Seo or Theo? // Occult Koumuin Ep. 3 Review

Trickster with Amber Eyes: Episode 3 Review

Otaku Voice Staff

Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin episode 3 get through some big plot points in the episode. Fully introduced is our new friend Coyote, who also goes by Kohaku, a pet name from Seimei long ago. The Community Relations Division pretty quickly surmises that Coyote is the origin on the kiyoshi they face.

Sakaki is quick to point out that the kyoshi they face are in fact not zombies. Kyoshi are preserved specially to avoid rotting. That makes them especially hard to control apparently, which we see later. Seo fills in the gaps to Araki as they run from danger.

Seo or Theo?

There are some issues with this episode on Crunchyroll. In the first two episodes of Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin, Seo is written correctly as Seo. This episode the translation team decided to change the name to Theo. I looked around to see if it was wrong in the first place, but all of the other sites I could find listed is as Seo. One point of Seo’s character is how often he mentions Seo is written in katakana. Looking up the katakana lists it as セオ. Theo is written as テオ, which sounds more like Teo without the H.

Its a weird inconsistency that the Crunchyroll team wrote it the first and second episode originally as Seo, and then corrected it later on by the third episode. Seeing that highlighted a few other translations errors I picked up on. It felt like a sloppy episode overall in that department. Not that they should be perfect, but it stood out.

Abe no Seimei’s Yokai

In order to defeat Coyote, he himself poses a riddle to Araki. Since Coyote is convinced that Araki is Abe no Seimei in the flesh, he has worked on a plan to draw him out. Now that he has Seimei’s attention he wants to remember his old name. It is mildly anti-climactic to defeat the Anothers in such a simple way. Araki remembers back to his grandfather’s stories and remembers that Coyote’s pet name is Kohaku. As it turns out, Coyote just happens to be the trickster god of the Aztecs. Like Loki of Norse mythology, he just wants attention, and seems to have gotten all he needed.

The whole time, Coyote was holding three girls hostage. He was using them to control the kiyoshi. By threading another Another’s hair through the kiyoshi and to the girls, he is able to bring them to life. It was also pretty convenient that he found some old lost kiyoshi that were being prepared to WWII.

The missing girls discovery uncovers another plot point we will definitely be revisiting. Sakaki’s sister has been missing, and the new found knowledge of a demon stealing the girls opens up the cold case. Overall the episode gets a lot of information in. It sets up Coyote who should be an interesting character to watch to say the least. Who knows how many more gods of old they will meet and befriend.

[Source and Further Reading]
[Episode 2 Review]
[Image via Crunchyroll]