Nūbē Characters - Students
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This is a character guide to the manga & anime series Hell Teacher Nūbē, focusing on the students of Doumori Elementary. The guide is separated into two separate categories: one for the students of class 5-3 and one focusing on several other classmates, fifth-grade or otherwise, who are actively seen attending this school.
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[edit] Class 5-3
[edit] Hiroshi Tateno
Hiroshi Tateno (Tateno Hiroshi 立野広) is the main male student character in the series and one of Nūbē's most active supporters. A transfer student who arrives in Doumori Elementary at the start of the manga, he is at first suspicious of his teacher's exorcism claims, but eventually comes around due to being saved from one spiritual problem after another. Typical of many young shonen leads in manga and anime, he is the courageous, heroic male of the class who is always standing up to fight against any obstacle, whether they be human or yōkai or whether it makes sense or not. His favorite past-time is playing soccer for the school. Unfortunately, Hiroshi's downside is his own stupidity: he has some of the worst grades in Nūbē's class and once even set a record for having a hundred 0s in a row on his tests! This lack of brains both causes him to have outlandish comments on simple ideas and leads him to many of his yōkai problems. He once even wet his pants after a ghost scared him in a restroom. His character's name is a tribute to the main male lead of Dokonjyou Gaeru, a classic 70s Weekly Shonen Jump series Shou and Okano used as an influence for "Nūbē".
[edit] Kyōko Inaba
The fiery-haired, fiery tempered female of Nūbē's class, Kyōko Inaba (Inaba Kyōko 稲葉郷子) is the student that trusts and even possibly likes the teacher the most. Her first encounter with him actually occurred several years earlier, when Nūbē (then a college student) saved Kyōko (then a little girl) from an inari spirit. (though it is suggested they may have met earlier in a past life) She is seen as one of the most caring characters, usually looking after the welfare of Nūbē and the rest of the class and showing an emotional attachment towards them whenever something happens to one she cares about. But while Kyōko appears cute and innocent at first, she can possess a violent temper that can drive her friends and even her teacher a tad crazy (though it does tone down later on). When Hiroshi joins the class, she can't stand the annoying boy, but slowly does develop hidden romantic feelings towards him as the series goes on. On the other hand, she consistently has a love/hate rivalry with the closest to a best friend that she has, Miki Hosokawa, usually over physical matters such as her flat chest, big butt, and Sailor Moon-esque pigtails. Her name is an homage to the female lead of Dokonjyou Gaeru. (where, not coincidentally, this Kyōko is also in love with a Hiroshi)
[edit] Miki Hosokawa
Possibly the greatest troublemaker in Nūbē's class, Miki Hosokawa (Hosokawa Miki 細川美樹) is known best for her big mouth, her vast spiritual knowledge...and her big bust! At the start, Miki was a mere tattletale, consistently chatting on and on about various rumors and such, especially if Nūbē was involved. But after a near-fatal encounter with a tattletale yōkai that first pinned blame on her for several downright hurtful rumors and then attempted to eat her, she begins to tone down her talking and starts focusing on more spiritual matters. Miki begins to do consistent research on various spirit and yōkai manners, to the point where even her teacher came to her for things he may not know! While most of this is merely knowledge, she consistently looks for supernatural means to assist her, either for her rumor mill or to get rich quick. One of her most important spiritual developments was gaining the ability to become a rokurokubi, where she can spiritually stretch her head and neck to go undercover to anywhere she chooses. Extremely vain about her physicality, Miki prides in her growing buxom figure (she grows from a B-cup to an F-cup over the course of the series) and flaunts it whenever she can. Her name is an homage to a the tragic Miki Makimura, the main heroine in another of the main Nūbē influences: Go Nagai's classic horror series Devilman.
[edit] Katsuya Kimura
The "juvenile delinquent" of the class, Katsuya Kimura (Kimura Katsuya 木村克也) acts much worse than he really is towards Nūbē and his other classmates. At the start of the series, Katsuya is consistently portrayed as a loner, either due to being misunderstood by his classmates, his own cowardice or from his delinquent behaviors such as smoking or stealing charity for a good cause. But as the series goes on, he slowly comes to grips with himself and joins in with Nūbē and his friends where he is one of the main members of the class. Katsuya is a huge pervert towards sexy females, an attribute that gets him into a huge idolation of Miki. (though she sees treats him like her dog) He also finds himself consistently with the worst grades in class alongside both Hiroshi and Makoto. But while he is a coward and a bad seed, he is amazingly also a loving, caring and protective big brother towards his little sister, Manami.
