Manjiro

**Manjiro** (万次郎, *Manjirō*?) is a spirit medium and the pupil of Seiko Ayase.

## Synopsis

### Cursed House Arc

At the Tsuchinoko shrine, Manjiro performs a handstand in an attempt to become a Bootuber and suddenly receives a visit from Momo who came to see the Tsuchinoko. After presenting her the Tsuchinoko's shedding skin, which dissatisfied her, Manjiro explains to her the village's legend.

Later, after the eruption of the village volcano, Manjiro comes in to protect Momo from the Kito Family, having realized that she is one of the children Seiko ordered him to look after. Manjiro then finds himself attacked by the Evil Eye, who takes possession of Jiji's body, and fights the yokai alongside Momo and Naki Kito long enough for Seiko to arrive and seal the Evil Eye inside of Taro. After the events start to settle, Manjiro becomes scolded by his master for not following her orders accordingly over the phone but justifies that her phone call was too random, causing Seiko to quickly change her tone to commending him, which he accepted.

At the Ayase residence, Manjiro assists in Seiko and Momo's attempt to exorcise the Evil Eye out from Jiji, however, the plan ends up failing as the Evil Eye proofed to be resistant to their exorcism. As he joins the Ayases and the other invited guests for dinner, Manjiro discusses with Seiko on hiring advanced exorcists to rid Jiji of the Evil Eye and decides on hiring the hayashi performers. Manjiro and the others then learn of the Evil Eye and Jiji's condition, as revealed by Taro eating hot oden, in that the young man can only regain control of his body by coming into contact with something hot, while the yokai can only emerge by coming contact with anything cold. Knowing this, Manjiro is given the task of watching over Jiji along with the others and comes with him to see his parents at the hospital the next day.

### Evil Eye Arc

After Jiji makes the decision to keep the Evil Eye within him, Manjiro helps in his spiritual training and becomes impressed by how far he has come to nearly keep the Evil Eye from manifesting. Though Jiji made some progress, Manjiro tries to persuade Seiko into hiring the hayashi performers again after Momo nearly escapes being harmed by the Evil Eye accidently let loose earlier, breaking it to her gently that what Jiji is trying to accomplish can't be done. Later, Manjiro breaks the news to Jiji and Momo and announces that the exorcism will be held tomorrow. The conversation then ends abruptly after Okarun calls out for Jiji to step outside to face the Evil Eye in a fight. Manjiro tries to stop Okarun by easing mind with the plan to once again exorcise the Evil Eye but is told by Seiko to not interfere, being told that Okarun had fire in his words. Manjiro and the others then watch as the fight ends with Okarun making a deal with the Evil Eye, which results in Jiji gaining full control of his body again.

With the Evil Eye informing Okarun yesterday that his underwear is not willing to follow the terms of the deal, Manjiro decides to return to his shrine to keep the cursed item safe and says his goodbyes to Momo and the others.

## Etymology

* The name **Manjiro** means "ten thousand, myriads, all" (万) (**man**), "next" (次) (**ji**) and "son" (郎) (**ro**).