Lord Ranmaru is still quite stern with Aoi for stowing away on the ship and following Ginji to Orio-ya; however, when she escapes from her cell, while he was a bit annoyed, he doesn’t exactly toss her back in. He allows her to roam free and, in one instance, she willingly goes back to her cell to sleep. She can come and go from it as she pleases, but it’s mostly because he realizes that she’s keeping Lord Matsuda happy with her cooking and now helping out the twins. His gratitude seems less generous when you look at it that way, as it seems more beneficial to him and his inn more than anything.
The biggest focus here was on Ginji. He returned to Orio-ya for a specific reason, and all that Aoi knows is that is has something to do with the fireworks festival. While she could ask Ginji directly, for some reason, she wants to figure it out for herself… but she kind of doesn’t. I won’t mention who, but someone shows up and basically tells her almost everything. The main reason why Ginji needs to be there is still hidden; however, we are given some pretty big insight as to what his involvement is, and according to Aoi, it sounds quite ominous.
Kei and Mei aren’t much in the way of characters yet. We just know that they are relatively new to Orio-ya, know nothing of the history between it and Tenjin-ya, and have rather flat personalities outside of their little quirk of sometimes speaking in unison. Hopefully, we’ll get to know a little more about them later on, but for now, they are serving their purpose as supporting characters.
Lastly, we have Yodoko, the Rain Woman. As I mentioned in the story section, she’s kind of stuck-up. She gets bored easily, but she has a pattern to her as Kei and Mei outline. Because of her childish ways, Aoi comes up with a fun and interesting dish for her to try, since she’s bored with the twins’ cooking. The only problem is that the dish Aoi is suggesting is typically something served to children, which, given Yodoko’s temper tantrums, is quite fitting and hilarious!
Final Thoughts
This wasn’t a bad volume, but it was lacking in drama and overall punch. When Aoi stowed away on the ship and got captured, I thought that things would become a bit more dire for her, but it seems as if food is the be-all-end-all answer to everything in this series. Once Aoi cooks a dish, all sins are forgiven, and it becomes all about food, food, and more food. Rather than spending half the volume describing how a dish is made and reading more exaggerated Food Network-style reactions, I would have much preferred to learn more about the fireworks festival, Ginji’s involvement, and what this rite is that needs to be performed in secret.
Although I’m sure we are expecting something dark and mysterious here, but we won’t get it. The way everything is worded, it makes it seem as if Ginji is going to be some sort of sacrifice to a mountain God or something, but I’m sure the reason is going to be rather tame, quirky, and after it’s over, Ginji will return back to Tenjin-ya because that’s just the type of series this is. Oh, and throw in a welcome back feast cooked by Aoi because we can’t have anything happen here without food being involved.
But Josh, you’re complaining about food when you’re literally reading a cooking-themed manga!
Yes, I’m aware of that, but Kakuriyo is built differently. There’s an interesting world with even more interesting characters involved here. For a series like this, it needs to realize that it’s okay to put cooking on the back burner (pun intended) and explore the world in a more in-depth manner. For the past few volumes, it just seems as if stories are being set as an excuse to have another cooking scene rather than using the cooking scenes more meaningfully and letting the world breathe a bit more. I say that because what we have here in this arc is very interesting, and I want to see more of it, but just when you think you will, it’s time to make a yuzu dish, or some fish dish, or it’s time to feel a cranky rain woman. (Well, that last one should be left in because it IS an interesting way to involve cooking that ties directly into the story). But, you get what I’m saying.
Less food, more world-building. Make the cooking more meaningful instead of making the story plots an excuse to do more cooking, and this will probably see a bump back up to the quality it had at the beginning of the series. Now, it just seems to be slipping into an overused formula, and that’s not good.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
