The Earthbound Mole has been recommended as one of those hidden gems during Summer 2025. Indeed, it's worth watching.

We have two college friends, Kirihara Yaeko and Magi Kuriaki, meeting what seemed like an injured man, Mogura Momoyuki. It turns out that Mr Mogura is actually immortal and must labour for a while to get back to the afterlife. Meanwhile, Yaeko and Kuriaki's meeting with Mr Mogura awakens their ability to see supernatural beings. Its studio, Brain's Base, has been in business since the mid-90s, coming from the former staff of TMS. Their anime seem obscure, except for a few: Golden Kamuy, Natsume's Book of Friends S1, and To Your Eternity S1.

Its director, Ishiodori Hiroshi, did a decent job at this anime, despite not being unpopular, and it seems to be on a budget. He is a seasoned director, even though the anime he directed aren't really that big. He directed the overlooked sequel to the OVA of Bubblegum Crisis, namely Bubblegum Crash, for instance.

This anime has a distinct art style and character design. This is due to Tanabe Youko, who also had a hand in 'How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer.' I wasn't impressed, though, with the character design in the latter. The art style carries this anime more than its animation. When you think about an anime involving yokai and other Japanese paranormal beings, one would think that such anime is scary, like in Hell Teacher 2025. Not this one, and the art style reinforces that this should not be taken seriously. Instead of horror, this leans more into comedy, similar to Toilet-Bound Hanako.

The Earthbound Mole has a dry sense of humour, and together with the amusing background musick, you can't help but feel part of a well-orchestrated satire, if you will; that there is an underlying inside joke that the characters (and you, the viewer) are expected to get.

The script is witty (thanks to Fujita Shinzou), and you can't help but quietly laugh.

The background musick is in par with the art style as something that makes this anime stand out. It is timed well with the script and humour. This aspect is credited to the sound director, Yamada Haru, who also worked as the sound director for Hotel Inhumans. (His sound direction on the Yaiba remake, while decent, pales in comparison to the original, which is why I wasn't that impressed compared with Hotel Inhumans and The Earthbound Mole.)

I almost missed this gem, and I should thank the person who brought this up in that hidden gems thread.

NOTA BENE: A grade of 6 out of 10 [or 60 out of 10 in anilist] means that I find this anime slightly above average, and I enjoyed watching it.

A 6 means a decent score and one notch above average. If you're the kind of viewer who treats anything below a 7 as irredeemable, I'd encourage a broader, more nuanced approach to rating.

My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4, I actively dislike it.