Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Episode 10, “Resolve”, now streaming on Crunchyroll.
As the story of The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window reaches its climax, the character drama remains the most intriguing part of the series. As this episode shows, every character introduced in the series serves an important function, either for the story, character development, or both. This episode is a primary example of how the characters work together to highlight a central theme of the series: the relationship between father and child.
The episode revolves around the search for Hiyakawa, who is missing after he pushes Mikado away. Though it is quite obvious that he is still with Mikado’s father in the cult house because he really doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Mikado feels incredibly guilty about not being able to understand Hiyakawa, though Mukae's observation is that no one can truly understand Hiyakawa is right. But sensei –a cult leader and master manipulator –is able to weaken Hiyakawa’s mental defense by using Mikado as bait and trapping him inside a barrier.
The team is able to cleanse the outside of the house with Hanzawa’s power of disbelief, but the house itself is filled with the power of hatred. Sensei has already turned it into a maze with his powerful barriers, as he wants to continue to use Hiyakawa's power of hatred as a savings box. Mikado decides to go after sensei while Mukae goes after Hiyakawa. This leaves Erika and Sakaki to cleanse the rest of the house. Sakaki now has the power to erase death energy after Erika saved his life last episode, so he is now a cleanser of sort as well.
After all the dead spirits that sensei uses as his fuel are cleansed, Erika sees her mutilated father looking at a pile of money. Erika believes he’s at least half-dead and attempts to finish him off, but Sakaki stops her. Even though Erika’s father sold her to the cult and abused her powers, she still shouldn’t have to bear the burden of killing her own father, so Sakaki does it for her. At this point, Sakaki is much more of a father to Erika, as he understands her pain and tries to protect her from harm as best as he can, while she also trusts and cares about him more than anyone.
But Erika’s father's issue is actually the easiest to resolve. Mikado finally comes face to face with his own father, whom he still doesn’t recognize, but his father knows exactly who he is. Mikado is the embodiment of his regret for leaving his family, and as his mind becomes more corrupted, he starts to believe that he should have killed his son so that he could have his wife back. Yet in order to curse Mikado, he needs to know his name, which he had cursed himself to forget. He tells Mikado who he is, and a shocked Mikado is very close to succumbing to his powers.
At the same time, Mukae is able to find a younger version of Hiyakawa, who is trapped in his own mind, and tormented by his past memories. Mukae only wants to drag the conversation long enough so that Mikado can come and save Hiyakawa, but he doesn’t know that he is also an important piece in the puzzle that is Hiyakawa. Mukae’s name can be roughly translated into “welcome”, which is fitting as he is the only other person besides Mikado that can make Hiyakwa understand, there are others that care about him and want to help him. Mukae's empathy can allow Hiyakawa to take the first step towards opening up. Hiyakawa’s father issue is that he has never had a real father or any parental figure, so he is always in a state of isolation, and he needs to know he is not alone.
Coincidentally, all three quests can be mapped neatly onto the stages of grief. Erika’s story is about bargaining, because her father exchanged her for money and recognition, but she finds a new father in Sakaki. Mikado and his father’s relationship is clearly filled with anger, his father is angry at him for taking his wife away, but Mikado is also likely angry at his father for abandoning them. Finally, Hiyakawa’s problem is very much about depression, which he has a very hard time expressing, thus he is stuck in a vicious circle. But with the help of his friends, he may be able to come to accept who he is in the end.
