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Television Series - Season 1

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Episodes 1 - 25


Season overview:
NHK is not a channel typically known for their anime so it was something of a surprise when they announced they would have the newest anime from Rumiko Takahashi. Because Kyokai no RINNE is the first seasonal series based on one of Takahashi's manga it was able to eschew the use of original anime storylines and instead adapt manga-based stories throughout its three seasons. In addition to the animation directors for each episode Kazuhiko Tamura and Kentaro Matsumoto served as "chief animation directors" during the first season of the show.


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 1

Episode 1: 謎のクラスメート
Nazo no Kurasumeeto
(The Mysterious Classmate)
As a little girl, Sakura Mamiya gets lost in a strange, mysterious place. Alone, she calls out and a white haired woman appears to comfort her. However when Sakura calls her "grandmother" the woman grinds her knuckles into Sakura's head, giving her a noogie. Many years later, Sakura is now a teenager who experiences the unusual ability of seeing the ghosts and spirits of the recently departed. On her way to school the spirit of a schoolboy tries to get her attention, but she quickly walks through him. At school she and her friends Rika and Yuko discuss the empty desk beside Sakura's. It belongs to Rinne Rokudo, a transfer student who has never attended a single class. Suddenly Sakura sees a boy with bright red hair wearing a white haori walk in and sit down in his desk. However no one else notices him. Rinne rolls up a sheet of paper and uses it to produce dog treats, which quickly summon a gigantic chihuahua spirit. Just before being carried away by the dog, Rinne notices that Sakura seems to see him. The next day Rinne appears in class without his haori and everyone can see him. Their teacher, Suzuki questions Rinne's old gym uniform and Rinne quickly confides that he's too poor to buy a new uniform. Later, Rika tells Sakura that she's been getting mysterious messages on her new cellphone. Yuko tells her that its likely haunted, which upsets the very supersitious girl. Rinne approaches the three girls and tells them that if they're having trouble with hauntings to leave a message describing what's going on, along with an offering in the school's weather hutch. As they leave some food and a message, Rinne appears at the hutch wearing his haori. Rika and Yuko see the weather hutch's door open on its own, and run away, dropping Rika's phone, while Sakura clearly sees that it's Rinne who's taking the offering and letter out of the hutch. As he attempts to walk away Sakura grabs Rinne, and he learns for sure she can see him. He explains that as long as he wears his Haori of the Underworld human beings can't see him, its as if he is a spirit as well. Sakura remembers that the woman in her childhood wore the same haori. She is Rinne's grandmother. Rinne takes up the case of Rika's haunted cellphone, and uses a Tin Can Phone to travel through the Spirit Way to find the source of the voice on the telephone. They find a ghost who is stuck reliving his death over and over, the boy, Suzuki was using his cellphone while riding his bike and died when a flowerpot fell on his head. Rinne throws his Haori of the Underworld on him inside out to give him a physical form. Suzuki, Rinne and Sakura's teacher arrives and gives Rinne a new gym uniform, Rinne is moved, but the ghost Suzuki see's it and gets curious. As it turns out the teacher knew the boy when they were students, and since they had the same name he accidently got his uniform one day, Suzuki was on the phone with him when he got hit in the head with the flower pot. Rinne is forced to give the young ghost back his uniform, which helps him to pass on into the afterlife. On their way home Rinne and Sakura meet both the spirits of the chihuahua and the schoolboy Sakura see's during her morning walk to school. The boy feels so rejected that no girl's ever say hello to him, that his spirit becomes tainted and merges with the chihuahua. Rinne puts on his haori and pulls Sakura with him into the afterlife to escape, there she sees the Wheel of Reincarnation for the first time. As the ghost pursues them, Rinne laments he cannot afford a key tool to fight back, Sakura gives him 500 yen and he buys the Kasha Retsudan, a flaming wheel he hurls that separates the boy and the dog. Sucessfully exorcising them and sending them to the Wheel of Reincarnation to be reborn, Rinne finally confesses. He is a shinigami...sort of. Back at school Sakura tells Rika she won't get anymore scary phone calls and Rinne puts up a sign at the weather hutch opening his exorcism business.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
  • Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi (本橋秀之)
  • Script: Michiko Yokote (横手美智子)
  • Storyboards: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
Originally Aired:
  • April 4, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Hideyuki Motohashi, the animation director on this debut episode, was the animation director and character designer for the first three Inuyasha films.
  • A long-running gag involving Tamako begins here. Sakura calls her "oba-chan" (伯母ちゃん) which can mean either "ma'am" or "middle-aged woman". Despite her age, Tamako does not wish to be referred to as middle-aged and takes this means of addressing her very personally and perfers to be addressed as "onne-chan" (お姉ちゃん) which means "young lady" or "older sister".
  • Kyokai (境界) means "boundary" or "border". The afterlife area that is most frequently visited in Kyokai no RINNE takes place in this place that is a boundary between this world of the living and the world of the dead. Essentially it is something of a purgatory.
  • "Rinne no Wa" (輪廻の輪) refers to the "Wheel of Reincarnation". In this series it is a literal wheel that floats in the sky and that deceased spirits go to visit in order to be reincarnated. In Buddhism however the "circle of reincarnation" is a process known as "samsara". This it the cycle of life, death, rebirth over and over again.
  • Suzuki, Sakura and Rinne's homeroom teacher has stars for eyes just like Tobimaro and Asuka Mizunokoji in Urusei Yatsura. His starry eyes symbolize his unfailing passion and optimism.
  • "It's already May." - Miho comments that Rinne has not appeared in school and it is already May. In Japanese schools the first (of three) school trimesters begins in April. So Rinne has missed the first month of school.
  • The uniform Rinne wears has a symbol (中) on it. This character is "middle" as in "middle school" (中学校). In other words Rinne is so poor he has to wear his middle school gym outfit as his regular high school uniform.
  • The weather hutch where Rinne collects offerings is typically used to house meterological instrumentation.
  • A "haori" (羽織) is a waist-length coat typically worn over a kimono. They are not usually belted or closed and are worn open. Most men's haori have a plain outside and a flashy lining. Rinne's is the opposite.
  • "Reido" (霊道) means "spirit road" or "spirit path".
  • Rinne thinks Sakura having 1,500 yen makes her rich. This is approximately $15.
  • The fire wheel (火車) is pronounced as "kasha" and means "burning wheel" or "burning chariot". It is a spirit that comes from the afterlife to capture the spirits of the dead that lead a poor life. There is also a cat spirit that uses the same name that this is often confused for. Additionally a flaming wheel with a face in the middle is a different type of spirit which is known as a "wanyudo" (輪入道).
  • "I'm a shinigami." - A shinigami (死神) literally translates as "death god". A better explanation would be that they are a "grim reaper" who's job is to ferry the spirits of the dead into the afterlife.

Episode 2: 赤い輪の記憶
Akai Wa no Kioku
(The Memory of the Red Ring)
Sakura awakes from slumber suddenly recalling in a dream meeting a skull-faced shinigami that looked a good deal like Tamako, she continues to ponder the world of the afterlife that Rinne took her to as she braids her hair and gets ready for school knowing vaguely that she has seen the Wheel of Reincarnation before. Arriving at school Sakura finds many of her classmates making offerings to the weather hutch to help with the ghostly problems they are having, one girl has the ghost of sleeping sloth laying on her head which Rinne easily chases away. As Sakura and Rinne talk, Tamako arrives with her skull mask in hand and introduces herself to Sakura, but as Rinne and his grandmother slip back into the spirit road Sakura grabs Rinne's haori and is pulled along as well. Flying over the world of the afterlife the haori rips and Sakura plummets into a ghostly forest. Sakura is found by a large pink rabbit who seems to offer to help her and takes her for a ride across the river in his boat, though what Sakura does not realize is that the rabbit is a demashigami, an illegal soul reaper who takes the souls of the living to pad his quota rather than simply ferrying across the recently deceased. Tamako sends out some crows to help find Sakura and they swiftly report back that she is crossing the river, leaving Rinne to rush to her aid. The rabbit gets her as far as the Wheel of Reincarnation when Sakura begins to regret damaging Rinne's haori and her regret causes the platform to give way as she must completely abandon earthly regrets before being able to pass on. This gives Rinne just enough time to save her from being accidently reincarnated before her time. The rabbit attacks Rinne but the red-headed shinigami makes short work of him. As Sakura watches them fight she starts to recall memories long forgotten from her childhood that it was this rabbit that had lead her into the afterlife when she was a small child. She remembers being helped by a woman who she soon realizes was Tamako. It was in the afterlife as a child that Tamako offered to buy her some candy and anyone who eats food from the spirit world gains the ability to see ghosts, which is why Sakura has seen them nearly all her life. After taking her back home a small black kitten quietly watches Rinne as he and Sakura part company in the late afternoon.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Fumi Fujiitaka (ふじいたかふみ)
  • Animation Director: Takuro Shinbo (しんぼたくろう)
  • Script: Michiko Yokote (横手美智子)
  • Storyboards: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
Originally Aired:
  • April 11, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • The day this episode aired there was also an event to celebrate the new anime series at Tokyo Big Site. You can read a report on the event from Megan Smith here on the site.
  • The skull mask worn by Tamako creates the appearance of a more traditional "grim reaper". The grim reaper first appeared in Europe during the 14th century which was in the midst of the Black Plague.
  • We later see the skull mask worn by Rokumon and Suzu in episode 28.
  • Similar to what we saw in the previous episode, the ongoing joke will be "obaa-chan" (お婆ちゃん/"grandmother" or "old woman") versus "oba-chan" (伯母ちゃん/"ma'am" or "middle-aged woman") versus "onne-chan" (お姉ちゃん) which means "young lady" or "older sister". Tamako prefers the latter term exclusively.
  • In a 2018 Ace Magazine interview Takahashi mentions that she wanted the afterlife world to resemble Japan of 30-40 years in the past.
  • Some of the store signs we see in the afterlife are for okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) and bekkouame (べっこう飴/hard candy). べっこう (bekkou) means tortoise shell, a reference to the hardness of the candy.
  • The shopkeeper has a haramaki (腹巻) around his waist. This is a "belly warmer". In the works of Rumiko Takahashi this is most strongly associated with Urusei Yatsura's Mr. Fujinami, Fujio Akatsuka's character of Bakabon's father in Tensai Bakabon and Tora-san in the long-running film It's Tough Being a Man (男はつらいよ) film series. By the 1980s haramaki were seen as old-fashioned and it became visual shorthand for characters depicted as wearing them to seem buffoonish.
  • "Which should I have, "kintsuba" or "nerikiri"? - Kintsuba (金鍔) is red beans in wheat dough. Nerikiri (練り切り) is white beans in rice dough.
  • The rabbit's shirt is an example of "ateji" (当て字) where a word's typical spelling is subverting and different characters are used to make the same sounding word. The rabbit's shirt says よろしく (yoroshiku) meaning "please treat me well" however it is written with fairly dark kanji (夜露死苦) (night, tears, death, suffering). This is an old phrase used by motorcycle gangs.
  • When Tamako sends the crows to look for Sakura they say "Idiot". This is because the sound crows make (aho) is the same as the Japanese word for "idiot" (アホ/aho).
  • A "cheerful departure" - Yarikitta! (やりきった!) means "to complete something fully" hence the idea that someone has completed their life without regrets being a departure point name in the afterlife.
  • Damashigami - This is a term that is original to Kyokai no RINNE. Demashigami is written 堕魔死神. 堕魔 are the kanji for "degenerate/lapsed" and "demon", while 死神 is "shinigami" (death god/grim reaper).
  • "Unless you eat or drink something here, you shouldn't be able to see ghosts." - This ties back to the Greek myth of Persephone who was abducted by the god of the underworld, Hades. Zeus demanded that Hades return Persephone to her mother, but Hades fed her pomegranates from the underworld. Anyone that ate the food of the underworld could never leave it forever and Persephone was require to return every six months.

Episode 3: クラブ棟の怪
Kurabu-tou no Kai
(The Clubhouse Phantom)
Sakura and Rika accompany Miho to the weather hutch while she places a letter in it for Rinne. The girls run off when he retrieves it wearing his Haori of the Underworld, making the letter appear to float in midair. Rinne accepts the payment Rika left and tells Sakura of his family's history, how his grandmother Tamako met his grandfather, a human, when he was sick and near death and how she fell in love with him, spending many happy years together before he finally died and was reincarnated as a mackrel. Later that night Rika calls Sakura at home in a panic, telling her that she saw a floating ball of fire in the window of the abandoned clubhouse on campus. The next day all three girls go to investigate, As they linger outside the old building, a portal opens and a gigantic floating cat head emerges. Rika and Miho immediately get scared and run but Sakura just stares at it in confusion before Rinne appears and begins to jump on the cat's oversized head, chasing him away. Later that day as she's walking home Sakura finds an injured black cat. She takes him home, puts a bandaid on his head and feeds him. When she steps out of the room the kitten lifts the bowl of milk and slurps it down. As Sakura returns she finds him carrying the bowl of rice she left him as he's about to jump out the window, trying to stop him before he gets hurt, Sakura falls out the window behind him, entering a spirit way. As she gives chase, the cat begins to transform slightly, and both emerge at Sankai High's campus, in front of the abandoned club house. Sakura hears a commotion inside and finds Rinne and the black cat talking. She quickly learns that the cat's name is Rokumon and he was sent by Tamako to meet and work with Rinne. Rokumon explains that all shinigami are assisted by black cats, members of an organization known as Black-Cats-By-Contract. Rokumon was originally contracted to work with Tamako, but she said she couldn't afford him and so sent him to Rinne. Rinne says he can't afford him either and refuses to sign their binding contract. Rokumon tries to offer up some money making schemes so that Rinne will see how useful he is and accept the contract, but Rinne has none of it. Rokumon visits Sakura at her house and tells her the real reason that Rinne's family is so poor is that Tamako made a deal with her bosses in order to extend the life of her husband and live with him in the human world, but the debt she accrued as a result was too costly for her to pay back entirely and so it has carried down through the generations to Rinne, who was raised by his grandparents. At school the next day, Sakura leads a group of students to a scary ambush by Rokumon, who she has determined to help Rinne earn money by scaring students to drive up business and donations at the weather hutch. Instead the students see a steam shovel about to demolish the old club building. As the machine approaches, hundreds of rat spirits stream from the building, scaring the students and Suzuki before merging into a giant rat. Rinne springs into action to save Sakura and defeat the ghost but gets overwhelmed. It is only by the timely intervention of Rokumon that everyone is saved. With the abandoned building spared from destrcution, Rinne reluctantly agrees to let Rokumon contract with him, and they move in together.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Mitsutoshi Sato (サトウ光敏)
  • Animation Director: Kentaro Matsumoto (松本健太郎), Shinichiro Kajiura (梶浦紳一郎), Toshimitsu Kobayashi (小林利充)
  • Script: Katsuhiko Takayama (高山カツヒコ)
  • Storyboards: Mitsutoshi Sato (サトウ光敏)
Originally Aired:
  • April 18, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • "You'll be a mackerel in your next life." - Rinne's grandfather will have a son named Sabato (鯖人). Sabato is written with the kanji for "mackerel" and "man". This is because his father, a human, died and was eventually reincarnated as a mackerel.
  • Kuroshio Current (黒潮), also known as the Japan Current, is a north-flowing ocean current on the west side of the northern Pacific Ocean.
  • "I thought Sekisaba mackerel lived in the Seto Insand Sea." - The Seto Inland Sea (瀬戸内海) is a body of water that divides the islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu and connects the Pacific Ocean on the eastern side of Japan to the Sea of Japan on the west side. The acclaimed travel documentary, The Inland Sea (1991), is about communities along this body of water.
  • A "hi no tama" (火の玉) literally translates to "ball of fire". It is a ghostly light that hovers in the air.
  • Sakura's shirt says, "Je reçois du sommeil beureux" (I will get a happy sleep) in French.
  • Rinne is fearful of the school security guard finding him living in the abandoned school club building. School security guards are typically teachers or parent volunteers, but this has changed in some schools since the Ikeda Elementary School attack in 2001.
  • Rokumon makes his first appearance in this episode.
  • Rokumon puts Rinne's hair into a straw doll called a "wara ningyo" (藁人形). These are used for cursing individuals much like a voodoo doll in the west.
  • "I came here through the spirit path, I don't have my wallet or my shoes." - Sakura "When Grandpa was still alive, I used to watch a TV anime about a careless housewife like that." - Rinne - Rinne is referring to Sazae-san.
  • During the next episode preview Tsubasa speaks and refers to himself with the pronoun "おれ" (ore) which means "me". Sakura asks if he is a flamenco dancer and he says "olé" before asking about "cafe au lait", all of which sound like "ore". In Japan there is a well known telephone scam that targets the elderly where the scammer calls and says "It's me! It's me!" (Ore da! Ore da!) luring the victim into assuming it is a relative or friend in need of help. Usually the scammer then asks for money to be sent to help resolve an alleged emergency.

