Subculture Anime Blog

Mahjong Legend Mokona

Summary:

On a wonderful spring day, Yuuko and the others visit Doumeki’s shrine to play mahjong. Watanuki is only confused as to why they are doing this, and even further confused when everyone around quickly beats him. As Watanuki does not know any of mahjong’s rules, Yuuko attempts to help him by offering many books on the subject. Only taking a look at one of the books, Watanuki starts to believe he has gotten a hang of the rules. When Watanuki finally plays a round of mahjong, he can still only wonder why everyone has gone out of the way to play. It turns out that Watanuki is still overwhelmed by the others when the tries to play, however, so he begins to read again. Watanuki’s mood is brightened when Himawari appears, though she had only come to return a book to Doumeki. After presenting the group with a cake and watching them play for awhile, Himawari returns home.

While the group continues to play, Mokona begins to take the lead. Watanuki, on the other hand, continues to be destroyed. Watanuki finally asks Yuuko again why they are playing mahjong, but she does not give him a clear answer. After a bit more playing, the Ame Warashi appears to scold Watanuki for his foolish moves. The Zashiki Warashi has also appeared, and when she reveals Watanuki’s hand, the group panics. Despite their worries, however, Watanuki is still unable to beat them. After this, the spirit from the sakura tree finally moves on. Yuuko reveals the calming effects the mahjong sounds had, as Watanuki expresses his belief that Kohane would be glad as well. That night afterwards, Yuuko has Watanuki prepare something for her at the current location. Alone with Yuuko, Doumeki recalls that the incantation he read was not enough to help the spirit move on. Yuuko assures him that she was probably still happy to hear it, as Doumeki goes to retrieve a payment of wine for Yuuko. As Yuuko raises a toast to the spirit who has now moved on, a lone sakura petal falls into her cup.

Preview: Activities of summer and a pinky promise.

Impression:

Wow, this almost felt like a Zetsubou Sensei episode with all the references! There was a Hatsune Miku one, Watanuki’s face shifting into Akagi’s, and Watanuki calling Mokona a “Kuro Manju” (which I thought was a subtle TRC reference). As I suspected from last week, this episode stretched the single mahjong chapter from the manga into a full episode. I can already see some fans complaining about this, but again, I’ve never really had a problem with it. xxxHolic “fillers” just don’t feel like fillers at all in my opinion. I enjoyed this episode to the fullest, and being able to see more of the Zashiki Warashi is always a welcome addition for me. I will say that I was probably as lost as Watanuki when it came to the mahjong rules though. I have always wanted to learn this game, but I’ve never gotten around to putting the time needed to do it. Even without knowing anything more than the basics though, I could easily laugh at the ridiculous build ups in this episode. The end of this episode was probably the most meaningful, as Yuuko finally revealed her way of helping the sakura tree’s spirit move on. xxxHolic is the perfect series to touch on such themes, and I still love this even after reading the chapter of the manga. Next week has the return of the neko musume, and one of my favorite story arcs.