Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Episode 12

The final episode of Gugure! Kokkuri-san is timely, featuring both a Christmas-themed segment and a couple of New Year's stories. As a sucker for holiday specials, I have to give the show bonus points for scheduling the episode at exactly the right time, something not every anime can pull off depending on the season in which it airs. Of course, Gugure! Kokkuri-san celebrates these holidays in a way only a show this amusing (and oftentimes amusingly offensive) can.

The Christmas segment opens with a pedophilia joke much more threatening than Inugami's dozen such jokes each week, but if you've been following the series all season, that ought to be no surprise. The one-shot character is a socially-awkward lawyer who wants Kokkuri and Kohina to help him connect with his young (cutely tsundere) daughter on Christmas. (Strangely, he's also the first normal person to recognize Kokkuri as a spirit, and his reasons for freaking out about that are exceedingly funny.) The show might not be the first to use the twist at the end of the story, but it does a commendable job of keeping viewers in the dark before the reveal.

In the next story, Kokkuri has trouble getting Kohina, Shigaraki and Inugami to help out with the traditional end-of-year cleaning thanks to a comfortable, warm kotatsu. Once they finally pitch in, one of them is far more of a hindrance than a help. As always, Gugure! Kokkuri-san takes the joke to extremes, and it succeeds in pulling it off. Instead of fluffing off the insane things that happen like other animated comedies might, the show hits the reset button by way of a clever Dragon Ball reference.

The final segment, though not as funny, is short and sweet. Kokkuri, Kohina and company visit a shrine for the first time in the New Year to make wishes. While Kokkuri makes a touching, schmaltzy wish and hints that he may have had some connection to Kohina's ancestors, the rest of the cast makes wishes far more in character. The side characters, even the ones who barely appeared (like Tengu, who never showed up in human form despite his appearance in the opening credits), get one last chance to pop up and shine. Gugure! Kokkuri-san episode 12 focuses on the characters who give the show the most heart and humor, and everyone who appears plays their roles perfectly. The multiple segments ensure the stories aren't as drawn out as last week's entry.

Gugure! Kokkuri-san is a true comedy through and through, rarely bothering with plots that don't serve its jokes. When it works, it works very well, and even the episodes that aren't up to the standards of the best seldom bore. Visually pleasant at every turn, the adorable aesthetic of the characters is especially effective considering how it clashes with the adult nature of many of the jokes. Because of the nature of its humor, Gugure! Kokkuri-san isn't for everyone, but if edgy, slapstick-heavy hilarity makes you roll in the aisles, it's one of 2014's must-see titles.

Rating: A

Gugure! Kokkuri-san is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Amy is a YA fantasy author who has loved anime for nearly two decades.