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    Kitaro 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a9c8d757_c2af_425f_b58f_5e9c20bb86ec.png

Voiced by: Masako Nozawa (1968-1971, Hakaba Kitaro, Yo-Kai Watch), Noriko Hidaka (Kitarou no Yuurei Densha), Keiko Toda (1985), Youko Matsuouka (1996), Minami Takayama (2007), Miyuki Sawashiro (2018)

The one and only protagonist of the series.


  • Adaptation Name Change: Kitaro's name has different spelling compared to his kamishibai counterpart, despite being pronounced the same. The "Ki" in his name is spelled with the kanji for "strange" (奇) in the kamishibai, while Mizuki's version uses the kanji for "Oni" (鬼).
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: While still "odd", the earliest incarnations of Kitaro were gonkish if not quite ugly. His 2007 and 2018 counterparts by comparison make him look much more of a normal ten-something kid with outdated clothes and bangs over his blinded eye. These incarnations are all collectively more conventional-looking than the Kitaro of the kamishibai he was based on, which gave him wild hair, gnarly teeth, and a more monstrous appearance.
  • Adaptational Heroism: Kitaro in the various series helps humans whenever there's danger. His original counterpart in the manga and its adaptation Hakaba Kitarō wasn't exactly heroic, as he essentially drove two people to suicide and was more greedy and less kind towards humans.
  • Age Lift: His chronological age really depends on what story's being told; sometimes he's decades older, sometimes he's as old as he presents himself in the modern-day. For instance, the 2007 movie says he's 350 years old.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: According to "The Birth of Kitaro", none of the children he grew up around would play with him because of his birth circumstances and his ugly physical appearance.
  • Anti-Hero: The 2018 anime incarnation is not above slaying cruel yokai for killing or injuring good humans, as well as dishing horrible punishment to humans who deserve it.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: While Kitarō acts utterly Oblivious to Love towards Neko Musume affections, he's still shown caring deeply from her. When she's seemingly killed by Mana Inuyama herself, no less, Kitarō viciously tears his former best friend down. In front of her dying mother, refusing to show her even the tiniest shred of mercy aside from leaving her alive and physically unarmed.
  • Born from a Dead Woman: He was still healthy and in his mother's womb at the time of her death, but it took until she and his father were as good as buried in the ground for Kitaro to finally be born.
  • Chaste Hero: In the adaptations where he's clueless about love. The 2018 anime has an episode where Kitaro's father tries to get him to understand romance and girls better by having him pull an all-nighter on a Dating Sim. In the end, Kitaro just ends up exhausted and decides romantic stuff is too complicated for him. Gotta feel bad for Neko Musume.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: His vest (a "Chanchanko") is made of the hairs of his ancestors. As a result, he has a wide range of powers he can rely on, but won't be able to access them if he's not wearing it. It also allows him to come and go from the afterlife, which is handy if he needs to bring someone there and teach them a lesson.
  • Creepy Child: His original manga portrayal hit this on the spot. His 2007 and 2018 self can come across as this given his eerie behavior, especially when he wants to be scary.
  • Detachment Combat: In the manga and several incarnations of the anime, Kitaro is able to sever his appendages and remote control them because of his powerful lifeforce. Also, in the manga, he's able to shoot his fingers against enemies (while in the anime he coalesces his life force into a Finger Gun).
  • The Drifter: In the manga, he staunchly refuses every offer to stay or get a reward, setting off for his 'aimless journey' and helping as many people as he can.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first runs of the universe, Kitaro wasn't a very pleasant person to be around. It wasn't until the later stories that he became the kind-hearted ghoul boy we know today. The Hakaba Kitarō adaptation brings Kitaro back to his early roots.
  • Enhanced Punch: In the 2018 anime, every time Kitaro needs more strength, the spirit hair Chanchanko wraps around his arm and fist, magnifying his punching power and protecting his knuckles and wrist.
  • Eye Scream: In his Kitaro Night Tales and Hakaba Kitarō incarnation he wasn't born half-blind: when the human character Mizuki, startled by his looks, dropped him, he hurt his left eye on a grave, destroying the eyeball. Seeing him crying convinced Mizuki that Kitaro was just a helpless child needing someone to care for him.
