Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation

Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation
First volume of the series, published by Shueisha in Japan on May 2, 2005
ムヒョとロージーの魔法律相談事務所 (Muhyo to Rōjī no Mahōritsu Sōdan Jimusho)
Genre	Dark Fiction, Action
Manga
Written by	Yoshiyuki Nishi
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	^NA Viz Media
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Jump
Original run	December 2004 – March 2008
Volumes	18

Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (Japanese: ムヒョとロージーの魔法律相談事務所 Hepburn: Muhyo to Rōjī no Mahōritsu Sōdan Jimusho) is a manga series by Yoshiyuki Nishi. The series premiered in Japan in Weekly Shōnen Jump in December 2004, and ran until its conclusion in March 2008. It follows a young genius Magical Law Executor, Toru Muhyo and his assistant, Jiro Kusano as they track and find ghosts, then send the spirits to heaven or hell depending on the account of their lives in his magical law book. The individual chapters of the series were collected and published in 18 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha.

The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media, which released the first volume of the series in October 2007 under its "Shonen Jump" manga line.

Characters

• Toru Muhyo (六氷 透 Muhyō Tōru, ムヒョ Muhyo) is said to be the youngest executor graduated from the Magical Law School. Muhyo paired up with Roji and the two formed their own business of exorcising ghosts. Muhyo has a somewhat emotionless personality, showing no sign of pity when dispensing of the ghosts. He seems to be sleeping most of the time, (for as an executor of the Laws, large amount of spiritual energy is needed for him to summon the necessary Hellish being to carry out the sentences of various ghosts, spirits). He seems to try to show no signs of caring for his assistant, Roji. But it immediately becomes evident that he does during dangerous situations, or when one of Muhyo's friends or acquaintances points it out. He is often rude to other people, and keeps a stern face, but deep down, he has a strong sense of Justice. He is also extremely powerful, being able to perform a judgement that normally requires four top-notch executors by himself. Despite Enchu's vile attacks upon him and those he cares for, he still wishes to redeem him. Muhyo has shown that he can speak the language of the underworld allowing him to speak with the creatures he summons to carry out his sentences, this talent also allows him to command the creatures to pause or stop the punishment they were delivering.
• Jiro Kusano (草野 次郎 Kusano Jirō), nicknamed Roji (ロージー Rōjī), is Muhyo's assistant, is a kind-hearted teenager, almost to a fault as it interferes with his ability to exorcise ghosts with a sob story. He is adept at writing seals to hold back ghosts while Muhyo sentences them. He is a bit of a whiner and a crybaby. But he is knowledgeable on types of ghosts, but has nearly no knowledge on exorcism of ghosts and how to use the laws of magic. He initially feels that Muhyo is rude, mean, and hates him. But as the series progresses, he finds out that Muhyo chose him to be his apprentice even though the normal standard is to choose someone who is the rank of an assistant judge and Muhyo actually deeply cares for him. His power often seemingly fluctuates between strong and worthless, becoming stronger when he has more confidence in himself. Is frustrated that Muhyo doesn't ever instruct him. In a flashback showcasing how Roji met Muhyo, it was revealed that Roji wanted to learn Magic Law after a friend was possessed and an executor, specifically Page, showed up and saved him; Roji also successfully used an item only an assistant judge could handle. During the Magic Law Examination, it is revealed that he has an extraordinarily high tempering. Roji is a more of a feminist due to his sensitivy which causes comedy related scenes sometimes.
• Kenji Satou (佐藤 健二 Satō Kenji) / Kenji (ケンジ) is a trouble-making boy who had believed Muhyo and Roji's business was a sham and wrecked their sign. He did not believe in ghosts until the pair saved him from a blood-drinking ghost he had accidentally freed. Afterwards, Kenji grew a liking for the pair, often referring to Roji as "Sprout-Man" and Muhyo as "Onion-Boy". He always tries to find excuses to hang around their office, as Muhyo has made it a rule never to meet a client after the case is complete unless they bring a new one.
• Nana Takenouchi (竹乃内 菜々 Takenouchi Nana) / Nana (ナナ) is a photographer who Kenji introduces to the duo. Her late father had made a living producing fake ghost pictures, causing a rift between the two. Nana becomes another of Muhyo and Roji's regular clients after Muhyo sends her father's troubled spirit to the River Styx for purification so he can go to heaven. She is notably well endowed which often causes her to be the target of perverts. It is later revealed that she is a spirit medium.
• Yoichi Himukai (火向 洋一 Himukai Yōichi) / Yoichi (ヨイチ) is a judge and a childhood friend of Muhyo's. He is a pervert who enjoys trying to guess girls' cup sizes (his first appearance was him squeezing Nana's breasts). Yoichi appears to have a crush on Nana, which is unfortunate, since she considers him a creep. However, underneath this exterior resides his experience and wisdom that rival Muhyo's. Yoichi had offered to be Muhyo's partner, but Muhyo had already chosen Roji instead. He's an expert at every type of Magical Law except for Execution.
• Soratsugu Madoka (円 宙継 Madoka Soratsugu), also called Enchu (エンチュー Enchū), was a childhood friend of Muhyo and Yoichi. Unlike Muhyo, he was studious and serious about Magic Law. Enchu had wanted to be an Executor so he could support his family, including his sick mother. Enchu spent hours everyday studying, with his friends not noticing. One day, Muhyo's talent wakes up which overtakes Enchu and is determined to surpass him. When Muhyo and Enchu were both up for becoming Executor, Enchu had left because he had learned his mother had died. When he had returned, Muhyo had been promoted to Executor, causing Enchu's madness to begin. He has shown to have some control over ghosts and other spirits through his knowledge of Forbidden Magic Law. He has also apparently become inhuman as at one point he generated ten forearms on a single arm. Despite his grudge, Enchu still cares for others, claiming its better to practice Forbidden Magic Law with friends and retreating in order to save Rio who was Ghosting.
