Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Muhyo to Rōjī no Mahōritsu Sōdan Jimusho) was originally a manga series written by Yoshiyuki Nishi and published by Shueisha. It ran from December 2004 to March 2008 (18 volumes). The anime adaptation is written by Yasuyuki Suzuki and directed by Nobuhiro Kondo.
Toru Muhyo and Jiro “Roji” Kusano run a supernatural investigation agency where they take on cases involving ghosts. Muhyo is the youngest graduated executor from the Magical Law School. He uses a book of Magical Law to pass judgment on corrupted ghosts in order to exorcise them and (usually) send them to hell.
Roji cannot wield a book of Magical Law and isn’t as powerful, but as Muhyo’s assistant, it is his job to aid and protect him by writing seals to hold the ghosts off until Muhyo can pass their sentence. In the beginning, as with many shōnen, the first several episodes are Muhyo and Roji taking a on a couple cases before the over-arching plot is revealed and then we continue here and there with a mix of cases that are tied to the bad guys until finally we are solely bad guy focused.
When I first saw it, I thought the premise sounded interesting but I wasn’t sure how good this anime would be. The animation looks a little more childish, kind of like Pokèmon or Yo-kai Watch or Yu-Gi-Oh! But unlike those shows, it makes an unexpected detour down creepy street and never looks back. It starts out subtly, like the long ghost arm grabbing some guy’s leg, but it really wasn’t so bad…and then a girl gets hit by a train…and then there are a whole lot of scary ghost hands accompanied by a genuinely creepy ghost face and in that moment I thought to myself, “this is going to be a great show.” And it was.
The over-arching plot is really intriguing and the cases they take on are unique with their own crazy/messed-up back story and an equally crazy/messed-up ghost. Muhyo also uses a new Law to enact a ridiculous punishment every time. Seriously, each sentence causes some bizarre thing to come up from hell and take the spirit back down to hell with it for eternity. One thing that I find really cool too is that Magical Law has rules. Muhyo can’t just summon any punishment he wants, the punishment has to fit the crime and if it doesn’t, it will backfire.
A lot of the negative things I saw about the show were related to the art, which I did think Muhyo looked weird but then I found out he looked that way in the manga too so I can’t fault them for that. The art fit to me somehow. I liked that it had this childish style but its really not for kids at all. It definitely warrants its T rating. I liked that correlation between a wholesome, all-ages anime where two friends have a detective agency and solve mysteries, and a more mature anime with horror elements. It made sense to me for some reason.
OVERALL SCORE: 7.5 / 10
It’s a show worth watching but may not be for everyone. Depends on how much you like supernatural horror. Which, if you do, I recommend you check it out.
