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With so many options to choose from, picking a new anime to watch can be a hellacious task. Fear not, gentle readers, because “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog” is here to be your guardian angel. Each week we provide additional information and cultural context to help anime fans decide whether or not they'd like to take an unknown series for a test drive.
What's Hozuki no Reitetsu?
Hozuki no Reitetsu (“Hozuki's Coolheadedness”) is a 2014 TV anime comedy directed by Hiro Kaburagi (91 Days) with animation by Wit Studio (Attack on Titan). The series is based on the manga by Natsumi Eguchi, which is currently serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Morning seinen manga anthology. Crunchryoll describes Hozuki no Reitetsu as follows:
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.’
This description could use a little help illustrating the central conceit of the show: as a result of the post-WWII population boom and the continual aging of Japan's population, Japanese Hell is overcrowded and its demon jailers are understaffed and overworked. Hozuki no Reitetsu is an after-life office comedy.
Welcome to Hell.
The Japanese concept of Jigoku, a nether-realm where the souls of sinners are punished for their misdeeds, is not entirely analogous to the Christian concept of Hell. Jigoku emerged from Buddhism mixed with traditional practices of ancestor worship, and although the punishments inflicted there can be quite gruesome, a stay in Jigoku isn't necessarily eternal. Bad karma can be purged through ordeal, allowing the newly cleansed soul to be reincarnated or sent to Tengoku, the Japanese equivalent of Heaven.
In Hozuki no Reitetsu, these differences between cultural concepts of Hell are highlighted, since Japanese Hell, European Hell, and Chinese Hell are like different nation states that engage in diplomacy and cultural exchange. And like everything in Hozuki no Reitetsu, the tortures of the damned are a source of dark comedy.
Punishing Puns.
Hozuki no Reitetsu employs tons of puns. Kudos go to the translators for capturing the spirit of Japanese wordplay, which is not always an easy task, especially when characters spar in an insult-based variation of shiratori.
High Art and Pop Culture.
One interesting element of Hozuki no Reitetsu is its background art. While the characters and settings generally hew to a traditional anime aesthetic, the exteriors of Hell resemble classical ink wash paintings. One episode explicitly references Katsuhika Hokusai, the master artist who painted depictions of the after-life as well as erotic works and famous landscapes.
Hozuki no Reitetsu isn't all high art. The series is jam-packed with dozens of nods to pop culture as well. Some of the jokes are more obvious, such as references to Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro, while others are more subtle, referencing shows such as Urusei Yatsura, Fist of the North Star, Hajime no Ippo, My Little Monster, and even Gutsy Frog, just to name a few. The deepest cut has to be a reference to the 'Game Over' screen for Final Fight, with King Enma playing the role of Mike Haggar.
Crunchyroll currently streams Hozuki no Reitetsu in 121 countries in the original Japanese language with subtitles in English, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German. The series was also released on DVD and Bluray in North America by Sentai Filmworks. Unfortunately, no official English translations of the original manga (or the 3 OAD episodes released as bonuses in 2015) are currently available.
If you're in the mood for an irreverent and darkly humorous look at the Hereafter, I highly recommend giving Hozuki no Reitetsu a try. Who would have thought that damnation could be so much fun?
Special thanks go to resident capricious water sprite KimagureKappa for suggesting the series for this week's "Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog". Is there a series in Crunchyroll's catalog that you think needs some more love and attention? Please send in your suggestions via e-mail to cruisingcrunchy@gmail.com or post a Tweet to @gooberzilla. Your pick could inspire the next installment of “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog”!
Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.
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