• Yu Abiko (我孫子 優 Abiko Yū), also known as Biko (ビコ), is a Magic Tool Artificer, who is able to make magical tools, but cannot use them herself. She is deeply devoted to her teacher, Rio, and is shocked by the revelation that she is a traitor. When she was younger, she disliked Rio until Rio saved her from an experiment gone wrong. Roji first believed she was a boy when she first appeared. She has three apprentices of her own. She hopes that Rio can be saved, and wishes to go raspberry picking with her.
• Rio Kurotori is Biko's teacher and a skilled Artificer. While she initially seems to help Muhyo and Roji, she is actually working with Enchu, having grown embittered after no one helped save her mother from an evil spirit. Despite having become a traitor, she is still fond of Biko, but believes that it is too late to go back. When her mother was alive Rio had to resort to low means in order to make money so that she could take care of her mother. When a spirit attacked her mother, she frantically sought help but was turned down by mean and nasty executors. It has been revealed that Teeki had intentionally caused the attack on her mother in an attempt to gain Rio as a pawn. According to Muhyo, she is a kissing fiend, which is justified
• Face-Ripper Sophie is an extremely powerful ghost who was once imprisoned in the Magical Prison, but released by Rio. In life, she was kept away from parties by her older sister due to her being considered ugly, and killed her sister for it. As a ghost, she is able to shapeshift and assume other people's forms. Muhyo used a high-level magical commandment to sentence her for her crimes. As she faded she cried and stated,"Sister, why can't I go to the party?", She was a very powerful ghost as it took the usage of an envoy that normally requires four executors to summon to defeat her.
• Reiko Imai (今井 玲子 Imai Reiko) is a judge of Magic Law, she was assigned to Arcanum, a prison for powerful ghosts including Sophie. When Rio freed Sophie, she nearly became a victim of Sophie but was sparred because Sophie considered her face ugly. Was also nearly strangled by Teeki but lucky escaped. Since the Arcanum incident, she has become friends with Jiro and escorted him to the Magic Law Academy.
• Teeki the Fallen is Enchu's right-hand man and a powerful but mysterious foe to Muhyo and Roji. The association has marked him for 800 years or so. He 'meddles' in magic law and when he's finished, he disappears into thin air. It is unclear what Teeki is; a ghost or a practitioner turned immortal by forbidden law. Teeki is also the one responsible for the fire inside the Arcanum after Rio followed Muhyo and company out into the forest. He seems to like to killing and destruction as he laughed at Mr. Maeda as he set the Arcanum ablaze and wanted to kill Muhyo's group instead of retreating. He may also have been the one to introduce Enchu to Forbidden Magic Law. Teeki wears a four eyed mask and gloves that have the mark of Forbidden Magic Law on them.
• Page Klaus (ペイジ・クラウス Peiji Kurausu) is the teacher of Muhyo and Enchu, he is very famous within the association. He believes that Magic Law starts with physical fitness. He likes to compose poetry and thinks he's good at it, he is also possessive of his students once calling Muhyo "My Muhyo" while worried about him. Although Roji is unaware of this, Page was the practitioner that exorcised a ghost from a friend of his and gave him his first pair of suspenders. He claimed that Muhyo and Roji were destined to meet.
• Daranimaru Goryo (五嶺 陀羅尼丸 Goryō Daranimaru) / Goryo (ゴリョー Goryō) is an executor of magic law like Muhyo, and head of the centuries-old Goryo Group Syndicate. While the Goryo group are not particularly strong in magic law, they make up for it with cunning use of strategy; in addition, they perform extremely vicious practices ranging from bribery to murder. Goryo is a jerk who only cares about money and his family's pride, threatening to release ghosts he has exorcised if clients do not pay him, and treating his assistants like trash and discarding them should they fail him. But after the Goryo Group is destroyed by Ark and he is rescued from Tomas, he becomes good.
• Hanao Ebisu (恵比寿 花夫) / Ebisu (エビス) is a judge of Magic Law who worked for Goryo as an assistant who looks like a clown and is afraid of Goryo's wraith. Is jealous of Roji because he's only a clerk who was practically given his current job while Ebisu had to claw his way to where he is now. Helps Goryo in banishing ghosts and running his company. After Goryo and Muhyo's competition, he was fired by Goryo for failing him in a strategy. Despite that, he is the first to run to Goryos aid when the Group is attacked.
• Tomas An evil practitioner working for "Ark". Was once a teacher and Pages friend, but it was revealed that he faked his credentials and was wanted for several crimes. Has an obsession for collecting, anything from teacups to souls.
• Chiyo Sakurai (桜井 千代 Sakurai Chiyo), also called Panza (パンジャ Panja), is a ghost assassin working for the Forbidden Magic Law group known as "Ark", working directly under Teeki. A powerful spirit with an overwhelming obsession for Roji, she uses her powers of human puppetry to try and kill off Muhyo and kidnap Roji. It is revealed that she always got bullied because she can see ghosts and she wish her knight in shining armor will come and save her. Even her parents forced her out of house by making her takes the exam to become Muhyo's assistant and telling her not to come home. Losing the applicant form on the way, no one wanted to help her except for Roji, who gave her one of his applicant forms and Chiyo fall in love with him. Unfortunately, she met Teeki and misled by him into using forbidden law.
• Mick Cortlaw A swordsman known as 'Mick the Slasher' who works for "Ark". But he usually tends to do what he wants and follows orders, through in his own straight forward style. Unlike many other Ark members he is very simple-minded and has no long-term goals other than to move onto the next fight. Seemingly relaxed and casual, he can become rather eccentric in battle, using his whole body as a morphing sword. His parents were evil practitioners who were killed by the MLA after they attacked representatives bearing a treaty.
• Ivy Cortlaw A ghostmaster who works for "Ark". She bears a grudge towards MLA for the death of her parents and tries to destroy the MLA, but is stopped by Goryo, then murdered by Buhpu.

