English Dub Season Review: Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation Season Two

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Muhyo and Roji continue to solve cases as the corruption of the Magical Law Association is brought to light. After they lose a contest Roji and Muhyo go their separate ways for a while. Roji takes the Magical Law exam and grows as a person without depending on Muhyo’s approval. The Magical Law exam turns deadly when a dangerous spirit sneaks in through another spirit. It forces the practitioners to work together and survive. They manage to make it out thanks to Roji’s high spirit energy and he understands why Muhyo chose him as his assistant.

Meanwhile, Muhyo prepares with Yoichi and Biko a contract with Hades himself to save Enchu and Rio. After a long fight, he earns the contract and reunites with Roji. However, their rival Goryo is in trouble with his old mentor, Thomas and they go to save him and get information on Enchu’s whereabouts. They defeat Thomas with Hades and continue their work in their office.

 

Our Take:

This season of Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation was good. However, it’s a long season spent on minor events rather than the group’s main goal to save Enchu and Rio. In between those events, we do get a bit of the overall plot progression with the theft of Forbidden Law text and Muhyo and Roji going through their respective trials to grow and save Enchu and Rio. The animation and voice acting were good at least. I will admit that the twins that Roji meets in his exam were great with their dialogue. Their in-sync dialogue did unnerve me while watching the exam transform into a hunt.

The anime still retains its horror aspect with the spirits’ design and the conflicts between the Magical Law Association and Arc. However, some of the villains’ evil actions are cartoonish like Thomas. The only reason why they were able to know about his facade was that he took a book from the children and didn’t want to give it back. The simplistic reason was jarring in comparison to his actions later with kidnapping Goryo. Then there are the cases like the mother and daughter spirit from the abandoned complex. The season has moments like that which emphasize the reason why Muhyo and Roji work on these supernatural cases: to save people.

Now Muhyo (Todd Haberkorn) remains the same as in the first season. While Roji is gaining his self-confidence, he faces Hades, the most powerful envoy in existence with the help of Yoichi and Biko. The fight was good and shows how Hades is strong and the lengths Muhyo is willing to go to in rescuing Enchu and Rio. Other than that there’s the difference between him and Goryo, a rival Magical Law practitioner. Despite his mean personality, his methods are safer than Goryo’s plus he doesn’t treat Roji like garbage.

Jiro Kusano a.k.a Roji (Khoi Da) does more in this season thanks to his separation from Muhyo. We get their backstory which helped on how they partnered up and the reason why Muhyo chose him. He still retains some of his meek personality after his exam. However, that doesn’t diminish his feats like trapping a high-level malicious spirit during his exam turned murder fest.

Then there’s the duo’s rivals in this season Daranimaru Goryo (Johnny Yong Bosch) and Ebisu (Ed Bosco) who take their office as part of a contest. They basically embody the greedy corruption of the Magical Law Association. Their partnership is the opposite of Muhyo and Roji’s partnership in terms of strategy over strength. Later the two come to know each other better after the final conflict in the season involving Thomas.  Their relationship growing from its one-sided evil boss and scumbag lackey relationship was good.

Meanwhile, Soratsugu Madoka a.k.a Enchu (Mark Whitten) and Rio (Cherami Leigh) appear on occasion through the season. Their scenes help with minor reminders to the overall plot and give a bit more depth to Enchu’s character. Unfortunately, it was disappointing to see that the show set them aside for their associate, Thomas in the final episodes.

Overall this season of the dark fantasy anime was average. It had a slow progression, but the other characters like Goryo and Ebisu helped make it interesting. The ending opens the door for another season, so hopefully, there will be a third season to conclude their journey.