[edit] Makoto Kurita
While the same age as all of his classmates, Makoto Kurita (Kurita Makoto 栗田まこと) is perhaps the youngest in heart and spirit of class 5-3. At the start of the series, this bowl-haired boy finds himself the most emotional of the students, running and screaming away from any scary phenomenon. But with Nūbē's guidance and the assistance of his friends, he slowly learns to face his fears and grow up in certain ways. One of Makoto's greatest strengths is his kind and friendly nature, allowing him to try and remain cheerful in the face of both human and yōkai threats. However, he remains the most childlike of Nūbē's students, both in stature (though he is small, he is constantly hoping for the day he will "grow up") and his love of kiddy past-times like keeping pets or watching sentai series. (His most favorite being Chou Kiken Sentai Kakukaku Ranger which is a slight parody in name of the series Ninja Sentai Kaku Ranger, but translates as Extremely Dangerous Sentai Nuclear Ranger) While he also receives horrible grades like Hiroshi and Katsuya, he actually puts in effort to try and improve himself in any way possible. His name and the model for his character design are both inspired from the Kazuo Umezu manga series Makotochan.
[edit] Akira Yamaguchi
Akira Yamaguchi (Yamaguchi Akira 山口晶), one of the smartest students in Nūbē's class, is also the one that goes through a slight character change as the series goes on. At the start of the series, Akira is merely a bright, but slightly unlucky boy who tries his best but can never achieve what he's capable of. The source of this bad luck was a near-death experience where he went to the Sanzu River, where a yōkai consistently stops anyone that tries to complete their tasks. After Nūbē exorcises this spirit, Akira finds a bit more luck, but remains a more generic character. But later in the series, Akira's modest personality changes towards that of being the "mad scientist" of the class, consistently using technology to bridge the gap between humans and yōkai and showing off in order to do so. Originally, Akira was paired alongside Hiroshi, Kyoko, Makoto and Miki as part of the main set of students whom allies with Nūbē. But because of Akira's earlier "plain" personality, he fell out of favor over more dynamic characters like Katsuya. Regardless, he does remain a semi-major character throughout the whole manga run. Like Miki, Akira's name is based on the main male lead in Go Nagai's Devilman.
[edit] Shuichi Shirato
The richest and most snobbish member of Nūbē's class, Shuichi Shirato (Shirato Shuichi 白戸秀一) is the son of the owners of one of the finest restaurants in Doumori. Because of this, this "classy" boy consistently taunts Nūbē's personal tastes, both in cuisine and in his lack of material possessions. But while there are many times the teacher can't stand his arrogant attitude, Nūbē consistently finds a way to help him whenever he finds himself caught in a yōkai situation. In a slight deviation from his teacher and classmates, Shuichi finds interest in more scientific means of the supernatural such as aliens and cryptozoology, trying to show there are things other than yōkai out there, but consistently finding Nūbē back to assist him. Still, Shuuichi isn't man evil person per se; he also sincerely loves animals, to the point of being willing to give up his life to stop an angry yōkai that once was a puppy.
[edit] Masaru Kaneda
Masaru Kaneda (Kaneda Masaru 金田勝) is the self-proclaimed "class bully" of 5-3, consistently trying to beat up on others weaker than him (such as Makoto) and finding dissidence with anyone that stands in his way. But two things consistently end up foiling his schemes: Hiroshi (who stands up for those Kaneda bullies) and the yōkai whom haunt him whenever he ends up disturbing one. His biggest gripe is when his name is mispronounced as "Kintama Saru", which is Japanese for "testicle monkey". Though he mostly works alone, he occasionally has two lackeys in the class that he bosses around.
[edit] Noriko Nakajima
Noriko Nakajima (Nakajima Noriko 中島法子) is the sweet, cute, and possibly most "normal" girl in class 5-3 compared to some of her classmates. Unlike the others, Noriko never tries to look for trouble, but trouble constantly does seem to find her. Originally a "background character" early on (mostly found alongside her best friend Shizuka), "Noro-chan" slowly becomes one of the more prominent members of the class and a consistent target for spiritual activity. Miki in particular has a beef against her: with her cute face, shoulder-length pink hair and the second-largest bust in the class, the buxom blonde always gets upset whenever Noriko steals the spotlight away from her (consistently saying Noro-chan no kuse ni!!, or "That Noro-chan!") While she does seem docile and quiet, Noriko does occasionally unleash a wilder and more playful side (but it takes certain yōkai phenomenon to do so). She's also known as a bookworm and a rather clever tactician; once she was the key to resolve a very creepy case that involved the ghost of the school library and a series of kidnappings related to the ghost's favorite book, which incidentally was the same as Noriko's.
