History Manga / GeGeGeNoKitaro

* BloodKnight: In the 2018 Neko Musume, part of the Kitarō Family, the ''inner circle'' of Kitarō's close friends, is always at his side when there are fights to fight. When she's not fully transformed in her yokai form, her SlasherSmile and BadassBoast sentences tell how much she relishes fighting.

** The hanataka tengu that presides over Kitaro’s trial is this, giving the defense plenty of time to prove Kitaro’s innocence (even after the trial is technically over).

* JerkassHasAPoint: Once In a blue moon, Nezumi Otoko actually makes a strong point on something.

* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler: We don’t see exactly what Sara-Kozō does to Poor Man Isamu, only that it almost assuredly resulted in then comedian’s painful death. The fact we don’t see the audience or Isamu’s family’s reactions to this makes it even worse]].

DoesThisRemindYouofAnything: The 808 Tanuki are clearly meant to represent fascists, and are even directly compared to them in the original manga. The 2018 version cuts that, but makes it more explicit with scenes of them arresting innocent people who are suspected of being “anti tanuki”.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: Quite a lot of stories focus on rather obscure monsters.

* HalfHumanHybrid: In the 2007 series, Sunakake Baba explains this as reason for Nezumi-Otoko's questionable relationship with other yōkai and his penchant for dabbling in human society. He himself brings it up in the 1968 series, and in the 2018 series he has a conflicted view about it, moving by happily bragging to a human child to be far superior to regular yōkai because of his half-breed nature to berate Kitarō because he feels pure blooded yōkai are always looking down to him.

%%* HonestJohnsDealership

** The very first episode of the 2018 reboot has a vlogger, after making an ass out of himself in the middle of Shibuya, transform into a large tree. Earlier that year, a Website/{{YouTube}}r named Logan Paul got in trouble over vlogging a hanged man in the suicide forest, [[https://youtu.be/wYQcU5VXde8 among other obnoxious and disrespectful actions in public]].

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: Medama Oyaji REALLY let’s Kitaro have it after he lashes out at Mana in Episode 48]].

* Adorkable:

* CentralTheme: The excesses of modern times in making people apathetic towards the environment and society.

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Heavily Zigzagged and often Subverted. Throughout the franchise we do see that humans are responsible are for many problems in the series, especially in the 2018 series where most antagonistic yōkai justify their actions by claiming they're just taking back the Earth from the undeserving, greedy and polluting human beings that stopped respecting and revering them. However we also see entire communities of humans who work to fix these mistakes and even build positive relationships with yoke. Also the those aforementioned antagonistic yokai? They are often just as bad, sometimes WORSE, than the humans they are angry at. Furthermore, all of the most wicked characters in the series are always yokai.

That's the simple explanation. The reality is that if you've never heard of this series, it's because it doesn't often show up in Western media because it is ''just plain weird.'' The weirdness starts off with Kitaro himself: a "ghost boy" who is missing one eye. The empty socket is usually covered by his hair, and usually houses Medama-Oyaji (Papa Eye), literally an [[FacelessEye eyeball with a body]], who is also his father. (Yes, really.) Kitaro also has remote-controlled geta sandals, a detachable hand, and a spiky hair vest which he can use to attack enemies, as well as a few other abilities.

Other characters in the main ensemble include a half-human half-yōkai filthy rodent, a CatGirl who can transform into a much more monstrous form, the sand yōkai woman who runs an apartment, an absent-minded elderly yōkai who can turn himself to stone, a sentient strip of white cloth, and a large yōkai shaped like a wall.

The original manga ran for about ten years, between 1960 and 1969, and multiple versions and adaptations have been written since, developing a rather different canon as the series progressed. (Kitaro especially is much weirder and much less child-friendly in the original.) The different anime versions have been running more or less from 1968 to the present, with the most recent beginning in 2018. It has also been adapted into multiple live-action versions and video games, as well as earning a place in several theme parks, like Fujikyu Highland. The creator's hometown of Sakaiminato has also been marked with multiple statues of the various characters in recognition of the series' influence.

!!Tropes exhibited in at least one version of this series include:

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Heavily Zigzagged and sometimes Subverted. We do see that humans are responsible are for many problems in the series, especially in the 2018 series where most antagonistic yōkai justify their actions by claiming they're just taking back the Earth from the undeserving, greedy and polluting human beings that stopped respecting and revering them. However we also see plenty of humans who work to fix these mistakes. Also the aforementioned yokai are often just as bad, sometimes WORSE, than the humans they are angry at. Furthermore, all of the most wicked characters in the series are always yokai.

* LighterAndSofter: Progressively. The 1980s anime in particular, which made the few times someone actually ''died'' in that version much more shocking. Subsequent adaptations made the 1980s anime seem grimdark.

* MonsterOfTheWeek: Arguably one of her progenitors of this trope. Nearly every episode features some sort of yokai that either causes problems or helps Kitaro in some way. [[TropesAreNotBad The sheer variety of Yokai, both from myth and from the author himself, makes this a very strong usage of this trope]].

** Quite a few episodes throughout the series will scathingly criticize Japan’s real life [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt businessmen, often calling out their greed and how they abuse their employees]]. Episodes 7 and 9 in the 2018 are the most recent examples of this.

* TakeThat: The very first episode of the 2018 reboot has a vlogger, after making an ass out of himself in the middle of Shibuya, transform into a large tree. Earlier that year, a Website/{{YouTube}}r named Logan Paul got in trouble over vlogging a hanged man in the suicide forest, [[https://youtu.be/wYQcU5VXde8 among other obnoxious an other disrespectful actions on the streets]].

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Heavily Zigzagged and sometimes Subverted. We do see that humans are responsible are for many problems in the series, especially in the 2018 series where most antagonistic yōkai justify their actions by claiming they're just taking back the Earth from the undeserving, greedy and polluting human beings that stopped respecting and revering them. However these yokai are just as bad, oftentimes WORSE, then the humans they are angry at. Furthermore all of the most wicked characters in the series are always yokai.

* EldritchAbomination: Backbeard is a giant ball with a big eye in the centerthat wants to {{Take Over The World}}and [[{{Fantasticracism}} dislikes japanese yokai]]

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Especially in the 2018 series, most evil yōkai justify their action by claiming [[AbusivePrecursors they're just taking back the Earth from the undeserving, greedy and polluting human beings that stopped respecting and revering them]].

** One episode of the 2018 series has Kitaro become obsessed with a DatingSim featuring a character who looks a lot like (and [[CastingGag is voiced by]] the 1990s version of Nekomusume.

* MythologyGag: Many of the 2018 redesigns take their color schemes form their 1980s incarnations, while Neko Musume looks like her 1990s one.

* EldritchAbomination: Backbeard is a giant ball with a big eye in the centerthat wants to {{Take Over The World}}
and [[{{Fantasticracism}} dislikes japanese yokai]]

* EldritchAbomination: Backbeard is a giant ball with a big eye that in the center wants to {{Take Over The World}}
and [[{{Fantasticracism}} dislikes japanese yokai]]

* CuteWitch: Agnes is one

* EldritchAbomination: Backbeard is one

* CuteWitch: Agnes