Rinko the Lady ninja; Princes of snow and blood episode 9 impression

The latest installment of Joran was already aired and it was a bit calmer than the episode earlier. It  started with Sawa waking up from her slept. As she went outside, she met again with Jin who offered her to help him again.  He also told Sawa how Tsuki already gave the blue blood pill to the anti government agitators and that he saw Tsuki already dead when he had arrived to the temple. Sawa didn't give reply whether she decided to follow him to Tokyo but when she opened her left hand's bandage, we could see a speck of blood in it. It indicated that someone took a blood sample of her when she laid unconsciously. Then came an unknown girl to the hut and she was actually Rinko; the same person who accepted Sawa and Asahi to the temple. And this drunken kunoichi-style Rinko was her real personality. She wore a ninja like clothes albeit without the mask and had a more vibrant personality. In addition, she was a heavy drinker to boot as well as a Nue's executioner agent as well, which means that unknowingly, Sawa and Asahi was still in the government's monitoring during their time in the temple.

Hello there! I am your so called "extra" suddenly got more screen time xD

Rinko asked Sawa about what was her next destination. She also added that she would join her on her journey. Sawa was still undecided about what her next destination until the white crow flew closer and sat on her hand. Sawa saw through the bird's eyes and she remembered her old hometown. After that, she decided to visit Karasumori village next along with Rinko (who insistently want to accompany her).The scene moved to another place in where Jin talked to an anti government man that he caught before. He asked the man to take the blue blood sample (possibly taken from Sawa). The man clearly rejected the offer; saying that it was the cause of the lost of humanity yet Jin threatened him about his brother's safety should he reject to take the blood sample. In the gondola train, one of the government's agents met Jin and gave him a message from the shogun that they already got the new drug. In addition, he also told Jin that he would lead the new invincible armies should the drug testing worked. Jin told the man that Sawa was still important to their cause but the man disappeared in a thin air.

Nom Nom Nom smell like ten spirit

Back on Sawa and Rinko party, they went to Sawa's deserted hometown. In there, Sawa prayed to the village graveyard that consisted only of a pile of stones stacked like a piramid. Sawa explained that below the stones, all of the dead villagers were buried together (including her parents). In addition, Sawa explained about the origin of Karasumori clan. For over 1600 years, Karasumori clan already lived in isolation because they didn't like to be involved in any conflict. She also added that the clan's people can channel the dragon vein to heightened their vitality. This alone made them a target for individuals who want to use their inherent ability as a weapon. Later on Sawa asked the white crow Nana should she wanted to accompany her in dead later. 

Every single day I am uttering a dying wish nowadays LMAO

It was not Joran without anyone killed in this episode so we have to see a bit of slash and dice moment and this time around Rinko took the spotlight. During their journey, their train was hijacked by an anti government movement and they demanded an army lieutenant general to step down in the next station and gave their demand to Tokugawa before they arrived in the last stop (Tokyo's station) or else they would executed the Deputy minister of foreign affair who happen to board the same train. Rinko asked Sawa to leave this matter to her and then..while still on drunk condition she took care of the hijackers alone. She had been implanted with many metals (razor sharp object) inside her and she could made the steel claw out of her body which she used to assassinate the men. It seemed that both Sawa and Rinko took a separate way after the accident and Sawa got back to the bookstore; in where she and Asahi used to live. While cleaning her bookstore, she noticed a particular book in the shelf.After opening the book, she saw a piece of paper that look like the paper Tsukishiro found before. Not long after, we can saw a horror in Sawa's face as if a big revelation was about to start soon. The episode closed with Sawa meeting Jin in Nue office..and out of nowhere Sawa slashed his uniform revealing a skin mark similar to Janome on his back..

Sawa's mind be like "naaah I've seen worse"

Episode review

This episode didn't feel as dramatic as previous episodes and there was just a bit of action during Sawa and Rinko journey to Tokyo. The middle part was not feel rushed and we got to know the relation between Karasumori clan and the Rumryaku material which from it sounds didn't look like a visible objects. I just got extremely surprised by the end revelation that Jin was the very person responsible for Sawa parents' death. It was out of nowhere because we thought that Janome was the culprit and Sawa's quest of revenge was over from earlier episode. It was not over yet because Janome was actually a decoy villain. Tsukishiro turned into a villain was flabbergasting yet..suddenly Jin was exposed as the very person responsible for Sawa's village massacre was like a sudden punch in the gut. All this time, the writer play a magician trick on us. They showed Jin in every episode telling us how he supported Sawa and acted like a responsible guardian only to be exposed as the evil man behind everything. The ending was made as a big cliffhanger to make us interested watching the next episode and it got me lol. In my opinion, the episode was a bit stale at the beginning but it managed to created a big surprise by the end making me want to see the next episode right away xD