Episode 4: 友だちからで良ければ
Tomodachi kara de yokereba
(If You Don't Mind Starting As Friends)
As the students hear about a new student transferring into their class, Rinne is attacked by the boy at the weather hutch. It seems that he has spiritual powers of his own as well as his own arsenal of weapons to subjucate spirits. Rinne only escapes the battle by removing his Haori of the Underworld. Afterwards he learns that he was hit with a bomb of sacred ashes, and Rokumon spies a photo the boy dropped....of Sakura as a child! The boy walks into the classroom and directly up to Sakura even before he is introduced, everyone is surprised at how familiar he is with her, none moreso than Sakura, who has no memory of him. Reading his name on the board, she calls out 'Tsubasa Jumonji' and appeases the boy, who thinks she remembers him just as he has remembered since they briefly were in the same class together in elementary school. Tsubasa bonded with Sakura over their shared ability to see ghosts, and developed an instant crush on her, a torch which he has continued to carry to this day. He wastes no time in telling her his feelings for her, shocking the entire class, just as Rinne walks in. Tsubasa attempts to attack him again with scared ashes, but as Rinne is not wearing his haori, these have no effect. He takes back his photo of Sakura, and he and Rinne seem destined to be rivals. Rinne leaves the classroom and begins to distance himself from Sakura, who asks him if he isn't spending as much time with her because Tsubasa asked her out. He denies this and Sakura accepts his response, leaving him alone. As Tsubasa walks Sakura home, he asks if she is with Rinne, and even though she thinks of him the whole time, she tells him they aren't a couple. Tsubasa is elated but senses a spirit and tosses a bomb of ashes, and hits Rinne, who was hiding and spying with Rokumon and the spirit boy, Usui, from earlier. Rinne learns that the spirit boy, Usui, was attracted to Sakura's friend Miho before he died, and that his spirit lingers on Earth because he still wants to ask her out. Rinne uses his haori inside out so that Usui can gain a body once more. Usui asks Rika out but not before Tsubasa attempts to attack the spirit and send him on. Rinne intervenes and the two are about to begin to fight again before Sakura rushes in and calms everything down. Miho asks Sakura and Tsubasa to come with her and Usui and make it a double date, and Sakura feels that she should accept to keep Usui safe from Tsubasa's methods. Rinne feels completely rejected and wanders off alone, when suddenly, Sakura's other friend Rika wanders up and asks Rinne out on the same date, since she doesn't want to be left out of her group of friends. The six students go to a theme park and Rinne is horrified that he has to spend money to ensure that not only Rika has fun, but Usui as well, so that he can pass on to the afterlife. Rinne seems to be having no fun, but shows that he's an expert at crane games and wins Rika a lot of dolls as well as a dolphin doll for Sakura after Tsubasa fails to get it. Before the end of the night, Rokumon brings Rinne a camera that will allow a spirit's photo to be taken with humans so that Usui and Miho can have a photo taken together. All the girls board the ferris wheel with Usui while Tsubasa and Rinne argue and miss their chance. As the compartment reaches the apex of the wheel and Miho and Rika are distracted by fireworks, Usui says his goodbye, with only Sakura watching him fade away, leaving only the pair of cat ears he was wearing and Rinne's haori. Tsubasa seems to realize that Rinne's more humane methods may have their benefits. That night, Rinne goes back to his room in the clubhouse, making paper flowers for money. Even though he feels depressed about Tsubasa and Sakura, while she sleeps Sakura hugs the dolphin doll that Rinne won for her.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Masayuki Matsumoto (松本マサユキ)
  • Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi (本橋秀之)
  • Script: Yuko Kakihara (柿原優子)
  • Storyboards: Takahiro Mizushima (大宙征基)
Originally Aired:
  • April 25, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Tsubasa makes his first appearance in this episode.
  • Much like Tsubame Ozuno in Urusei Yatsura who used western magic, Tsubasa's powers are associated with Western religion rather than Buddhism or Shintoism. His primary means for exorcising spirits is to use his "sacred ashes" (聖灰). These are likely a reference to the burning of palm branches and the resulting ash being used to draw a cross on the forehead of parisioners during Palm Sunday (though ashes in a more general use have been referenced as symbols of repentence since the days of Judaisim and the Old Testament).
  • As mentioned in the previous episode's "next episode preview", Tsubasa introduces himself to Sakura by saying "Ore da." (It's me.) without giving his name. When pressed to make a guess about who Tsubasa is she asks if he is "Oreda-kun".
  • Tsubasa's name is written on the chalk board revealing the deeper meaning behind his last name. "Jumonji" (十文字) means "cross or crucifix", an appropriate name given Tsubasa's apparent Christianity and the crosses that appear on a number of his garments.
  • The song played by the school bell is known as the "Westminster Chime". This became a standard school bell chime in Japan after World War II. Prior to this the same alarm sound used to warn of bombing raids was used to denote the end of a class session, but the memories of bombings were now strongly associated with this alarm. Consequently inventor Kunio Ishimoto (石本邦雄) invented a device that could play Westminster Chimes. He heard the sound because he was a frequent listener to BBC radio where the chimes were often used.
  • This dolphin doll Rinne wins for Sakura in this episode reappears throughout the series. Because Rinne and Sakura are very subtle with their emotions for one another, the doll is a good stand in for Sakura's feelings for Rinne even when she seems aloof on the surface.
  • In Japan the term for crane games is "UFO Catcher". This name came from the popular claw/crane arcade game released in 1985 by Sega. Due to its popularity the title of that particular machine has been used as the generic term for any claw-based prize game. However it is not the first, similar machines appeared in Japan in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Similar machines developed in the United States starting as early as the 1930s and were based on the public's fascination with the cranes helping to dig the Panama Canal.
  • A P-chan doll from Ranma 1/2 is also inside the crane game. Other machines in the background have dolls of Ranma, Akane, Genma and Lum. The rabbit doll also resembles Pyonkichi.
  • The ghost in this episode, Usui, is played by Mitsuhiro Ichiki. In 2012 (3 years prior to this episode) Ichiki had been the victim of a practical joke during the promotion of the anime series Kokoro Connect in which he was seemingly offered a role as a voice on the show only for it to be revealed as an elaborate prank. More about the controvery that this kicked up can be read about here.
  • In the preview for the next episode Rinne and Tsubasa are playing "Paper, Rock, Scissors" (Janken/じゃん拳) and also Shiritori (しりとり) a game where a player says a word, and the next player has to say a word that begins with the last kana of the previous word.


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 2

Episode 5: トイレの花子さん
Toire no Hanako-san
(Hanako-san)
Rokumon brings Rinne a wanted poster from the afterlife for a particular spirit worth 100,000 yen, while that same spirit leaves bloody handprints all over Room 1-4. Tsubasa throws sacred ashes at the hiding spirit and pursues it down the hall where it runs into Rinne who captures it in his haori. Upto taking it back to his room, the spirit is gone, but in its place is another, Hanako of the Toilet. Hanako tells Rinne that she was kicked out of her bathroom home by Tsubasa in elementary school and has been searching for him to take revenge ever since. Tsubasa arrives with Sakura and begins to threaten Hanako, she reverses his sacred ashes attack and instead binds him with toilet paper before flushing him out of the room with a stream of water. Outside Hanako teams up with the 100,000 yen spirit who is adding his power to her own. Rinne travels to the afterlife to talk about the spirit with Tamako, she tells him that its name is Toichi, and he is made up of a massive collection of other spirits who have all added their power together. By lending Hanako of the Toilet his power he will eventually absorb her as well. Before returning to the land of the living, Rinne stares at something in a store window. Back at the school the girl's bathroom continues to be vandalized, Rinne and Tsubasa both go to inspect it with Sakura and Tsubasa reveals his new weapon, a bazooka that shoots sacred ash balls. He attacks Hanako with it and gives chase. Hanako calls on Toichi for more power, but Rinne stops her, telling her the price she would pay for taking on Toichi's power. Tsubasa catches up and attacks Toichi with his ashes, which only causes the vengeful spirit to split into multiple smaller copies. Rinne pushes Hanako to Tsubasa and Sakura for safe keeping and Toichi beings to attack him, when suddenly Rokumon arrives with what Rinne had been looking at in the store window, his very own Shinigami scythe. With one swipe Rinne purifies one of the Toichi clones, the others rally and move to attack Hanako, but Tsubasa realizes how wrong he's been and jumps in the way to protect her, shunning his bazooka and instead pulling out his Bible, which he promptly uses to bash Toichi in the head with. Rinne is able to use this opportunity to purify the rest of the Toichi's, saving the day. After Tsubasa apologizes, Hanako goes with Rinne to the Wheel of Reincarnation, and Rinne collects his reward for Toichi, which all goes toward paying off his debts.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
  • Animation Director: Yasuyuki Noda (野田康行)
  • Script: Hiroyuki Yoshino (吉野弘幸)
  • Storyboards: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
Originally Aired:
  • May 2, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Hanako of the Toilet is an urban legend in Japan. As shown in Kyokai no RINNE she is a ghost girl who resides in school restrooms. Various reasons have been given for her death, including World War II era air raids, child abuse and suicide. The legend of Hanako dates back to at least the 1950s and the character has appeared in live action films and anime.
  • The name of the wicked spirit that Hanako is working with is "Toichi" (トイチ). "Toichi" is an illegal loan that charges 10% interest every 10 days, a reference to the lopsided deal that Hanako is getting by teaming up with this spirit.
  • Rinne gains his shinigami scythe in this episode which will become his most important tool for the rest of the series. The anime implies that Rinne owned this scythe and had to pawn it in order to have enough money to live on. The manga does not make any indication that he had owned this scythe before however.

Episode 6: 祠の声
Hokora no Koe
(Voice of the Roadside Shrine)
Sakura, Miho and and Rika are walking home as Miho tells them about finding a woman near there who was bent over in pain. She rubbed her back, and the woman said something strange to her. As they walk on, they find a little shrine that has children's voices coming from it. Miho and Rika run away, but Sakura stays to stare at the shrine, until children's hands emerge from it. Meanwhile at school, Tsubasa is thinking about Rinne's ability to purify spirits with his scythe, and how this will effect the way Sakura looks at him. Just then Sakura comes by on her way to see Rinne and they both go to the abandoned clubhouse together. They find Rinne consulting with a boy totally bandaged up like a mummy. His name is Taro Nekota and he says he was attacked by his younger brother, Hiroshi. Rinne, Sakura and Tsubasa go to his house and find his parents bandaged up as well, and Hiroshi's face resembling that of a cat. Rinne summons Rokumon who brings his new Shinigami scythe, but as Rinne prepares to wield it, Hiroshi darts out of the house, Rinne pursues, swings and misses with his blade....and the staff promptly breaks. Hiroshi's parents tell Rinne and Sakura that other children in the neighborhood have gone missing, and Sakura realizes the voices she heard at the shrine must be theirs. She asks Rokumon to help her, as Tsubasa chases Hiroshi through the neighborhood. He watches the possessed Hiroshi jump into someone's apartment balcony and goes to confront the owner, finding one of the supposedly missing children who answers the door. Upon arriving at the shine, Sakura and Rokumon learn that Hiroshi and his friend's have in fact been captured there and replaced by Bakeneko, cat spirits. Tsubasa is attacked caught off guard when he learns that Taichi, Hiroshi's friend is also a bakeneko, and he is attacked and subdued by them both. Rinne arrives just in time to protect Tsubasa from the bakenekos attack. Meanwhile, Hiroshi's captured spirit tells Sakura that the woman Miho mentioned earlier was the one that lead he and his friends to the shirne. Taichi broke it and they were later attacked by the two bakeneko. Rinne feeds Tsubasa some candy to help him recover then uses the Kasha Retsuden against the bakeneko, but they just give chase and go play with the tool. Sakura and Rokumon see them and Rokumon attempts to attack, but the bakeneko reveal their true forms, Akamaru and Toramaru and easily dispatch him. Rinne arrives and Sakura shares a book that Rokumon had detailing how Akamaru and Toramaru were originally captured in the shrine by luring them in with expensive tuna; something Rinne could never afford to replicate. Instead, Rinne uses his broken scythe as a play toy and distracts the cats with it long enough to entrap them in the shrine again. This released the captured children, but the woman who Miho and Hiroshi had seen near the shrine suddenly emerges, hits Rinne on the head with a tea kettle and he gets pulled into the shrine as well. She reveals herself as a member of the Damashigami Company. As she is about to escape with the shrine, Tsubasa captures her with a rope and then destroys the shrine to free Rinne, but also freeing Akamaru and Toramaru. Tsubasa then uses the original idea and calls a delivery man to deliver expensive tuna, then blasts the cats with sacred ashes, rendering them unconscious before they are exorcise while Rinne uses the Kasha Retsuden on the Damashigami agent. The neighborhood boys give Rinne a little money to repair his scythe, and the Damashigami woman escapes and goes back to her headquarters to report to her boss a mysterious man with red hair just like Rinnes. When he tries to comfort the cute girl his secretary's scythe comes down to keep them apart. The girl tells her boss that the boy she met resembled him, and he grins approvingly.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Fumi Fujiitaka (ふじいたかふみ)
  • Animation Director: Ako Sahara (佐原亜湖), Ichiro Ogawa (をがわいちろを)
  • Script: Hiroyuki Yoshino (吉野弘幸)
  • Storyboards: Keiji Gotoh (後藤圭二)
Originally Aired:
  • May 9, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • A "hokora" (祠) is a small shrine usually on a the side of a street to enshrine kami (spirits) that are not under the jurisdiction of a larger Shinto shrine. Typically the kami that are enshrined at a hokora are dosojin (道祖神), kami associated with the protection of travelers.
  • Nekota - The family name of Rinne's clients in this episode is "Nekota" (猫田). It is written with the kanji for "cat" and "field".
  • A "bakeneko" (化け猫) is a type of yokai that has the appearance of a cat. Because of cats' wild nature, eyes that seemed to change shape in different lighting and static electricity that occasionally comes when their fur is stroked, Japanese sometimes associated them as being yokai. One of their powers is said to be shapeshifting into a human form as we see here. Maomolin from Ranma 1/2 and perhaps Byoki from MAO (though he is more likely a nekomata (猫又) a similar creature) are other significant bakeneko in Rumiko Takahashi's oeuvre.
  • Nekodamashi - The bakeneko slaps his hands together to paralyze Tsubasa and calls this his "nekodamashi" technique. Nekodamashi (猫騙し) is a rarely used sumo wrestling technique where the wrestler slaps his hands together in front of the face of his opponent, startling them and taking advantage of their momentary confusion to throw them. Here is the technique in use.
  • The two bakeneko are named "Akamaru" (赤丸) and "Toramaru" (虎丸). Akamaru means "red circle" due to his reddish fur. Toramaru means "tiger circle" due to his tiger stripes.
  • In the flashback showing Akamaru and Toramaru making mischief during the Edo period, they are stranding in front of a Jizo statue.
  • The fire wheel (火車) is pronounced as "kasha" and means "burning wheel" or "burning chariot". It is a spirit that comes from the afterlife to capture the spirits of the dead that lead a poor life. There is also a cat spirit that uses the same name that this is often confused for. Additionally a flaming wheel with a face in the middle is a different type of spirit which is known as a "wanyudo" (輪入道).
  • The female cat-like damashigami is a rare anime-only character. She did not appear in the original manga.
  • The sushi delievery man's face has the kanji "寿" written on it. This is the first kanji in "sushi" (寿司). We see this again in episode 18.
  • "That's right! Special Flavored Sacred Ashes: "Rich Matatabi Flavor"!" - Matatabi, also known as "Actinidia polygama" is a vine that grows in Korea, China and Japan. It has a similar effect on cats as catnip (Nepeta cataria).
  • The sacred ash ball that has the Matatabi inside has "マ" (ma for "matatabi") written on it.
  • When Hiroshi Nekota gives Rinne 1,000 yen for his trouble, Rinne calls him "obotchan" (お坊ちゃん). This means "young master" and is quite deferential.
  • Sabato and Bijin make their first appearances at the end of this episode.
  • In the next episode preview Rinne explains that he was not always poor and that he used to be a "petit-buru" (プチブル) a "petit bourgeois". The Japanese often use contractions (短縮形) of words (often loan words from another language) and merge them together. Other examples include "remokon" (remote control) and "puroresu" (professional wrestling).

