What They Say:
Episode 6
“Petit Hierozoicon”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I have no idea what Yokai Apartment is trying to do. On the one hand it continues to throw us off balance enough so that we may be able to understand how Yushi must feel. On the other hand, I’m still not convinced this is intentional, it feels like a rather happy coincidence, but well, whatever, it works. This week it seems we’re switching gears or genres or something. The show seems to have crossed the border into another type of story and to be honest; I’m not too bothered by it. I guess if we’re going there, let’s just go there already.
Yushi is back at the apartment and it appears he is now completely happy having gone back to the one place he feels he belongs. It’s subtle but it does say something about a person if the only place they belong is an apartment building full of supernatural creatures and strange outcasts. This is not necessarily bad as far as I’m concerned, I just thought I’d point it out. He seems completely at ease, even his smile is natural and effortless this time around and he’s even considering inviting Hase to meet his new friends.
Speaking of new friends, this week we get introduced to a bunch of them. Spearheading the group is Furuhonya, a Kotobuki-so resident whose name (is it his real name?) is a pun consisting of Furu (used) and Hon (book) or Honya (bookstore). As you can guess he’s a used book’s seller and he’s been away for over a year looking for a very rare book he didn’t manage to find. He did find a hell of lot of other books however, a lot of them supposedly fictional magical books, although I would hesitate to call Aleister Crowley a magician to put it mildly, but I guess it works in the context of fantasy. And I’m not sure if this is supposed to be parody or if the author actually believes England is riddled with professional magicians and supernatural texts. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
In any case, one particular book catches Yushi’s eye and you can tell it’s going to be important because it’s the book he opens during the intro song. I’m kidding, it also shines when Yushi so much as looks at it. The book has images of tarot cards inside but the text is unreadable. Akine says it must be sealed so she decides to take it to her master to make sure it’s not dangerous, but during the night, the book reappears in Yushi’s room. And it’s not alone. A weird parrot-like spirit named Fool emerges from it, electing Yushi as its master and the master of all twenty-two spirits inside the book. It no longer feels just like a slice of life tale with supernatural elements right? But then again, what do I know? Yokai Apartment keeps ramping up the tension only to defuse it with silly humor or something else, not that it’s not enjoyable either way.
Honestly I love the new attitude Yushi has, he really does seem happy and the blissful way in which he went to sleep right before Fool appeared even made me feel relaxed. I don’t mind the new direction either, it makes for interesting possibilities and the spirits are pretty fun too. I especially like the sarcastic bitter prediction cat as I’m calling him for now, but of course I would.
The other detail on which I’m still not completely clear is what is really going on with Hase. Is Hase normal or not? I mean, maybe it’s just careless writing but the ease with which he just threw that thug over his shoulder and the apparent deep knowledge he has about gangs did not seem entirely normal for a high school student. Then again his surprise at the end is definitely not fake, so maybe he just fights a lot? It kind of goes against his perfect student image but I guess appearances can be deceiving, or maybe it’s just Yokai Apartment being weird again.
In Summary:
This is a strange little series, but I can’t say I’m not enjoying it. This new twist if it can be called that, takes the story into new territory as I’m pretty sure the book did not choose Yushi at random. I wonder if it’s been in the family before. Furthermore, the series being picked up for a second season seems to indicate there’s a lot more to this story than just random yokai adventures. The pacing has picked up too, even though it’s still jumping all over the place but it’s not enough to ruin the series.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
