‘It was a smile reserved only for me.’
Summary: Teamed up Hibachi for his first assignment, he (Jinbei) is regulated to the sidelines, forbidden to draw his sword.
This episode is Hibachi’s episode. It’s as simple as that. With that episode formula as it is at the moment, every character will get their own episode until a point where they run out of characters and have to get to the story. Episode 1 was primarily Jinbei’s episode and this (episode 2) is Hibachi’s episode. I’m not sure if I like how they’re doing this. Now of course this is entirely speculation, but from next weeks preview I can pretty much tell that it’s going to be another character centric episode. It’s not a bad thing per say, episode 2 was engaging and kept my interest throughout. I think with a show like this you need to expand upon your characters personalities and their abilities, but when the show is only going to be 12 episodes and you’ve decided to spend a third of those episode ‘expanding’ does it take away from the overall experience? I mean, in episode 2 Oharu gets one scene where her boobs wobble and that’s it. Now I’m not complaining or anything, I mean, wobbling boobs are an important part of any show that claims to be an ecchi! But when characters are sidelined in episode 2 I (personally) think that it makes the whole thing less interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this episode, but it could have been so much more…
Episode 2 is all about the development of main character Hibachi, with Jinbei slightly pushed to the side. Jinbei isn’t allowed to draw his sword – okay! Allow me to stop myself right there. I can understand that Jinbei isn’t as strong as the others (yet) and I can understand wanting to keep him out of harms way, but when you ridicule him and tell him to go home just because he isn’t ready yet that’s just unacceptable! Give the guy a break! But I digress… In my episode 1 impression I mentioned that it was extremely likely that Hibachi had a thing for badass main character Mugai and after seeing this episode I think Jinbei has a thing for him too and I was totally right. Hibachi is (without a doubt) in love with this guy, he’s her hero, her idol, she wants to be more like him and she doesn’t want Jinbei getting in the way. In this episode we see her progression from a carefree child, to a grownup who just wants to make her grandfather proud and continue his legacy. I’d like to point out that even in an ecchi show, darker tones such 
as the belittlement of women in Asia (and around the world), are present. Hibachi is burdened because even though ninja’s are no longer needed and she’s her grandfather only heir, she wants to make him proud. He, of course, cannot accept a woman continuing his legacy and so she sets off on a journey to join the Insect Magistrates… a journey that is interrupted by a demon dragonfly… A demon dragonfly that almost kills her UNTIL Mugai flies in and saves the day. At least it gives her a reason to like Mugai. At first I thought that she (Hibachi) had Sakura syndrome (a horrible affliction that causes the recipient to fall in love with a badass for no apparent reason) but she proved me wrong with her tale of woe. At first I didn’t like her. Now I do. See what a difference an episode can make? It’s these sorts of character developments that are needed in more shows! I applaud you Mushibugyo!
Now before I make this show out to be TOO serious, I’d just like to point out the abundance of boobs and panty shots! This is an ecchi after all… Mushibugyo is in no way as graphic as Highschool DxD, but it does indeed like to depict unnaturally massive boobs, gratifying amounts of cleavage and unexpected panty shots. I’m serious about those panty shots, they sneak up on my from out of nowhere! If you look up in the gallery for this episode and open up the image of Hibachi being attacked by the Demon Dragonfly you’ll set a panty shot with seemingly a bit of camel toe. I did not notice this until after I’d uploaded it into the gallery… sneaky panty shots… But I (again) digress, there’s a nice balance of these things that A. doesn’t overpower you and B. doesn’t make for good material and B. suits the show well. Jinbei is a ‘would be’ pervert, it’s not intentional (a.k.a he doesn’t go out looking for it) but it happens and when it does happen it’s usually hilarious and awesome. It also makes for good viewing!
Mugai received a bit of indirect character development in this episode as well. He interests me. Firstly, I want to know why he is the way he is. The show seems to enjoy giving characters a back story that explain their personality so why wouldn’t they give Mugai a reason? Secondly, I just simply want to know more about his past. The more I see of this worlds history, the more I want to know. It seems genuinely interesting. Back to the point though, it would appear that Mugai used to be an Insect Hunter, these ‘Insect Hunters’ seemed to be the best of the best, hunting insects without mercy of prejudice… or so it would seem. I want to know more! Why did they disband? Are they the reason Mugai is the way he is? Who styles Mugai’s hair (I wan to give them a beating for doing such a bad job)?! So many unanswered questions!
And finally, the most important question of all. Who is the Insect Magistrate? We receive a quick glimpse of him at the beginning of the episode and his obscure image has left me wanting to know exactly who he is. Is he someone important? Have we already met him? Will he be hidden within future flashbacks? Just how big a role will he play in this? Tell me! That is all.
So as I was saying earlier, next week looks like it’s going to be Shingiku’s episode. We don’t know much about him (other than that he can be a bit douchey) but I look forward to seeing what more this show can offer! Don’t let me down Mushibuyo… don’t let me down…
P.S If Jinbei wasn’t allowed to unsheath his sword… why didn’t he just use the rock blade from earlier?
