Better late than never is the mantra with Muhyo to Roujī no Mahouritsu Soudan Jimusho, I guess.  I’m still not sure why this series premiered in August, or whether that means it’s going to have 9 episodes or something but nothing has been announced as far as I know (Edit: 12 eps, possibly?).  Nishi Yoshiyuki’s Weekly Shounen Jump manga ran for 18 volumes, so there’s definitely no shortage of source material to draw on.  But whatever the reasons behind the odd logistics, I’m pleased to say the premiere delivered exactly what I was expecting (right down to low review scores from modern anime fans on aggregator sites).

Adaptations of older shounen manga have become something of a thing recently, for whatever reason.  It’s always interesting to speculate on the specifics of why – in this case Nishi’s manga was quite popular, but not a top-tier seller.  There’s also the fact that the series currently has a web-only sequel running, so pumping that up may be part of the equation too.  Or it may simply be that somebody highly placed on the production side of the business has a soft spot for it – most fans don’t realize how many non-commercial anime (not that there are many of them) get made primarily for that reason.

As for me, I first became aware of Muhyo and Rouji (which ran from 2004-2008) during one of my countless manga grazing sessions at Borders, which inevitably included a spell of grabbing a few titles based on interesting covers and browsing them while drinking mediocre coffee at the cafe.  For me, this is the very definition of a solid series – it’s distinctively drawn, well-plotted, and clever.  A masterpiece it isn’t, but it’s way above the mediocre middle.  If any ever series ever fit a studio this one seems to fit Deen, and they’ve delivered an adaptation that represents the manga almost perfectly.  It’s very well-done without doing any one thing to knock your socks off.

Muhyo to Rouji is also the definition of a period piece – it doesn’t look or sound anything like most anime in 2018.  The story of a genius “Magical Law Executor”, Muhyo Tooru (Murase Ayumu) and his secretary Kusano “Rouji” Jiro (Hayashi Yuu), it deftly melds a weekly mystery-style structure with mahou shounen and horror elements, with a fair dose of comedy thrown in.  The tone here is very unpretentious and even earnest – this is a series that can go very dark (indeed, it already has), but makes no pretense at hipster irony.  You can see the influence of Gegege no Kitarou here, certainly – but there’s aren’t many series in the supernatural genres about which that can’t be said.

I’ll let the series spin the details of the premise at its own pace, but some of the basics come out in the premiere.  The diminutive Muhyo (a dark past is hinted at) is in the business of dispensing karmic justice, and does so with a seemingly cold and haughty air.  Rouji is a soft-hearted lad, kind of a crybaby, definitely the Yang to Muhyo’s Yin.  They peddle their services from a dingy office building, and their first on-screen client is a girl named Rie who’s preoccupied with the local legend of a ghost girl who appears on platform 5 of the local railway station.

As with Gegege no Kitarou, the episodic incidents are often reflective of daily life, and that’s certainly the case for Rie and Taeko.  When two unpopular kids become best friends and one then has their fortunes turn for the better, heartache often follows.  This is a good benchmark story for Muhyo to Rouji, as it sets expectations for the sort of tales that will follow and illustrates the different approaches the two leads take to dealing with their jobs.

I was pleased with pretty much all aspects of the execution here, including the visuals (which were quite clever).  I thought Rie’s flashback montage was especially well-done – director Kondo Nobuhiro made some unusual stylistic choices that I thought worked very well.  I don’t think this is the sort of series that needs big risk-taking and iconoclastic genius to succeed as anime – just competence and good judgment – but a little flair never hurt anybody, and this premiere has it.  All in all Muhyo to Roujī no Mahouritsu Soudan Jimusho delivered everything I was expecting, and the manga is so solid that it’s hard to imagine the anime won’t be very entertaining.  I just hope it’s given a long-enough run to really give the material its due.

Omake: