On the sly.
What They Say:
Episode #19: SLIPPERY AS A CATFISH / GON GETS TO WORK
Hozuki learns that self-deprecation and laziness isn’t just for the Mundane world but is still just as annoying. How… tragic.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Gon is a character that’s been around in Hozuki for a long time but other than the fact that he was a dude sitting on a bench always talking to the nekomata muckraker we didn’t know much about him. He works for Daji, who is always a harsh mistress, and he happens to be a fox. (Which I do think has come up before but it was a long time back.)
There’s being lazy and then there is the level of laziness that Gon seems to have mastered. While the other foxes that work for Daji rush about the restaurant where they work a customer goes without notice and walks out seemingly without paying. Thus the rage of Daji falls on Gon, whom she tasks with bringing with dine-and-dasher to justice.
Except nobody has the first idea where to look. Luckily for him, the customer returns to attempt to clear up the matter. That customer happens to be a tiny guy who looks like a catfish, Nurarihyon. In yokai stories, the nurarihyon is the ultimate freeloader, like a supernatural house squatter. Somehow he was given a high rank in the yokai hierarchy, despite the fact the reality of the Nurarihyon in this story is that of a timid old man. So timid he is constantly looked over and left unserved in restaurants.
For some reason, Hozuki thinks that his lack of attention-grabbing capabilities could be fixed with fashion. Why does he keep defaulting to that? This is quickly becoming a running gag about dressing people up and doing it terribly wrong. The digression only lasts a moment before that situation is eventually cleared and the story can move forward.
We learn more about the easy-going Gon after he injures Lady Daji’s wrath yet again. Got is left attempting to find her a giant snake to devour in order to appease his harsh mistress. However, his attempt to beg his way into a branch of hell that has them doesn’t work out too well. Hozuki tries to assist and offers many solutions for acquiring such a thing but they all involve work. Gon is simply too lazy to bother with doing any real work and after some time spent working in the fire-fox hell his employer finds him and things don’t end too well.
Sometimes the best motivation is fear.
In Summary:
The fox and the fish, there’s a parable in here somewhere but much like Gon I’m too lazy to find it. Hozuki once again mixes the mundane with the supernatural into a combination where misunderstands fuel the fires of conflict. Hozuki really is an overachiever with the way he tries to solve all of hell’s problems on his own. He also has a knack for showing up at exactly the right time, doesn’t he? This episode is rather ho-hum but getting a glimpse of the strange punishments and extremely detailed sorting system for sins is always amusing.
Episode Grade: B
Streamed by: HIDIVE