  • Eyes Do Not Belong There: While his eyes are in the normal place (well, one of them, at least), his dad's habit of riding around in his hair makes it easy for artists to reference this trope when they want to make him look threatening.
  • Finger Gun: One of his main weapons. In most incarnations, he actually shoots off his fingers against the enemies, leaving him with hollowed stumps until they regrow. In the latest anime incarnations he shoots a powerful blast of spiritual energy out of his index finger Spirit Gun-style.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Kitaro in the 2018 adaptation is a good boy who truly cares about humans, but he shows no mercy to yokai and humans who are blatantly evil. In that case, he'll be sure you're going to regret everything you did, and know how much he thinks you deserved your fate. He will even punish evil humans threatening other humans or at least making sure they'll get what they deserve in the afterlife and scaring high schoolers straight by telling them how Hell awaits all sinners, especially under his watch.
  • The Hero: Most of his anime incarnations make him this. He's the noble and heroic boy who fights evil youkai who threaten humans. His original manga counterpart wasn't exactly what you can call heroic, though.
  • Heroic BSoD: He falls into a depressed state after Nanashi seemingly killed his father. It takes Nezumi Otoko giving him a lecture to snap him out of it.
  • Homeless Hero: Played straight in the original manga where he doesn't stay in one place for long and then continues his travel. Subverted in the anime where he has a stable place to stay.
  • Hiding Behind Your Bangs: His hair goes over the left side of his face. It hides his bad eye.
  • Humble Hero: He'll usually turn big rewards down if he's not taking the job on for it. The Prime Minister offered the kid citizenship for saving him once, and all Kitaro asked him for instead was a cup of coffee.
  • Iconic Outfit: Blue shirt, blue shorts, striped vest and barefoot geta... that's Kitaro, all right.
  • Immortality Begins at Twenty: Kitaro was born the old-fashioned way (albeit out of his dead mother's grave), then aged from being an infant to a pre-teen adolescent who's remained that way ever since. Certain works of the disputable canon have poked at the idea of Kitaro physically aging to adulthood, though.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: His 2018 self recognizes humanity may not always be worth protecting, but he still appreciates it and will do anything to stop yokai who hurt them.
  • Last of His Kind: The only Ghost Tribe survivor and inheritor of the Chanchanko, the source of the powers of the last tribesmen. There's still his father, but he technically died and shed his old body, being reborn as an enchanted eyeball.
  • Leitmotif: In-universe, he has the "Gegege Song": all the insects and animals in the area sing it when Kitaro's done a job well.
  • Long-Lived: In the 2018 series, Sunakake Baba claims to have known Medama Oyaji since he was young and strong, thus the Ghost Tribe is allowed to age, but as slow as a yokai would.
  • Magic Hair: His hair can get up to all kinds of crazy antics. Technically, even the vest counts, since it's made out of the hairs of his ancestors, and it fuels the magic properties of the rest of his body (including the hair).
  • No Sympathy: 2018!Kitaro shows absolutely no compassion for a Mean Boss getting dragged to Hell by the souls of his bullied employees, bragging how, him being a yokai, he's not bound to feel pity for a human soul more than the man was supposed to do for his fellow human beings. Not even his own allies are easily forgiven if they step out of line.
  • Oblivious to Love: The series that have Neko Musume crushing on Kitaro keep him clueless about it.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: His race is outright called the "Ghost Tribe", but that doesn't mean Kitaro is in any form a spirit. The manga actually states that "Ghost Tribe" is a name his tribe got because at the dawn of mankind they choose to hide, moving in caves and woods too dark and secluded for humans. While they managed to reach their goals of avoiding any confrontation with mankind, their secretive activities led to most of the legends about ghosts and ghouls that we know.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: In an episode of the 2018 series, he manages to fool every single of his previous enemy youkai by just putting on Sunglasses at Night. Even Nezumi Otoko and Neko Musume fell for it.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: While 2018 Kitaro will be willing to mediate between humans and yokai, he'll literally beat evil yokai to death if they brag about the evil they just committed under his watch. Kitaro is also not above condemning malicious humans if he decides they deserve it. For example, sending the soul of a sinner to Hell and then, reporting to a high schooler who was secretly bullying another student, hinting that someday he may take her soul to Hell too, as he may call to do for anyone dying under the grudge of people she wronged.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He might be fun-sized, but there's not a shred of doubt that he's one of the most powerful yokai around in many versions of the story.