Media

Written by Yoshiyuki Nishi, Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation premiered in Japan in a December 2004 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump. New chapters were published weekly until the series concluded in the March 3, 2008 issue.^[1] The individual chapters were collected and published in 18 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha.

The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media, which released the first volume of the series in October 2007 under its "Shonen Jump" manga line.^[1][2] As of August 2010, the company has published eighteen volumes of the series.^[3]

Reception

For the week of June 5—June 11, the 12th volume of the premiered in seventh place in the list of weekly bestselling manga series in Japan.^[4] In Jason Thompson's online appendix to Manga The Complete Guide, he describes the early volumes as having a "haunt of the week flavor", and describes the manga overall as maintaining a "quirky and sometimes creepy" tone, despite the plot becoming "conventionally melodramatic".^[5]

References

1. "Japan's Shonen Jump Ends Prince of Tennis, Muhyo & Roji". Anime News Network. 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
2. "Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, Vol. 1". Viz Media. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
3. "Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation, Vol. 7". Viz Media. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
4. "Japanese Comic Ranking, June 5–June 11". Anime News Network. 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
5. http://www.suvudu.com/2009/09/365-days-of-manga-day-1-muhyo-rojis-bureau-of-supernatural-investigation.html

External links

• Official Viz Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation site
• Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Santos, Carlo (October 23, 2007). "RIGHT TURN ONLY!! Welcome to the Scathing Reviews!". Anime News Network.
• Santos, Carlo (February 15, 2008). "Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation GN 2". Anime News Network.
• Santos, Carlo (May 13, 2008). "RIGHT TURN ONLY!! Wild Wild West". Anime News Network.