24 minSeason 3 • Episode 25
LatestMatsugo invites Rinne to his school festival, so (of course) Sakura, Jumonji, and Renge come along. The festival's ghost-house proves more dangerous than they thought.
As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma's home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura's has been empty since the start of the school year, then one day her always-absent classmate shows up, and he's far more than what he seems!
Writing
Rumiko Takahashi's signature blend of supernatural soap and deadpan absurdity
Acting
Ishikawa's desperate broke-boy energy carries every scene
Practical Effects
Endless creative yokai designs on a clearly modest budget
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Rinne's debt-ridden shinigami gig satirizes Japan's brutal gig economy decades before it became mainstream discourse. The poor boy literally cannot afford to die.
This was Rumiko Takahashi's first fully animated series since InuYasha ended, and she reportedly fought to keep Rinne's perpetual poverty as a core character trait against studio pressure to make him cooler.
JP
