Faced with the choice of being married to a strange spirit or being made into dinner, Aoi decides to create a third option for herself!

Aoi Tsubaki inherited her grandfather’s ability to see spirits—and his massive debt to them! Now she’s been kidnapped and taken to Kakuriyo, the spirit world, to make good on his bill. Her options: marry the head of the inn her grandfather trashed, or get eaten by ayakashi. But Aoi isn’t the type to let spirits push her around, and she’s determined to redeem her grandfather’s IOU on her own terms!

Aoi wants to work off her debt to the Tenjin-ya inn, but she only has one day to find a position and none of the managers are willing to hire a human! If she can just get someone to see past her family background, Aoi is certain she can prove her worth!

Review

The Kakuriyo anime is based on a light novel series of the same name. The story follows Aoi Tsubaki and her journey in the spirit world. Aoi is special, she has the ability to see Ayakashi. One day she is dragged to Kakuriyo where she learns that she is to become the bride of the Orge God, due to her grandfathers debt to him. Rather than marry him, she agrees the pay off the debt by working at the Inn. Aoi has a gift in the food she cooks and its restorative ability to Ayakashi. However, the spirit realm is not friendly to humans.

Aoi feels all hope is lost as she finds the Ogre God to be mean and disinterested in her interests. However she soon meets Ginji, a nine tail fox boy who among his many forms appears as a young child. However, he is just as old as the master and he loves to cook too. Kakuriyo is a fun twist on cooking manga (like food wars) which while focused on food, is also focused on a larger story plot. Most of the events center around food in one form or another. There are plenty of characters to meet and enjoy. The real question is who will be Aoi’s best ally while she is here? Genji reminds her of an Ayakashi who protected her in the past, though he doesn’t respond to that comment.

Kakuriyo Part 1 was just released by Funimation on blu-ray containing episodes 1-13 plus a digital copy. Its a fun and relaxing series with good story and unique characters. It also dives into Ayakashi lore which is a nice change. You can pickup Part 1 of the anime from the Funimation Shop or on Amazon. You can checkout the anime over at Funimation.