Sumire Uesaka -- Riverside Lovers ~ Naraku no Koi（リバーサイド・ラヴァーズ(奈落の恋)）

I finally got through the first cour of the second season of "Hoozuki no Reitetsu"（鬼灯の冷徹...Hozuki's Coolheadedness） from late 2017 about the motley crew of folks toiling down in Hell as a monastic corporation of sorts. Earlier this year, I had written about the opening theme for that first cour "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi"（大！地獄地獄節）and mentioned that the show hadn't quite grabbed me. Well, part of it was that without the subtitles, it's a tad difficult for me to understand some of the more esoteric parts. Plus, I have to admit that the humour is far more droll than the craziness that I've come across in this summer's bunch of anime such as "Grand Blue" and "Gokudolls".

Still, by the time I got to the end of the first cour at Episode 13 where even the devils and other staffers enjoy a good year-end party, there was a certain level of comfort achieved in watching these characters interact like a nice sitcom family. Question marks will still flutter over my head at some of the discussions but I can still roll with the show. My anime buddy was kind enough to give me the second cour so I will start on that fairly soon.

It took me a while but the ending theme for that first cour of the second season has finally grown on me as well. I guess with the increase in comfort for the show, "Riverside Lovers ~ Naraku no Koi" (Love in Hell), there was a direct relationship with my affinity for this ballad which is quite different in tone from the down-home country-style of "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi".

There's almost a healing music vibe with Sumire Uesaka's（上坂すみれ）Kyoto-esque love song, completed with the familiar techno beats from the good folks at TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND. Perhaps this may be a trip to Hell, but it's certainly downright calming and relaxing going down the river.