I closed last week’s post with my reaction to the preview: “I look forward to next week’s episode with a mix of curiosity and dread.”  And those words were well-chosen even if I say so myself, because this was a squirrely and uncomfortable 22 minutes on the level Gegege no Kitarou only seems to achieve when it broaches this theme.  I appreciate the sentiment behind the effort, but the execution left an awful lot to be desired.

I think what it comes down for me is this: as any foreigner who’s spent any time here could tell you, the Japanese have a unique ability to be sympathetic and condescending at the same time.  At its core, one can’t argue with the message of this episode.  Japan is a place where foreigners are treated extremely shabbily.  Abuses on the level of what you saw here (and far worse) are commonplace.  Many foreigners have died either directly from that abuse or been driven to suicide by it.  It remains a xenophobic country, and it’s worth remembering that it was almost completely isolationist for most of the past thousand years and more.

All of the obvious caveats apply – no one who lives in glass houses should be throwing stones.  Mistreatment of foreign workers (legal and illegal) is common in many countries, most certainly including the United States.  I would argue that what sets Japan apart is the way it’s institutionalized this mistreatment – rather than being hush-hush, it’s practically mandated – but that’s neither here nor there.  And ultimately (more so than with the foreign youkai subplot in the “Western Youkai” arc) I think it’s clear that the sympathy of the writing was with the foreign worker.

But the devil is in the details, as they say.  Our foreign worker is Chin-**** (Sugita Tomokazu – kind of jarring to hear such a popular mainstream seiyuu in GGGnK).  His name is the Japanese kiddie word for penis.  He’s an odd color and runs around naked.  He has an enormous nose.  He speaks comical pidgin Japanese and comes from a “village” where the children lounge around outside their primitive huts all day, and comes to wealthy Japan to earn money for them.  This is where I think most Japanese racism (apart from the hardcore nationalists) tends to differ from most Western racism – it’s legitimately, honestly borne of ignorance.  I imagine if you talked to most Japanese – including the folks behind this episode – they would probably have no idea why all this was so fucking offensive.

Mana does her best to salvage some dignity for the proceedings.  She’s a wonderful character, truly – such an endearingly plucky and kind little thing, and the only one who doesn’t talk down (much) to “Chin-san”.  But it’s a losing struggle.  I genuinely do admire Toei for taking the issue of foreign worker mistreatment on, because it’s not like we see many anime which have the balls to do that.  I admire that this series has honored Mizuki-sensei’s unbridled subversiveness by updating it to reflect on the big issues of the moment.  But at the end of the day watching this episode just made me want to take a shower for about three weeks.