Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity episode 1 review; Damn, I want my very own lap goddess, too.

      

      This series begins with a flashback to the past when a village was being attacked by  Tayutai ( magical creatures from the past), the Tayutai are defeated by two people (a Shinto priest and a goddess), it looks like the Tayutai are broken down into balls of lights that are then sealed into a wood or stone marker. Then we skip forward to the present day to see a boy named Yuuri (Yuu, to the girl) working on a motorbike for a girl (Ameri, Yuuri’s childhood friend), it looks like Yuuri lives on the grounds of a Shinto temple.

      Then Yuuri’s dad steps into the scene and he tells his son about some trouble at the high school. Yuuri goes to investigate, and he finds a construction site roped off with the seal we saw earlier, in the middle of the site. As he walks towards the seal we see some floating lights revolving around the seal, Yuuri gets interrupted by a girl asking him if he’s a student here. He says yes, and then she tells him to leave. Before Yuuri leaves the site he touches the seal and feels that an important “God” dwells here, the girl again tells him to leave. As Yuuri is leaving, he sees spirits surrounding the girl and attempts to grab them, leading the girl to think that he’s being weird.

       Later that night, Yuuri asks Ameri and his cousin (Sankuro) to help him out with an exorcism. Then we see Yuuri’s father and uncle sharing a drink and talking about Yuuri, it seems that Yuuri’s father admits that Yuuri’s power is the real deal. Then we see Yuuri prepping for the exorcism with Ameri and Sankuro watching, and after some small talk, Yuuri begins the exorcism. As the exorcism progresses, time stops around the site and ghostly goddess appears above the seal, Yuuri calls her Tayutayu, but she tells him she’s a Tayutai, not Tayutayu. She the says that she’s Kikurami Kami no hime, Yuuri tells them that this is the deity that his family shrine worships. The goddess says that she knows this site is about to be destroyed, and she tells them that this relic houses over 1,500 species of Tayutai totaling about 10,000 in all. She tells them that if the seal is broken the world will thrown into chaos, Yuuri and the others vow to protect this place to the best of their abilities.

       As the group is talking with the goddess, she tells Yuuri that he reminds her of someone she once knew, and that someday the Tayutai and humans might coexist. Just then, the area is attacked by someone telling the goddess that she makes him laugh, Ameri asks Yuuri what they should do, he tells Ameri to take the bike and flee the area. As Ameri is getting ready to leave, the bike goes out of her control and smashes into the seal causing it to split open. As the Tayutai are freed from the relic, the goddess’s power starts to fade, and the goddess invokes a ancient contract between her and Yuuri’s family. She tells him that he has to look after this child for the future of humans and Tayutai are at stake, a pillar of light splits the sky and a young girl appears in front of the seal.

       As soon as the girl appears, she begins to attack the spirits we saw earlier, telling them not to bother humans or cause trouble. She says that they probably won’t cause any more trouble. Then we see that a large group of dark spirits flying about them, it says that it can’t listen to talk like this, the girl calls it the Ouryuu Houou (dragon phoenix). The spirits call the girl weak, and Yuuri asks if those were the sealed spirits? The girl tells him that those were the strongest and most troublesome of the Tayutai, the spirits call the girl Kikurami, and they say that they’ll pay her back for the 500 years of being sealed.

     

        The dark spirits attack Kikurami, she tries to fend then off but they soon overpowers her, she’s smashed into the relic and knocked out, and the dark spirits leave saying that it would be too easy killing her now. The group takes the unconscious girl back to Yuuri’s house, where they watch the news of the troublesome Tayutai already causing problems. Yuuri, his father, and the other two discuss the problem of Kikurami, Yuuri’s father says that they have no choice but help, the goddess that their shrine worships request their help, and after all the girl is probably another form of the goddess. He places the responsibility of caring for Kikurami in Yuuri’s hands because he has more abilities than his father. A little while later, Yuuri asks his cousin Sankuro to make sure that Ameri gets home safely.