  • Prehensile Hair: He can shoot his hair out of his head like porcupine spikes.
  • Psychopomp: On several occasions Kitaro, thanks to his status as the last heir of Ghost Tribe and holder of the Chanchanko, has been granted the ability to move freely between Earth and Hell. This also allows him to bring along souls or people. Kitaro can also be asked to bring lost souls to Hell, or willingly dump his enemies there.
  • Really 700 Years Old: In the 2007 adaptation, he stated to be over 300 years old.
  • Same Character, But Different: In the first run of the manga, Kitaro was much different. He was basically a cynical, chainsmoking, ditz, and Walking Disaster Area. His only powers given by his ancestral clothing, was the ability to freely enter and leave Hell and other demonic realms. Under pressure from his publisher and a bizarre copyright conflict, Kitaro became a "Superman-like character": a heroic Ace with New Powers as the Plot Demands.
  • Sensor Character: He can sense spiritual presences with his hair when it sticks up.
  • Shock and Awe: He has "battery organs" like an electric eel does, and can control how much of it gets discharged.
  • Shoo the Dog: Kitaro tries this on Mana, reasoning that a mere human girl would risk her life getting involved in a fight between yokai and humans should fear the darkness and the unknown as a way to defend themselves from the supernatural. He fails, deciding he'd still protect her, but telling her to be really careful.
  • Signature Sound Effect: After he became a Living Legend in-universe, people all over associated him with the sound of his geta clacking against the ground, immortalized as the sound effect karan-koron (or clip-clop). The second ending theme of the 2018 anime is all about this sound.
  • The Stoic: His 2018 self rarely changes his facial expression. When he does, run.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: His 2018 self has this. He presents himself as aloof, businesslike, and dismissive to humans like Mana and Yuta. It soon becomes clear he's only worried that humans could get hurt if they stay close to him. Once he allows himself to relax, Kitaro is able to smile and show care for his friends.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: In the 2018 version, where Mana is One Head Taller than him and Neko Musume is One Head Taller than Mana.
  • Tranquil Fury: In a subset of O.O.C. Is Serious Business, the usually mild-mannered Kitarō does, and is able to get angry. When he does, even when he doesn't physically challenge his foes, he's so cold to hurt. Even his own allies, if they even seemingly step out of his moral boundary, usually gets the brunt of his fury and get horribly horrified, like Nezumi Otoko refused and denounced as a friend for days when he proposed to fed humans to another yōkai, Agnès driven away from the GeGeGe Forest by his coldness and Mana viciously torn down in front of her dying mother because he suspected she committed murder on her own volition.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Rei Isurugi probably doesn't know what happened to the last guy who earned Kitaro's hatred.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Not easily, but when he flies into it, you're worse than dead unless someone snaps him out of it. Overlaps with Tranquil Fury; Kitaro's may be cold but it's cold enough to burn. Notable incidents include spaning a miles long crater with his chanchanko and making a hole with his fist in the pavement. Barenuckled. Hot damn, kiddo.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Gets called out by his father for his part in causing Nanashi's awakening. Specifically, he gave into anger after Mana supposedly killed Neko Musume for no reason, refusing to hear her side of the story, and driving her further into despair.
  • Wise Beyond His Years: In the 2018 anime, Medama Oyagi feels Kitaro was forced to grow up early because of his lack of strong parental figures.
  • Wonder Child: He came out of his mother the normal way... problem is, both mom and dad were dead, and six feet under by the time Kitaro clawed his way out of the womb and out of the ground.
  • Youkai: While Kitaro is an original creation, Shigeru Mizuki himself in his Shigeru Mizuki's Ghosts and Demons book likens the Tenji, a friendly yokai appearing as a tattered lonely kid and willing to help people, to Kitaro himself.
  • You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: In the 2018 anime. At least, he would not be very likable to the villains. Just ask Backbeard—oh wait.