Episode 7: ウサギ小屋の因縁
Usagi koya no innen
(Curse of the Rabbit Hutch)
As Sakura is walking down the streets with Rika and Miho she sees a boy named Reiji floating in midair with his head against a lamp post. Suddenly another young man with wings appears and tells the spirit that he should curse the area, before taking out a magic marker and misspelling "curse" on his forehead. Rinne receives a letter asking for his assistance and Sakura reads it over his shoulder, noticing all the misspellings. Rinne and Sakura go to the roof where they meet the boy Sakura saw at the lamp post earlier's girlfriend, Suzu Minami and his best friend Tomoya Tadano. Out of nowhere Reiji's spirit grabs Suzu by the neck and attempts to pull her off the side of the roof. Suzu is somehow able to slam the spirit and it rushes away in to the sky. Rinne and Sakura learn that Reiji isn't dead, but in a coma due to hitting his head on the lamp post as he was walking his motorcycle. The group visits Reiji's body at the hospital and Reiji's spirit quickly follows riding his motorcycle. He curses at Suzu and Tomoya, thinking that they are romantically involved even though they both deny it. Rinne attempts to use a vaccuum cleaner to suck Reiji's spirit back into his body but the tube is cut by a cash card. The boy with bat wings from earlier appears, his name is Masato, and Sakura is shocked to learn that he and Rinne seem to know one another. Masato is a devil and reveals that when they were children, Rinne stopped him from taking the soul of a rabbit to hell as part of a school assignment and beating him up. Masato constantly got in trouble at school as a little boy because Rinne would always interfere with his attempts to bring souls to hell, and now he wants revenge. Masato escapes with Reiji's spirit, and Rinne explains that the longer his spirit is out of his body the harder it will be to get it to return. He agrees to accept the case for free since Masato is only doing it to get back at him. That night Sakura hands Rokumon the cash card that Masato tossed. At school Suzu continues to get misspelled threats from Masato while Tomoya is run over by Reiji on his motorcycle. Suzu gets angry and Reiji mistakes her anger as affection for Tomoya, upsetting him even further. Sakura chases after him riding atop Rokumon but is attacked by Masato. Rinne arrives just in time to save them both and uses some paper cranes to remove the curse mark on Reiji's head. Masato traps Reiji's spirit in a bottle and heads to hell with Rinne in pursuit.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Fumi Fujiitaka (ふじいたかふみ)
  • Animation Director: Takuro Shinbo (しんぼたくろう)
  • Script: Katsuhiko Takayama (高山カツヒコ)
  • Storyboards: Takahiro Mizushima (大宙征基)
Originally Aired:
  • May 16, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • The bug sound at the beginning of this episode is the sound of cicadas, a locust-type bug that is often heard in Japan throughout summertime. The sound has become an easy way to tell the audience what time of the year it is.
  • Masato, who makes his first appearance in this episode, is a very poor speller. He tries to write "curse" (the verb "to curse" not the noun "a curse") on the Reiji's head (祟) but it is missing a number of strokes.
  • Reiji Todoroki's last name is written (轟) which means "thunder". Suzu Minami and Tomoya Tadano do not have particularly telling names.
  • Moyori General Hospital - Moyori (最寄り) means "the nearest".
  • The term Rinne uses to describe Reiji's state is "ikiryou" (生霊). This is a vengeful spirit spawned from someone's hate, something like a personified grudge.
  • The English translation of the anime describes Masato as a "demon". Because we are using their terminology for consistency it should be mentioned that the translation of "demon" in regards to Masato is coming from the Japanese word "akuma" (悪魔) which is often called translated as a "devil". In Rumiko Takahashi's other series, Inuyasha, the English translation often refers to "demons" as well. These are actually "yokai" (妖怪). It is not that "demon" is wrong or incorrect, it is simply to clarify that Masato in Kyokai no RINNE and the monsters in Inuyasha are different types of supernatural creatures.
  • In Japan summer vacation takes place within a single school year, so homework is often given over this break. Summer homework (夏休みの宿題) can include projects, journals, reading and independant study project. Many schools have workbooks that are given out called "Summer Vacation Friend" (夏休みの友).
  • The rabbit who's soul was going to be taken by Masato is Usako. Its name comes from "usagi" which means "rabbit" in Japanese.
  • "The teacher on night duty caught us, and we got a harsh scolding for fighting." - Once upon a time Japanese schools had "night duty rooms" (宿直室) where a teacher would stay overnight to function as a security guard. One teacher reported, "In my memory, the night shift would have been abolished around 1974. After that, for about five years, college students worked part-time and stayed in the night duty room as a "night shift agent". However, some of them got involved with the students, drank alcohol and made noise, problems began to occur here and there, and there must have been murders ... Because of that, it became "totally unmanned". I did it at one point. In my case, it was a local prefectural high school, but when I was young, I stayed in the night duty room for about three years. We (the night duty teacher) would go around the school at midnight and 3:00am to formally confirm everything was safe. I couldn't sleep because I was nervous, and it certainly hinders the next day's lessons. It was hard. Even if I stayed overnight, the night shift allowance was only about 800 yen. Your shift would come around twice each month. Female teachers didn't do a night shift, so I wish I had been born a woman. To be honest, the night shift had no meaning. Popular teachers had problems such as students wanting to hang around with them, and for female students, the problem was even more troublesome. In my case, it was a big problem.". Government offices, town halls and banks also had similar overnight shifts.
  • Holding buckets of water in the school hallway was once a common punishment. Schools had buckets since students were responsible for cleaning, so it was a way to shame students and remove them from class.
  • Masato explains that the kanji in his name mean "evil, narrow-minded, person" however he writes the kanji incorrectly.
  • "Out of habit I accidentally did a Tawara throw on him." - A Tawara throw, or a Tawara gaeshi is a type of judo throw involving locking ones hands around the opponent's midsection and tossing them onto their back while maintaining the hold.
  • "I got so embarrassed, and the next thing I knew, I had him in an Argentine Backbreaker." - Invented by Rolando Vera, this professional wrestling move has the opponent draped across the back of the attacker who then pulls down on their neck with one arm and their leg with the other, bowing them across their shoulders.
  • Masato's bank around pin number is 4444. Four is an unlucky number in Japanese because it is prounced "shi" which is the same as "death".
  • In the next episode preview Masato mentions the various levels of hell. The frozen hells include:
    • Arbuda - blister hell
    • Nirarbuda - burst blister hell
    • Atata - shivering hell
    • Hahava - lamentation hell
    • Huhuva - chattering teeth hell
    • Utpala - blue lotus hell
    • Padma - lotus hell
    • Mahapadma - great lotus hell
  • The hot hells include:
    • Sanjiva - reviving hell
    • Kalasutra - black thread hell
    • Samghata - crushing hell
    • Raurava - screaming hell
    • Maharaurava - great screaming hell
    • Tapana - heating hell
    • Pratapana - great heating hell
    • Avici - uninterrupted hell


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 3

Episode 8: ようこそ地獄へ!
Youkoso jigoku he!
(Welcome to Hell!)
Rinne chases Masato into hell, but immediately is pursued by another devil as he doesn't have enough money to pay the toll to get in. Meanwhile Rokumon shows Sakura a Tsukumogami seal that brings the lamp post that Reiji struck to life, hoping it will shed light on an item that Reiji's spirit said it was missing. Instead the post yells about how mad it is at a dog named Lucifer who always pees on him. A few blocks away Sakura and Rokumon hear a woman chastising Lucifer and they find a present that he's chewed up near his dog house. When they take the gift back to Suzu at the hospital she learns that its a pair of matching rings for she and Reiji to wear. Back in hell Masato attemps to trick Rinne into smashing dozens of copies of the bottle he's got Reiji's soul contained in, but Rinne instead sees Masato and hits a baseball at him, missing and breaking another devil's window. The home owner chases Rinne and Masato reveals his true plan. He doesn't care about Reiji's soul, he simply wanted to lure Rinne into hell and trick him into causing destruction so that he'd owe so much money in repair costs that he'd never be out of debt. With that Masato tosses the bottle with Reiji's soul into a massive pit and Rinne follows in pursuit. Meanwhile Sakura and Rokumon are travelling along the spirit way attempting to enter hell themselves. When they arrive Rokumon finds an ATM machine and uses the debit cards that Masato had been throwing around in the world of the living. Sakura worries they may be booby trapped but instead, Rokumon finds a card that actually works. Below, Rinne finally catches the bottle he thinks contains Reiji's spirit, but instead, serpents emerge from it and capture him. Masato laughs and purchases as Shinigami scythe to cut Rinne down. Rinne runs until Sakura and Rokumon reach him with bags of cash. Masato grins to himself, knowing the bills are counterfeit and if Rinne destroys them, he'll be thrown into hell prison. Rinne instead uses the money to perform the Stream of a Thousand Winds techinque, and blasts a tornado of bills at Masato. When the police arrive, Rinne refuses to tell them that the counterfeit money is Masato's, instead reaching an agreement with the devil that keeps Masato from taking the fall for the fake money, while Masato pays off Rinne's debts in for the destruction caused in hell. Rinne takes Reiji's soul back to the land of the living where he wakes up and is reunited with Suzu. Back in hell, Masato wanders the streets, cursing Rinne and kicks a rock through another window, breaking it.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Masayuki Matsumoto (松本マサユキ)
  • Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi (本橋秀之)
  • Script: Katsuhiko Takayama (高山カツヒコ)
  • Storyboards: Takahiro Mizushima (大宙征基)
Originally Aired:
  • May 23, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Jigoca - Masato asks Rinne if he has a "jigoca" pass to allow him to come to hell. "Jigoca" is a portmanteau of "jigoku" (hell) and "card".
  • The red-skinned guard at the gate to hello is an oni (鬼). The iron club he is carrying is a traditional weapon of the oni. There is a saying in Japanese, "鬼に金棒" (Oni ni kanabou) which literally translates to "oni with an iron club" but has the connotation of making something strong even stronger.
  • Rokumon uses a tsukumogami seal to animate the pole that Reiji crashed into. In Japanese culture a tsukumogami (付喪神) is an object that has existed long enough can gain a soul and become animated. Frequently it is said to take a century for the item to gain sentience.
  • The telephone pole complains about a dog named Lucifer peeing on him everyday. In an episode focused on hell, a dog named Lucifer seems particularly appropriate.
  • Moyori General Hospital - Moyori (最寄り) means "the nearest".
  • When showing Reiji and Suzu admiring their pair rings they are surrounded by deer and horses. This means "idiot" as the world (baka) is written with the kanji (馬鹿) (horse + deer).
  • Rinne watches as various thieves and extortionists are sorted and directed throughout hell. In a number of religions hell has differering levels of punishment depending on the sins of the deceased. We see this in the various hells discussed in the notes of episode 7 but also in classical works of Western literature such as the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri which is known for its many circles of hell.
  • The oni who's window is smashed by Rinne's errant baseball is Raiden (雷神), the Japanese thunder god. He is shown riding a cloud and surrounded by drumbs emblazoned with the tomoe (巴) symbol upon them.
  • The forged 1,000 hell yen bills have Kotatsuneko on them from Urusei Yatsura. Episode 21 featured a bill with Genma Saotome from Ranma 1/2.

Episode 9: カツラの無念とカボチャの誘惑
Katsura no munen to kabocha no yuuwaku
(The Wig's Disappointment and the Pumpkin's Temptation)
While having a festival at school, Rinne, Sakura and Tsubasa are taking out some trash and watch as a wig comes to life, and flies out of a garbage can, going back to the theater building. It begins to to terrorize students before finally landing on one boys head. Rinne uses a Tsukumogami Seal to bring the wig to life and it tells everyone that it was supposed to be in a play but its role was cut and it was never allowed to put on a show. Everyone attempts to learn what play the wig might have originally been from so that they can perform it and send the wig on its way. The wig finally mentions it involved a glass slipper and everyone realizes it has to be Cinderella. The wig becomes angered when no girls want to wear it. About to freak out again, it notices Sakura and thinks she'd be perfect in the role wearing it a top her head. As the play begins the wig immediately causes disruptions, making Sakura kick Rinne when he doesn't say the right lines. Finally everyone realizes that the wig wasn't for Cinderella herself, but was the hair used for a horses tail. Once it is back in place everyone seems happy. As Rinne watches from the audience he notices a suspicious presence. Walking around campus and reflecting upon his suspicious, a floating Jack O'Lantern emerges from the bushes and asks for his help. Back in the classroom, the festival continues and an older student comes back to visit one of Sakura's classmates, Mari. He flirts with her but when Tsubasa enters the room he drives him off with sacred ashes. The girl pursues the mysterious, handsome boy and ends up on the roof, where he is revealed as a spirit who attempts to lure her to run to him... and straight off the roof to her death. Rinne arrives just in time and hits the girl with the Jack O'Lantern, knocking her out before he confronts the spirit as a Damashigami, a spirit who tries to lure people to an early death. The Damashigami spirit only appears to be Kimura, Mari's first love, when in fact the Jack O'Lantern is actually the true Kimura, his face having been stolen by the Damashigami spirit who gave him its pumpkin head in return. Hearing a commotion outside, they find that the spirit with Kimura's face has lured dozens of girls away to the afterlife. Rinne is forced to cross dress as a maid in hopes of getting kidnapped so that he can rescue the lost girls. When the Damashigami with Kimura's face returns, he kidnaps Sakura, and Rinne, Rokumon, Tsubasa and the true Kimura all jump and tag along. They find the girls being entertained by people who all wear Kimura's face. Rokumon tosses Rinne a Shinigami tool called the Becaon of Truth, that looks suspiciously like a magical girl's wand, with it Rinne reveals all of the Damashigami's true identities, while correcting Kimura's face as well. Rinne is forced to battle all the Damashigami agents. Unfortunately the pumpkin head's power is still strong because the girls are so in love with Kimura that they vow to follow him into death just to be with him. Thankfully Kimura reveals that he is only interested in dating older women, and so all the girls give up and Rinne is able to take them back to the land of the living. Upon arriving back at school Rinne is revealed as the winner of the Mr. Lady Contest, and receives a dozen packs of instant ramen as first prize.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
  • Animation Director: Yasuyuki Noda (野田康行)
  • Script: Yuko Kakihara (柿原優子)
  • Storyboards: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
Originally Aired:
  • May 20, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • This is one of the earliest mentions of the neighborhood's name - Sankai. We see a sign at the school announcing the school festival "Sankai Festival" (三界祭). Sankai in Buddhist terms is "the three realms (of existence)", that being the past, the present and the future.
  • The girl dressed in the white robes is supposed to be a ghost. The white triangle shaped hat she is wearing has long been associated with ghosts and is known by a number of names including "boushi" (帽子/hat), "nuno" (布/cloth) to more specific terms such as "tenkan" (天冠/celestial crown).
  • At school festivals themed "cafes" are a fairly common classroom or club activity. Maid cafes started to become popular in Akihabara around 2001 and then spread to school festivals around that time period.
  • In Japanese culture a tsukumogami (付喪神) is an object that has existed long enough can gain a soul and become animated. Frequently it is said to take a century for the item to gain sentience.
  • The students mistake Rokumon for an oboroguruma (朧車) when he appears on stage as the pumpkin carriage. An oboro-guruma is a ghostly oxcart with the face of its driver.
  • "Welcome the coming" is my thing!" - "Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest," is a quote from Homer's Odyssey. Count Dracula quotes this line to Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker's Dracula as well.
  • "Shed light on the deception so that its true nature can be revealed, Hakujitsuto!" - This is a parody of a Sailor Moon like monologue as Rinne in his maid outfit wields a magical scepter. "Hakujitsu" (白日) is "bright sunlight", he the light that reveals the illusions of the demashigami.
  • One of the fake Kimuras is a "Heno heno moheji" doll.
  • After winning the cross-dressing contest, Rinne says "助かりわ" (tasukari wa, I appreciate it). Adding -wa at the end of a sentence makes it more feminine.

