And you thought your job was hell…
What They Say:
Hozuki is the aide to the Great King Enma. Calm and super-sadistic, Hozuki tries to resolve the various problems in Hell, including a rampaging Momotaro and his companions. However, he also likes spending his free time on his hobbies, such as fawning over cute animals and raising ‘Goldfish Flowers.’
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Cue that theme song!
Wait, don’t run off! The show is just getting started!
Hozuki no Reitetsu is based on a manga of the same name by Natsumi Eguchi that runs in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning manga magazine. Some of the other manga that run in that publication are Billy Bat, Drops of God, and Space Brothers. So you can guess that Hozuki is going to be something a little bit off the beaten path.
Hell is a funny thing. Every culture and religion has it’s own version of the afterlife. In the west Satan is usually considered the ruler of hell. In the east, it’s Yama, or as he’s called in Japan, Lord Enma. This version of hell has been turned into a highly organized and bureaucratic system of judgement for those that behaved badly in life. Lord Enma is judge, jury and spiritual punishment assigner.
I honestly can’t think of anything more hellish than bureaucracy.
The story focuses on Hozuki, the Chief Secretary for Lord Enma. Basically, he’s the one doing all the work overseeing the many branches and layers of hell. The series follows him at his job solving all the problems of hell. For example, while off seeing it trouble in the circle reserved for animal abusers, Heaven sends him a problem in the form of an old Japanese folk hero gone to pot.
Yeah, Momotaro the Peach Boy has seen better days. He’s foppish and old fashioned, and his talking animal companions are looking for an escape to better employment. Momotaro just wants to do what he’s good at, slaying the oni’s he sees all around. (The subtitles always call oni’s ogres, but aside from the horns the denizens of hell don’t look much like ogres. I never liked that particular transliteration.) Hozuki tries to talk down the obnoxious Momotaro, berates his helpers into submission, and then finally draws his impressive spiked club. The situation is resolved when Hozuki offers the group various employment.
This is where I could see this series having a lot lost in translation. Almost immediately we start getting a few topical, pop-culture like references that no one living outside of Japan will get. Combines with the unfamiliar mythology it presents a steep learning curve for a comedy. I hope this isn’t a series which starts to rely on references too heavily, or we’ll have another Sayaonara Zetsubou-sensei situation on our hands, minus the cute school girls.
The second half of the episode shows what Hozuki is up to when he’s on lunch break, tending his goldfish garden and chatting with the boss while watching nature programs. It’s funny to hear the stoic and scowling Hozuki daydream about going on vacation to Australia to hug koalas. To counteract that normal desire to get away are the goldfish plants. There’s something very unsettling about goldfish growing on plant stems, row upon row of them, flapping around in the breeze. Even more unsettling when they scream… and oh god, what is going on during the end credits for this show.
For all of the strangeness on display in this show so far, the animation is quite superb. The backgrounds have a sumi-e art style, making sure the audience knows exactly where the show is pulling it’s inspiration from. The characters move on top of that with vigor and detail, creating a surprisingly lively world for a land of the dead. As for the music and the voice acting, well, the music is quirky and upbeat while Hozuki has a voice so deep I think I felt my desk shake. It works for the oddness of this show, but nothing stands out so far.
In Summary:
Hozuki no Reitetsu is a very strange, very Japanese show. I’d call it slice-of…. death? Afterlife? It’s almost like watching a foreign film on top of a foreign film, and that’s going to lose some folks. If you could make it through something as dense as Gintama then this shouldn’t lose you with it’s much slower pace, but I could see this show being an interesting challenge. Right now it’s more weird than funny, but that could change. I’m very curious to see what direction they take the show and who beyond Enma and Hozuki end up being main characters. I’ll say that I’m cautiously intrigued by the machinations of the land of pain and punishment and it’s hardworking employees.
Episode Grade: B –
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.8.4, via Safari 6.0.5, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
