Belligerent Drunken Monkeys // Occult Koumuin Ep. 4 Review

Fixed-Point Observation in Kabukicho: Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin Episode 4

Otaku Voice Staff

Its that time of the year for our heroes to checkup on some of the other Another from around their ward. Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin episode 4 takes on a tour of what we haven’t seen yet. Sakaki and Seo leave with Arata to monitor and checkup on some of the other Another that live outside of the park. Its a great moment to look around at both some of the other places around Tokyo after spending so much time in the park, and a chance to observe some of the other species of Another.

My favorite of the species they observe are the drunken gorillas and the bizarre perv they find in the abandoned building. The belligerent monkeys quickly recognize that Arata has the ears of sand. It seems like word is getting around amongst the Another that Seimei is back. Not much else is revealed about who is spreading the information. The weird perv that freaks out Arata is just hilarious in his own little way. Just sitting on a table stirring his beads while hunched over nude. Really makes you think that some of the mythology that humans have come up with is very bizarre.

Kio Gongen Shrine

There is in fact a seventh Another besides the monkeys, the dryad, the perv, the owl, the horse monk, and the hyena. Kio Gongen hasn’t been seen in decades and he has just awoken from his long sleep. That means it is time for a festival. Unfortunately for the police officer Haguro, the festival is a hundred years of drinking sake.

Arata and company see Kio dragging the officer through the streets and decide to follow him. Seo points out that in order for the Another to enter his base, he needs to follow a certain path. It feels like later in the episode this is applicable to their escape of the shrine, but feels like it was ignored.

When they confront Kio Gongen, in order to win back the police officer, they challenge the Another to a drinking game. Now earlier in the episode Sakaki makes a point of telling Arata not to take any drinks offered by an Another. They might be trying to eat you. Instead of taking his own advice, Sakaki forges ahead with getting drunk off the saki along with Seo and Arata. There was not a chance they are going to beat the Another, and they are forced to call for help.

This is where I thought the specific path conversation was leading towards. Arata goes to get backup from Senda, but he can’t find his way back away from the shrine. It seems like he needs to take a specific path away in order to succeed which is why Kio Gongen was so ambivalent to his backup plan. Kio knows that Arata cannot escape. It just so happens that the drunken monkeys show up right in time to take over and save the day. All the free alcohol and booze for them. It would have been great to make a point of not being able to escape without knowing the specific path out, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Who Knows Abe no Seimei

It is interesting to see how long some of these Another have been around. The hyena came over with the Americans during the occupation of Japan post WWII. Coyote has been around for hundreds of centuries, having lived as a trickster god among the Aztecs. The drunken monkeys don’t seem to have been around too long. They only recognize Arata as the one with the ears of sand and not as Abe no Seimei. Kio Gongen on the other hand does recognize Seimei in Arata. He seems to have been around back then. It does pose a question about where do these Another come from? Its a comical episode from Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin episode 4, but not a fully fleshed one.

[Sources and Further Reading]
[Episode 3 Review]
[Images via Crunchyroll]