Onsen Yousei Hakone-chan Episodes 8 + 9: Demons and Ghosts

Episode 8

Only so much things can happen in these episodes. I’m not even sure what happened in the end.

The gang, now with Miya officially being part of it, go up to a mountain to help Hakone with her tour ambassador duties. Hakone is amazed by the “flying basket” and they visit a beautiful hot spring on top of a high mountain to hand out fliers. Hakone then realizes that the mountain they’re on is a place full of demons and she starts freaking out, and Aki makes it worse by scaring her by saying that yes the demons are real. So Hakone starts crying and then runs off with everyone running after her to stop her, leaving Miya alone in the end to hand out the fliers. By the way, Miya claims she’s only with them to make sure Hakone doesn’t mess up on her job but really it’s just because she wants to be around Tohya because she’s fallen for him. Cute.

So while Hakone is running around, the two girls from last episode appear. They hide but then turn around when the mascot from the town stares from behind them. They both get scared and run away screaming, and they run into Hakone. Hakone spots the mascot and runs over to it asking if he could help him protect her from the demons. The two girls run after Hakone. Hakone is at ease but is startled when the mascot suddenly talks to her about her long work day. When the two other girls walk up, the man complains about the costume being hot and he takes it off and the three girls scream their lungs out. You know because of the mascot’s behavior in this episode I thought it would turn out to be some weird supernatural being but instead…he’s just a man in a costume.

And what the hell happened. Is he a pervert? Is he a pedophile? Should somebody shoot him dead? Or did he just have a scary face? I don’t know but now I’m going to be nervous whenever he appears onscreen. Also, there actually weren’t any demons lurking about. It’s just a tourist destination.

Episode 9

One supernatural thing after another, and this time we actually got a ghost. So this time it’s only Tohya, Hakone, and again Miya because she’s there so Hakone won’t steal the steamed buns they need to deliver but of course she’s there to be with Tohya. Again Hakone is amazed by normal modern things like the bus and then they arrive at their destination. The woman they delivered the steamed buns to is nice and gives them some as thanks but of course Hakone eats all of them without sharing. Just to teach her a lesson, Tohya decides to spook her about the area they’re in and tells her a ghost story about a woman getting killed for wanting to escape Edo. Hakone is afraid but tries to be brave about it.

It’s then that a ghost does appear and it really is of the woman from the story that Tohya told. But the funny thing is that she actually knew Hakone personally, she just didn’t notice at first because Hakone looks like a kid. They reminisce on some things and then the ghost woman says how much she would love to bathe in Hakone’s waters again, but she can’t because she’s a bound spirit. But since they’re on Hakone’s land and there are many channels, the ghost woman’s wish comes true and the three girls all bathe together. Again, those two girls from before appear while Tohya keeps watch from outside and they’re about to attack until they both notice the ghost woman, and then the black-haired one screams and runs off with the girl in the sailor uniform. And then suddenly the ghost woman says she can peacefully pass on into the afterlife now and so she does…because I guess her last wish was to bathe in Hakone’s bath. Which is kind of weird and funny. And that was the end of that.

I just want to know who those two girls are. Miya recognizes them from somewhere but we don’t know anything about them, not even their names. They seem to be after Hakone for some reason so they’re not regular human girls. I just hope they’re fun.

These two episodes were okay. The ending of episode 8 was strange but a little funny because it caught me off-guard. Same with episode 9. But I know this show would be better if it had full-length episodes, because with only three minutes you can only do so much, so some episodes can be okay and not great.