What They Say:
Episode 8
“Bookmaster”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Yokai Apartment feels like when the power goes out and you could be cursing at everything, but instead, you finish reading your book or play some games with the family and enjoy your powerless night anyway. Yeah, that’s exactly how it feels. Nothing much happens but it’s still nice and enjoyable.
This particular episode deals with Hase’s visit to Kotobuki-so. First of all, anyone who doesn’t want Hase to visit them is a joyless dunce. He brings food, and sake and sweets, and he is absurdly polite. How could you not want that? Of course he wins everyone’s hearts right away, and though he still gets creeped out by some things (especially the Sadako-like ghost), he seems to be doing quite well with most of the craziness. In fact, everyone loves him so much they invite him to dinner and almost immediately to stay the night which was his plan all along. No, I do not mean that as in he had an ulterior motive. That was literally his plan: to stay the night.
The one ghost who takes rather strongly to Hase is Kuri. In fact, he even asks to sleep by his side and Hase jokes that he feels like a dad on his day off, and then he goes on to name Yushi as the mother. I should say the episode has quite a BL-ish vibe, though it never goes beyond a little romantic fan service (as opposed to “falling in someone’s lap” fan service). However, it is obvious Hase is the most important person in Yushi’s life, so much so that his acceptance even makes him grow stronger in psychic power.
Now, aside from this, it seems I completely misjudged Hase. Remember when I though he’d be the typical (and usually boring) super cool guy who may or may not have a dark secret of his own? Well, I was wrong and I am also very happy about it. Not that Hase isn’t cool (he comes with chocolate and manju, come on), but what I like the most about him is how human he really is. It’s great how he finally confesses to Yushi that underneath his apparent coolness and charming smiles, he has been crapping his pants all day. As I said before it felt strange how he knew so much and took everything in stride. It made him seem a little too perfect and this admission immediately turned him into a relatable character.
Oh, and there’s also some business with floating multi-eyed, aggressive heads. I think if you don’t crap your pants after that, you’re definitely not human. It’s all Furuhonya’s fault, who takes this opportunity to reveal he’s also a Bookmaster, which means that just like Yushi, he’s also the master of a magical book. He’s way better at it though. So that’s’ Yushi’s title now and what a backhanded way of giving us this information which by the way, is the title of the episode, but that’s what Yokai Apartment does, I guess.
In Summary:
I’ve already said how I feel about Yokai Apartment. Frankly, I’m surprised at how this show hasn’t managed to bore me. It feels like it should but it doesn’t. It’s just very relaxing even when floating disembodied heads are attacking people. Maybe it’s because they’ve taken care to make sure the inhabitants of Kotobuki-so are actually likeable. They really do grow on you, so at the end of each episode you’ re never in any hurry to know what happens next but you’d still like to spend more time with them. Next episode may be raising the stakes a bit by introducing a bad guy but I’ll believe it when I see it. In any case, Kuri is really cute and now I want manju.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
