I’ve been whining about this in all my posts this week – but man is it cold. It’s the type of cold that sort of threatens you from the other side of the window. None of this has anything to do with the episode. I’m from Montreal, we complain about the weather. It’s a hobby.
Share. Australia’s breaking all time heat records around the country and even though I love hot weather right now I can’t even run my computer without air-con because it keeps over-heating. Not to mention, the water coming out of the cold taps is hotter than the water in our hot water system most of the day. Hopefully we both get a bit of relief next week. I guess it could be worse…
Anywho, here we are at episode 3. Egen-dono, a Yokai observer from the Underworld is sent to Abeno and Hanae’s school hoping learn methods and techniques to improve education in the Underworld. However, Abano is starting to get really suspicious that the powers of the Underworld are plotting something greater. Considering that Ripou’s his boss, I’m surprised Abeno hasn’t sunk into full fledged paranoia yet.
Is it really paranoia when there are plots afoot and Ripou usually is playing with him? Now if we want to discuss paranoia, I’d say Hanae has a real case of it this week given how wound up he gets as he micro-analyses every interaction he has with Abeno. Of course, given it is played for laughs I don’t think we are supposed to see this as anything more than Hanae being Hanae. Of course, I kind of like this focus on Abeno’s job within the underworld because this was definitely not looked at enough in season one and it is by far the most interesting part of the show.
This time we get to stick to the mundane world. I like coming back to it every once in a while. That way it makes the underworld look even more spectacular by contrast.
Agreed. After two episodes pretty much exclusively in the underworld, it was good to remember that Hanae isn’t very good at keeping seeing yokai to himself. There were some fairly amusing moments in the classroom as a result.
Speaking of classrooms. You know, I found it really charming how amazed and enthusiastic Egen was about the school. It seems the underworld still has some improvements to make in that area. Education is one of those luxuries we think is annoying until we can’t have it. And the school system really is one of our greatest achievements. I think that was nicely illustrated.
They did deal with that nicely though it is probably just me but I find the pro-school theme running through so many anime a little intrusive sometimes. Every character is thrilled to go to school. Even aliens, visitors from other worlds, and supernatural creatures want to go to school. I’m very pro-education and I do think some positivity about schools is important but at times anime carries it to the extremes.
I’m a sucker but I got a bit sentimental at the PE class. A well rounded and balanced education for all, is essential. You go big bird monsters thingy!
It was much more like a school set slice of life episode than anything we’ve seen so far from this show. I must say, I enjoyed the little breather. We quickly got pulled back into the main storyline though.
I did love how they managed to draw this seemingly random aside into the narrative they established in the first two episodes. While we’re still kind of getting episodic issues there feels like there’s a greater direction this season.
So the big beast creature is actually the Justice. Ripou is the Legislator and it seems there some potential turmoil between the Mononokean and the Executive. This is turning out surprisingly involved.
It does seem more complicated. I’m looking forward to finding out why and what and how though.
I enjoyed Hanae and Abeno’s relationship. Hanae really is like a little kid mind you. I thought it was hilarious that Abeno was just being his usual aloof self while Hanae imagined he was being scorned and ignored. They looked like an old married couple.
I also loved Hanae’s problem solving skills at work. He thinks he may have accidentally insulted his boss and a guy who can beat him up. No problem, just run out the door and lock him on the roof. This should have no repercussions whatsoever!
This was a hilarious moment. I absolutely loved it. Hanae really is very silly sometimes but it adds some needed levity to the show. Abeno is far too serious and dry so even though he’s interesting, he couldn’t carry the show alone. Then again, too much Hanae would be too much. It is definitely the dynamic between the two that carries it.
So, are we supposed to think that crow may have been a spy or something?
I’d say now you are being paranoid except clearly the episode was leading us in that direction. But then it seemed like Abeno dismissed it. Still, it does seem like too much attention was spent on that crow to not be anything.
The bigger storyline is continuing to take shape with surprising consistency. I think they need to level out Hanae and Abeno’s personalities a bit as they tend to be a little too caricatural but otherwise I am really enjoying this series so far. Not enough fuzzy obviously.
And that would definitely be my episode complaint this week. Other than the first scene Fuzzy is nowhere to be seen in this episode. Admittedly, we had more than enough other stuff going on so it isn’t as though things go dull, but, I want more Fuzzy.
for some context, check out past entries:
You know the drill by now. I didn’t so much watch the episode as maniacally screencap it!
About the crow being a spy: it’s not unlikely. Our visitor looked like a karasu tengu to me, so that would be at least thematically consistent. Might have been a form of clan supervision maybe? I know too little about Japanese mythology to be conclusive about this.
Hanae annoyed me this episode. I’d be much like Abeno, I think, around him.
Poor Hanae – can’t catch a break