    Medama Oyaji (Daddy Eyeball) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0e41cabf_740b_44b9_9b15_49b2ee447496.png
Voiced by: Isamu Tanonaka (1968-2008), Masako Nozawa (2018)

Kitaro's father. Previously a mummy-like creature in life, he was reincarnated as a youkai made from his own corpse's eyeball. He gets around by riding on Kitaro.


  • Action Dad: When he temporarily gets his old body back in the 2018 series, he's shown to be just as strong as his son.
  • Bandage Mummy: Before dying, he suffered a disease that caused his body to decompose. He had to be completely covered in bandages from head to foot like a mummy.
  • Body Horror: Shortly before Kitaro's birth, Medama Oyaji caught a deadly disease that caused his body to rot. By the time he died, his body had decomposed to the point there weren't any remains that could be buried.
  • Came Back Wrong: Medama-Oyaji died at the very beginning of the series, but when Kitaro emerged from his mother's grave (long story) concern for the newborn son (again, long story) resurrects him... however the only part of the body that hadn't decayed by that point was his left eye, which formed into the Medama-Oyaji that everyone is familiar with.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
    • That silly little eyeball? When he shows his true form, he's even stronger than Kitaro is and effortlessly wrecks the Monster of the Week.
    • Even in his diminutive form, Medama Oyaji is still able at the very least to use his enhanced Finger Gun.
  • Eccentric Mentor: He may be a senile, diminutive yokai enjoying long baths in a cup of tea, fooling around with a cellphone as soon as someone shows it to him, but he's really competent in anything related to the long history of yokai-dom, schooling his son in whatever he needs to get his job done.
  • Good Parents: He literally came Back from the Dead to look after his son. Even if he's nothing but an eyeball now, he does his best to raise Kitaro well.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: According to Sunakake Baba in the 2018 anime, Medama Oyaji was a quite handsome man before he was reduced to a living eyeball. When he uses Makuragaeshi's powers to get briefly back his past body, he becomes an older, prettier version of Kitaro with a deeper voice and an old fashioned, tattered kimono instead of the old fashioned, tattered gakuran Kitaro usually wears. The Birth of Kitaro movie further emphasizes this.
  • LEGO Genetics: Medama can climb into his son's empty eye socket and allow Kitaro to see through him if his right eye is unavailable for any reason.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!:
    • In episode 14 of the 2018 series, when he resumes his old form to protect Kitaro? You know the bad guy isn't gonna know what hit them.
    • Again, in episode 48, while still in his diminutive form he's able to fire a Finger Gun so powerful to knock off a giant enemy and blow Kitarō away to safety.
  • My Greatest Failure: In the 2018 anime, he still regrets dying and resurrecting in a diminutive body, as he feels that having Mizuki care for Kitaro in his place and reuniting with him as a small, petite yokai robbed his son of a normal childhood and Kitaro was forced to grow up faster because he was alone in the world with no mother and a diminutive yokai of a father.
  • Oculothorax: He's just an eyeball on a humanoid body. "The Birth of Kitaro" briefly showed him walking around on his optic nerves before his body became what it was.
  • Papa Wolf:
    • Once he gets a chance to briefly get his old body and powers back, Medama Oyaji makes the Monster of the Week regret messing with his son.
    • The 5th anime has him risking literal eternal hell to get the fire necessary to save Kitaro from Yuki Onna.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: The 2018 anime and Kitaro Birth make his non-necrotic body look almost exactly like a white-haired and older Kitaro, and with similar abilities.
  • The Patriarch: Despite his diminutive body, he's respected in all the GeGeGe Forest and beyond, and every good-natured yōkai will unflinchingly obey his orders or hear his wise words.
  • Unnamed Parent: He calls himself "Medama Oyaji" or "Daddy Eyeball". It's unknown which name he had before Kitaro was born.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He is afraid of fireworks in the 5th adaptation.