Episode 10: 堕魔死神カンパニー
Damashigami Kanpanii
(Damashigami Company)
Rinne and Rokumon are both sick with colds and are visited by Sakura and Tsubasa. Suddenly a teddy bear doctor and robot nurse also arrive to help treat the pair, but are revealed to work for the Damashigami Company and attack Rinne. Just as one of the Damashigami agents is about to reveal who the boss of the company is, a kunai flies out of the spirit way and sticks in its skull. As she and Tsubasa walk home, she tells him a bit about Rinne's family, and finds herself wondering about how someone as caring as Tamako could saddle Rinne with so much debt, realizing that it doesn't make sense. Rokumon delivered the Damashigami agents for a bounty, but upon going to the bank he finds Rinne's account totally empty. When Sakura and Tsubasa return, a storm of IOUs erupts. In the heart of the storm stands a figure with red hair just like Rinne's... Sabato Rokudo, Rinne's father! Outside Rinne's room, two beautiful Damashigami Company girls lead dozens of love struck boys into a trap, capturing them to take them to the afterlife before their time. Rinne saves the young men and just as he is about to strike and take out the Damashigami agents Sabato stops him, revealing that he himself is the head of the Damashigami Company before teleporting away, but not before telling Rinne that his mother wants him to join the Damashigami Company as well. As he makes his way back to his room, Rinne finds all his meager belongings are gone, stolen away by his own father. He and Rokumon, with Sakura and Tsubasa in tow head off to the afterlife to confront Sabato. However along the spirit way all four are captured. Rinne recalls how as a little boy he caught Sabato breaking into his room to steal money, he had been saving to go see his mother out of his piggy bank. As Sabato stole the money he told Rinne his mother was already dead before being knocked away by Tamako. Now, Sabato tells the captured Rinne that he will let him see his mother, before revealing a room full of women, all of whom are Sabato's many girlfriends. He tells his son that he will get to choose who Sabato marries and thus which one will become Rinne's new mother as well as naming him as the heir to the Damashigami Company. When Rinne refuses and attempts to fight his father, Sabato opens a trap door, imprisoning Sakura, Tsubasa and Rokumon. As Rinne rushes off to save them, Tsubasa and Sakura escape their unlocked cells almost immediately. As Rinne searches he is accosted by teenage Damashigami girls who all hope to date the Sabato's son. Tsubasa finds him with the girls, and curses at him for two-timing Sakura. Rinne escapes in the confusion after Tsubasa throws a ball of sacred ashes. Before following Rinne, Tsubasa runs into a cyclops fortune teller who gives him a pendant that will bring him luck in love. He's able to find Sakura before Rinne and the two stumble upon a massive banquet hall.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
  • Animation Director: Takuro Shinbo (しんぼたくろう)
  • Script: Michiko Yokote (横手美智子)
  • Storyboards: Keiji Gotoh (後藤圭二)
Originally Aired:
  • June 6, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Satsuki Yukino (Tamako) changed the spelling of her name and it is reflected from this episode onward. Originally she wrote her name as "雪野五月" after this she used "ゆきの さつき". Both names are pronounced the same.
  • Tatami mats - We have seen Rinne's "home" (the abandoned club room) a number of times in the series. Rinne has placed two tatami mats down near the wall so that he can sleep and sit there. It would be rather unusual and quite shoddy to have two tatami mats randomly in a room like this. Typically an entire bedroom's floor is covered in tatami mats but Rinne cannot afford this so he has placed two mats randomly in the room.
  • Japanese use tatami mats as a way of measuring rooms as well. A "six mat room" is standard sized, while "four and a half mats" would be considered small. A very large room would be "eight to ten tatami mats" (however this is the average size of a western bedroom). "Jo" (畳) is the unit for the number of tatami.
  • Sabato has an odd habit of occasionally using English words such as "why?" in his speech.
  • Sabato is played by Kappei Yamaguchi, a mainstay of Rumiko Takahashi anime. His debut role was as Ranma Saotome in Ranma 1/2 and after that he played the lead character in Inuyasha at the request of Rumiko Takahashi herself. In an interview he states this episode is his favorite of the series.
  • In episode 2 we mentioned the rabbit's shirt is an example of "ateji" (当て字) where a word's typical spelling is subverting and different characters are used to make the same sounding word. The rabbit's shirt says よろしく (yoroshiku) meaning "please treat me well" however it is written with fairly dark kanji (夜露死苦) (night, tears, death, suffering). This is an old phrase used by motorcycle gangs. The raccoon in the green shirt also has "Ai rabu yuu" (I love you) written with random kanji that individually are chosen mearly for their phonetic sound. These kanji are (love, gauze, warrior, courage) which collectively mean nothing.
  • Though not easily seen in this episode the cow's shirt says "buchigiri" (winning by a huge margin) though it is written with the kanji 仏恥義理 (Buddha, shame, justice, logic) and the penguin's shirt says "gamushara" (reckless). It is typically written 我武者羅 but instead it is spelled 我梦射裸 (selfish, dream, shoot, naked).
  • Sakura is concerned that Rinne's money is going to be spent on Japanese black beef (黒毛和種). This is beef native to Japan that was cultivated during Japan being closed off to the outside world between 1635 and 1854. Because of this Japanese cows did not intermingle with any other stock and are now recognized as uniquely Japanese breeds. Their beef is a pricy delicacy.
  • The one-eyed fortune teller that bothers Tsubasa will return in episode 41.
  • The small chef creature is "Kawaii Cook-san". There is a children's song that discusses how to draw the character. He also appeared in Urusei Yatsura in episode 97 as Salt No. 1. Typically he is more monkey-like in appearance but the anime adaptation colored his mouth to make it look more bird-like (perhaps to avoid any copyright issues with the character).


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 4

Episode 11: 若社長就任式!?
Waka Shachou Shuunin Shiki!?
(The Young President's Induction?!)
Sakura, Tsubasa and Rinne all reunite at the banquet that Sabato is throwing using Rinne's money, the purpose of which is to announce Rinne's engagement so he can take over the Damashigami Company. Rinne refuses any of the girls present and Sabato teases him, asking him if he's in love with the human girl he's brought along. Rinne doesn't answer, and Sabato challenges him to battle, using his flaming wheel, the Kyuketsukasha. Rinne agrees, saying that if he wins, he will destroy the Damashigami Company, while if Sabato wins, Rinne must get engaged and take over the company. As they prepare for their fight, Rokumon searches a storeroom and meets someone in a large white seal costume. Back in the ring, Rinne reminds his father of all the times he reappeared in his life, just to steal money from him. Sabato plays dumb before launching the Kyuketsukasha. Rinne blocks the wheel with his scythe, but is shocked to find that the wheel absorbs his scythe and then spits out its cash value to Sabato. Rinne is forced to defend himself with expensive knives, forks and plates, while Sabato just laughs as everytime his son throws something at his wheel, he gets paid. In the midst of the fight, the person in the seal costume arrives and hands Rokumon over to Sakura, along with a map. When a delivery man shows up wanting to get paid. Rinne grabs a huge platter of Wagyu beef and throws it at the Kyuketsukasha, converting it to cash and paying the delivery man. Sabato is so shocked at a bill getting paid that he momentarily gets stunned and coughs up blood. Sakura and Rokumon use the map to find a storeroom that contains a safe. Luckily the key to the safe is clumsily taped to the safe itself and once they open it, they find everything that the Kyuketsukasha has absorbed inside the safe. Sakura grabs Rinne's scythe and rushes back to Rinne who is losing badly to his father. Sabato has Rinne down, and is determined to get a new copy of Rinne's thumbprint, which he'll use to make his son cosigner of all his debt. Finally Sakura arrives and with his scythe back in hand, Rinne is ready to fight. Sabato realizes that the seal has snatched away his Kyuketsukasha while he was distracted as marriage certificates fall from the ceiling. The Damashigami girls all accuse Sakura of trying to keep Rinne for herself. Sabato counters by spraying Rinne in spraypaint and throwing banana peels to make him fall and smack his painted hand on a document allowing Sabato to take five million yen out in his name, but Rinne cuts up the paper. Sabato makes an effort to his son and tells him to slap his face as a means of apology but everyone points out that he is simply trying to get Rinne's print again. Suddenly the seal jumps in the ring and slaps Sabato down, taking off its costumed head, it is revealed to be Tamako. She announces that Sakura and Rinne are a couple, much to the dismay of the other girls. On their way back to the land of the living, Sakura counts the money they got back from Sabato while Tsubasa pouts. Sakura then makes an offhanded comment about how she and Rinne don't actually have feelings for each other, which cheers Tsubasa up immensely but devastates Rinne.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Fumi Fujiitaka (ふじいたかふみ)
  • Animation Director: Atsuo Tobe (戸部敦夫), Ichiro Ogawa (をがわいちろを)
  • Script: Michiko Yokote (横手美智子)
  • Storyboards: Keiji Gotoh (後藤圭二)
Originally Aired:
  • June 13, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • The kanji on Sabato's blood-sucking fire wheel is 吸 (suck).
  • The announcer for the battle between Sabato and Rinne looks remarkably similar to Principal Kuno from Ranma 1/2 with blonde hair.
  • The white mounds shown during Rinne's flashback to New Year's holidays of the past is mochi (rice cakes). Kagami mochi (鏡餅) is the name for this particular design used during New Year's celebrations that features two stacked mochi with an orange on top. The double layer is meant to represent the doubling of your luck with the orange representing prosperity.
  • The money that Sabato snatches from Rinne when he was celebrating getting admitted into school is called a "shuugi bukuro" (祝儀袋). This literally means a "celebratory gift bag" and is a special envelope filled with money given on special occasions. More generally any envelope containing money is called a "kinpu" (金封). The ribbon or cord wrapped around the envelope is a "mizuhiki" (水引), a stiff string made from rice paper.
  • "My possessions are mine. The company's are also mine." - This is a paraphrase of a famous line from Doraemon said by a character named Takeshi Gouda (better known by his nickname "Gian"). His famous quote is, "おまえのものはおれのもの、おれのものもおれのものな。" (What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine.) This idea has been parodied in a number of anime and manga and even became a slang term in the 1990s in Japan called "Gianism".
  • Like most of the delivery men in the series, this man who is here to collect money for the Japanese black beef from the previous episode has 肉 (niku/meat) written on his face.
  • "I doubt this will work... Sa... ba... to..." - Sakura is able to get into Sabato's safe by punching in 3-8-1. These numbers can be read as "Sa-ba-to" in Japanese.
  • The cow's shirt says "buchigiri" (winning by a huge margin) though it is written with the kanji 仏恥義理 (Buddha, shame, justice, logic) and the rabbit, as previously mentioned, has a shirt that says よろしく (yoroshiku) meaning "please treat me well" however it is written with fairly dark kanji (夜露死苦) (night, tears, death, suffering). This is an old phrase used by motorcycle gangs. These are an example of "ateji" (当て字) where a word's typical spelling is subverting and different characters are used to make the same sounding word.
  • "What's on your mind? I have no clue." - Rumiko Takahashi herself has spoken about how cryptic she found Sakura to be. She mentions in interviews that she often does not know what Sakura is thinking despite the fact that she is her creator.
  • This dolphin doll Rinne wins for Sakura in episode 4 reappears throughout the series. Because Rinne and Sakura are very subtle with their emotions for one another, the doll is a good stand in for Sakura's feelings for Rinne even when she seems aloof on the surface.

Episode 12: 死神 鳳(あげは)
Shinigami Ageha
(Ageha the Shinigami)
A girl stands on the branch of a tree watching the Wheel of Reincarnation turn. As she watches she remembers being a child, watching her older sister battle an agent of the Damashigami Company. Her sister won the battle, turned to her and said she was going to destroy the rest of the company, leaving the little girl alone. At Sankai High, class 1-4 are handed back a set of tests they've taken, with most people depressed at their grades. Rika however, earned a 100 proudly holds up her new mechanical pencil, which Sakura immediately notices has an ominous glow to it. Miho tells Sakura about a mysterious salesman who was on campus, selling mechanical pencils and promising that they would earn whoever used them a perfect score on their tests. Rika seems to be in a daze as she tells everyone goodbye and allows then pencil to lead her out into the hallway, Tsubasa and Sakura follow her, and she joins a group of other students who also seem to be under the influence of their glowing mechanical pencils. Outside Rinne notices the students moving toward a portal and quickly dives in with them where he is promptly attacked by a girl with a scythe who thinks he is a Damashigami agent. The girl is obviously the little sister who followed in her sister's footsteps. She and Rinne engage in a brief skirmish before realizing that the mechanical pencil salesman below is the true Damashigami Agent. He escapes into his bag and they follow in pursuit. They follow the salesman to his hideout, where Rinne bursts in and captures him and other mechanical pencil salesmen as well, hoping to earn the reward for their capture. The girl is impressed by Rinne's zeal for capturing Damashigami agents. Rinne tells her that they can split the reward but she says she isn't interested in the money before introducing herself as the Shinigami, Ageha. However Rinne ran off to claim the reward as soon as she said she didn't want any of the money. Ageha recalls that she's seen red hair like Rinne's somewhere before. Back at school Sakura realizes she is being watched by a tiny, seemingly living camera. Ageha turns up at Rinne's room, telling him she wants to learn more about the Damashigami Company. She describes how her older sister was investigating the company before she suddenly disappeared. Her sister never returned home but instead sent a postcard showing her on the beach with her new boyfriend, who Rinne immediately recognizes as Sabato, his father. Rinne stops Rokumon from sharing this fact with her. Just then a Damashigami agent arrives to present Rinne with an invoice for all the missed work time the company suffered due to contracting Rokumon's cold during their first visit. The agent calls him "young president" and Rinne beats him up and tosses him out. Rinne tells Ageha that he hates the Damashigami Company too, and sensing a kindred spirit, she grabs his hand excitedly. Just then Sakura walks into the room seeing the two holding hands and gets the wrong idea. Ageha nervously freaks out and pushes Rinne into a wall before running away. Ageha sits alone, misremembering her conversation with Rinne, thinking that he grasped her hand and that he must be interested in her romantically. Back in his room Rinne and Rokumon find the camera that was following Sakura. When Rokumon captures it, it struggles to get away before blowing up in his hands. The camera was broadcasting back to Sabato at the Damashigami Company and his secretary... Ageha's sister! As she walks home Sakura thinks back to Rinne and Ageha holding hands, she comes across numerous ghosts as she walks, all of them begging for her help. Rinne worries about what Sakura saw and how it will effect their friendship. Rinne goes looking for Sakura to try and explain, just missing Ageha who comes to his room and finds a mysterious portal outside his door.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Masayuki Matsumoto (松本マサユキ)
  • Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi (本橋秀之)
  • Script: Yuko Kakihara (柿原優子)
  • Storyboards: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
Originally Aired:
  • June 20, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • This episode is the first appearance of Ageha.
  • In this episode Rika's last name is revealed to be "Momoi" (桃井) on her test results.
  • The mechanical pencil salesman's long strand of curling hair is mirrored on the end of the pencil.
  • "Giddy"/"Stare" - One of the funny aspects of the Kyokai no RINNE anime adaptation is that the characters often voice the onomatopoeia from the manga. Sounds such as "hero hero" (the sound of giddiness) and "jiiii" (the sound of staring) are classified as a particular category of onomatopoeia, gitaigo (擬態語). Gitaigo are sounds that describe a condition. Other examples include "kira kira" (shining sunlight), "hinyari" (feeling cool), and "mushi mushi" (feeling unpleasantly hot).
  • Throwing coins - Ageha is initially shown throwing coins as a weapon. This is meant to reference her indifference to her own wealth, however there is a historical context to this as well. Famous fictional detective Heiji Zenigata (銭形平次) was known for throwing coins with holes in the center (kanetsuho/寛永通宝). Inspector Zenigata from the manga and anime Lupin III is based on Heiji Zenigata.
  • Flower making - Rinne is frequently shown making silk flowers by the boxload. Historically this has been considered a job for the poorest of the poor, something they could do from home and then sell to a distributor. Here is a photograph from 1910 showing an impoverished family making silk flowers in England. You can read more about multiple generations of a single family and their home-based flower trade here.
  • When Rinne thinks back on Sakura staring at he and Ageha they appear in a darkened room with Sakura peering through the door while wearing a Piyo-Piyo apron. This is a reference to the frequent misunderstandings between apartment manager Kyoko Otonashi when she would walk in on her tenant Yusaku Godai in Rumiko Takahashi's Maison Ikkoku.