[edit] Shizuka Kikuchi
Another of the more prominent "background characters", Shizuka Kikuchi (Kikuchi Shizuka 菊地静) was actually introduced as a one-joke character. When Nūbē does a class on the Ichimatsu Doll, he ends up using a cute girl with long black hair (Shizuka) as part of a joke to get rid of a possession. Outside this early joke, this female typically is found in the background, either doing things alongside the rest of the class or hanging out usually with her best friend Noriko. But while she seems merely innocent in the background, a later chapter reveals that it allows her to easily tattle on her classmates to Nūbē, due to a strong sense of justice that she holds that she puts above her friends. (and nearly gets her in trouble with a dangerous team of yōkai!)
[edit] Ayumi Kinoshita
A quiet, studious member of class 5-3, Ayumi Kinoshita (Kinoshita Ayumi 木下あゆみ) is another student who has a spiritual ability, but one that actually helps her in more ways than one. Typically, Ayumi is a sickly, bed ridden girl that would possibly have never had the chance to get an education. Yet when she was younger, Nūbē (who was still in college) taught her the "youshin jutsu", an ability that allows her to separate her spiritual body from her physical one, making her seem that she can walk and live like a normal person. Using this, Ayumi was able to partake in an education at Doumori Elementary and even joined Nūbē's class when she hit 5th grade. Ayumi's favorite past-time is reading, spending all her time in class or even outside reading books without taking too much notice of the fun and activities of her classmates. (though there are some occasions where she joins in with her friends and classmates to their activities) While Ayumi usually uses her youshin abilities to try to live a normal life as a schoolgirl, she can also use it to transform her physical form or her clothing to something more adventurous, which came in handy when Hiroshi, Kyoko and the others nearly got in trouble. Furthermore, she may even have a small crush on Kaneda! (due to a possible literary awakening due to her influence)
[edit] Other Classmates of Note
- "The Big Kid": A fat, thick-lipped male classmate seen prominent in the first "Nubo" pilot and in early chapters of the manga.
- "The Dead Kid": In chapter 61, there is a strange being appearing in class pictures. Nūbē reveals it to be someone who was supposed to be in the class, but died in a car accident before school started that year.
- Matsui-san (松井さん): A female classmate that seems to have the facial attributes and body of a male. Usually seen merely as a gag character.
- Yuka Kobayashi (Kobayashi Yuka 小林由香): A transfer student who looks like a boy, but is actually a girl. When she first joins the class, she is a huge troublemaker, but mostly because she was possessed by a trouble-causing yōkai. After which, she becomes another background classmate.
- Minki: An oni female who joins the class towards the end of the series, she is the youngest sister of a team of Oni siblings. (of which Nube's Oni no Te is her "big brother")
[edit] Other Students
[edit] Ai Shinozaki
Considered one of the most talented students at Doumori Elementary, Ai Shinozaki (Shinozaki Ai, 篠崎愛) is a 6th grader in class 6-5, one year ahead of Nube's class. A member of the Shinozaki zaibatsu, she's a beautiful girl who looks older than she really is (she's tall, slender and with a big bust that rivals Miki's and Ritsuko-sensei's), has mastery of several musical instruments including the violin and piano (in the anime, her episode happens right after she wins a violin contest), as well as fluency of three foreign languages other than Japanese. However, under this perfect exterior, this spectical-wearing female has many problems of her own.
Ai grows tired of consistently practicing under the pressure of her family in order to succeed, detests to be treated as a goddess by others who only think of her as someone who'll make them look good for being her friends, and also has problems in occasionally shoplifting to get things without paying for them (according to her, she developed this habit to reassure herself that she was a normal person with flaws). It is these problems that get her in problems with the occasional yōkai, who illuminate her own problems and end up exposing her to Nūbē and the right path.
In this case, Ai was possessed by a demon that manifested itself as tell-tale eyes that would appear on her hand and later on her whole body, and didn't disappear until she openly confessed to Nube and Makoto, until then her only friend, that she was a shoplifter and the reason why she stole things.
While Ai seems to hold a lonely life, she somehow has befriended Makoto and may feel something more for him, though he doesn't really notice any romantic feelings and rather use her to sing the theme songs of his favorite sentai shows. Ai's name is connected to a series of horror films involving another set of children named "Ai and Makoto" (explaining possibly why she has connections towards the shrimpy student of Nūbē's).
