English Dub Season Review: Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

A shady, self-proclaimed hermit named Momoyuki Mogura (Alex Hom) is banned from the afterlife.  Now, he collects spirit-possessed will-o’-the-wisps in his lantern, hoping to make a comeback.  Oddly enough, it seems that all those who encounter Mogura begin to see peculiar things.  A mysterious and comedic story begins where the lives of the living and ghosts interact in the here and now!

Our Take:

Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole is an anime adaptation of a manga series written and illustrated by Natsumi Eguchi.  It is directed by Hiroshi Ishiodori, with Shinzō Fujita writing the scripts.  It is produced by Brain’s Base, known for producing other anime shows like Natsume’s Book of Friends, Princess Jellyfish, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, and An Archdemon’s Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride.  Yōko Tanabe designed the characters, and Tomoki Hasegawa composed the music.  The opening theme song, “Kamidanomi (Plea to God)”, is performed by syudou, while the ending theme, “Kenso (tumult)”, is performed by Mirin Sheeno featuring Aile The Shota.

When it comes to the supernatural, it’s crucial to have the best paranormal experts by your side.  Some may rely on such experts as the Ghostbusters and the Warrens to overcome these ghostly dilemmas.  However, others who are anime enthusiasts will likely turn to those who battle demonic entities not just with their knowledge but also with their tremendous abilities.  This latest addition to the supernatural anime category introduced fans to a new paranormal hunter who may or may not be as reliable as one might hope.  In fact, this self-proclaimed “expert” just happens to be a lazy hermit who’s excluded from the afterlife.  

Dekin no Mogura possesses the narrative fundamentals seen in not just other supernatural anime but also media involving unlikely underdog teams.  In this case, the 12-episode season sees two college students, Kuriaki Magi (Nicholas Markgraf) and Yaeko Kirihara (Kelsey Cruz), encountering a mysterious hermit named Momoyuki Mogura (Alex Hom), who’s actually a spirit seeking to collect demon fire to fuel his lantern.  Trapped in the spiritual realm of Drawer Street, Mogura reluctantly assists Magi and Yaeko in confronting the malicious spirits, resulting in them joining forces with other allies, such as Shio Inukai (SuzAnne DeCarma) and the Nekozuku family, a group of secret exorcists.  Together, they confront several spiritual adversaries, including the vengeful ghost of a sibling and a merfolk with ties to the royal Samejima family ruling over Yaeko’s island home.  At first glance, these elements had the potential to make this concept another delightfully spooky addition to the catalog of supernatural anime.  Unfortunately, regarding its execution, it turns out to be another paranormal activity that I should stay as far away from as possible.

The series goes for a more comical, light-hearted approach to the “hunting ghosts” premise, with a group of young adults confronting unusual spirits through humorous intentions.  While there is some action involved, they’re not as intense or terrifying as other supernatural horror films or anime we’ve experienced. However, there are some small bits of peril, including their encounter with the spiritual merfolk.  So, I could definitely see it being accessible to newcomers looking to dive headfirst into the genre.  However, just because it doesn’t have much supernatural action, it doesn’t usually make it interesting.  Director Hiroshi Ishiodori aimed to balance the supernatural fantasy elements with humor, incorporating pop culture references, the characters’ personalities, and visual slapstick, notably from Mogura and Shio.  While a couple of those moments seemed amusing, they couldn’t quite strike the humor chord as much as they hoped they would.  Most of the humor shown was pretty tedious and forgettable, with Fujita’s script for the English dub struggling to provide a satirical vibe in the dialogue while catering to English-speaking viewers.  It even included a “Jaws” reference in one of the episodes, to name a few.

There’s also the matter of the show providing its world-building through its dialogue-driven scenes.  The world-building is indeed crucial in generating interest in an anime, especially one involving the supernatural, but it also needs to provide a fun and unique way to express its ghostly combination of the spirit and human worlds.  Sadly, Dekin no Mogura failed to keep that theory in check, providing a sense of world-building that’s complicated to follow at times and even somehow bland regarding the characters’ conversations.  Another supernatural series from Brain’s Base, In/Spectre, features some complex elements in its world-building, but it was able to retain my interest due to its combination of supernatural horror and mystery elements.  Dekin no Mogura wasn’t able to replicate that similar process, particularly due to how barebones and mildly annoying the characters were, which makes their discussions less interesting.

That’s not to say that the English dub cast didn’t do a good job voicing the anime’s characters, with Alex Hom being the most tolerable through his voice work as Mogura.  Though it didn’t help inject the dynamic energy of the ghost-hunting crew’s chemistry.  Mogura is perceived as a self-proclaimed “expert” on the supernatural, though his actions constantly make his allies question his sanity and experience with the ghosts.  The character impacted by Mogura’s actions the most was Magi, who spends almost the entire season wondering if Mogura is actually worth trusting.  Their backgrounds do keep them from being too one-dimensional, such as Mogura’s history with Yaeko’s grandfather, but even with that, they still fall in line with being dull, formulaic, or annoying.  The prominent example of the latter is Shio, a teenage girl who’s a member of a bodybuilder family and a magnet for perverted spirits.  While SuzAnne DeCarma did all right in highlighting Shio’s perkiness, her character’s dimwitted personality came across as aggravating rather than charmingly humorous.  In short, Mogura’s ghost-hunting crew is definitely no Ghostbusters or Mystery Incorporated in regards to their chemistry and ghostly charisma.

The only positive aspect of the series was its animation from Brain’s Base, which features a visual style that combines traditional anime designs with contemporary color palettes.  One example of this was Mogura’s Drawer Street prison, particularly in the season’s first episode.  Its bluish-purple palettes and sketch-like art designs were effectively utilized to portray the distinguished realm from Magi and Yaeko’s real world and highlight the show’s graphic novel-like effects.  Regarding the supernatural genre, the animation in Dekin no Mogura doesn’t share the same relaxing vibes as Natsume’s Book of Friends, nor does it contain the grim detective essence from In/Spectre.  It has a more comic book-like appeal that reflects the show’s comical and light-hearted tone, although the show’s action and horror elements seemed underwhelming in most places.

Usually, I would be down to hunting yokai and encountering paranormal activities with any group of ghost catchers.  Shows like Dark Gathering, Natsume’s Book of Friends, and In/Spectre prove that investigating or catching spiritual foes can be a pleasant and frightening experience.  Unfortunately, Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole made me want to hunt for a sleeping bag instead of a ghost.  Given my experience with previous supernatural anime shows, Dekin no Mogura should’ve been another diverting and scarily fun addition to the genre.  Instead, it winds up being one of the most barebones and tedious series of supernatural encounters I have witnessed in my anime-watching days.  Admittedly, the show benefits well from its graphic-novel-like animation courtesy of Brain’s Base, which would appease fans of the source material’s art design.  Sadly, its presentation was easily possessed by the show’s forgettable characters, subpar direction, and world-building that’s both complex and bland.  It is the most disappointing anime adaptation I’ve seen this year, one that is more suited to the source material’s followers than casual viewers.  Hopefully, the former group has a much better time with this adaptation than I did.