Episode 13: くどい
Kudoi
(Naggy)
The swarm of spirits lead Sakura to an ATM machine and tell her to pay the toll to help them head to the afterlife. Then she notices zippers on all of their backs, upon tugging one, she learns that they are in fact Damashigami agents. Rinne appears and dispatches each of them, before his father's secretary, Ageha's sister, arrives. She states that Sakura has passed Sabato's "test." Sabato told his secretary that Rinne had fallen in love with a human and so she was to be tested. As she was able to see through the Damashigami Company agents disguises she is obviously worthy of becoming engaged to Rinne and taking over the company. She even has an engagement ring for Rinne to give to Sakura. Sakura can't help but think that Rinne isn't in love with her, but Ageha after seeing them holding hands in his room. Just then Ageha appears to do battle with her sister, not knowing that she is, in fact her sister. In the midst of the fight, Ageha manages to toss a coin that splits her sister's mask revealing her identity. Ageha is shocked to find that her sister is working for the Damashigami Company. Just then Sabato arrives and and Ageha learns that her sister is now dating him, and that he is in fact, the head of the Damashigami Company and Rinne's father. Feeling completely betrayed by both her sister and Rinne, Ageha swings her scythe. Rinne attempts to go after his father, but Sabato just takes the engagement ring away, encouraging his son to two time both Sakura and Ageha, while he gives the ring to Ageha's sister. Ageha flies off after the two, more determined than ever to destroy the Damashigami Company, while Rinne, Sakura and Rokumon follow along. Rinne tries to convince Sakura that nothing is going on between he and Ageha, even as he has to continually save Ageha from traps and schemes to steal her money, all designed by the Damashigami Company. Rinne quickly grows tired of Ageha's ungrateful attitude and walks off, determined not to help her anymore. Sakura is with Rokumon wandering through the spirit world as numerous Damashigami agents approach her as Rinne, all asking her to marry him. Sakura of course easily sees through their disguises and goes on her way. Finally, Ageha is attacked by a spirit with a bounty of one million yen. Rinne rushes to help her, in hopes of collecting the money in order to pay off the engagement ring his father charged to him. Ageha realizes that Rinne is nothing like his father, and hugs him tightly just as Sakura and Rokumon arrive. Sakura promptly tells Rokumon to take her home.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
  • Animation Director: Katsuji Matsumoto (松本勝次), Yasuyuki Noda (野田康行)
  • Script: Yuko Kakihara (柿原優子)
  • Storyboards: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
Originally Aired:
  • June 28, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Just as we had some onomatopoeia in the last episode we have a little more here. When Sakura realizes the ghosts are actually demashigami they try to sneak away, making a "koso koso" sound as they leave. This is a "sneaky" sound.
  • "Allow me to introduce myself..." Ageha's sister hands Rinne a card which Rokumon reads aloud. It states that she is "Bijin Hisho" (Beautiful Secretary). For the vast majority of the manga this is how she is described in the narration without ever giving her name. Eventually it is reveal that her proper name actually is "Bijin" (美人/beautiful person)
  • Bijin has a small butterfly on her mask. This is subtle hint (as if one was needed) that her sister is Ageha. あげは (ageha) when written in hiragana rather than kanji means "swallowtail butterfly".
  • For a Brighter Japan - we see this poster again in episode 19.
  • The rabbit, as previously mentioned, has a shirt that says よろしく (yoroshiku) meaning "please treat me well" however it is written with fairly dark kanji (夜露死苦) (night, tears, death, suffering). This is an old phrase used by motorcycle gangs. These are an example of "ateji" (当て字) where a word's typical spelling is subverting and different characters are used to make the same sounding word.
  • The name of the medicine the medicine seller offers is Megasameru (メガサメル) this means 目が覚める (me ga sameru) "wake up".
  • All the copies of Rinne trying to pick up Sakura as she walks away is something called "nanpa" (ナンパ) in Japanese. The men that engage in this typically linger around places like subway stations and malls to harass women into dating them. There is a term for women do this (though it is more uncommon) called "gyakunan" (ギャクナン). Generally this is seen as a bothersome activity and police in many cities have posted signs to discourage this type of harassment.


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 5

Episode 14: デートではない!
Deeto De Wa Nai!
(This Isn't a Date!)
Sakura watches a female ghost on the diving board at the natatorium at the local fair. The girl moves to have her photograph taken with whomever is currently shooting photos so that she'll appear in the pictures, even though she's invisible to the naked eye. Afterwards she goes to Rinne's house to tell him about it but has second thoughts as she thinks back to seeing him with Ageha and how awkward things are between them all now. Tsubasa finds her but quickly passes out from the summer heat. Inside his dingy room, Rinne listens to a girl who tells him that a haunted house exhibit at the local theme park is really haunted. Suddenly an arrow shoots out of a portal and sticks to Rinne. It has a message from Ageha inviting him to the haunted house. Outside, Sakura shows Tsubasa the photo of the ghost girl from the pool, but he is too distracted at the sight of her in a bikini to focus. Both Rinne and Tsubasa know they'll be going on dates to the same location, Rinne to infiltrate the haunted house, and Tsubasa to go to the swimming pool. Tsubasa is thrilled to go with Sakura but Rinne is depressed about going with Ageha. At the pool Tsubasa realizes that the ghost girl is talking, but its hard to understand what she's saying. He notices a microphone on her bikini and approaches her. She quickly autographs Tsubasa's forehead, obviously considering herself something of a celebrity. Tsubasa overreacts and starts blasting the girl and everyone else in the pool with sacred ashes, sending the ghost fleeing. Meanwhile Rinne begins his investigation of the haunted house, seeing if the Damashigami may be behind it. Ageha arrives and insists on Rinne dressing up in a yukata with her before they go in. Sakura sees Rinne and Ageha enter, and Tsubasa finds her as the two of them prepare to go in in search of the pool ghost. Inside, they find real spirits and as they pursue them, Tsubasa grabs Sakura's hand. He becomes so excited that his spirit begins to leave his body, only to be saved when Rinne secretly tosses his sandle at Tsubasa's head, knocking him out. When Tsubasa recovers, he's separated from Sakura and tosses the sandal back where it came from, hitting Rinne. Ageha finds the unconscious Rinne and takes him to a dry well to explain what she's found during her investigation. It seems that when couples enter the haunted house and the girl's get afraid they cling to their dates who become so excited that their spirits are easily pulled from their bodies. As she's explaining, Sakura finds the two, with Ageha clinging to Rinne. She quickly moves on as Rinne catches up to try and explain. Tsubasa and Rokumon soon find the others as well. As Rinne tries to explain, Ageha quickly dispatches all of the Damashigami agents, severing their hold on the boys spirits. Back at the pool the ghost gets so angry that no one is paying attention to her that her rage summons enough psychokinetic energy to short out the power across the park. In the dark of the haunted house Rinne, Sakura, Ageha and Tsubasa all stumble around. Ageha and Tsubasa embrace, thinking that they are hugging Rinne and Sakura respectively. They become so excited that their spirits leave their bodies, until Rinne quickly saves them. Afterwards Rinne finds another soul in the haunted house who begins to share his story with the shinigami, until the feedback of the pool ghost gets everyones attention. Rinne rushes off to meet her and as he finds her, he asks for her autograph, immediately calming her. All the boy's spirits from the haunted house line up to meet her, and the boy from the haunted house meets her, and the two form an instant attraction, pacifying both spirits. That night, with both jobs completed, Rinne thinks of Sakura as she thinks of him, wondering if there is something between he and Ageha, as Ageha thinks of Rinne and Tsubasa longs for Sakura.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Yuki Arie (有江勇樹)
  • Animation Director: Miori Suzuki (鈴木美音織), Megumi Koike (小池恵)
  • Script: Hiroyuki Yoshino (吉野弘幸)
  • Storyboards: Mitsue Yamazaki (山﨑みつえ)
Originally Aired:
  • July 4, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • "Apparently you can always take spirit photos at this pool." - "Spirit photography" or "ghost photography" is a concept that dates back to the the mid-1800s only a few decades after the invention of photography. As the Spiritualism movement in the West grew so too did the idea that invisible ghosts could be captured by photographs. In Japan spirit photography is called "心霊写真" (shirei shashin).
  • Rina Mizuki - The spirit's name is "Rina Mizuki" (水月リナ). Takahashi often uses puns in the characters name and "Mizuki" has the kanji for water in it, fitting due to the swimming pool setting of this ghost.
  • Idol culture - in Japan the marketing of idols is one that is often classified as a "parasocial relationship". The idol (or their management) wishes to make the idol seem relateable and even attainable. They have events where they interact with fans and any information about the idol having a significant other is kept quiet in order to make them seem dateable by fans. Regardless of what talent an idol has (singing, dancing, voice acting) it is said that their true job is to "sell dreams".
  • Sakura wears cherries on her bikini because her name means "cherry". Ageha wears butterflies on her yukata for the same reason. Tsubasa also has crosses on his yukata due to his last name.
  • The concept of the couples entering the haunted house and Tsubasa's hope that Sakura will squeeze him in fear once they go inside mirrors the same joke made in the Ranma 1/2 OVA "Oh, Cursed Tunnel of Lost Love: Let My Love Be Forever!".
  • Dry wells are often a part of Japanese ghost stories due to their association with the ghost story of Okiku, a woman who overheard a plot to murder her lord and warned him. When the assassin heard Okiku was responsible he stole one of the ten valuable plates that belonged to the lord and was Okiku's responsibility to clean and keep track of. Okiku ran about the castle, counting the plates, "1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9..." The assassin offered to reveal where the tenth plate was if she would marry him. When she refused he murdered her. Her threw her corpse in a dry well and it was said that one could still her her ghost counting up to nine as she continued to search for the missing plate.
  • Rina asks people if they would like to shake her hand. This is because she is trying to hold a "握手会" (akushukai), a "handshake meeting" where the visitor gets to shake hands with a celebrity.
  • "Now I just have to become the last performer at Kohaku." - Kohaku Uta Gassen (紅白歌合戦) is an annual Japanese singing competition which translates as "Red and White Singing Contest". It is held on New Year's Eve and celebrities are divided into a red team (females) and a white team (males) and a panel of judges vote on which team had the better performance. It is a extreme honor to be invited to perform on the show.
  • Swirling glasses - The reason glasses are shown to have spirals in them in Japan is because of the term "bottle bottom glasses" (瓶底眼鏡). The glasses are said to look like the "bottom of a cow milk bottle" (牛乳瓶の底).
  • Idol retirement - Idols typically have a very short career in Japan. When an idol openly gets married or enters into a relationship it is thought that it changes the nature of their relationship with their fan base and consequently many retire. Nowadays an idol is often said to "graduate" rather than "retire", however the meaning is the same.
  • "I must take responsibility!" - Tsubasa feels he has damaged Sakura's purity by hugging her and so he decides he must take resonsibility for this by implying he will marry her and care for her because the rest of society would see her as "damaged goods". This is, of course, an extremely self-serving reaction on Tsubasa's part as he exagerates what happened. Typically "taking responsibility" (in any culture, not just Japan) would be if a man got a woman pregnant.

Episode 15: あくまでお礼
Akumade Orei
(Just a Simple Thanks)
As Ageha bathes she dreams of Rinne and thinks of going on a date with him. She arrives at the school as he and Rokumon are checking the weather hutch for possible jobs. Unfortunately there's no requests submitted, but Ageha hugs him from behind just as Sakura comes over. Later Rinne tries to catch up with Sakura to explain things about Ageha, but she's distracted by Rika and Miho. Meanwhile Ageha decides to bring Rinne a largre bento box called a jubako. On her way to deliver it she's accosted by Tsubasa who mistakes her for a spirit as she flies through the sky. After realizing who she is, he explains that he and Rinne are rivals for Sakura's affection and encourages her to pursue Rinne so that he himself can have Sakura. As Ageha delivers her gift, Rinne has some guilt about taking it, and tries to talk to Sakura again, but is continually interrupted or ignored. Tsubasa meets him in the hall and not so subtlely encourages him to go out with Ageha. At lunch Rokumon brings Rinne the jubako box and everyone is shocked to see that povery striken Rinne has such an elaborate lunch for once. Embarassed that Sakura will see and get the wrong idea about he and Ageha, he attempts to explain as the students examine all the layers of food the box contains. The bottom layer is filled with hotdog weiners in the shape of octopi and they seem to be emitting an eerie glow. As it turns out the box is a family heirloom in Ageha's family that grants the wish of whomever eats from it...at the cost of their soul. As Ageha gets a phone call telling her of the jubako's curse, she rushes to try to save Rinne but finds herself and everyone but Rinne and Sakura out of classroom 1-4. As Rinne attempts to talk to Sakura and explain things, the spirit of a gigantic hotdog octopus rises behind him. As Rinne continues to try to talk to Sakura, the octopus interrupts and says that it is the Soul Eater King and it will grant Rinne three wishes. It seems Rinne's first wish was to be alone with Sakura, which is what teleported the other students outside the classroom and erected the barrier that keeps Tsubasa, Rokumon and Ageha out. The Soul Eater King attempts to tell Rinne he has two more wishes as he asks it to be quiet for a minute, which counts as his second wish. The Soul Eater King attempts to tempt Rinne with a wish of going out with Sakura, but Rokumon uses a barrier erasing spray and Ageha bursts into the room, slaying the Soul Eater King just in time. Ageha tries to tell Sakura not to have anything more to do with Rinne, Sakura's response is a simple "why?" which stuns Ageha. Ageha tries to say its too dangerous, but Sakura disagrees, flustered, Ageha runs away. Alone, Ageha thinks that Sakura and Rinne must already be a couple, but is forced to pursue the remnants of the Soul Eater King, as it has divided into hundreds of miniature hotdogs, hoping to grand wishes in order to regain its power. She saves a deperessed Tsubasa from doing that before meeting the spirit of a girl who never got to confess her love while she was alive. Inspired, she goes back to the school and interrupts Rinne and Sakura just as Rinne was about to straighten everything out. As Ageha holds Rinne's hand and tells him how she feels, Sakura turns and walks off with Rika and Miho.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Fumi Fujiitaka (ふじいたかふみ)
  • Animation Director: Takuro Shinbo (しんぼたくろう)
  • Script: Katsuhiko Takayama (高山カツヒコ)
  • Storyboards: Takahiro Mizushima (大宙征基)
Originally Aired:
  • July 11, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • TBK - Ageha says her feelings for Rinne are "TBK" (TsuriBashi Kouka) or "suspension bridge effect". The narrator of the show says this is a misatribution of arousal similar to what happens when two people cross a suspension bridge together. This comes from a 1974 study done by Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron that stated a male that crossed a suspension bridge into the arms of a waiting female with the hyphothesis that the fear/excitement of crossing the suspension bridge as it swayed was then transfered into feelings toward the waiting female. In English this concept is known as "misattribution of arousal".
  • "I have this legendary multi-tiered lunch box that's been passed down in my family for generations." - The ornate bento box that Ageha prepares for Rinne is over-the-top in terms of its size and tiers. Most high school students would not need this much food or a box this size. It just goes to show how much Ageha loves Rinne.
  • "We're not friends! We're love rivals!" - Tsubasa tells Ageha that he is a love rival (恋敵 or "koigataki"). Ageha hears "koi" (love) and thinks of koi fish, hence the image.
  • "It's a layer of tako-san wieners." - In bento lunchboxes its is common for parents to make faces or images out of the food they give their children. One common effect is to cut a hotdog wiener into an octopus. It is stranger, however, that Ageha filled an entire layer of the bento with nothing but octopus-shaped hotdogs wieners.
  • Konjikiou - the spirit that takes on the appearance of a tako-san wiener says its name is "Konjikiou" (魂喰王). This literally translates as "Soul Eater King" hence why it eats souls in exchange for wishes.
  • KYP - Ageha once more uses some slang here to describe herself. She says she is "KYP" (空気を読めないピエロ/Kuuki wo Yomenai Pierrot) or "an oblivious laughingstock" or "someone who cannot read the mood properly".
  • I think I like "Mary-san." - In the next episode preview Rika says her favorite scary story is "Mary-san". She is likely referring to the legend of Bloody Mary.

