YMMV / Muhyo and Roji

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • When Elena chided Rio for selling her magical law artifacts to "lechers," was she simply bullying Rio(possibly out of jealousy for the younger woman's appearance), or was she trying to get her to stop associating with people like Zoucheng?
  • How many of Rio's seemingly helpful actions during the Arcanum arc were meant to keep her cover intact and how many were genuine? On the one hand, she claims that she didn't expect her giving advice and encouragement to Roji would help him pull through against Face-Ripper Sophie, and is willing to fight against the heroes. On the other hand, she ends up blowing her cover to save Biko's life from Sophie^note More specifically, from shards of broken glass, which reminds her of the time she shielded Biko from the explosion, when it would have been safer to let Biko die, and all but confesses her Face–Heel Turn when she believes Sophie might kill her. Even after she's outed as a traitor, as well as after her Heel–Face Turn, the question isn't conclusively answered.
  • It's possible to infer that some of Goryo's issues come from having Abusive Parents. Muhyo mentions that the Goryo group became corrupt in the previous generation, which would have been when Goryo's parents were in charge, and mentions that they could be ruthless even to family members. Goryo laughing at the ghost of the woman who went insane with grief after her daughter's death may be less of a Kick the Dog moment that shows his Lack of Empathy, and more because his own parents regarded their own spouse(s) and child(ren) as replaceable, and he can't imagine any parents who think otherwise.
  • In Volume 7 of the manga, Ebisu not only defends Goryo's actions (including firing Ebisu), but doesn't even know what Roji's talking about when he asks about the "bad things" Ebisu did for Goryo. Is this because he, as a former runaway child thief, does not posses a working moral compass? Is it because he sympathizes with his savior/master Goryo enough to not question him? Or is it some combination of the two?
• Awesome Art: Several of the volume covers/color spreads are rather gorgeous, being not only detailed, but also very colorful.
• Complete Monster: Of all the villains Muhyo and Roji has encountered, these two came across as the most monstrous:
  • Teeki the Fallen, of the forbidden magic association Ark, manipulates their leader Soratsugu "Enchuu" Madoka by killing his mother and building his hatred. Responsible for nearly all the misery and suffering in the first half of the manga, Teeki disguises himself as various members of Magic Law Association—MLS—in order to manipulate a desperate teacher, Rio Kurotori, and plans to unleash the powers of a book that would kill millions. Toying with the emotions of a troubled girl, Teeki convinces her to join him, promising it will bring her attention from the boy she loves. Releasing all the ghosts sealed in the Arcanum-—and strangling the Executor who discovers him-—Teeki basks in the chaos they cause. In his final battle with the heroes, Teeki orders his pacifistic follower to kill anyone armed with a weapon that can harm him. When the subordinate refuses, he threatens to destroy the sweets holding in his curse, which would end up killing the subordinate and wiping out the heroes. Merging with Enchuu in a final attempt to kill anyone in the way of his plan to cause countless deaths, Teeki remains a bitter monster to the very end. Although his hatred of the MLS is explained by his excommunication from them, Teeki's choice to spread pain and destruction to many innocents cements him as an irredeemably wicked being.
  • Tomas is a former MLS teacher who is wanted for several crimes such as abduction and identity forging. Joining the ARK so that he could become immortal, it was revealed that Tomas had a penchant for collecting countless things, including human souls, that he kept in his collections while keeping their consciousness intact, leaving them in constant torment. When ARK members made their move by burning one of the Executor's headquarters, Tomas wastes no time to kidnap said Executor and tortures him with a worm that could turn him into a ghost. When Muhyo and his companions tries to save said Executor, Tomas uses the latter and all of his collections as a personal weapon to attack Muhyo and his companions. Seemingly defeated, he then gained a new body granted by his envoy, planning to use said new body to fulfill his obsession of collecting pretty things in the world.
• Cult Classic: Despite not being nearly as popular as One Piece or Naruto, the story has a well established universe with very memorable characters.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Despite only appearing in a single volume that ends with her death, Panza ranked 6th in the second popularity poll.
• Growing the Beard: While the story starts out with Monster of the Week chapters in which Muhyo and Roji deal with various spirits, as well as a short arc introducing Enchu, the story really picks up in the Arcanum Arc, in which Rio is revealed to be a traitor and the story shifts to the fight against Enchu and his allies.
• Ho Yay: Here
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Ebisu started out as a petty criminal until Goryo saved him after a ghost turned on him and took him into his service. He's completely unrepentant about his wrongdoing in the past, but it shows that he has been through quite a bit.
  • The Cortlaw siblings to various degrees. They collaborate with Ark to revive their parents, whom they believe were murdered by the Magical Law Society, in spite of their parents and themselves are not good people, at least by society's standards.
• Memetic Molester: Tomas, at least in the Japanese fandom. He did try to abduct one of his students, for questionable reasons... so yeah.
  • Bulpu is even worse, he specifically wanted the youngest of the three Courtlaw siblings, Kid, a sweet boy compared to his siblings. This is more disturbing since Buhpu is the eldest, excluding Teeki for obvious reasons, and abuses the youngster's body and literally takes it for his own
    • Even Teeki is this for wanting Enchu's body
• Moral Event Horizon
  • The revelation that Teeki killed Enchu and Rio's mothers, causing them to turn evil, as well as the revelation that he killed the former's mother with the goal of taking his body.
