I almost always enjoy the comic relief episodes of Gegege no Kitarou 2018, but I almost think of them as a separate series.  As such, I tend to compare them against each other rather than against the series as a whole.  And by that standard, this was one of the best – certainly the most hilarious Kitarou episode for several weeks.

You’re off to a good start with one of these eps when you focus on Ittan-Momen.  That’s because Yamaguchi Kappei is, quite simply, one of the finest comic actors in anime history.  He’s always very good as Rollo Cloth but frankly, he doesn’t often have that much to do.  In fact this is really the first GGGnK 2018 episode I can think of that featured Ittan-Momen as the central character.  Nurikabe, Medama-oyaji, Sunakake-baba and Konaki-jiji – they’ve all had their spotlight dance (or dances).  But unless my memory is faulty I don’t think Ittan-Momen really has.

When you think of Ittan, of course the first thing that comes to mind is his perpetual romantic pining.  Showing that its radar it ever attuned to pop culture fads, GGGnK takes on the reality TV share house genre – except this time there are no cameras.  I like the episodes where Nezumi-otoko is engaged in low-key grifts like the BiBiBi House rather than actively working for the dark side – they’re much more fun.  The idea here is simple – because young people in Japan aren’t hooking up like they used to (true), a house where young humans and youkai can cohabit and make romance blossom.  Or something.

Hilariously, in addition to Ittan-Momen the two “hot guys” Ratman brings to BiBiBi House are Kawasou and Tofu-Kozou.  Fortunately one of the human girls that shows up is Ma-chan (Fuchigami Mai, making here Kitarou debut).  She claims to just be along for the ride and later confides to Rollo Cloth that she avoids relationships for fear of getting hurt, but as a you-taku (and maybe a shotacon) she’s the only one of the human trio not disappointed at the demon dudes on the guest list.  In fact the other two girls decide to call in Kitarou to help – probably initially to bust up the scam, but when they see how cute Kita-chan is they just want him to join the party.

There’s some really funny stuff here, starting with Medama-oyaji pushing Kitarou to play along (much to Neko-musume’s horror) so he can get some practice with romance in.  This is clearly a matter of some importance to Medama-oyaji, but as Neko-musume could tell him that’s pretty much a lost cause.  Wholesome hijinks ensue until one of the girls knocks over a stone lantern at the local shrine, releasing the fire youkai Koro-bi (Shioya Kouzou).  He’s understandably pissed at having his home deconstructed, and eventually ends up trying to take it out on Ma-chan, leading to the perfect opportunity for Ittan-Momen to prove his worth.  Unfortunately, he’s weak against fire (well, that just makes sense).

Poor Ittan-Momen…  I certainly saw it coming, but that was indeed a cruel twist (wring?) for him.  Ma-chan proves herself quite the fetishist, declaring that her preference for Kawasou is because she likes hairy guys.  He’s clearly not up for this, but we don’t get to see how all that ends up.  My favorite part of the third act comes when Koro-bi – heretofore only having uttered “Toro!” – politely interrupts the others to ask what he should do next.