Episode 16: おばけ杉の思い出
Obake Sugi no Omoide
(Memories of the Haunted Cedar)
Sakura remembers a large cedar tree that in front of her elementary school that, when she was little, gave off the wonderful feeling of warmth, and how children used to gathe around it. Presently, Tsubasa reveals to her that when he briefly went to elementary school with Sakura he buried a power stone there in order to recharge its power using the tree. Tsubasa asks Sakura if she'd like to visit the tree, and is surprised when she agrees. Rika and Miho tease Rinne about Tsubasa and Sakura going on a date and he pretends not to care. Meeting at their old school, Tsubasa is over the moon with excitement for his "date" with Sakura. The pair meet an old man who tells them that anytime someone has tried to cut down the old tree they've been mysteriously injured. Sakura and Tsubasa no longer feel the warmth from the tree that they did as children, and instead see scars all over its bark. Without warning they are attacked by the spirit of a child carrying a huge, bladed yo-yo. After smacking the boy over the head Tsubasa notices that the child's massive yo-yo has his powerstone stuck in the center, and its become corrupted. The boy knocks Tsubasa into the sky and turns his attention to Sakura. Sakura recognizes the boy immediately as Yota, a fellow student from he elementary school days. The boy curses Sakura saying "Its all your fault!" before powering up even more and tossing his yo-yo at her. Rinne arrives just in time and blocks the attack. Sakura recalls that Yota was a bit of a bully as a child, constantly flipping girl's skirts up and teasing other students with his yo-yo skills. As it turns out the reason Yota has a grudge against Sakura is because she was just as skilled with a yo-yo as he was and would constantly use it to knock his yo-yo away from people before he could hurt them. Yota readies his weapon to attack again and Tsubasa uses his bazooka to fire ash bombs at him, which have absolutely no effect. Rinne uses splitting incense on the boy separating him from the ill feelings that have corrupted him. The evil spirit laughs as Yota passes out. Rokumon offers to sell Tsubasa a pill form of the splitting incense for him to shoot from his bazooka, enabling him to get his power stone back. Once separated from the stone Rinne easily purifies the spirit. Afterward, Yota's spirit lingers behind at the tree searching for something. Rokumon helps dig it up, and it turns out to be Sakura's old yo-yo. He had hidden it because Sakura was so talented with it, but had planned to return it before he died. Now that he has his spirit can pass on.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Masayuki Matsumoto (松本マサユキ)
  • Animation Director: Atsuo Tobe (戸部敦夫)
  • Script: Michiko Yokote (横手美智子)
  • Storyboards: Takahiro Mizushima (大宙征基)
Originally Aired:
  • July 18, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Elementary school reunion - In America "high school reunions" are typically the only school-based reunion that is held. However in Japan because your classmates can shift based on school placement scores it is not unusual to lose touch with students from your elementary school days, hence the need for a reunion to reconnect with them.
  • There are a number of yo-yo based manga and anime which could have inspired the character of Yota. One such series would be Super yo-yo (超速スピナー) by Takashi Hashiguchi. Sukeban Deka (スケバン刑事) by Shinji Wada is the original yo-yo manga that nearly every yo-yo inspired series or episode pays homage to.
  • It is no coincidence that the boy who is a yo-yo master is named "Yota".
  • All Over the World - this is literally what Yota says when he hits Tsubasa with his yo-yo. However the common English name for this yo-yo trick is "around the world".
  • "I thought he died in the third term of the fourth year." - Japanese schools have a three term (semester) system. The school year begins in April with the first term ending around July 20th. Summer vacation lasts from July 20th through August 31st. The second term begins in September and ends in late December with winter vacation dividing it from the third term. The third term begins in early January and ends around mid-March. After this a new school year begins.
  • Dog Demon - As he did with "all over the world" Yota speaks English when he calls out the name of this trick. However "dog demon" is likely refering to the English yo-yo trick called "dog bite" where the yo-yo is swung between the legs and catches on the fabric of the pants, "biting it". Takahashi fans may realize that "dog demon" is an English translation of "Inuyasha".
  • Quadruple Moonsault - Once more there is simply a difference in yo-yo technique naming conventions. In English this trick is the Double (or Triple or Quadruple) Trapeze.
  • Spiral Journey Mach 5 - In this case "mach 5" is the term used for the English name of this trick.
  • Flying Fire - Yota uses this technique to knock girls' skirts up so he can look at their underwear. This trick is likely the "breakaway" in English.
  • "Yota, it's me!" - Tsubasa tells Yota "it's me!" (おれだ!/Ore da!). Yota says he doesn't know anyone named "Oreda".
  • Meteor Stream - this appears to be the English trick "sleeper".


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 6

Episode 17: パワーストーンの呪い
Pawaasutoon no noroi
(The Curse of the Power Stone)
Tsubasa recounts his "date" with Sakura and the battle with Yota in which Rinne saved her when he could not. As Tsubasa studies the tainted power stone he retrieved from the under the cedar tree, Masato arrives hoping to make a deal with him. Tsubasa attacks but his sacred ashes have minimal effect on Masato. Masato gives him the Book of Devils to use with his tainted power stone against Rinne. Tsubasa runs him off by tossing a trash can at him. Meanwhile, Rinne is sitting in his room with Rokumon, pondering giving a can of peaches he'd been saving to Sakura to try and make up with her. Rokumon begs him not to, as they have so little food as is. Outside, Sakura comes across Tsubasa and gives him a bag of cookies. He is beyond excited until he realizes she has tons of the little bags for everyone in class. Just then she hands him the Book of Devils which Suzuki had found and asked her to return to him, as Tsubasa's name is inside. Suddenly, Rinne rushes up to give Sakura the peaches, when lighting strikes him from out of nowhere. Tsubasa is shocked, realizing that he has cursed Rinne using the book. Tsubasa runs away terrified of what he's done, leaving the book behind once more. But instantly Rokumon returns it to him, and with the tainted power stone powering the book's curse, a flock of crows appear out of nowhere and eat all of Sakura's cookies before Rinne can have any, sending Tsubasa running away in fear again. Later Rinne finds a protective talisman and a bag of taiyaki in the weather hutch. Tsubasa left them for him because he was feeling so guilty. But when Rinne arrives in the classroom with Sakura alongside him, Tsubasa becomes jealous and ends up cursing him again inadvertently, as a hole in the roof opens and rain pours down over Rinne, ruining his taiyaki. Tsubasa takes the book to a temple and burns it, but it immediately falls out of the sky and smacks Rokumon on the head, he takes it, recognizing the book belongs to Tsubasa. Rinne begins to suspect that Tsubasa's tainted power stone may have something to do with what's been going on, and spies Masato watching Tsubasa. Rinne confronts the demon while Tsubasa draws a summoning circle on the ground, hoping to capture Masato in it. Sakura and Rokumon appear bringing the Book of Devils back to Tsubasa. As soon as he has it in his hand, the summoning circle brings Masato and Rinne to them, when the trap springs and Rinne gets bashed over the head with a concrete roller. Masato thanks Tsubasa for his help cursing Rinne, which shocks Sakura to hear. Masato then reveals that one more curse on Rinne will make the curse permanently stuck to him forever. Tsubasa then raises his power stone in the air, and decides to curse himself instead, causing a massive lightweight block of tofu to land on him. Tsubasa notices that the power stone is now slightly purified and decides that cursing Masato would be a good way to complete the purification. Rinne disagrees and as the power stone starts to glow ominously, Rinne tosses the protective talisman at Masato, which rebounds the curse to hit Tsubasa. This completely purifies the power stone and allows Tsubasa to use it to unleash a new attack against Masato, as five massive spirits in the shape of the stone begin to slap and punch Masato. Tsubasa apologizes to Rinne, and Rinne accepts as Tsubasa takes everyone to lunch. Rokumon can't help but notice that the stone is starting to become tainted as Tsubasa grumbles about treating Rinne to lunch.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Yuki Arie (有江勇樹)
  • Animation Director: Miori Suzuki (鈴木美音織), Megumi Koike (小池恵)
  • Script: Hiroyuki Yoshino (吉野弘幸)
  • Storyboards: Akira Nishimori (西森章)
Originally Aired:
  • July 25, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • After cursing Rinne and having rain fall on him inside of the school Tsubasa accidentally curses him again and a washtub falls on him. This is a common Japanese gag akin to an anvil falling on someone's head in American cartoons.
  • Tsubasa travels to a Buddhist temple to burn the Book of Demons that Masato gave him. This ritual is called "goma" (護摩). In this ceremony wishes are written on wooden sticks or tablets and then cast into the purifying fire as a monk chants. This practice is exclusive to the Shingon sect of Buddhism but has its origins in Hinduism (where it is known as "homa").
  • The altar where the goma ceremony takes place is known as a "gomadan" (護摩壇). The fire is set in the middle and around the sides and rear are a sacred rope that serves as a symbolic barrier. The wooden sticks are passed under the rope which is suspended higher at the front where the monk is sitting as he tosses the sticks into the fire.
  • The long cylindrical object that crushes Rinne and Masato is a land roller used for leveling fields. These are called by various names, "kondara" (コンダラ) or "leveling roller" (整地ローラー/Seichi rooraa). Using them in training became popularized in the baseball manga and anime Star of the Giants (巨人の星/Kyojin no Hoshi).
  • "Or strangling yourself with a silk cord?" - This was a common way to commit regicide during the Ottoman Empire. The use of a silk cord was partly for stylistic reasons but mostly for the comfort of the silk against the executioners hands.
  • "What's the name of this orange fruit? Mikain." - In the next episode preview Sakura asks Ageha to repeat "Shirushigami Kain" ten times and then asks her what the name for the orange fruit is. An orange is a "mikan" but because she has been saying "shirushigaMI KAIN" over and over Ageha says "mikain" instead.

Episode 18: 記死神(しるしがみ) 架印
Shirushigami Kain
(Kain the Shirushigami)
Ageha spies a Damashigami agent in the park attempting to lure away some children. She chases it through a portal to the afterlife and while she's in pursuit is blocked by another Damashigami in a duck suit. When she tosses a bomb at them both, she captures the rabbit, but the duck, now missing his suit's head tells her that his name is Kain, a Shirushigami, and she's ruined his entire plan. Kain reveals that he knows who Ageha and her family is, from her sister joining the Damashigami Company to her own mistakes, his insults send Ageha rushing back to the world of the living to cry to Rinne while he is in class. Ageha tells them what she knows about Kain, how he is a Shirushigami, a clerk who's job is to make sure everyone has lived out their full lifespan, and that he also knows about Rinne being the son of the Damashigami Company president. Suddenly, Kain arrives and attacks Rinne, telling him that he has debts he could never pay off in this lifetime, but that if those debts were converted to a lifespan, he could pay them off by dying now. Kain looks at himself as a creditor who has come to collect on Rinne. The white haired boy them reveals that he and Rinne met before as children and tells the story of how his divorced mother began to date Sabato. The first time Kain met Sabato, he had a pack of stolen goods on his back, and little Rinne showed up, revealing that Sabato had an entire other family he never told Kain's mother about. Over the years she has loaned Sabato money to the point where she and Kain became impovrished. Unable to afford to even go to high school, Kain took a job at the Life Span Administration Bureau and became a Shirushigami. Suddenly attacking he breaks Rinne's scythe and steals his life flame, ripping it out of his body. He also seizes Rinne's Haori of the Underworld. He tells Tsubasa, Ageha and Sakura that if they want Rinne's life flame back they have until tomorrow at 10 AM to find the Damashigami Company and tell him where it is, otherwise he'll send Rinne's flame on to the Wheel of Reincarnation. Rokumon arrives, and see's Rinne's body, thinking that all his friends suddenly turned on him and murdered him. Suddenly, Rinne's spirit floats over his body. Without his life flame he can no longer inhabit his own body. The group head into the afterlife in an attempt to get his life flame back from Kain and arrive at the Lifespan Administration Bureau. Rinne's soul almost gets pulled into the Wheel of Reincarnation, as inside the building Kain see's the approaching group and realizes that they must truly not know where the Damashigami Company is. Rinne again almost gets pulled into the Wheel but is saved by noneother than Kain's mother. She takes them back to her house where they learn who she is due to the fact that she is using Rinne's Life Flame to light the house now that the power has been shut off. Kain arrives and confronts them as they learn that Sabato is still getting money from his mother and sending love letters every month promising to come back for her soon. Rinne gets his Haori of the Underworld back, but when he asks Kain if his mother know's she's funding the Damashigami Company he quickly silences them, saying he doesn't want her to ever find that out. Kain slips something into the food and puts everyone to sleep, then drags them to his storage shed and prepares to go after Rinne again. In the room, Sakura finds a locked case that is addressed to Rinne, something that his father left behind with Kain's family. Rinne is about to be pulled into the Wheel of Reincarnation once more when Kain appears and says that he'll make sure he is reincarnated.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
  • Animation Director: Yasuyuki Noda (野田康行)
  • Script: Yuko Kakihara (柿原優子)
  • Storyboards: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
Originally Aired:
  • August 1, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Kain is introduced for the first time in this episode.
  • In addition to Kain the concept of a "shirushigami" (記死神) is also introduced. Shirushigami is written with the the characters 記 (record) + 死神 (shinigami).
  • Takahashi describes Kain's weapon in a 2018 Ace Magazine interview as "I realized that I designed Kain’s scythe by being based on the “Jouhari no Kagami”, a mirror which reflects the deeds of the life of the deceased."
  • "The red-haired man that showed up at the cafe looked clearly shady, even to a kid." - The outfit that Sabato is wearing here is a stereotypical outfit worn by Japanese burglars. The bandana is called a "hokkamuri" (頬っ被り). These were commonly worn by farmers to keep the sun off their head with it tied beneath their chin, however ninja and burglars would tie it nearer to their nose as a makeshift mask.
  • The bag Sabato is shown carrying is a "furoshiki" (風呂敷). This is a towel or blanket used to place items on and then it is tied together and carried. The swirling pattern shown on Sabato's furoshiki has become the default pattern of a burglar's pack in Japanese popular culture. This is the same outfit that Happosai in Ranma 1/2 wears for his panty raids and you can read more here.
  • Shinigami Dai-ichi High School - "Dai-ichi" literally translates as "big one" giving the connotation that Kain was aiming for a very prestigious high school before his family's financial situation prevented him from attending.
  • In Japan compulsory education ends with the ninth grade, and so Kain does not go to high school and instead enters the work force. Despite high school not being compulsory in Japan 94% of junior high school graduates go on to high school according to Ministry of Education data from 2005.
  • Sakura says "Ageha" without adding a -san, this indicates a high level of familiarity, or in Sakura's case in the heat of the moment, a sense of authority over Ageha.
  • The shirushigami standing guard outside of the Life Count Administration Bureau have jitte affixed to their mirror weapons. A jitte (十手) is used to catch and break katana and was typically used by guards because it was illegal to bring bladed weapons into the shogun's palace historically. Because of its association with guards the jitte also functions as a symbolic badge of their rank and job. The guards are meant to look like old-fashioned thief catchers called "okappiki" (岡っ引き) such as the ones seen here.
  • The lanterns the guards bring out are called "chochin" (提灯). The message written on them says "goyou" (御用) which is akin to "official business", "arrest" or "submit to authority".
  • "It's like meeting Buddha in hell." - This is a Japanese proverb "地獄で仏にあった。" It means that someone has saved you from a particularly hopeless situation just when you needed help.
  • The sushi delievery man's face has the kanji "寿" written on it. This is the first kanji in "sushi" (寿司).
  • When discussing Sabato, Tsubasa and Ageha make puns around the word "dani" (ダニ) which means "tick".

