In “One Hundred Demons,” the author uses “demons” to refer to a wide variety of childhood and adulthood plagues. Specifically in the segment about head lice, she takes “demons” to refer to the head lice but also to refer to her ex-boyfriend. Demons, therefore, take on multiple meanings: they can be muses, dark delights, pests, literal pests, and people who are unkind. As the author draws the demons from Japanese culture, she is giving her own Filipino American spin on the idea of one hundred demons.

Regarding the panel above, the author depicts her giving head lice to her ex-boyfriend and how he nags at her in retaliation. In this panel, the “demons” take on an ironic twist. Instead of the head lice being the expected antagonist, the “demon” is actually her ex-boyfriend. The head lice is actually a way to connect with her first love, the Professor. Then, the author delivers another twist: the head lice is the “demon” because her ex-boyfriend is a head lice! There is a lot of interplay between the idea of a head lice a neutral evil, and her ex-boyfriend’s shared characteristics of being a neutral evil, as shown by how he is nagging at her while they both have head lice, “You keep talking about things that have nothing to do with me! You talk talk talk…” The chattering of his lips is almost like the scuttling movement of head lice on their heads. The author makes light of both of these neutral evils by relating it back to how she was in the good graces of her first love due to head lice and white people head lice (her ex-boyfriend).