     When Kikurami wakes up, she tells Yuuri that she’s hungry, Yuuri feeds her some of Ameri’s rice balls as she sits on his lap. Kikurami tell him that her body isn’t complete so she’s just overexerted, and needs to rest. Kikurami calls him Yachimata and he tells Kikurami to call him Yuuri, she calls him Yuuri-san and says that it is a nice name, and Yuuri calls her small Kikurami-sama to which she says that it’s not right to call her Kikurami because right know there’s too much difference between their forms. So, she asks Yuuri to give her a name? Well, he looks to the bag of marshmallows, and calls her Mashiro, but he says he can’t name her that, it’s too late, Kikurami starts calling herself Mashiro, and soon the minor Tayutai agree with the name.

        Then Mashiro tells Yuuri that he’s good around girls and asks him how his wife is doing? He says that he’s still in school and not married, but he realizes that back in Kikurami’s days, coming of age was a lot younger. She tells him that he has an adult body and that marrying late is bad for the mind and body, does he at least have a lover or mistress, maybe that girl Ameri? No. So, Mashiro tells Yuuri to marry her, but he says that she’s too young. Will it be OK when I get older? Yes. Then Mashiro says that we’ll make an oath, she turns and kisses him, she says that the oath is now sealed, and they’ll live together, forever. Mashiro then falls asleep in Yuuri’s arms, and he puts her to bed and says that she’s too young.

      The next morning, Yuuri goes to check on Mashiro and he walks in on her while she’s naked, she starts screaming and soon Ameri see the naked girl and starts calling Yuuri a pervert. But, soon Ameri stops her screaming because she realizes that the girl knows her name, and then she figures out that the girl is Kikurami. Mashiro tells Ameri the she’s called Mashiro and that she’s Yuuri’s future wife, Ameri demands to know how far he got in just one night? Mashiro asks Yuuri if he already forgot his oath, and she rushes to his side and says thanks to his loving care she’s been able to recover to this level. Then his father walks in and says, wow what a beautiful girl, they then give Mashiro a kimono to wear, and she looks stunning in it. When Mashiro finds out that it was Yuuri’s mother’s kimono, she says that she feels the responsibility of wearing it. Mashiro bows to Yuuri and her father-in-law and pays her respects to them. Mashiro then tells Yuuri that they must prepare to battle the three strongest Tayutai, Yuuri must fulfill the old contract, and the future is in his hands. Well, that’s all for this episode.

        Well, this episode turned out to be a lot better than I thought it be. While the premise of a live in goddess is a silly one, and one that’s been done many times over in manga and anime, I still found it to be interesting and enjoyable. Yuuri is different from many of the typical leading male characters in a harem type anime, he’s not wimpy, nor is he clumsy, or is he stupid, and he’s not total buffoon around girls, so that’s already a plus. Ameri, Yuuri’s childhood friend is typical of the girl next door from these types of shows, she gets threatened when a new girl comes around treading on her home turf. Yuuri’s cousin Sankuro seems pretty cool and laid back about the whole exorcism and goddess thing, like it happens everyday around there. Yuuri’s father is pretty open to the idea of Kikurami prancing around the property, and since his wife is dead that means that their house will be a pretty wild place, kind of like a bachelor pad.

      I also really liked how small Kikurami-sama/Mashiro is played, innocent and randy at the same time. If you’ve ever studied the historic behaviors of the Shinto priests, Buddhist monks, and the Kami that they worshipped at the time, you’ll know that they were a very randy bunch. Monks and priests fooled around with females all the time, be they married, single, divine or mortal. The Kami, male or female, also were known to bestow more then just blessings on their followers, and several kami were known to have taken mortal lovers, or married and had children with mortals. So, in historical context it’s not out of the question of a female kami to take a mortal husband or lover, but because of their immortality it won’t last forever.

      In closing, I’ll be looking forward to watching how Mashiro’s and Yuuri’s relationship develops, and seeing if they really will fulfill their oath. The only other thing I have to say is that Yuuri’s one lucky dog, and that I want my very own lap goddess too.