Chief Secretary of King Enma Wikia

Chief Secretary of King Enma Wikia

The story focuses on Hozuki, the Chief Secretary for Lord Enma. Basically, he’s the one doing all the work overseeing the many branches and layers of hell. The series follows him at his job solving all the problems of hell. For example, while off seeing it trouble in the circle reserved for animal abusers, Heaven sends him a problem in the form of an old Japanese folk hero gone to pot.

Yeah, Momotaro the Peach Boy has seen better days. He’s foppish and old fashioned, and his talking animal companions are looking for an escape to better employment. Momotaro just wants to do what he’s good at, slaying the oni’s he sees all around. (The subtitles always call oni’s ogres, but aside from the horns the denizens of hell don’t look much like ogres. I never liked that particular transliteration.) Hozuki tries to talk down the obnoxious Momotaro, berates his helpers into submission, and then finally draws his impressive spiked club. The situation is resolved when Hozuki offers the group various employment.

This is where I could see this series having a lot lost in translation. Almost immediately we start getting a few topical, pop-culture like references that no one living outside of Japan will get. Combines with the unfamiliar mythology it presents a steep learning curve for a comedy. I hope this isn’t a series which starts to rely on references too heavily, or we’ll have another Sayaonara Zetsubou-sensei situation on our hands, minus the cute school girls.

The second half of the episode shows what Hozuki is up to when he’s on lunch break, tending his goldfish garden and chatting with the boss while watching nature programs. It’s funny to hear the stoic and scowling Hozuki daydream about going on vacation to Australia to hug koalas. To counteract that normal desire to get away are the goldfish plants. There’s something very unsettling about goldfish growing on plant stems, row upon row of them, flapping around in the breeze. Even more unsettling when they scream… and oh god, what is going on during the end credits for this show.

For all of the strangeness on display in this show so far, the animation is quite superb. The backgrounds have a sumi-e art style, making sure the audience knows exactly where the show is pulling it’s inspiration from. The characters move on top of that with vigor and detail, creating a surprisingly lively world for a land of the dead. As for the music and the voice acting, well, the music is quirky and upbeat while Hozuki has a voice so deep I think I felt my desk shake. It works for the oddness of this show, but nothing stands out so far.