×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Hōzuki's Coolheadedness (TV).


Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:00 am Reply with quote
I'm not sure I understood much of episode 9, but I think I understand Inari Kon Kon and Kingdom better now. Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Am I supposed to edit old posts if there are days but no posts between?
CrowLia wrote:
And I think the middle part is like a list of the different hells and punishment levels, but that's just a theory for now

I found this tl on a Houzuki wiki. No idea how accurate it is.

Yes!
Japan’s Hell is a multi-sectional Hell.
All together it has 272 sections.
This is Hell, Hell, a wonderful Hell.
This is Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell.
Sanjiva, Kalasutra, Samghata, Raurava,
Maharaurava, Tapana, Pratapana, Avici,
Visashana and Kumbhipaka,
Sarameyadana, Lavana, Asipatravana, the Lake of Blood.
There are more, there’s all kinds of Hells here.
So be careful what you do in the mortal world!
This is Hell, Hell, a wonderful Hell.
This is Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell.
This is Hell, Hell, an enjoyable Hell.
This is Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell, Hell!
Japan’s Hell is a Hell we’re proud of.
Clap your hands to the beat.
Yes!
Japan’s Hell is a multi-section Hell.
All together it has 272 sections!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 6:51 am Reply with quote
Episode 10

The first half was fully hilarious, especially the part with the 10 kings singing, that part was genius. The poor quality of music and such made it better. Really makes me wonder about that review saying Hozuki is not a compelling main character, he is awesome, he is so capable but treats people so strictly. They complained that so much spoiler[went to waste and he made a feast around the offerings, forcing the food on Enma, throwing a steak in his mouth, and working him afterwards].
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
sakuragtin



Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 222
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:29 pm Reply with quote
So spoiler[Santa is one of the ten kings of Japanese Hell huh? Even has a reindeer aide. Hmm, always wondered what he did the rest of the year after Christmas.] Seriously though, he looks just like him. I busted out laughing when I realized which one was his aide.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:33 pm Reply with quote
sakuragtin wrote:
So spoiler[Santa is one of the ten kings of Japanese Hell huh? Even has a reindeer aide. Hmm, always wondered what he did the rest of the year after Christmas.] Seriously though, he looks just like him. I busted out laughing when I realized which one was his aide.

I was kind of thinking the same thing, but the character also made me think of King Dedede, so I don't know if there is something in the culture that I am not aware of.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:24 pm Reply with quote
Ep 9 didn't work for me--the jokes were too stretched out, the comic timing didn't work and it was too focused on that guy from Heaven.

Ep 10 was great! First of all, the details about how Japanese view the afterlife (is it a Shinto view?) are genuinely interesting. I loved the "10 Kings" song! Did you notice the VCR-esque play and pause symbols in the upper left corner? I didn't notice it at first, but after watching that song a few times, I caught it, This show has great details. Was King Saito supposed to be Santa? I didn't notice his reindeer assistant, but his look was certainly iconic.

Also really appreciated the two Kings that were reinterpreted as women. Nice feminist touch there.

As for the second half, diets are Hell, indeed.

Gina Szanboti, thanks for the song translation. Hozuki is really into educational, motivating songs with a good tempo. It also explains his attitide toward Peach Maki. It's not his type of music (and he's smartly cynical about show business and tabloid culture).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:13 pm Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
First of all, the details about how Japanese view the afterlife (is it a Shinto view?) are genuinely interesting.

I don't know if it's Shinto or not, but all the Hells mentioned in the song are Buddhist (I'm neither a Buddhist nor versed in it, so take the following with tolerance and a few shakers of salt!). The first 8 in the song are the Eight Hot Narakas (Hells):

Sanjiva: the Reviving Naraka where people are tortured with hot, slicing weapons and molten iron, and are revived each time they "die" from the torture.

Kalasutra: the Black Thread Naraka, essentially Sanjiva with jigsaws. Stay on the black lines when cutting!

Samghata: the Crushing Naraka, where people are repeatedly crushed to jelly by boulders, and restored as in Sanjiva.

Raurava: the Screaming Naraka, where people run around trying to find shelter from the heat, only to be locked inside and burned once they find it.

Maharaurava: the Great Screaming Naraka, it's Raurava with hell beasts to torment and eat people, reserved for people who harm others for their own benefit.

Tapana: the Heating Naraka, or Vlad the Impaler Land with fire spears.

Pratapana: the Great Heating Naraka - Tapana with tridents instead of spears.

Avici: the uninterrupted Naraka, for oven-roasted sinners.

Visashana: Murderous Hell, for prideful people who kill animals as a status symbol, and maybe weapons makers. They are whipped to death by yamadutras (the Death God Yama's messengers). Not sure if that means they go here before they die or if they are revived like in Sanjiva.

Kumbhipaka: If you cooked animals and birds, you go here to be cooked in a pot of boiling oil for as many years as the hairs (and feathers I assume) on the bodies of your victims.