    Nezumi Otoko (Rat Man) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2a55fde9_4ee3_4490_8e5e_6f7e11354f55.png
Voiced by: Chikao Ohtsuka (1968-1971, Hakaba Kitaro), Kei Tomiyama (1985), Shigeru Chiba (1996), Wataru Takagi (2007), Toshio Furukawa (2018)

A filthy, money-grubbing rat youkai. He's Kitaro's oldest friend, for lack of a better term.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: The color of his cloak can vary. It's light brown/yellow in some versions, blue-gray in others.
  • Animal Jingoism: He and Neko Musume bicker as much as they work together.
  • Butt-Monkey: He's usually on the receiving end of any form of beating.
  • Con Man: In his "BiBiBi no Nezumi Otoko" persona, he engages in money scams with the help of other youkai.
  • Dirty Coward: Usually defects to whatever villain Kitaro's fighting at the time if they look like they're winning.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: He might still have been haughty, but his earliest appearances in the manga had him help Kitaro with no strings attached. Heck, even Kitaro would be on the lookout for cash more than he would in those days.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • One 2018 episode had him genuinely disturbed that some Japanese men would defile the graves of their ancestors who fought in the War. Not even he would be so disrespectful to the dead... although given that he's a yokai, that might just be because he knows they'd take it up with him personally.
    • In another episode he goes along with a scheme to turn people into diamonds until his accomplices start using refugees from war-torn countries for it. Greedy jerks were fine, but even he wouldn't do that to poor people trying to get a better life.
    • Towards the end of the Great Yōkai in the 2018 he's convinced by Carmilla to betray Agnès, getting her kicked out the GeGeGe Forest in exchange for her safety. When Carmilla fails to uphold her promise, he turns his potent gas against Backbeard's Army, allowing Kitaro to take the young witch back.
  • Fan Disservice: Any time he gets partially or completely undressed will be this without fail.
  • Fartillery: Nezumi Otoko uses this as a special ability.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: No one in the Kitaro Family likes him very much because of his personality, all the trouble he causes and his constant betrayals. They barely stand him because Kitaro still considers him his friend, somehow.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Of all people. He's the one to snap Kitaro of his depressed state and tell him that he's the one who can stop Nanashi; even Kitaro is surprised that Nezumi is the one to give him a lecture.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: We don't see his parents, but he's a half youkai according to Medama Oyaji. He states it himself in the 2018 anime.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a total Jerkass most of the time, but he can get a good moment here and there. At his best, he truly cares about Kitaro as a friend. He'll sometimes save Kitaro's life, even when it's not to his benefit, and he has a soft spot for pretty girls and will try to impress them any way he can.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Any evil action he commits will come back to bite him.
  • Leitmotif: A mischievous-sounding theme in the 2018 series.
  • Money Fetish: All he cares about is to look for ways to get more money out of others.
  • Opportunistic Bastard: Quick to jump sides and seize an opportunity whenever it presents itself.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: For someone who's greedy and a Dirty Coward, he gives Kitaro a beatdown and a lecture to pull him out of his Heroic BSoD and admits that he wants to commit a lot of stuff for his life.
  • The Pig-Pen: He's the filthiest character in the series underneath those robes. Most characters can't stand his stench, and apparently, his gas is so potent it could kill a human (monsters only pass out). Mixed with his unscrupulous persona, it goes right into Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness territory.
  • Rat Men: They don't call him "Rat Man" for nothing.
  • Stalker with a Crush: He acts as one for Mana for an episode in the 2018 series. He secretly follows her around and tries to do romantic gestures for her that only creep her out. He seems to quit it once he gets Mana isn't interested and Neko Musume will tear her friend's stalkers apart.
  • Token Evil Teammate: He's the only member of the Kitaro Family who doesn't give a damn about helping humans, only caring about getting money out of them. He also frequently sides with the bad guys to betray and/or sell out Kitaro and his companions. It's implied that the only reason they spend any time around him is to (a) keep his antics from getting too far out of hand and (b) have a useful advance warning of whatever yokai unpleasantness is happening this week (because he'll usually be right in the middle of it).
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kitaro. He and Kitaro usually butt heads on ideologies, but they're still mostly close friends and Kitaro always forgives him no matter how many times Nezumi Otoko turns against him.
  • You Dirty Rat!: He's got all the stereotypes down: grimy, stingy, will do anything for cash, traitorous, and rude.

    Neko Musume (Cat Chick) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c2ab13c2_a596_4836_ae28_e34eef30877c.png
Click here to see her 2007 self. 

