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The Devil is a Part-Timer! 2 Episode 6 – To The Birds

Irina

We’re already halfway through the second season of the Devil is a Part-Timer s2. Crazy right? I can’t say nothing has happened, in fact, a whole lot has happened but somehow it also feels like the season just started. Maybe it’s because we had such a drastic change of scenery since last week that it seems like the beach arc just stated.

I don’t know what to say, guys. I have to admit, I don’t look forward to writing these reviews that much. Most of the time I have pretty much nothing to say.

There is one thing I can say about this particular episode of The Devil is a Part-Timer 2. I think it was my favourite episode of the season so far. It seems like there was a lot of setup in the first half of the season that has now suddenly been dropped and went nowhere but this little beach arc has some flow at least. I feel like things are progressing which is not something I’ve felt so far this season.

On the other hand, this might also be the episode on which I have the least to say. Little Camo looked like an angry bird knock-off, the art seems to be getting less consistent and that just about does it for all my notes.

Except for one. So I’m putting all my eggs in this basket. At the very beginning of the episode, Maou mistakes the demons that appear on the beach for Mouren Yassa. Now I figured this was some type of legendary Japanese creature, in other words, a Yokai, but I had not heard the name before. So I did a little search.

Now Yassa seems to be an African dish and I quickly found recipes for both fish and chicken yassa but that wasn’t quite it. Mouren Yassa on the other hand redirected me to Funayūrei which I had heard of. They are the vengeful spirits of dead fishermen. Well, anyone dead at sea to be more precise. And apparently, they fill the boats with water s that others can join them at the bottom of the sea. Considering the sheer amount of fishermen throughout Japan’s history (and the number of Typhoons) this is a fairly common type of yokai.

Well, it turns out that Funayūrei actually have regional variations, something I did not know.

Mouren Yassa are a type from Chiba Prefecture. These ones appear specifically during deep fog like in the episode or in stormy weather. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

A voice would approach the boat saying “mouren, yassa, mouren, yassa, lend me an inaga (モウレン、ヤッサ、モウレン、ヤッサ、いなが貸せえ)”, and suddenly a hand would come from the sea, saying “give me a hishaku”, but since it would sink the boat if lent a hishaku, it is said that one should thus give a hishaku with its bottom open. “Mouren” means ghost, and “inaga” means a hishaku, and “yassa” are the encouraging shouts used while rowing a boat.

By the way, a hishaku is one of those bamboo spoons or small ladles and it sinks the boat by using the spoon to fill it with water. So like one tablespoon at a time. I find this delightful.

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