Hoozuki no Reitetsu

Hell is a bureaucracy, and business is running smoother than ever thanks to the demonic efficiency of Hoozuki, chief deputy to Lord Enma, the King of Hell. Whether offering counsel to the Momotarou of Japanese folklore or receiving diplomatic missions from the Judeo-Christian Hell, the demon who runs the show from behind the king's imposing shadow is ready to beat down any challenges coming his way into a bloody pulp. Metaphorically, of course...

The poster boy for micromanagement and armed with negotiation skills worthy of Wall Street, Hoozuki no Reitetsu follows the sadistic and level-headed Hoozuki as he spends his days troubleshooting hell. With an abundance of familiar faces from popular Japanese legends and East Asian mythology working middle management positions, this referential and anachronistic dark comedy brings new meaning to the phrase "employer liability." Just how hard could it be to manage employees from hell, anyway?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hoozuki Main

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Hakutaku Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Shiro Supporting

Kobayashi, Yumiko Japanese

Karashi Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Nasubi Supporting

Aoyama, Touko Japanese

Peach Maki Supporting

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Okou Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Enma Daiou Supporting

Nagasako, Takashi Japanese

Yasha-Ichi Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Satan Supporting

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Wada, Jouji Producer

Nakatake, Tetsuya Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Hashimoto, Ryuu Producer

Reviews

Oct 26, 2023

Kizna_Towryk

Recommended

Since this series is technically 13 episodes, I can't suggest it for the club wide anime review so I'll just post it here. What's more Halloween related than Hell, right?

Series is a dark comedy and treats Hell as if it were an office workspace. It also explores Japanese folklore as well as many other religions and their hells. There are even some demon idols and womanizing heavenly beings going for after work beers at the izakaya. If I haven't mentioned already there are also singing goldfish plants, murderous rabbits, and even an excrement hell!

The series is from Sentai Filmworks and WIT Studio so animation ... is good, but it definitely isn't S tier ufotable quality. Music used is relatively upbeat and catchy, reminiscent of a drunk sing along.
Show overall is pretty easy-going and easy to pick up and put down since the main arc of the first season just shows how Hell is run. If this show ends up being your cup of tea there is another season, 2 ovas and a lot of specials, so there's more than enough to watch if you're into it.

I think it's a great underrated dark comedy a breath of fresh air in the genre. I like the series so much Hozuki is in my top 10 so..yeah 10/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 31, 2023

literaturenerd

Recommended

Cool Headed Hoozuki came out almost 10 years ago and to this day remains one of the most underrated comedy anime outside of Japan. The basic premise is that Buddhist Hell is an incompetently run bureaucracy and is only kept operational due to the incredible micro-managing and organizational skills of a single ogre named Hoozuki. Reception in the United States was mixed at best with many critics calling the series inexcusably boring, dry, and even "A Japanese Dilbert that requires a PhD in Japanese cultural studies to get any of the jokes. The series was licensed in the US and quietly given a physical release, ... but it never received a dub.

Honestly its reputation as dry, boring, and difficult to understand, is rather undeserved. Comedy is highly subjective, but I personally think Hoozuki is hilarious. The series does reference a lot of Japanese folktales and myths, but you really don't need a PhD in Japanese literature. All you really need is a cursory knowledge of some very famous Japanese stories that you've probably seen referenced in dozens of other anime and manga. The average viewer will have to look up a few of these stories if you want to fully appreciate every joke, but it's not that bad. It also references 1980s anime like Fist of the North Star and Urusei Yatsura almost as often as it does mythology! Let me give you an example. One of the jokes is that they meet Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who is a character from a Japanese epic poem called Tale of the Heike. Yoshitsune is a highly effeminate looking samurai who is secretly a badass and was trained by the tengu, who are Japanese mythical creatures who live in the mountains and according to tradition taught humans how to do sumo wrestling. Since Tale of the Heike repeatedly describes him as effeminate, the anime imagines him as a stereotypical "pretty boy" character with a large female following. However, he was raised by tengu and wishes to become fat so he can learn the ways of sumo, much to the horror of his fangirls. The joke isn't really hard to follow once you have a basic idea of who this character is supposed to be. This guy shows up in the game "Okami" as a character named Waka btw. I told you that you've probably seen these characters before if you consume Japanese media.