Episode 19: 箱の中
Hako no naka
(In the Box)
Sakura bangs on a drum and everyone else finally awakens. Rokumon recognizes the box with Rinne's name on it. Ageha tries to break it open but there seems to be a protection field around it that will only be released by its owner, Rinne. Realizing it may contain a weapon or something else helpful to Rinne, Ageha throws an armful of bombs at the roof, blowing their way out as they escape with the crate atop Rokumon, leaving behind Rinne's life flame with Kain's mother. As they find Rinne and Kain battling near the Wheel of Reincarnation, Rinne spots the crate and remembers that it was a gift from Tamako when he was a little boy, but before he could open it, it was stolen by his father in the night. Kain attacks and blasts Rokumon, who transforms, dropping everyone. Rinne rushes and shouts at the top of his lungs "congratulations on getting into elementary school" much to the shock of everyone else. However this is the passphase to unlock the crate, and in a flash of blinding light a ring emerges from it. Sakura grabs the ring and rushes it to Rinne, and as soon as he grabs it, he and Sakura both vanish, leaving his haori behind. Rinne and Sakura awaken in a dark room, and Rinne believes that they have fallen into the Wheel of Reincarnation and are going to be reborn. He begins to apologize when she wakes up, quickly followed by a door opening with Kain's mother and Sabato entering the room. At the Wheel of Reincarnation, Ageha curses Kain for pushing Rinne into the wheel but he reveals that he thinks the Ring of Judgement saved them before they touched the wheel. He explains that the ring protected them and took them to the location of the person who was truly guilty of causing all the wrong doing, who, in this case, happened to be Sabato. Soon enough, everyone reunites back at Kain's house, including Ageha's sister, who Kain's mother is shocked to see is so affectionate with Sabato. Ageha fights with her sister and during the excitement Rinne almost gets his life flame back before its stolen away by Ageha's sister and Sabato, along with a few of Kain's remaining furniture. It turns out the life flame is a fake, and as Kain and Rinne battle, Sakura and the others attempt to find Rinne's actual life flame in Kain's store house. Inside they find dozens of life flames and rush back to test them on Rinne while Kain's mother feeds everyone expensive sushi, much to Kain's chagrin. Finally, Rinne finds his true life flame and regains his spirit, but Sabato and Ageha's sister escape with packs full of Kain's family's valuables. Rinne manages to stop use the Ring of Judgement to retrieve the goods, but Sabato escapes. While Kain promises he won't try to repossess Rinne's life flame he swears that he still holds him responsible for Sabato's actions.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
  • Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi (本橋秀之)
  • Script: Yuko Kakihara (柿原優子)
  • Storyboards: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
Originally Aired:
  • August 8, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Once more the outfit that Sabato and Bijin wear is a stereotypical outfit worn by Japanese burglars. The bandana is called a "hokkamuri" (頬っ被り) and the bag is a "furoshiki" (風呂敷). More can be read about it here.
  • The political poster says "For a brighter Japan" (明るい日本). This is simply a pun on the darkness in the room. The politician shown on the poster is no one in particular.
  • As in the previous episode the delivery man has a kanji written on his face. This time it says "unagi" (鰻) which is an eel.
  • "Go soak your head." - This is an idiom that works equally well in English and Japanese. Sabato says "go soak your head," and in Japanese "頭を冷やす" (cool your head down).
  • The cantaloupe delivery man has the kanji "果" (fruit) written on his face.


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 7

Episode 20: 霊の来ない家
Rei no Konai Ie
(A Home Without Spirits)
While talking to her mother one morning Sakura notices that ghosts are floating through her house. Sakura tells Rinne that even though she's seen ghosts since childhood they've never been in her house before, he finds this surprising and vows to get to the bottom of the mystery. Rinne is happy to help and get close to Sakura again and even shirks his shinigami responsibilities to help her. Ageha arrives for a visit and Rinne quickly escapes, soon after Tsubasa arrives and he, Ageha and Rokumon use a thread around Rinne's ankle to track him through the Spirit Way. By the time he finally gets to Sakura's house the other three have already caught up to him and invited themselves along as well. Everyone meets Sakura's mother and then have snacks in her room, surrounded by the ghosts that pass through her walls. Ageha uses a collar to summon a shinigami dog to drive off the spirits but ends up chased by the dog herself. In the afterlife, Tamako gives a lecture about various shinigami tools and notices that Rinne isn't in the audience like he was supposed to be. Meanwhile, Rinne attempts to use some of his own tools to solve the problem. An anti spirit balloon ends up attacking Tsubasa while a Spirit Way Portal Pen sends Ageha off on her own. Eventually Rinne is using his tools not on the ghosts, but on Ageha and Tsubasa each time they return, as he's determined to have some alone time with Sakura. After the others are gone, Sakura remembers that when she was a little girl and first went to the afterlife, shortly after meeting Tamako she ran into a clown who gave her a little hourglass filled with rainbow colored sand. When she shows it to Rinne he immediately recognizes it as the device that kept ghosts from entering the house, however it only lasts ten years and needs to be replaced. Rinne refills the hourglass with new sand just in time to be met with hostility from Ageha and Tsubasa. Unfortunately in the commotion they break the hourglass and the ghosts reappear, forcing Rinne to go to Tamako for a 20,000 yen replacement.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Masayuki Matsumoto (松本マサユキ)
  • Animation Director: Takuro Shinbo (しんぼたくろう)
  • Script: Katsuhiko Takayama (高山カツヒコ)
  • Storyboards: Takahiro Mizushima (大宙征基)
Originally Aired:
  • August 15, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • When Rinne does not respond to Rokumon, the little cat looks at him and says "Jiiii". "Jiiii" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for "stare". The sound is not meant to be taking literally as a sound, but is simply shorthand in manga for staring (which is humorously recreated here through Rokumon's vocalization). Similar sounds in Japanese include "shiiiiin" (the sound of silence).
  • Rokumon asks Rinne if he is going somewhere instead of going to the meeting and the kanji "図星" (bullseye or nailed it) flash behind him.
  • We learn in this episode that Sakura's father is alive and works in a bank. He never appears in the series and is not referenced further.
  • "House!" - Rinne literally says "ハウス" to the dog when he hits it with his scythe. This is a Japanese dog command meaning "go to bed," the implication being "go home".
  • The ghost trap that Tamako is showing at the shinigami tool meeting is meant to look like a roach motel, a device used to catch roaches in sticky glue traps.
  • "I was going to buy him anmitsu later." - Anmitsu is dessert made of bean jam, agar gelain and fruits with syrup.
  • Shikigami RC - the shikigami RC is a radio controlled headset that turns whoever wears it into a shikigami. Shikigami are summoned spirits who follow the orders of their masters that can be bound to small paper cut-outs in the shape of a person. The most famous shikigami in Takahashi's works are from her series MAO which includes Otoya and Uozumi.
  • "When I was little, I wandered into the Kyokai and your grandma protected me." - Kyokai (境界) is from the title of the series. It can mean "boundary" or "border" but also "frontier". It is a location term, and essentially is referring world of the afterlife as it functions as a boundary between the living world and reincarnation. The term "Meido" (冥道) (dark path) is also used to describe this transitory place. This is referenced in Inuyasha as one of Sesshomaru's techniques- the Meido Zangetsuha.

Episode 21: Mの悲劇
M no Higeki
(The "M" Fiasco)
At the Life Count Administration Bureau a briefcase marked with an M explodes in front of Kain and his coworkers. Meanwhile, in Rinne's room he too has gotten an identical case, however when he opens it in front of Sakura, Tsubasa, Ageha and Rokumon he promptly passes out, as it is filled with tons of cash. Kain quickly arrives and claims that the funds had been stolen, immediately assuming that the poverty stricken Rinne was the one who stole them. Rinne quickly escapes the the case. Kain gives chase as the others begin to question exactly what's going on. As Rinne hides out the demon Masato suddenly arrives and reveals himself as the mastermind behind the entire situation. After purchasing the prank case in the afterlife, Masato was hit by a horse drawn carriage and lost it. His original plan was for Rinne to get the exploding case, but somehow it got mixed up with the case filled with cash. Kain arrives just in time to find Masato cuffing the case to Rinne's wrist. Rinne is determined to clear his name, so he grabs Masato and drags him through a portal. Rinne forces Masato to take him back to the scene of the accident where they meet the man who sold Masato the fireworks for his prank. He saw that the horse that ran down Masato also hit Kain, which caused the mix up with the similar looking cases. Kain arrives and refuses to accept the truth of the situation, leading he and Rinne into a brief skirmish, while Ageha and Rokumon fight Masato, quickly dragging Tsubasa into the fight as well. The fireworks salesman gives Sakura a net bomb which she tosses to get everyone to calm down. As everyone compares stories, Kain is begrudgingly forced to admit that Rinne is innocent and the whole thing was a mistake. Masato makes one last attempt to take the money, but is thwarted when Rinne uses a sticker to make the case snap shut on his hand like an attack dog.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Yuki Arie (有江勇樹)
  • Animation Director: Miori Suzuki (鈴木美音織), Megumi Koike (小池恵)
  • Script: Michiko Yokote (横手美智子)
  • Storyboards: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
Originally Aired:
  • August 22, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • The title of this episode, "M's Tragedy" (Mの悲劇), is based on a 1982 Japanese novel "W's Tragedy" (Wの悲劇). This was in turn adapted into a film of the same name directed by Shinichiro Sawai (who directed the live-action Maison Ikkoku Apartment Fantasy film). Takahashi would also use the title for her 1991 short story The Tragedy of P (Pの悲劇).
  • The missing duralumin case is often mentioned in this episode. Duralumin is a portmanteau of "durable aluminum", which is a copper-aluminum alloy.
  • The currency in the duralumin case has a panda on it that resembles Genma Saotome from Ranma 1/2.
  • The horse has the odd eyes that are associated with some of the goofy looking animals Rumiko Takahashi tends to draw. She is asked about the interesting way she draws animal eyes in this 2017 interview.
  • As in the previous episode Rinne says "Jiiiii" when staring at Masato. "Jiiiii" is the onomatopoeia for "stare".
  • The "M" on the duralumin case is said to have different meanings depending on who the case belonged to. Kain says it stands for "Meisuu" (命数/lifespan). Rinne says the "M" stands for "Masato", but Masato, because he cannot spell says it stands for "akuMa" (悪魔/demon).
  • Rinne places a "yorishiro sticker" on the duralumin case to animate it. Yorishiro (依代) is a Shinto term for an object that has a spirit drawn to it.


Kyokai no RINNE DVD 8

Episode 22: 廃屋のメリークリスマス
Haioku no Merii Kurisumasu
(Merry Christmas in the Derelict)
Ageha lays in bed dreaming of a romantic Christmas dinner with Rinne.Getting excited about the idea she goes out and buys all the Christmas ornaments, outfits and trees that she can find. As she's all packed up, a mysterious salesman calls out to her offering up what he calls a "friendly square," which is nothing but an average kotatsu. Unfamaliar with the under-the-table-heater, the salesmans promises of the device bringing together anyone who shares it convinces Ageha to buy one immediately. Packing up all her Christmas gifts, Ageha flies to see Rinne, but passes a mysterious glowing house on her way there. Meanwhile, Rinne is visiting a convenience store, staring hungrily at a single piece of Christmas cake he hopes to buy. After buying the cake, Rinne passes the same, mysterious, rundown house and has a message tossed at him. Going inside he finds Ageha. As Rinne tries to immediately leaves, he finds a barrier preventing him from leaving the house. Sakura, Miho and Rika walk by outside, discussing the rundown house however by the time they get to it, its completely covered in Christmas decorations. The strange sight sees Rika and Miho fleeing. Sakura finds her way in the house and is trapped and soon enough, even Tsubasa shows up, getting trapped inside while his bucket of fried chicken is stuck in the cold outside. Everyone opens their bags and starts to decorate the house with Christmas candles or pop streamers, all the while lamenting how much they would love some Christmas cake. Rinne fears having to share his and Rokumon's single piece with everyone. Ageha and Tsubasa begin to bicker, and the arrival of a Christmas tree bashes Rinne in the head, causing him to drop his Christmas cake. The tree and cake complete the Christmas scene, and the house feels complete, absorbing all the decorations, and Christmas goodies into itself, exorcising the spell that kept everyone locked in. Rinne cries tears of blood as Ageha tries to comfort him by suggesting a Christmas party at his house. Of course Ageha secretly hopes to use her friendly square to make Rinne fall in love with her. When he arrives home Rinne is shocked to see such a luxurious kotatsu in his room and immediately sits under it with Rokumon and Ageha, dreamily dazedly, but as soon as Tsubasa and Sakura arrive, he hops out. After dinner Tsubasa pulls out a deck of cards, and everyone plays Old Maid with the loser having to go out in the cold to buy drinks and snacks for everyone else. Ageha loses every single time, being sent out into the night over and over again. Finally, Ageha goes to buy a Christmas cake, but trips and falls. Crying in the cold, dark night. Rinne arrives and gives her a scarf. Tsubasa and Sakura are there as well, and Sakura says that her mother knitted scarves for everyone. The group goes back to Rinne's house and everyone smiles appreciatively at Ageha for all she's done that night. She manages to dispose of a bomb in the smushed Christmas cake that she was going to use to get revenge, and everyone has a lovely evening.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Fumi Fujiitaka (ふじいたかふみ)
  • Animation Director: Atsuo Tobe (戸部敦夫)
  • Script: Hiroyuki Yoshino (吉野弘幸)
  • Storyboards: Keiji Gotoh (後藤圭二)
Originally Aired:
  • August 29, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • In Japan Christmas (particularly Christmas Eve) is seen as a romantic holiday when a couple might spend time together and exchange gifts. The decorations and festive atmosphere of Christmas in the west is present, minus the religious aspects. This is why Ageha is keen to be with Rinne for Christmas and have a date with him.
  • "Oh yeah, I've heard that they had to sell the house because of the recession." - Beginning in 1991 the the Japanese "bubble economy" burst resulting in what was initially called the "Lost Decade" (1991-2001). When the economy failed to improve by 2011 the term "The Lost 20 Years" was introduced. Another ten years passed and the term became "The Lost 30 Years," or more generally "The Lost Decades" (失われた十年). The 2008 Great Recession, the Tohoku Earthquake of 2011 and the global COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession have all prolonged Japan's economic woes.
  • "So they asked me to leave some chicken for it as an offering." - Chicken (particularly Kentucky Fried Chicken) is considered a traditional Christmas meal in Japan. In the 1970s KFC began their "Kentucky for Christmas" promotion in Japan to try and create a Christmas tradition. The promotion was a huge success and Japanese households soon adopted the concept of getting a "party barrel" (what we call a "bucket" of chicken in the west) to eat with their family on Christmas Eve. The 1981 documentary Colonel Comes to Japan discusses how KFC entered the Japanese market and found success.
  • "It's just like the Hyakumonogatari parlor game." - Tsubasa is referring to "Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai" (百物語怪談会) which translates as "A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales". The parlor games was popularized during the Edo period and involved three rooms of a home. In one room a table with a mirror placed upon it was filled with 100 lit candles. Neighbors and friends were invited into the home and told ghost stories called "kaidan" (怪談). With the conclusion of each tale the host would pass from the dark first room, through the dark second room and into the candle-filled third room. There, they would extinguish a candle and stare into the mirror to see if a ghost appeared. Allegedly, once 100 tales were told and the final candle was snuffed something mysterious would happen.
  • Along with fried chicken Christmas cake is considered a traditional dessert for Christmas dinner in Japan. This also gave rise to the derisive term of calling a woman who was unmarried after the age of 25 a "Christmas cake". This is because stores that have leftover Christmas cakes in stock after December 25th have to sell them at a deep discount, and by comparison a woman beyond the age of 25 is equally "past her prime".
  • Ageha does not know that her "friendly square" is actually a kotatsu (こたつ). A kotatsu is a table with a heater underneath and a blanket draped over the top to keep the heat trapped inside.
  • Rokumon and Rinne begin to refer to Ageha as "Ageha-sama" after she lets them sit under the kotatsu. "-sama" is the highest honorific in Japanese and shows a deep level of deference.
  • Sakura brings oden (御田) which is often translated as "hot pot". It is a traditional winter dish with a stew filled with a number of ingredients.
  • When Ageha is sent to buy taiyaki (a fish-shaped cake filled with bean jam) the salesman has the kanji 鯛 on his face. This is the "tai" of "taiyaki".
  • The next salesman has コ (ko) for コンビニ (konbini) the Japanese for "convenience store".
  • We see Rinne's (and everyone else's) sympathy for Ageha at the end of the episode. Rinne's voice actor, Kaito Ishikawa, stated in a 2016 NHK interview that Rinne's kindness is the central characteristic that he hoped to bring out.
  • In the next episode preview Tsubasa talks about what happens when you are possessed by a fox and keeps using words that begin with "kon". This is because in Japan foxes are said to make a "kon kon" sound.

