Hozuki's Coolheadedness: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Hozuki's Coolheadedness: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 30, 2015

There’s a kind of Seinfeld-ian corner of anime that’s been called “slice of life,” where nothing much happens and characters can kind of drift through a vignette laden universe that never amounts to much. Hozuki’s Coolheadedness might be thought of as a “slice of death” anime, as a somewhat whimsical depiction of the lower levels of the afterworld are front and center in the piece. Like slice of life anime, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness plays out in a series of vignettes, though in this case those tend to be separate mini-episodes (or something like that) within each actual episode. Hozuki is a kind of midlevel executive assistant to Great King Enma, a sort of Buddhist equivalent to Hades (and the subject of another anime, Ghastly Prince Enma Burning Up). Hozuki’s Coolheadedness offers a multilayered hell that is reminiscent of the sort of strata laden environment that was part of Dante’s Divine Comedy. That kind of bureaucracy requires management (and middle management), and Hozuki’s Coolheadedness often offers a playfully farcical portrayal of Hozuki scuttling around various nooks and crannies of a rather arcanely organized region and trying to straighten up as he proceeds.

While the basic setup of Hozuki’s Coolheadedness is rather simple, its presentation is fairly baroque, so much so that Sentai Filmworks has included a lot of supplementary text material that crops up to help explain pop culture references and the show’s reliance on Japanese wordplay. That means that the first viewing of Hozuki’s Coolheadedness may be at least slightly annoying, as it’s necessary quite a bit of the time to pause the proceedings to be able to read all the information that’s being offered on screen.

If you can get past that initial hiccup (and it may be a big if, given how furiously the information flies by), Hozuki’s Coolheadedness offers an admittedly outré but often very enjoyable experience that makes the most of Hozuki’s kind of (mostly) tamped down, slightly despairing tone that, as he states in an early episode, “everything ends up on his desk.” This anime in fact kind of recasts the working environment of Hell as something of an office comedy. In much the same way live action series set in workplaces cull their humor from the interplay between various employees, there’s much the same approach taken here, at least insofar as Hozuki interfaces with his boss, the gregarious but at times socially inept Enma. Like any good executive assistant, Hozuki tries to keep his boss on the straight and narrow, something that occasionally raises Enma’s ire.

There are some interesting cultural asides that wend their way into various episodes. One episode deals with those who abuse animals (with a perfectly ironic punishment in store), while a much later episode gets into the Japanese tradition of providing offerings for the departed in the hopes of bettering their afterlives. In this particular instance what a bigger offering does is reduce the deceased’s time and punishment in Hell, and there’s a rather interesting debate (presented in a comedic context) about whether that approach “favors the 1%”, to purloin a phrase from Western parlance. In fact Hozuki gets caught up in the debate between a coalition of ten rulers of various aspects of the underworld afterlife in trying to determine whether or not such a system is fair.

The anime’s off kilter presentation style spills over into some of the animation, with elements like Hozuki’s hobby of growing “goldfish flowers” offering a kind of quasi-psychedelic ambience that may remind some of great sixties’ outings like Yellow Submarine. In fact there’s a playfully subversive quality to Hozuki’s Coolheadedness that skewers sociopolitical conventions on both sides of the Pacific with equal relish. The Sino-centric references are the densest, though, and those with a knowledge of Japanese popular culture will probably get the most out of this series, at least on first viewing.

Even other culture’s Hells come in for a send up in Hozuki’s Coolheadedness, which may provoke laughter in those willing to laugh at their own religion’s foibles. Great King Enma just doesn’t have much interest in meeting Satan, and part of one episode details Hozuki acting as emissary. Various other hellish or at least demonic entities from various cultures show up throughout the series, with Hozuki typically having to interact in his own slightly bored, annoyed manner.

For all its whimsy and general inventiveness, Hozuki’s Coolheadedness is frequently noisier than it is funny. This is a show that tends to browbeat the audience with zinging referents and a busy aesthetic but which actually seems to intentionally shy away from provoking consistent laughs. There’s silliness in abundance here, but it’s slightly tempered by the subtext of things like souls in a Disneyland-esque line awaiting final judgment where (just for laughs?) their tongues may be yanked from their mouths.

Hozuki's Coolheadedness: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hozuki's Coolheadedness is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is an incredibly bright and colorful anime that blends various aesthetics. Some scenes have the look of ancient Japanese art, with a slightly airbrushed appearance in the backgrounds (see screenshot 5). Other scenes have different elements combined with those "arty" backgrounds, like the red river running through part of Hell (see screenshot 3). Character designs are quite unique, with Hozuki and his minions having slight horns and demonic looking eyes. Enma also has a very interesting gargantuan appearance that seems influenced by Hayao Miyazaki. Colors are bold and very well saturated, and line detail is very strong and precise. There are no issues with image instability.

Hozuki's Coolheadedness: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hozuki's Coolheadedness features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track in the original Japanese only. This is a very busy mix that probably would have benefited from the increased breathing space a surround mix could have offered, but while stuffed to the gills with competing elements, there are no issues with fidelity or clarity. Since my hunch is many if not most potential consumers will be using the subtitles, the sometimes cartwheeling elements that spill over each other in terms of overlapping dialogue and effects won't present much if any of a problem.

Hozuki's Coolheadedness: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Clean Opening Animation (1080p; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animation
(1080p; 1:32)

Hozuki's Coolheadedness: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If this extremely quirky series isn't always laugh out loud hilarious, it's generally amusing enough, providing both a baseline of whimsical humor as well as some enjoyably snarky characters. Making Hell a kind of underworld office tower is a great premise, and Hozuki's propensity to sigh his way through various predicaments may be especially resonant with those stuck in their own hellish work cubicles. The series has a very distinctive design aesthetic which also adds to its luster. While there's not much here in the way of supplements, Hozuki's Coolheadedness's intentions are good, and we all know where that paving leads. Recommended.