Voiced by: Nana Yamaguchi (1968), Youko Kougushi (1971), Yuuko Mita (1985), Chinami Nishimura (1996,Daikaijuu, Obake Nighter, Youkai Toukyuu!), Hiromi Konno (2007), Yuko Minaguchi (Yo-Kai Watch), Umeka Shoji (2018)

One of Kitaro's allies, a Cat Girl who can grow razor-sharp teeth and claws (and is very good at using them).


  • Action Girl: While her powerset is less diverse than Kitaro's, she's an exceptionally formidable front-line fighter. If Neko Musume can't take down something in direct combat, then direct combat probably isn't an option.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Even more than Kitaro: while Neko Musume in the manga and the earliest anime is a chubby, gonkish girl with cat-slitted eyes and a big, fanged mouth, she got a couple of makeovers in the latest incarnations. 2007 Neko is a cute child, slightly shorter than Kitaro and quite fashionable, while 2018 Neko looks like a teenage girl with long legs under a Minidress of Power, Combat Stilettos, and attractive Tsurime Eyes.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair color went from dark brown in her earliest incarnations, to purple in the 90s, to red in the 2007 version, and then to dark purple in the 2018 series.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: Her 2018 incarnation is made into a classic Tsundere, something her previous portrayals didn't have.
  • Animal Eyes: Being what she is, her eyes resemble a cat's in most of her incarnations, with a wide almond shape and small pupils. When she gets especially wild, her sclerae turns yellow and her eyes look way more animalistic. Her 2018 incarnation trades it for Tsurime Eyes in her human form.
  • Animal Jingoism:
    • She'll react if Nezumi Otoko is near. The pair also have quite the rivalry.
    • She's also highly belligerent with Wolfgang the werewolf, calling him a stray dog and getting likened to a stray kitten by the wolfman.
  • Animal Talk: She can speak cat language.
  • Bakeneko and Nekomata: She's based on the Bakeneko, which often are animal spirits empowered by grudges and curses.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Played with in the 2018 series. She's always one of the most morally upstanding yokai, and usually one of the most conventionally attractive, although her terrifying Game Face (which affects her beauty but not her innate morality) prevents her from playing the trope completely straight.
  • The Berserker: Subverted. Her fighting style in the 2018 anime may look like mad feral rage, but she's always completely in control. She can use teamwork and traps perfectly well and can stop whenever she wants to.
  • Big Sister Instinct:
    • She acts as a protective older sister towards Mana whenever the latter is in trouble, and openly proud of her when she shows signs of being able to stand up for herself.
    • She may also have this for Hanako-san, seeing as she beat the crap out of a Stalker with a Crush for her in episode 10.
    • If the second ending is canon, she also ends up caring for Sunekosuri, a cat-like yokai unable to live in the human world without sapping human life force.
  • Blood Knight: In the 2018 anime, she actually revels in fighting, wearing a Slasher Smile every time she's in her bakeneko form.
  • Cat Girl: Downplayed. She doesn't have cat ears or a tail, yet her youkai powers give her feline capacities. However, her hair ribbon is always tied in a way to project cat ears on her shade, and her 2018 version is endowed with Cute Little Fangs, Tsurime Eyes, pointy, elfish ears and her long nails double as nearly indestructible retractable claws.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Mostly seen in versions where Kitaro has an interest in other girls, but subverted in the 2018 version. When she's introduced to Mana for the first time, she bristles at a potential rival for Kitaro's affections... only for Mana to immediately start fangirling all over her. They're best friends for the entire rest of the show.
  • Combat Stilettos: In the 2018 version, she's a tall girl in red high heels.
  • Cool Big Sis: In the 2018 anime, Mana looks up to her as a sister figure. Mana even insists to call her Big Sis Neko, causing her to blush. She also has a fondness for Yuta after his sincere compliments to how pretty she is.
    • In the Halloween episode, Neko-Musume expresses an utter loathing for Halloween because even japanese people celebrate only western yōkai and not japanese spirits as her: when Mana invites her for a pumpkin ice cream, she accepts and when she sees Mana dressed up as a Cat Girl version of herself, she accepts her praises and applauds her courage.
  • Creepy Good: In the 2018 version, she's one of the most straightforwardly heroic yokai in the show, and the closest friend of the human viewpoint character, but that doesn't stop her from also being one of the most sinister-looking once she deploys her Game Face.
  • Cute Little Fangs: As expected from a Cat Girl, she's always drawn with these when she isn't putting on a Slasher Smile.
  • Disney Death: She gets her body destroyed when Mana is manipulated by Nanashi. After Nanashi is defeated, Kitaro travels to the underworld and retrieves her, albeit she's now in a younger body.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The 2018 series gives her one to make clear she's a Tsundere this time. When Kitaro is injured in the very first episode, she's the last one to visit him, and the most concerned, almost crying. When she's told she was exaggerating the nature of his injuries and Kitaro was already healing, she gets a Luminescent Blush, berates him and goes away.
