Hoozuki no Reitetsu is an incredibly versatile series, even by the standards of the anime comedy elite where versatility is a standard virtue.  This week saw this season’s strongest focus on two elements that are part of the fabric of this series – Japanese mythology and bittersweet melancholy.  That’s not to say this episode wasn’t funny – even when it’s serious Hoozuki no Reitetsu finds time to be hilarious – but it was definitely weighted towards the weightier side of the show’s canon.

First off we got another tale of Hoozuki’s youth – this time in the company of the mischievous Uzu and the timid Yomogi (who we’ve seen already in older forms).  Hoozuki-kun fancies himself a magician, though his skills in that area seem to be rather deficient.  Bored boys often get into trouble, even in Hell, and it’s the ringleader Uzu (Hoozuki is the brains of the outfit, and Yomogi the conscience) who decides they should go up to the surface world and check out a rumored hottie named Princess Sakuya.

Most of us know the tale of the moon princess Kaguyahime by now, but Sakuyahime – while not as well-known in the West (perhaps because it’s less sampled in anime and manga) was an important figure, the avatar of the sakura and the Kami of Mt. Fuji.  She was married to the God Ninigi (revered as the great-grandfather of the first emperor, Jinmu), who became suspicious when she got pregnant after they’d only been together once.  That it should have been the scheming little Hoozuki-kun that cooked up the folkloric scheme she used to convince him seems entirely in-character.

Next up is a rather powerful and sad chapter about Children’s Limbo – even in a comedy, almost by nature a quite melancholy subject.  We finally get the full-on introduction of Jizou-sama here, the Bodhisattva tasked with protection of children and travelers.  He and Enma are theoretically the “carrot and stick” – the kindness and stern correction aspects of the same deity – but as Shiro points out, Enma-sama is really far too kind himself to fill the role.  He’s as heartbroken about small children being stuck in Limbo as Jizou is, and really is more the “neutral” – it’s Hoozuki-sama who takes on the role of the stick (with enthusiasm, even where children are concerned).

I’m not sure if the tale of “Mesiah Kimura” is a reference to any specific Japanese legend or a direct reference to Christianity, but it’s interesting.  It’s hard not to feel for these tiny souls, mired in Limbo stacking J*nga tiles as they wait to be reincarnated.  What Hoozuki points out is perfectly true – it’s only in recent times that children dying has become something tragic and rare (indeed, the fact that a child reaching age seven was something to be celebrated is the reason for the Japanese “Shichi-Go-San” festival observances).  No doubt Hoozuki sees something of himself in the fierce and defiant Mesiah-kun (though that doesn’t stop him from unleashing the ultimate adult horror, the injection, to keep him in line), which is why he expedites the boy’s reincarnation (as a girl).  Hoozuki too is kind in his own way – though it’s often hard to see it…