The Morose Mononokean II

Episode 9

The preview for this week's episode showed Ashiya's mom collapsing, which promised a week of more personal drama that focused away from the supernatural hijinks toward Ashiya's family life. That's exactly what we got—but it went in different directions than you might have anticipated. While the episode focuses a lot on Ashiya's relationship with his mother and sister, the real meaty story is about Ashiya's—or would it be less confusing to say Hanae's—relationship with his mysteriously missing father, Ashiya Sakae.

If you predicted Hanae's mother's collapse was due to some yokai activity, you're not alone. After all, the very first episode involved Hanae spending a lot of time in the school nurse's office for some vague "weakness" that turned out to be the result of Fuzzy sucking the energy out of him. His relationship with Fuzzy has improved, but it's not hard to imagine that there are other yokai out there with similar abilities. The one sucking on Hanae's mom's energy is a cute little koala yokai named Aranaki. He's a little less charming than Fuzzy, especially in how he refuses to give up on his quest to lounge on a human. But I get it; sometimes you're just so tired that the fact you might be draining someone else's energy in order to get your beauty rest is of secondary consideration. Aranaki didn't mean to hurt anybody, but he needed to get those forty winks in by any means necessary. He calms down when Hanae volunteers to be his human battery, even if he's still kind of petulant in begging for a bite of omurice.

What's interesting is what Hanae's mom says about the frequency of her "anemia symptoms." Before she got pregnant with her son, she would get bouts of anemia a lot, and Sakae's presence would mysteriously make her feel better. But it hasn't happened since until today, and Hanae happens to have the same mysterious ability to "cure" her, causing her to talk about how he takes after his dad. What this makes clear is that Ashiya Sakae could see yokai as well, something that only seems to pass through the male side of this particular family since his sister shares his mom's ignorance of it. He has to be sneaky about the way he feeds Aranaki around her, once Hanae discovers this. It's kind of interesting that he didn't notice it before; it made me wonder if his sister is around much, since we barely see her. That would be interesting given her own resentment toward their father for abandoning them. I liked how her protectiveness toward her younger brother is rooted in that; she sees the similarities between him and their father and fears that he will follow in Dad's footsteps. This adds an interesting edge to a familiar character type, so I hope that's not the last that we see of her.

This reveal about Ashiya Sakae makes Hanae intensely curious about him—and so am I. The other big detail is the resemblance that Hanae's mom notices between her husband and Abeno: the blond hair and golden eyes. Then Abeno confirms that Aoi knew Sakae. Was he a previous master of the Mononokean or Aoi's apprentice? Are he and Abeno—and by extension Hanae and Abeno—related? (I'm sure some shippers won't be pleased if that's the case.) Or is that physical trait just one that humans with enough magic obtain at some point? There is interesting world-building potential there, as well as the importance all this lends to Hanae's past, but I think the latter is more important right now, so I'm glad that it's the focus of this episode. The issue is how all these relationships affect Hanae's own view of himself and his powers—as well as his relationship to his family. At the end of the episode, he seems to choose not to learn more about why his father died, to protect his surviving family who are clearly still distraught by his disappearance. I think that's a wise choice, though I doubt that Hanae will remain satisfied for very long.

We already knew that Hanae's abilities came from his lineage, but I wonder where the information revealed about his father will take us in the future. This is especially important as Hanae learns more about his powers and grapples with the consequences of taking them too far. That could've been what led to his father's demise or at least alienation from his family, if he needed to frequently leave them. I'm guessing that all this is building toward Hanae having to decide between his obligations to the human world and the Underworld, especially as he gains both power and familiarity with yokai. His father seems to symbolize the weight of that decision hanging over his head and the fallout of deciding one way or the other.

The Morose Mononokean was a cute show in its first season, but I think the second season has more than surpassed it at this point. It's making these characters and their struggles more truly meaningful by tying them in with broader human concerns like family bonds. I was a little more hesitant to widely recommend The Morose Mononokean based on its first season to those outside of its likely fanbase, but now I'd suggest this show to a lot of people. Like Hanae himself, The Morose Mononokean II has a lot more going on than you'd expect at first glance. I love seeing it develop into the most compelling version of itself this season.

Rating: A

The Morose Mononokean II is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rose is a Ph.D. student in musicology, who recently released a book about the music of Cowboy Bebop. You can also follow her on Twitter.