  • Forgiveness: Despite being scammed by Kawauso, a child otter-yōkai pestering her for food, upon realizing he's all alone in the world she forgives him and asks him to move in the GeGeGe Forest to find food, shelter and company.
  • Game Face: Outside combat, she looks like a fairly normal human, give or take a few unusual details like her golden eyes and pointed ears. In combat, she lets out her inner yokai - long and extremely sharp Wolverine Claws sprout from her fingertips, her eyes become huge, yellow, and slitted, and her mouth widens and grows More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
  • Go Out with a Smile: After getting unintentionally killed by Mana, Neko Musume gently smiles at Mana and assures it wasn't her fault.
  • Hidden Depths: In the 2007 adaption, she's shown to handle several part-time jobs really well. Her 2018 self is also quite good at farming.
  • Hopeless Suitor: While Kitaro does care about her as a friend, there isn't any sign that he can ever think of Neko Musume in a romantic way.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: She wasn't introduced to the series until chapter 33 of Hakaba, long after Kitaro's other stablemates made their debut. (For reference, most of them showed up 20 chapters before her in the "Great Monster Wars" arc, while Nezumi Otoko debuted in Night Tales.)
  • Kick Chick: 2018 Neko is way taller, has longer legs, and is wearing a minidress and high heels. This look shows off her combat style, which is based on strong kicks and scratches.
  • Letting Her Hair Down: One of the saddest example of the trope, as she loses her trademark ribbon when Mana exorcizes her, seemingly obliterating her body and soul altogether, and while disappearing she forgives her for her own death.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Neko Musume, when she gets excited, shows off her rows of sharp teeth. Her 2018 incarnation gets a Super Mode based on that.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Her 2018 self is a Sexy Cat Person in a Minidress of Power. Many characters comment on her beauty.
  • Mythology Gag: Her child form in the 2018 series is pretty much a combination of her appearances in 2007 and the 90s, and in general is closer to her usual physical appearances in previous media.
  • New Job as the Plot Demands:
    • She works a lot of part-time jobs in the 2007 adaptation, making her Kitaro's main source of info on yokai attacks in the human world.
    • Implied in the 2018, where she accepts a part-time job as the helper of an old farmer, as Kitaro and Medama Oyaji expressed the wish to eat some good homegrown vegetables.
  • Pointy Ears: Her ears are notably pointy, probably due to being a cat yokai.
  • Progressively Prettier: From her gonkish looks in the manga and initial few adaptations, to a cute little girl in 2007, and then to a long legged beauty as of 2018.
  • Proper Tights with a Skirt: In later episodes of the 2018 anime, Neko Musume starts covering her legs with dark tights, which make her look elegant when combined with her Minidress of Power.
  • Psycho for Hire: Her introduction in the manga has Kitaro recruit her to torture into submission the unruly Nezumi Otoko.
  • Puppy Love: Most incarnations give her a crush on Kitaro. Her more mature 2018 self gets instead a Tsundere nature.
  • Rebuilt Pedestal: Played for Laughs. In one episode, Mana finds Neko Musume wearing plain and baggy clothes when the latter in working at a farm. This briefly shatters Mana's fashionable and elegant image of Neko Musume. After Mana sees Neko Musume is still awesome, she understands Neko Musume is cool no matter what she wears.
  • Sexy Cat Person: While Manga Neko was a gonkish, chubby Creepy Cute child, 2007 Neko is a Kawaiiko, 2018 Neko has definitely every single trait of this trope and, according to Yuta, the local yokai lore and Mana's stories about her agree on her innate beauty.
  • Slasher Smile: 2018!Neko, when she's not in full Super Mode, is known to battle with a huge, satisfied grin while she's rending her enemies to shreds.
  • Sleep-Mode Size: After her Disney Death in the 2018 anime, Neko Musume's body is reduced to that of a very small child. She goes back to her regular size after recovering her yokai power.
  • Statuesque Stunner: In the 2018 anime, she towers over most of the cast and she's the most attractive female around by far.
  • Super Mode:
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: 2018!Neko has yellow eyes, making her stand out more as a youkai Cat Girl.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Given her 2018 incarnation is a Statuesque Stunner, the short Kitaro barely reaches her waist. When a yokai ghost girl shows her deepest dream, that's revealed to be marrying Kitaro, who's at her same height.
  • Tsundere: Her 2018 self is this, ramping up her mercurial, cat-like personality. She moves from aloof abrasive to warm affectionate in mere seconds, depending on who's addressing, and even the same person can buy her affection with a bit of kindness. This is played up in her interactions with Kitaro and Mana; it's obvious she likes them well enough, but blushes and denies it when asked. Lampshaded in the Eye Catch for episode 7, where an emoji-drawn Nezumi Otoko describes her as "the Tsundere character" and ends up tied and hanged.
  • Tsurime Eyes: Her 2018 incarnation has her eyes drawn like this. It's part of the changes to make her into a Tsundere.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: When Kitaro tries to send away Token Human Mana Inuyama fearing for her safety, she's the first of the Kitaro family to call him out and ask him to reconsider or at least explain himself properly to her.
  • Wolverine Claws: In battle, her nails transform into long, sharp claws.

