Gokudo Season 1 Episode 5

The Riddle of Sphinx

Here's another good example of what's endearing about Gokudo. Take your basic fantasy premise (Parmette is a land awash with magic, but something has gone terribly wrong with the natural order of things), focus on a ridiculous consequence of same (the mythical beasts of the region have lately been metamorphosing into preposterous hybrid monsters, like the 'fearsome' sand parrot), and then do an anachronistic take on the situation (the kingdom derives most of its revenue from tourism, with people travelling thousands of miles to gawk at Parmette's weird creatures... which are now so silly-looking that no one wants to see them and the royal coffers are dangerously close to emptying). Of course, this episode also manages to work in a wisecracking unicorn, a Sphinx that gets so annoyed at Gokudo that she demands a 'moon drop' instead of asking a proper riddle, and a little demon masquerading as a monk of wisdom called Ikkyu, who is so taken with how evil Gokudo himself is that he actually