Ghost Maiden (幽霊乙女, Yuurei Otome) is the first episode of the Tasogare Otome × Amnesia anime series. It was released on April 8, 2012.
Paranormal Investigation Club's Momoe Okonogi experiences a close encounter with a mischievous ghost named Yuuko Kanoe during her daytime report. After having misunderstandings with fellow member Teiichi Niiya, they head to two locations that are supposed to be linked to the mysterious ghost haunting Seikyou Academy.
Synopsis[]
Momoe Okonogi is alone in the Paranormal Investigation Club headquarters in Seikyou Academy. Yuuko, on the other hand, is lounging along in the clubroom's couch.
She takes the time to write down a report that lists the current paranormal observations in the school throughout the day. During this busy moment, her pencil's tip suddenly snaps, and she quickly gets a replacement from her school bag. Yuuko decides to play with the keychain in the table and uses this to kick the broken pencil tip. This causes the pencil tip to go flying. Momoe glances at the same spot, but returns to rummaging for a pencil. Yuuko expects that Momoe would be able to see her, but she was ignored altogether, much to her disappointment. She manages to get one, and continues her written report.
According to Momoe's report, she receives stories which she deemed as "outright fabrications", although she also considered some other accounts as trustworthy. She continues to scribble down, and occasionally sips on a cup of chocolate near her. For some reason, Yuuko also takes a sip from it, and she moves the cup from beside Momoe to in front of her. Momoe initially took no heed of the sudden movement of her cup, but she was shocked when her cup ended up in an unexpected spot.
Momoe thinks that there is a poltergeist joining her in the room... but she thinks that it might just be her lack of sleep that is making her delusional. Yuuko was initially amazed that Momoe was able to deduce a poltergeist as the cause of the cup moving, but was depressed upon hearing Momoe dismissing her theory.
Momoe returns to the papers she has in her hands, and she thinks that those papers prove that the sheer amount of witnesses suggest that the paranormal events going on inside the school can't just be dismissed that easily. She believes that a ghost might even be present at this time. As Momoe rants about ghosts, Yuuko proceeds to read the reports while Momoe is not looking and returns it while she is not arousing suspicion.
Soon, Momoe thinks about Teiichi Niiya, a fellow member of the Paranormal Investigation Club. She admires his decisiveness in solving mysteries and his sixth sense, that allows him to see ghosts. Momoe also thinks that Teiichi is quite cool. Yuuko is a bit annoyed about someone else having interest towards Teiichi, and tries to scare Momoe away using the same keychain she used earlier. Remembering Teiichi's positive traits makes her inspire to do her best, and she quickly returns to immersing herself in reading her written report, oblivious to the floating keychain flailing widly in front of her face. Yuuko eventually gives up and lets go of the keychain.
Eventually, Momoe notices the keychain only when it fell into the wooden table of the clubroom. It was at that moment when she realizes that there might be a ghost lurking around...
Then, Teiichi Niiya arrives.
Yuuko is elated to see Teiichi arrive in the clubroom, and Momoe approaches him to report something paranormal that just happened, which according to her is a poltergeist. Meanwhile, Teiichi appears to be talking to someone. Teiichi is interrogated by Yuuko about his late arrival. Momoe becomes increasingly nervous as Teiichi appears to be preoccupied with someone that she cannot see. Meanwhile, Teiichi endures being played at by Yuuko. Seeing Teiichi frightened somewhat breaks down her confidence.
However, seeing Teiichi's ability to read one's mind amazes Momoe. She voices out her admiration to Teiichi's ability, but Teiichi tells her to stop. Teiichi addresses Yuuko, who is playing this time with Momoe's hair. Momoe is taken aback by Teiichi's hand patting her head and sits quietly, embarrassed at Teiichi's gesture. Soon, she thinks of the possibilities of Teiichi's mind-reading ability, and she tries to test if Teiichi can really read minds, and she was answered at the same moment she expects Teiichi to answer. It was all just a coincidence, as Teiichi's answers are actually for Yuuko's questions.
Momoe reaches breaking point as she realizes that she might have asked questions too difficult for him to answer.
Kirie soon enters the clubroom, and she quickly voices out her embarrassment at showing up with Teiichi and Momoe as companions. As she sits down, Kirie then asks the two to stop flirting around, and this causes Momoe to apologize. In fact, Kirie is talking about Teiichi and Yuuko, not him and Momoe. Kirie notices that she might have said something that can confuse someone, and dismisses what she just said as merely thinking aloud. Momoe then responds to Kirie's statement, only to gaze at Kirie's gaze mushed up as if someone pulled her face back.
Momoe is forced to look away, while Kirie, irritated by what happened to her face, vents her frustration on Teiichi. Meanwhile, Teiichi, with a blushed face, appears to be talking to someone with an embarrassed tone. At this time, Yuuko is trying to flirt with Teiichi by showing her pink bra, thus the embarrassed look on Teiichi's face. Momoe thinks that he is communicating with someone from the other world, and she asks Kirie, who is still irritated, to stop interrupting Teiichi's conversation with the dead.
Teiichi just laughs at the middle of this big misunderstanding.