  • Buhpu killing Ivy for her failure and using her death to manipulate her brother Kid into fighting the heroes by saying Goryo killed her after she was defeated.
  • An interesting case occurs with Yuki Otada. His crime, kidnapping, is enough to earn him a trip to Hell, but nevertheless, the cast continues to feel sympathy for him, with Muhyo giving him a Lotus-Eater Machine to ease his descent.
    • This to many of the ghosts, while could be seen as monsters at least at first, but once their Freudian Excuse is revealed, you realize they are suffering from their own sadness.
  • Executors Zoucheng and Elena crossed this when they refused to help save Rio's mother for petty reasons.
• Narm: In the flashback in the first episode, there's Taeko's cause of death. After Rie rebuffs Taeko's attempt to hold her hand while trying to board a train with the other volleyball girls, she forcefully pushes Taeko back. Taeko stumbles back all the way across the platform and falls onto the train tracks on the opposite side... and a train hits her when she's in mid-air. It's simultaneously tragic and ridiculous.
• Narm Charm: Enchu. Coalescing out of hundreds of sparkling butterflies. And still managing to be scary as hell.
• Nightmare Fuel: Oh man, where to start.
  • How about with Face-Ripper Sophie, the ghostly little girl who just wants to be pretty? She wants to be pretty so bad, she'll rip off your face and wear it.
• Squick: MLS is highly disturbed when they learn part of Vector's plan to make new friends is kidnapping women who can see ghosts so they can give birth to more half-ghosts like Vector. Heck, the fact that ghosts and humans can mate is disturbing given the kinds of ghosts we've seen so far.
• Ugly Cute: Umekichi, sure he's a mousey person Not Even Human literally a mouse dragon, but he's a Lovable Coward of a Cowardly Lion you can't help to root for against Mick
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The ghost of Zansetsu Hirata is told that his life circumstances don't justify him taking others' forms to complete his book series, and he ends up being sent to hell to it, and the fact that he's articulate is supposed to (albeit counterintuitively) show that he's one of the more Ax-Crazy ghosts. However, the fact that Zansetsu realizes that what he's done is wrong, that he never directly harms anyone(he only takes Nana "hostage" so she can help him write), and his tragic backstory and friendship with Yontani cause him to come off as somewhat more sympathetic than was intended.
• Viewer Gender Confusion:
  • Imai has a deep and somewhat masculine voice, short hair, and a flat chest, and wears trousers, so one could be forgiven for mistaking her for a man.
  • Goryo wears miko robes, has long hair, and uses the feminine pronoun atashi to refer to himself. He has a masculine name that ends in -maru, but he's exclusively referred to by his surname or title. Unfortunately, this led to Funimation subs sometimes referring to him as a woman.
• Wangst: Roji often whines about his inadequacy compared to Muhyo and/or that Muhyo doesn't teach him anything throughout the first two seasons of the anime/first six volumes of the manga. Thankfully, most of the people he talks with about this tell him to get over himself. After Muhyo puts him on leave so he can figure out the answer on his own, Roji does some soul-searching and emerges with greater self-confidence and competence.
• The Woobie:
  • Enchu. Dear lord, Enchu, his entire Freudian Excuse was a scheme planned by his Evil Mentor, Teeki who just wanted a stronger body for immortality
  • Panza: She's bullied at school, essentially abandoned by her parents after she applies for MLS, and fails to become Muhyo's assistant, leaving her with nowhere to go. True to form, Teeki targets her when she's at her lowest point and turns her to his side.
  • Biko in the Arcanum arc. She, an artificer who's responsible for making wards and other magical tools, believes that her wards failed, resulting in three people dying. The truth is even worse- her beloved teacher Rio was the one who pulled off the wards.
  • Rio gets sexually harassed by her male Executor colleagues and bullied by her female colleagues, which she puts up with in order to help her mother. When her mother gets attacked by a spirit, Rio is unable to save her due to lacking any magical power of her own, and goes to get someone to sentence the ghost, but no one helps her. Rio ends up doing a Face–Heel Turn, but quickly becomes overwhelmed with guilt, especially after realizing, too late, that her student Biko was there for her.
• Woolseyism:
  • In the aftermath of the first battle with Enchu, Nana, angry that some of the MLS executors are blaming Muhyo for Enchu's attack(which Muhyo had helped stop) makes a pun about Enchu's name when talking about him. In the localization of the manga, she says, "Enchu, Shmenchu, whatever his name is, he blows," another play on Enchu's name.
  • In the flashback to Rio's mother's death, the dub replaces Rio reminding Elena that only Executors can sentence spirits with Rio pleading with Elena by saying "Only your Magical law" can help her mother, coming off as an appeal to Elena's ego.
  • In the original Japanese, Ebisu is compared to a Daruma doll. In the dub, Ebisu is referred to as a "potato head," a more easily understandable reference that fits with Muhyo and Roji being called an "onion" and a "bean sprout," respectively.