Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube

Episode 18

Miki stans rise up, your time has come! Mischievous schoolgirl Miki Hosokawa has been one of my favourite Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube characters since the first episode, mainly because she's an absolute menace. She knows what she wants – and what she hates – and isn't shy to express herself. This episode centers on Miki for twenty minutes or so of pure, unfiltered Miki madness, and I am very much here for it, even if she's portrayed as significantly more emotionally unstable than usual. I get it, Miki. Some days you just want to scream at the world in frustration. Except this time for Miki, the world listens and changes according to her whims, which is a slightly terrifying prospect, if you think about it.

First off, she targets her righteous ire towards an inconvenient half-built building that's shading some poor wilted flowers. Though she initially berates the flowers for daring to grow in such an unsuitable place, her soft heart drives her to dig them up and relocate them, not the kind of action most passers-bys would even consider. The next day, she's confused to find that the building that shaded the flowers has now inexplicably moved to the other side of the street. Even for the cursed town of Domori, buildings shifting position overnight is weird.

Other strange things happen – after Miki saves a kid from being run over by a car in a narrow street (making sure to angrily berate the apologetic driver afterwards), the next day the street is inexplicably wider. Then, when she helps a lost kid find her mother and Miki complains that the town's layout is confusing, the next day the streets are aligned in a sensible grid pattern – though this makes her lose her way home. Unfortunately for Miki, no one believes her when she tells them about these changes. To them, Domori has always been this way.

Sick of being gaslit by her friends, and even Nube (who at least suggests the possibility that the changes are being made by friendly creation god Daidara-Bocchi), Miki openly wishes for a host bar “full of hotties” be built opposite her house, and that a moving walkway be installed along her route to school. Her dream sequence, where these changes occur, is hilarious but, sadly, isn't retained upon waking. Poor Miki, starved of constant attention by adoring men. Hang on, she's meant to be an elementary school kid, isn't she…? I guess she's well-developed for her age?

Miki's extreme reactions make this episode so amusing, providing ample opportunities for funny screenshots. She's not quite reached KONOSUBA levels of expression-related loopiness, but she does her best, bless her heart. The episode's climax where she meets Daidara-Bocchi face-to-face (witnessed by a repentant Nube) is particularly heart-warming. The benevolent deity not only saves her from a dangerous predicament but also accepts her request to relocate an entire condemned building to save a family of swallows nesting there. Miki's so used to witnessing crazy supernatural stuff on a daily basis now that she barely blinks when a smiling Daidara-Bocchi plonks her on his shoulder and takes her on a ride through the city, as he distorts space without anyone else noticing. It's such a sweet and magical sequence, and a great example of how not every yokai or creature in this world is evil.

This is a far more entertaining episode than last week's misfire, and that can be almost entirely attributed to how much fun Miki is as a character. From her fiery outbursts, to her bizarre extendable neck skill, to her genuine willingness to help others despite inconvenience to herself, I love her to bits. Solo Miki spinoff when?

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Hell Teacher: Jigoku Sensei Nube is currently streaming on YouTube.