+ | N o v a s t o r m | +

Impressions:

What and episode! There was hardly a moment that I wasn’t laughing. It’s definitely the funniest so far. Kayahara’s devil face is just so hilarious, especially when she tries to smile. The second half was less funny, though at he end of the episode, when Megumi touched Kayahara’s warm hand and concludes she’s only recently deceased, was probably the funniest part. Also, Megumi is drawn far cuter than she normally is when she’s worrying about being cursed while in the bath. Kayahara’s cute too, that is, when she’s smiling. Properly. Hehe, this episode could easily be turned into a horror; just take out all the comedy, throw in a bit of blood, kill someone off maybe… Kayahara reminds me of the girls in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, where their faces change from sweet to evil in a second (only with Kayahara, ramen is the switch). Looking forward to the next episode! I think this series is becoming my favourite this season…

Summary:

As Makiko is preparing ramen as usual, Miki receives a delivery call. The person on the line asks for her ‘last ramen’. When Miki goes out to make the delivery, Ohta tags along, concerned about the caller saying ‘last’. Before they reach their destination, they encounter a so-called delinquent, attempting to draw graffiti, but only succeeding in creating stick figures. Miki demands to know why he’s skipping school. The guy tries to act tough and says he’s a delinquent. Ohta mocks his crap drawings and creates a masterpiece on the wall. Miki gets angry at him for joining in and punches him in the face. She suddenly remembers about the delivery and proceeds ahead, warning the guy to get rid of the graffiti.

Miki and Ohta wind up at Hanami High School. Miki asks two students inside about Kayahara, the person who ordered the ramen, but both freak out when the name is mentioned. The second person directs them to the gym’s storage room. As the two make their way to the gym, they discuss the reasons for everyone being scared of this Kayahara person. Ohta suggests he/she is a ’super-delinquent’. Miki is excited about this idea. She opens the door to the storage room and at first it seems they have walked into a television with bad tuning. They both startled at the sight of a woman inside, but after a few seconds, everything turns back to normal. The woman turns around, asking about her delivery. Miki asks her why this is her last ramen. She says it’s because she doesn’t want to go to school anymore. Ohta assumes she is being bullied and reveals his history of being a victim to it. However, it turns out that she is not being bullied as she is a teacher. She explains how she has lost confidence in teaching, as everyone around her is afraid of her. In order to determine the areas which need to be improved, Miki and Ohta dress up as students. They are acting as if they are getting a new teacher. On cue, Kayahara walks in, though she has a devilish look on her face, which makes her look like a cursed old lady. Ohta accuses her of looking freaky on purpose, but she has no idea what she is doing. Miki tells her to smile, giving a wonderful example! However, when Kayahara tries to smile – note the word ‘tries’ – she becomes even more disturbing.

Miki suggests Kayahara just quit after seeing her scary face. Ohta is shocked at the sudden change of heart. Miki asks her to come over to the restaurant after school, as the ramen has gotten pasty. On the way back, the delinquent is still spray-painting the wall, which causes him to get the side of his face whacked by Miki’s shoe, followed by repeated pounding to the back. In order to properly teach him a lesson, she takes him back to the restaurant with her, as Ohta is examining the new graffiti, saying it’s better than before. When Miki gets back, she gets bashed by her mother for taking so long. After a speedy recovery, she sits the guy down at one of the tables and asks why he wants to be bad. He says it’s because school’s boring. He says he’s not afraid of his parents or teachers. At that moment, Kaahara comes in, prompting the guy to quickly cower underneath the table. Kayahara explains that when he was young, he got lost ina cemetery and has been scared of the supernatural all his life. He has only recently conquered his fears, but at the sight of his teacher on the first day of term reignited everything. Now he gets extremely frightened just by looking at her. After he says this, Kayahara starts talking with Akiko. She tells her that there is a student in her class who never goes to school. She says she is worried he might be led astray and his life ruined. She looks very grieving and says she wants to die. How sad! Miki convinces the guy to talk to Kayahara and say he’ll be attending lessons from now on. He works up the courage to approach her, but when he sees her bloodcurdling face, he breaks again. The teacher recognises the boy as Suzuki. Terrified, Suzuki tells her that he’ll be going to school now. Miraculously, this causes Kayahara to smile! No, not the freaky smile like before, but a nice, ‘normal’ smile. At that moment, Suzuki falls in love. When everyone except Ohta isn’t looking, the moment Kayahara finishes her ramen, her face becomes terrifying once again. Ohta notes that the ramen is what makes her pretty. From then on, she eats ramen in class.

Outside some temple, Megumi is driving a nail into a doll of Miki, expressing her hatred for her. Kayahara falls from above after picking fruit from the tree. The moment Megumi sees her, Kayahara’s evil face is etched into her mind as the ‘vengeful spirit’. She tells her off for hating some one. She asks her to talk about it to her. Megumi explains her history with Miki, how she’s bullied her since their childhood. Kayahara asks her to bring the bully to her. Megumi thinks the ‘vengeful spirit’ will ‘punish’ her, which gets her excited. She asks Kayahara why she’s helping her. She says it’s because she’s a teacher. Megumi thinks she was a teacher before she died (still believing she’s a ghost). At the restaurant, Makiko receives an order – but the order is just her daughter. Miki runs up to the temple where Megumi is. On sight of her, she tries to hit her because she thinks Megumi had called her up for nothing. Kayahara sees this and tells Miki to sit down. She tells her that it’s not good bullying others, but Miki claims she’s not the one being bullied. Megumi is the real bully. Miki supports this accusation by showing Kayahara a skewer Megumi had placed in her shoe. Megumi becomes frightened as she thinks Kayahara is going to get her. At night as Megumi is sitting on the porch step outside her house, the sudden appearance of Kayahara causes her to faint immediately. Kayahara decides to try to approach her again another time. The next day, Miki and Kayahara visit Megumi again, only to be greeted by three flying skewers. When night comes again, they try again, but this time Megumi nails the front door shut with planks of wood. She has even set up various spirit/ghost countermeasures. Megumi starts to hear and see things, constantly afraid of Kayahara.

The next day, Megumi heads to the temple, where Miki and Kayahara are waiting. The two come out and surprise Megumi, turning her to stone (or rather, causing her to be encased in rock). Kayahara approaches, trying to explain she’s not a ghost. Megumi refuses to let her talk and starts listing all the strange occurrences that have been happening so fast. She speaks so quickly that cracks begin to form in her rock shell. Before long, her entire upper body breaks free from the rock, allowing her to defend herself against the approaching Kayahara using her darts. Kayahara blocks the constant attacks using Miki’s metal ramen box. However, she gets hit on the hand, causing her to drop the box. As it looks like another set of three skewers is going to pierce her through the head, she deflects it with her resignation papers, runs up to Megumi and grabs both her hands. At first, Megumi is scared to death, but realises Kayahara’s hands are warm. She comes to the conclusion that Kayahara has only just recently died, and faints. Looks like things didn’t go so well…

Preview:

Popularity: 6% [?]