Hozuki No Reitetsu
Episode 10 – Dinner Of The Ten Kings Of The Afterlife/Diets Are Hell
Another week, another episode and I’m so glad because I cannot get enough of Hozuki No Reitetsu. Welcome back to another installment of Hozuki No Reitetsu Anime Impressions, I hope you’ve all been as excited about this new episode as I have! This week marks the release of Hozuki No Reitetsu episode ten: An episode where in which ten good old friends (who just so happen to be the kings of hell) get together once again for a feast and a good old talk but with eating and drinking comes a great deal of weight gain and, for a man the size of King Enma, it’s probably NOT a good idea to gorge yourself on the offerings of the dead…even if they ARE delicious!
Dinner Of The Ten Kings Of The Afterlife:
It takes more than just one demon king to rule over hell, in fact, it takes TEN of them to do that and we should all be thinking the lords up in paradise that they’re not all as goofy as the King Enma…I don’t want him to be the only one in charge of my afterlife. Every once in a while the ten kings of hell decide to come together to break some bread and to celebrate each other the only way they know how; with a feast to end all feasts.
Throughout the episode we’re introduced to all ten of the kings but the most impressive introduction is the one done through song by Hozuki himself, who would have thought Hozuki could make learning fun. I wouldn’t say a great deal happens in the top half of this weeks episode, it’s basically a huge dinner with some interesting characters but none of them seem to actually be any of the ten kings…it’s just the usual suspects. What I didn’t exactly enjoy about this half was that they didn’t take the chance to make the ten kings goofy, silly or give them any real outstanding personality traits.
They were simply used as a group of normal-type demon/people that contrasted the odd relationship between Hozuki and Enma. While that was a good way of going about showing just how ridiculous the pair are side-by-side, the audience has already come to an understanding that Hozuki and Enma are mental, this episode could have been used to show some interesting new characters and there was plenty of room for some mass gags but the opportunity wasn’t taken.
That’s not to say it was a bad episode because it still featured some goofy conversation, I just feel it could have been executed a great deal better. What I DID like about this half of the episode is pretty much the usual; I found it interesting when they went into small detail about the afterlife and how they judge the souls of the dearly departed, how they deal with all the food offerings for those who have passed on and what each of the kings exactly do. Though I don’t know too much about the Japanese belief systems I have a feeling Hozuki No Reitetsu is fairly accurate even though it is over exaggerated and silly.
Diets Are Hell:
Leading straight off from the first half of the episode, despite a new name, this half revolves around the consequences of overeating and generally not caring about your diet. UNfortunately for a big man like King Enma he has Hozuki to help him loose a couple of kilos, sculpting him into a beautiful shape that doesn’t resemble a football. The half episode kicks off with King Enma not being able to reach down to the ground to grab his pen, realising he’s too fat to move around he decides to hit the gym once he finishes off work and Hozuki, who’s always within hearing range of every single character in the anime, insists that he comes with him as a personal trainer. Hozuki being Hozuki you can already imagine the pain King Enma is going to be put through but he isn’t alone because our friends Nasubi, Karauri, and Shiro (alongside his gang) decide that maybe its time for them to loose some weight as well, even though Shiro is the only other one of them to have a weight problem.
First they start off at the gym, while the others are just doing their own thing King Enma is being looked over by Hozuki who is a personal trainer you DON’T want looking over you. Hozuki seems to believe in “tough love” thinking it will make it a lot easier for Enma to loose weight and will probably build more character, though it’s not like the king of hell needs more character. After seemingly normal gym exercises don’t seem to be working, Hozuki calls upon the help of Oko the most beautiful resident of hell.
He assumes that she’d have some amazing workout/diet tips for the group and, well, he assumes correct. She leads them on a weightless excursion through both the coldest and hottest parts of hell, assuming that going in between blistering heats and freezing colds help to make the metabolism stranger and faster but all it really does is get them lost in a blizzard. They find shelter and quickly ditch the diets as they pray to whatever Gods a demon prays to that they could get something to eat and when a friendly demon stumbles across them and takes offers them a nice warm meal and some drinks back at his home, the group rushes off to fill their bellies.
What I really liked is how this half episode came full circle with the start showing King Enma unable to reach his pen on the floor and the end showing the exact same thing only, this time around, he’s just going to keep his mouth shut about wanting to lose some weight. It’s just anojther kooky episode of Hozuki No Reitetsu and I think I enjoyed this half of the episode more because it was just silly rather than also somewhat educational. Though I enjoy when Hozuki No Reitetsu delves deeper into Japanese mythology I also enjoy it when they just get outright stupid with it so I’m fairly happy either way, it just so happens that this particular half of the episode was one that I favoured more. The series is still doing well overall but I have noticed a decline in the humour over the past couple weeks and I just hope it picks back up soon because I truly want to enjoy this series while it lasts.
Check out more Hozuki No Reitetsu impressions HERE.