Minutes later, Teiichi decides to hold the meeting proper for the Paranormal Investigation Club. Momoe opens the topic of the club president's absence, and Teiichi looks for a way to at least show the president's presence. He uses his phone to call the president. The conversation is actually a mock one with him and Yuuko, who serves as the club's president. Teiichi soon ends the call and tells Momoe that the president appears to have a cold and is unable to join them, and allows Momoe to start with her report.
Momoe's report leads them to a certain location inside the school, where they are introduced into a dumbwaiter, which has been rumored to be controlled by a haunting spirit, dragging its passengers into the netherworld: the Elevator of Malice.
As soon as Momoe explains the story behind the dumbwaiter, it suddenly turns on. Yuuko shows everyone that it is still working, much to Momoe's shock. Momoe tightly clings on to Teiichi as the elevator climbs up. Then, as the elevator opens, Momoe's grip on Teiichi tightens. Annoyed by Momoe's clinginess towards Teiichi, she kicks him from behind.Teiichi is suddenly thrown into the elevator, and is helplessly brought down by the elevator to parts unknown. Meanwhile, Yuuko leaves with Teiichi with her tongue sticking out.
Kirie and Momoe decide to chase down the elevator to track down Teiichi.
As the elevator descends, Teiichi finds out that Yuuko is the one who is responsible for the story of the Elevator of Malice. Also, it appears that the story is mostly just hearsay, as Yuuko admits to have never taken anyone with her inside the elevator... except for Teiichi himself.
Soon, the cramped space makes moving around difficult, and Teiichi and Yuuko's bodies long for more space, causing them to make contact with each other. Yuuko then talks about longing for Teiichi's touch as he is the only person who could touch her and acknowledge her existence. Teiichi admits that he also wants to touch Yuuko, but he is too shy to tell it directly. Yuuko is happy that Teiichi could bring her happiness, but she discovers that Teiichi is holding on to something embarrassing.
And when the elevator finally stops and opens, Teiichi realizes that he is holding on to Yuuko's left breast.
While Momoe commends Teiichi for surviving the Elevator of Malice, Kirie, who is able to see Yuuko, calls him a pervert.
As they head back to the Paranormal Investigation Club room, after Momoe voices out her excitement for what just happened, she wondered about Yuuko's relevance to the school's ghost stories. Yuuko is taken aback by Momoe's question, whie Teiichi asks her to take things slow as he believes that not all stories can be related to Yuuko.
Momoe soon changes the topic to another story she has gathered in her report; this time, it directly involves Yuuko. It is about the location of Yuuko's remains, which is in one of the hills near the school according to the story. They travel to the said location, called Kaede Hill, and at the peak of the hill described in the story is a tree with a stone where Yuuko's name is chiseled on.
Although they are able to confirm the existence of the grave in the story, Yuuko tells Teiichi that she does not know anything about it. Moreover, her remains have already been found in the room where the Paranormal Investigation Club now stands.
Teiichi relays this to Momoe, and this allows Momoe to think that whoever erected the marker might have been important to Yuuko, and she feels that the possible true story behind the ghost story is somewhat romantic. Yuuko is annoyed by Momoe's remark and kicks the stone down. In an instant, Momoe becomes shocked when the stone suddenly tipped over, and no amount of explaining can stop Momoe from running away from Kaede Hill. Kirie soon follows Momoe down the hill.
With only the two of them atop Kaede Hill, Yuuko takes Teiichi to a nearby location, where they enjoy the scenery from the highest point in Seikyou Academy. For some reason, Yuuko feels that although she might not remember the place, she feels like she had gone there somehow. For a moment, Teiichi admires Yuuko's beauty, then he returns to the place where the stone with Yuuko's name stood.
There, he sees a small bell right under the rock.
Characters[]
New Characters[]
By order of appearance
Adapted from[]
This episode is an original episode based on several chapters of the manga series. The episode appears to have occurred after Chapter 6 based on Kirie joining the Paranormal Investigation Club, but during Chapter 1, based on the introduction of the Elevator of Malice and the grave marker in Kaede Hill.
Changes in the Adaptation[]
- Aside from the noted details above, Teiichi's first contact with Yuuko's breasts is on the pilot of the manga series, although there are clues wherein they acknowledge the events in the pilot as canon. Teiichi did not touch Yuuko's breasts on Chapter 1.
- One striking different between the manga and the anime series is the object found under the grave marker in Kaede Hill. In the manga series, it is originally a Japanese comb (tsuge-gushi), while the anime series changes this into a bell (suzu).
Trivia[]
- The episode title card for this episode is based on the bottom part of the "Many Faces of Yuuko" section in the first volume of the manga series. This would eventually be adopted throughout the eyecatches in succeeding episodes.
- Hekiru Hikawa, the author of the comedy manga series Pani Poni (which was adopted into the anime series Pani Poni Dash!) is the featured illustrator for this episode.
Referbacks[]
- This is probably the first time Yuuko wore a bra in both the original manga series and the anime adaptation, as Yuuko is often depicted as someone who does not wear such garments.
Cultural References[]
- A poltergeist is a spirit that is noted for its ability to interact with objects (often with destructive results).
Quotes[]
- "My existence is like a pebble on the road. Nobody pays it any mind."
- "I love you, Teiichi-kun."
- "I caught you!"
- "I don't understand loneliness, What I do understand is happiness."
- "I thought that I've never been here but maybe I've been here, after all.."
- "I've never seen this... My body lies under the club room... You should know that, Teiichi-kun."