Hoozuki is an episodic comedy, so of course it relies heavily on its colorful character cast to carry the goofy humor. Hoozuki is the very deadpan, loveable asshole. King Enma is the "boke" or funny guy who does the stupid shit that Hoozuki reacts to. My favorite character though is the rabbit from the fairy tale "Kachi Kachi Yama". There's this weird Japanese fairy tale about a tanuki who was caught by a farmer. The tanuki begs for his life so pitifully that the farmer's wife lets him go. The tanuki then repays the farmer’s wife by raping her, murdering her, and cooking her flesh into a stew. The tanuki then disguises himself as the wife and tricks the farmer into eating the stew before immediately transforming back and mocking the farmer for having eaten his dead wife. The farmer is so crushed with sadness and rage that he visits his friend the rabbit who agrees to carry out the wrath of heaven on the tanuki. The rabbit ends up playing a series of incredibly painful tricks on the tanuki including setting him on fire, rubbing pepper in the wounds, and eventually drowning him in a lake while bashing his head in with an oar. The rabbit appears in the anime as Hell’s most gifted torturer and like in the original fairy tale is kind of an unhinged psychopath. Even after centuries, the rabbit still holds a powerful grudge against the tanuki and is driven into a blind rage whenever anyone mentions the word “tanuki” in any context. For example, the rabbit carries out extreme punishment on corporate white-collar criminals when she is reminded by Hoozuki that they are referred to in Japanese slang as “clever tanuki”.

Hoozuki also has a Chinese rival that's extremely similar to him, but they've hated each other for so long that neither can remember how it started, and of course it was over something extremely ridiculous. Japan's cultural rivalry and pointless antagonism with Chinese civilization is poked fun at frequently. Hoozuki could get into offensive territory for some, but it gives shit to everyone. Momotaro is a very important folklore figure for Japanese nationalists and the series jobs him out in the first 2 episodes and makes him a complete chump. Hoozuki makes Satan and the demons of Christian Hell into absolute buffoons and also makes fun of some Chinese figures, but it's definitely NOT a series that Japanese ultra-nationalists would appreciate.

While Hoozuki may not be to everyone’s comedic tastes, I would highly recommend checking it out. The series is widely available with excellent subs that explain all the cultural references that non-Japanese audiences might miss. As for who I would especially recommend this to, the Hoozuki mangaka is a huge fan of Urusei Yatsura and this is immediately evident if you’ve seen or read that. This is definitely a must watch for fans of Rumiko Takahashi. Even if you’re not a big fan of Grandma Takahashi though, I would still recommend watching a few episodes and seeing what you think. You’ll know pretty quickly if this is going to be your kind of comedy or not.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 20, 2015

Fragglepuss

Mixed Feelings

Hoozuki no Reitetsu

Review By: John Fragglepuss Evans

Hoozuki no Reitetsu uses a lot of Japanese mythology and history in its episodes. For example, there are many different levels of Hell for people to be sent to, based on their wrongdoings in life. There is an animal cruelty hell, where people are sent that abused animals in life. In this hell, the animals abuse the people relentlessly. The whole Hell system in the anime runs like the normal world does, with demons taking jobs and being able to travel to the different sub-hells. They even put on festivals and Satan from European Hell comes for a visit.

You ... might enjoy this if: You want to watch slice-of-life in Hell.

You might not like it if: You want character development and a continuing storyline.

Note to the Viewer: Be prepared to pause the anime if you are not familiar with Japanese mythology. Subtitles will pop up with an explanation of what is happening, but they do not stay up for long.

EXPANDED REVIEW FROM SLC ANIME: WARNING, MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS!

SLC Anime reviewed Hoozuki no Reitetsu as their anime of the month and this is what they thought of it. We will start with the positive parts of the show. The focus on Japanese folklore was appreciated by the group. There were a lot of references to folklore in every episode, which were mainly Japanese, with a few Western references peppered in. The group liked the animation style of the show as well. The characters were well done, each having a unique look and personality. The only criticism of the characters look was that Hoozuki’s single horn in the middle of his forehead was annoying.

One negative review of the anime that was shared by several people was that the episodic nature of the show did not engage the viewer. The episodes did not end and make you insist on watching another episode. The lack of an involved storyline made the show difficult to finish for some group members.

There were mixed reviews regarding some aspects of the anime. The humor was enjoyed by everybody, but some group members enjoyed it more than others. Some people thought that the jokes took too long to set up, or that the punchline of the joke ran flat. Other people thought the humor was spot on, being very dry.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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The official Twitter for Hoozuki no Reitetsu has announced that it will receive a second season to premiere in Fall 2017. It was announced during today's new O...read more

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Manga 'Hoozuki no Reitetsu' Receives New Anime Project

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Nov 21, 2016 5:19 PM by Vindstot | Discuss (23 comments)

	Poll: Hoozuki no Reitetsu Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - Feb 27, 2014	45 replies	by JVskunkape »» Apr 30, 6:14 AM
	Is the first episode a good sample for the whole serie? TetsuoXIII - Aug 30, 2019	3 replies	by RjtheGreat14 »» Jul 22, 2023 4:37 AM
	Poll: Hoozuki no Reitetsu Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Jan 9, 2014	111 replies	by laylaluvsu »» Jun 13, 2023 9:17 PM
	Poll: Hoozuki no Reitetsu Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Feb 20, 2014	53 replies	by Karva1 »» Jan 16, 2022 10:39 PM
	Poll: Hoozuki no Reitetsu Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 3, 2014	74 replies	by AswinAlexander »» Nov 2, 2021 10:41 AM

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