Episode 23: 狐(きつね)おとし
Kitsune Otoshi
(Fox Trap)
At the Lifespan Administration Bureau an evil spirit escapes from the spirit cleansing room, where evil spirits are purified in preparation for their eventual reincarnation. Kain arrives to ask for Rinne's help and the two discuss the spirit at Tsubasa's house. Tsubasa is sick however and demands the two get out, while Sakura makes him some porridge to help him feel better. Tsubasa dreams of the way things should be with Sakura taking care of him as he continues to argue with Rinne to get out. Kain shares a scroll with Rinne telling him to look out for the escaped spirit. The scroll details how one hundred years ago the evil nine-tailed fox demon caused mischief throughout the land until Tamako caught it and cleansed its spirit. Its evil was so strong that even though it was kept at the Bureau and cleaned over and over through the years it still clung to its grudge and vowed its revenge. As the group discusses it, Kain vows that he will be the one to re-capture the spirit. As he declares this, he realizes that Rinne has already left. Sakura says that he's gone to talk to Tamako about the nine-tailed fox. With that she and Kain leave, and Tsubasa is left alone, cursing Rinne for interrupting his time with Sakura. Suddenly Rinne reappears and eats all of Tsubasa's porridge. Fed up, Tsubasa starts tossing ash bombs at him, only to find that the Rinne who returned for the porridge was actually the nine-tailed fox in disguise! As Tsubasa gets knocked unconscious by his own bomb, the fox sees an opening and possesses his body. The next day at school Rika and Miho tease Sakura about going to visit Tsubasa but she dismisses it saying Rinne was there as well. Suddenly Tsubasa, possessed by the fox, arrives and tells everyone he's feeling much better. Out of nowhere Kain attacks, and Rinne arrives saying that the fox has possessed Tsubasa, but that it has been weakened by repeated cleansings and Tsubasa can fight against within his own mind. As the fight begins the nine-tailed fox uses all of Tsubasa's tricks and abilities against Rinne and Kain. Tsubasa easily defeats Kain and Rinne separately but Kain retaliates with Separation Incense to drive the fox out of Tsubasa. Even with the fox half separated from Tsubasa, Jumonji seems to enjoy getting some revenge on Kain and Rinne and assists the fox in his battle against them, unleashing his Power Stone on Kain. Finally the fox gets desperate and creates illusions of itself to confuse Kain and Rinne, getting the upper hand again before even Sakura realizes that the fox is no longer in control and Tsubasa is just using it as an excuse to fight Rinne and impress her. Suddenly a washtub falls from a portal to the afterlife and bashes Tsubasa on the head. However Tsubasa runs off to try and protect the fox, forcing Rinne to tie him up and toss him and the fox in the wastub, sending them both to the afterlife. The fox is finally cleansed and sent to the Wheel of Reincarnation as Tsubasa goes back to school, blaming the fox for everything that happened.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
  • Animation Director: Yasuyuki Noda (野田康行)
  • Script: Yuko Kakihara (柿原優子)
  • Storyboards: Hiroshi Ishiodori (石踊宏)
Originally Aired:
  • September 5, 2021
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • While ill, Tsubasa is wearing a hanten (袢纏) a short cotton stuffed coat typically worn in winter. Hanten often have a family crest on them and Tsubasa's has the cross due to his last name (Jumonji means "cross or crucifix").
  • Sakura is making okayu (お粥) for Tsubasa. This is rice porridge that is easy on the stomach and often given to babies and people that are feeling ill and so it is thought of as a healing food. It has similar connotations to chicken-noodle soup in the west.
  • When Rinne reads the story about the fox-demon causing problems 100 years ago the building that is shown is the Ryouunkaku. It was the first western-style skyscraper in Japan and was built in 1890 and destroyed in in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. It is commonly associated with the 1910s and 1920s and is used to help frame the time period (the Taisho era). The building plays a more signficant part in Takahashi's later manga MAO.
  • Tamako sings a song while scrubbing where she says "goshi-goshi". Goshi-goshi (ゴシゴシ) means "to scrub". However she turns this into a song by imply "go" means the number five (五), "shi" is the number 4 (四) and she adds "nijuu" (20) (二十), hence the sudden multiplication she sings.
  • Foxes make the sound "kon" in Japanese (like a cow saying "moo" or a cat saying "meow"). Hence why the fox spirit adds "kon" after its words when it speaks. "Kon" also sounds like the sound of a cough, hence the joke of Tsubasa being sick will possessed by the spirit.
  • The statue that the fox replaces on the end of Rinne's rope is a statue of Jizo, these are commonly found on roadsides to pray for deceased children. The appearance of the Jizo statue here is based on Takahashi's drawing of one from Ranma 1/2.
  • Washtubs falling on people's head is a common Japanese visual gag (similar to anvils or flower pots falling on people's heads in western comedy). It is a common occurence in anime but is funny here due to the wash room playing a part in this episode.

Episode 24: ラーメンかえ魂
Ramen Kaedama
(Spirited Ramen)
Rinne and Rokumon walk down an empty street at night, complaining of their hunger as a ramen cart passes by. Rokumon is able to use his cute cat form to get a little ramen from the salesman as Rinne cries tears of blood at the unfairness of it all. At school the next day Rinne gets a request to investigate a new ramen shop in the neighborhood called "Ramen Kaedama." It seems as though the owner has been possessed by a spirit that lingered in the shop. When Rinne arrives he's surprised to see the long line of students waiting to be served, including Sakura, Miho and Rika. Suddenly they realize the waitress working there is Ageha's sister, as Ageha herself shows up to attack the Damashigami. Inside, Rinne's father works tirelessly serving up endless bowls of ramen. It seems that he is the chef who has been possessed. Tsubasa arrives and orders up a piping hot bowl of ramen and is amazed at Sabato's skill in preparing his meal. As it turns out, the original plan was to lure students in with cheap ramen and then steal their souls, but after Sabato was possessed the entire plan has fallen through and his body is forced to make delicious ramen for all the customers non-stop. After the customers have gone, Sabato lies exhausted in the back room. Rinne attempts to use Splitting Incense to draw out the spirit that has possessed his father. A ramen chef appears and tells them that he died before he could open his shop, and politely asks if he can borrow Sabato's body to make ramen for another hundred years. Sabato agrees which makes everyone suspicious. The next few days Rinne watches the shop and finds that the students who visit are leaving in a trance like state. It seems that Sabato has created a channeling doll and put the chef's spirit into it, using him to create ramen that will steal the souls of all the customers. Even Tsubasa gets caught up in the scheme as his soul is stolen away. Ageha, Rokumon, Sakura and Rinne all follow the souls to the back room where they find Sabato soaking in a luxurious tub. Sabato teases Rinne that he will be unable to remove the chef's soul from the false body, which sends Rinne running out of the restaurant. Instead Rinne calls in an order for 500 bowls of ramen to be delivered to the Damashigami Company. The false body breaks down from attempting to fill such a massive order and quickly repossesses Sabato. Completing 500 bowls is enough to make the chef's spirit pass on to the afterlife and Rinne goes about resorting all the student's souls to their bodies. All the students visit the now closed Kaedama Ramen restaurant and leave messages of thanks on how delicious the food was.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Masayuki Matsumoto (松本マサユキ)
  • Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi (本橋秀之)
  • Script: Katsuhiko Takayama (高山カツヒコ)
  • Storyboards: Takahiro Mizushima (大宙征基)
Originally Aired:
  • September 12, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • The song Rinne and Rokumon hear in the street is a song to let nearby patrons know a ramen cart is nearby. Street ramen carts used to be more common in Japan but are disappearing now. You can hear the song played from this soba truck as well. All sorts of food and service trucks and carts have great songs in Japan.
  • Hitodama are the souls of dead bodies that float around at night. They look like a sphere with a tail.
  • "Kaedama" literally means "a second serving" (of ramen), but Sabato writes the "dama" with the kanji for "soul" the same spelling of "damashigami". He plans on using this as a front for stealing human souls who come to eat their ultra-cheap ramen.
  • The yorishiro doll is used for the ramen chef to occupy so that Sabato can goof off. "Yorishiro" (依り代) is an object that spirits are drawn to possess. Once a spirit has inhabited an object it is called a "shintai" (神体). When a human being is the vessel that a spirit resides in they are then called a "kannagi" (神なぎ). This is different still from "tsukumogami" (付喪神) which are items and some animals that are typically older than 100 years that have said to developed a soul simply from existing for that long.
  • I am unable to find what bit of folklore is being referenced with the decapitated head biting a rock. This may be original to Rumiko Takahashi.

Episode 25: ターゲットは桜
Taagetto wa Sakura
(Target: Sakura)
As she leaves to go to school Sakura sees Tamako and Rinne floating in the sky discussing something. It turns out that Tamako has a prototype candy that will reverse the effects of Sakura's ability to see ghosts and spirits. Of course she's had this ability ever since she hate food in the afterlife when she was a little girl. Rinne thinks the candy won't actually work, but Sakura agrees to test it out and pops it into her mouth without question, surprising Rinne, and shocking him more when it actually does work. At the same time, Rinne is notified that the annual A-1 Grand Prix, a competition for evil spirits who try to haunt humans, is about to begin. As Sakura no longer has her ability to see ghosts, she is in contstant danger of being attacked by the overwhelming amount of evil spirits engaged in the competition. Rinne realizes that when he wears his Haori of the Underworld, Sakura can no longer see him. He takes it upon himself to protect her from any spirits that threaten her. In the meantime, Tamako delivers more of the Unsee Candy to Sakura for her to eat, further cancelling out her ability to sense spirits. Out of breath on the roof of Sakura's house from banishing all the evil spirits, Tamako cheefully tells her grandson that the A-1 Grand Prix has five thousand entrants this year. At school Sakura is pursued by ghosts, and Tsubasa saves her just in time. Rinne arrives to fill him in on the details and tries to meet with Sakura without his haori to tell her about how much danger she's in while the grand prix is going on. Unfortunately as ghosts keep attempting to attack her and other students Rinne is kept busy with his shinigami duties. Rinne repeatedly tries to communicate with Sakura all while keeping her safe. Finally get gets a strand of her hair after saving her on the roof of the school and uses it in a substitution doll that will take on her appearance. He does this in hopes of creating a decoy Sakura that will draw the ghosts away from the real Sakura. Rinne's trap fails when Tsubasa rushes in to save the fake Sakura doll, only to misunderstand and think that Rinne has created it for some sort of devious, sexual purposes. Sakura, Rika and Miho arrive and see the doll as Sakura finally begins to realize something is going on. While she can't see Rinne, he grabs the doll and flies off with it, luring the evil spirits away. That evening, the doll finally loses its power after having drawn so many evil spirits to it. That night Rinne watches Sakura in his spirit form as she ponders the Unsee Candy that Tamako gave her. The next day Rinne still isn't at school as he's too busy keeping spirits off the grounds of the campus, trying to keep Sakura and the others safe. Finally Rinne cuts down the five-thousandth entrant, signally the end of the A-1 Grand Prix. That afternoon Sakura visits his room, trying to find him, but has no luck. Rinne arrives from the afterlife just in time to find one evil spirit he missed, a knife wielding murder, floating above Sakura. Sadly, Sakura still can't see Rinne, and passes through him on her way out, however, she turns back to leave the Unsee Candy with him, and just then, trips over his body, the effects of the candy having worn off. Sakura returns the candy and the next day, makes Rinne a bento box as they have lunch together.

Episode Staff:
  • Director: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
  • Animation Director: Kentaro Matsumoto (松本健太郎), Atsuo Tobe (戸部敦夫)
  • Script: Michiko Yokote (横手美智子)
  • Storyboards: Shizutaka Sugawara (菅原静貴)
Originally Aired:
  • September 19, 2015
    5:30 pm - 5:55 pm on NHK E Television
Themes:
Adapted from:
Notes:
  • Sakura's mother wears a tiger-striped apron in the anime (though not in the manga). This is because she is played by Fumi Hirano (the iconic Lum from Urusei Yatsura) who is known for her tiger-striped bikini.
  • The sign at the bottom of the candy story says "Bekkou Ame" (べっ甲飴). This is the name of the store that Tamako bought the candy for Sakura from. Bekkou Ame means "Bekkou Candy" with Bekkou being a proper name when written with those kanji. However the sign overhead is also read phonetically the same way, (べっこう飴) which means "hard candy".
  • The shrine the girls visit is 枯井戸神社 (Kareido Jinja) "Kareido Temple". One remarks that there is a dry well on the property which is hinted at in the name. 枯井戸 literally means "dry well". When the first two kanji are read together it also become "Karei" which is a proper name.
  • The A-1 Grand Prix is named for "Akuryo" (悪霊) which means "evil spirit".
  • The samurai ghost is wearing the number 4 on his bib. Four is a particularly ominous number in Japanese because it is pronounced "shi" which is the pronunciation of "死" (death).
  • The boxer spirit is wearing 13, which is an equally bad number in numerology given its connections with bad luck.
  • Sakura finds a 100 yen coin and says she will take it to the koban (police box) in case someone is looking for it. If no one turns up she will give it to Rinne. Japan is well known for the honesty of its citizens to return found money and lost objects (phones, umbrellas and such). The total amount in 2017 of found money claimed after being turned in to the police was 75,511,670 yen ($675,813 USD). On the other hand the total amount of filed lost cash is 8,343,614,845 yen ($74,673,511 USD). The "Lost Goods Law" in Japan says that the person who has their goods and items returned is obligated to pay a reward worth between a minimum of 5% and a maximum of 20% of the item's worth.
  • One of the ghosts that pops out of the well looks like Kuidaore Taro.
  • The sumo wrestler ghost says "dosukoi" (どすこい) over and over as he pummels Rinne. This is a common sumo shout that does not have a particular meaning.
  • The professional wrestling submission hold that Rinne is using is an abdominal stretch.
  • The kanji on the wrestler's mask is "悪" (waru/bad).
  • Having a life-size doll is seen as rather eccentric bordering on perverse. This is a real phenomena however as you can see from news stories such as this.
  • Sakura has the dolphin doll in her room that she was given in episode 4.
  • In the announcement for season 2 at the end of the episode Rinne comments that he misses the historical drama he watched on NHK with his grandfather. NHK is the public broadcasting channel of Japan and is known for their historical dramas, which they call 大河ドラマ (Taiga drama/Big River Drama). The dramas are very expensive to produce but NHK has continued to make a new series each year since 1963.


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