HomeAnimeANIME REVIEW | "A Terrified Teacher" Hits Half the Spooky Jokes

ANIME REVIEW | "A Terrified Teacher" Hits Half the Spooky Jokes

ANIME REVIEW | "A Terrified Teacher" Hits Half the Spooky Jokes

Yokai are an important part of Japanese culture. Whether it’s in classic stories, within precious shrines, or via portrayals in hit anime like GeGeGe no Kitaro or Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, these classic folklore creatures play an instrumental role in the Land of the Rising Sun. Of course, not everyone is a fan of these haunted beasts and demons, as they can be quite the scary things to come across. A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School plays with those kooky tropes, but they don’t exactly hit the mark like the series that have come before it.

Based on the manga series by Mai Tanaka, A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School follows newcomer scholar Haruaki Abe (Ryouta Oosaka). At a normal school, he had a horrible teaching experience, resulting in him running away from the profession. But then, he’s given the chance to teach again, at a school called Hyakki Academy, and for the first time in a while, Haruaki is excited to take over a classroom. However, his excitement turns into fright when he finds that the school he’s teaching at is for supernatural beings.

Naturally, Haruaki is downright spooked by his new job. It also doesn’t help that he’s the only human being on campus, meaning that he can’t find any sort of solstice to gain comfort. No, that comfort has to come from his students, which rang from tanukis and yuki-onnas to zashiki-warashis and even cyclopses. (If you don’t know what anything of these yokai are, fear not. A handy guide will pop up from time-to-time to explain what they are.) As the classes go on, and more moments to bond with students arrive, Haruaki’s job gets a little easier to deal with.

Most of the humor of A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School comes from Haruaki’s interactions with the yokai. At times, the humor can be light-hearted, such as when he’s helping the tanuki Mamekichi (Reo Tanie) or coaxing the sheltered Beniko (Akari Kitou) to return to school. Other times, there are events like sports festivals or trips to Tokyo that aid in helping these yokai find their strengths. All of it is nice to watch, but I can’t help but feel something is off with the overall narrative.

Perhaps the issue comes down to the teacher himself. Haruaki isn’t exactly the most influential character to come around in recent anime. In fact, he’s a total crybaby whose mannerisms would even have the most benevolent of gods give him a good smacking! I understand that Haruaki’s antics match well with the title of the series, but it’s odd that he doesn’t seem to grow at all from experience in the same way his students do.

It also doesn’t help that Haruaki’s not exactly someone you’d want to be teaching at a school. Having a sailor uniform fetish is one thing (we can blame the JAV industry for that!), but his goes to the brink of crippling! Whether it’s in his book collection or him pushing his female students to wear them, his affixation on the outfits is simply weird. As such, Haruaki never comes off as a sympathetic character; he’s more of a pervert who gets what’s coming to him!

Thankfully, the yokai act as a saving grace for A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School. Not only are they entertaining to watch, but they have more humanistic traits and heart than the actual human that’s teaching them. The scene-stealer is easily Mamekichi, and his episode revolving around his tanuki and yakuza family is a true series highlight. (I love the fact that his tiny little sister is treated as the future boss, a role she fits into perfectly thanks to her cute-yet-intimidating personality.)

There are moments when the show can be rip-roaringly hilarious. One such moment occurs when Haruaki comes across a book that needs to be completed in order to break its terrifying curse. The fact that there are rules as to how to do that results in some silly what-if scenarios, all leading up to the proper way to dispel the book’s trickery. It’s a rare smart moment for Haruaki, and it makes me wish that his intelligence was more on display in A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School.

Alas, just about every episode has the teacher screaming, shrieking, and cowardly evading any sort of responsibility that he deems tough. Haruaki’s the worst kind of protagonist, one who never learns from his mistakes and experiences. It’s as if a reset button is pushed on Haruaki’s progress, in the same way the entirety of Springfield does so every week on The Simpsons. Considering his yokai students are able to learn from their experiences, it only shows that Haruaki is not incapable of learning, it’s just that he doesn’t want to.

A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School has its moments, but it’s a far cry from the brilliance shown in past yokai-based anime. You’ll learn more about these classic creatures in GeGeGe no Kitaro, and you’ll see how they handle modern situations better in Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. It doesn’t help that their teacher’s as fragile as a hard noodle, on top of being as droopy as a wet one. Now if only Eiikichi Onizuka was the one called to help these monster students…

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A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School can be viewed on Crunchyroll, and has been licensed by Crunchyroll. Episodes 1-14 were observed for review. Promotional consideration provided by Crunchyroll.

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The J-POP king of America, Evan has been bringing the hottest sounds of the Land of the Rising Sun to the English-speaking public since his college radio days. He's also an expert in the gaming, anime, & manga realms, never afraid to get critical when the times call for it. Born & bred in Boston, he achieved his biggest dream yet by making the big move to Tokyo, Japan in Summer 2023! For personal inquiries, contact Evan at evan@b3crew.com. For press/band inquiries, write to us at thebastards@bostonbastardbrigade.com. (Drawing by AFLM of Wicked Anime)