Sarameyadana: for thieves who kill and government officials who abuse their power and bring ruin to the nation. Here they are attacked by 720 sons of Yama's dog Sarama, mother of dogs and maybe all wild beasts.

Lavana: Salt Hell. Don't mouth off about your betters or you'll end up here. Not sure what happens when you get there though. Maybe cutting and salt in the wounds?

Asipatravana: the Hell for heretics and those who wantonly cut down trees, which apparently leads to heresy. Sinners are whipped by yamadutras, or cut by trees whose leaves are swords.

the Lake of Blood: this one's kind of hard to pin down. I can't find a specific Lake of Blood in Buddhism. But in the story The Spider's Thread, the Buddha looks down on sinners in Hell in a lake of blood and casts down a spider's thread to climb out on. Sometimes the 9th Circle of Hell in Dante's Inferno is a frozen lake of blood, sometimes it's just ice. Also, on Kyushu, around the city of Beppu, there are a lot of too-hot-for-bathing springs called jigoku, and one of those is called Chi no Ike Jigoku (Lake of Blood Hell). So who knows which the song is referencing. Maybe all of them! Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 11:02 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Agent355 wrote:
First of all, the details about how Japanese view the afterlife (is it a Shinto view?) are genuinely interesting.

I don't know if it's Shinto or not, but all the Hells mentioned in the song are Buddhist (I'm neither a Buddhist nor versed in it, so take the following with tolerance and a few shakers of salt!). The first 8 in the song are the Eight Hot Narakas (Hells):

This again reminds me of something I heard about the trinity of religion for the Japanese: Shinto is coming of age, Christian/equivalent for weddings (mostly in the way of Western weddings), Budhist for funerals. Which would make sense why the hell would be Buddhist in the show.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:04 am Reply with quote
Episode 11

So Hozuki likes spoiler[bad girls does he]?

Well based off the preview next episode spoiler[will have Lilith], I wonder if that relevant.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:12 pm Reply with quote
Hozuki is more interested in what's inside a woman than what's outside. Especially if what's inside is his spoiler[handmade brain-tissue miso soup.] Wink
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Apr 04, 2014 6:37 am Reply with quote
Episode 13

Laughing Apparently the fish in the ED spoiler[were trying to run away from Hozuki and he violently killed them and had Enma drink the remains to see what it would do]. Because of that they spoiler[were absent from the ED this time]. Also Hozuki admitted to liking his job because he gets to spoiler[screw with Enma and manipulate hell behind the curtains]. The bon festival was a good way to have a throwback to random things and characters around the series, while the last bit let us go back to the roots of the Hozuki and Enma relationship.

Now thoughts on the whole series, well off the bat I will just give it the rating of Good, I think that is a fair rating for the series, but I don't think it everything I can say about it. Simply put Hozuki no Reitetsu is not for everyone, it is one of the driest comedies I have seen, and despite is very much a dark comedy. The dark comedy work quite strangely with the almost innocent parts, or maybe best to describe it as deceiving, and that much of what happens works into a slice of life like feel.

This show is very much worth watching if you accept it for what it is, otherwise I see people may have trouble liking it.

Back onto the Bon dance scene, it had me thinking of Dokuro-chan's season 2 ED there. Great seeing Hozuki get serious there.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:43 am Reply with quote
I feel that way about my boss sometimes... Loved the bon dance. Loved the series. Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:02 am Reply with quote
OVA 1 and 2


Kind of an odd time, but I decided now to check out 2 of the OVA. These were almost too funny.

Maki getting involved more with Hozuki, becoming an ambassador of the kind of horrifying goldfish. Hozuki reforming a failing host club, where he is far more sadistic than they ever could hope for, that he fixes it by making the fox hosts just be their own animals selves. And using the cat as bait.

And in the second, the creepy dolls set a tone from the beginning make me think of Kokkuri-san, a comedy I also liked. Hozuki turns the zashiki-warashi onto Hakutaku before having them as what appears to be his fitting personality sidekicks. And Peach Maki, who is also fun.

Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2814
PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:35 am Reply with quote
The third of the OVAs should have been out by now, but they are difficult to obtain. Despite how well this series sold in Japan, it's unlikely they'll adapt more of the source material any time soon.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Harleyquin



Joined: 29 May 2014
Posts: 2814
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 5:21 pm Reply with quote
OAD #3:

Another episode devoted to taking the mickey out of Hakutaku's awful drawing skills.

Hoozuki probably got away with just paying compensation after the fight because of his reputation, but Hakutaku eventually got one over him after Nasubi's replacement art piece took its place.

A different story altogether when the theme park half got going; one must never get carried away with dangerous abilities like bringing drawings to life. If not for Hoozuki's presence of mind, there would have been plenty of pancakes at the end of the episode.

A shame they won't be animating more of the series anytime soon, there are some nice arcs in later volumes. The one featuring Hakutaku's other student of his drawing abilities is especially fun.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next
Page 3 of 6

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group