    Konaki-Jijii (Old Man Crybaby) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7fce9c8e_55b3_4631_b0d2_fb9608ebc544.png
Voiced by: Ichirō Nagai (1968-1971), Koji Yada (1985), Kōzō Shioya (1996), Naoki Tatsuta (2007), Bin Shimada (2018)

An old yokai from the ancient lore, with the power of turning himself into a heavy statue of himself.


  • The Alcoholic: He's always seeing drinking sake, often bringing himself to a deep alcoholic stupor.
  • Flying Brick: Literally, using Ittan Momen as a living slingshot.
  • Kiai: Owing to the source materials, Konaki Jijii loudly wails a distorted version of a child's cry every time he activates his powers. He's not a stranger to badass oneliners too.
  • Manchild: He is called Old Man Crybaby for a reason.
  • Number Two: When he's not drunk, he's considered one of the strongest allies to Kitaro and allowed to lead the family in battle.
  • Taken for Granite:
    • His main power, turning himself into stone that's heavy and superdense to be used as a battering ram against enemies.
    • A secondary application of his powers has him turning the lower part of his limbs into superdense stone, thus retaining full mobility and stony fists and feet to hit his enemies
  • Youkai: According to the Japanese lore, Konaki-Jijii pretends to be a child, calling travelers by crying, and then turns increases his weight until he crushes him to death.

    Ittan Momen (Rollo Cloth) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/26905d08_35f5_4f59_8e76_5be407efd071.png
Voiced by: Kosei Tomita (1968), Keaton Yamada (1971), Joji Yanami (1985 / 2007), Naoki Tatsuta (1996), Kappei Yamaguchi (2018)

A yokai from ancient lore, a living roll of cotton cloth.


  • Beware the Nice Ones: He's harmless and even friendly, especially to pretty women. When pressured enough, he will choke his enemies to death. But only to deserving, blatantly evil foes.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Despite being a living cloth of cotton, he hits on every woman or girl he happens to see. He stops himself from doing remarks about how soft and pretty they look.
  • Magic Carpet: Ittan-Momen role is carrying around the rest of the Kitaro family, most often Neko Musume and Kitaro.
  • Pungeon Master: In the 2018 anime, he likes throwing around puns about his nature as a living cloth.
  • Youkai: In the Japanese lore, Ittan Momen is a possessed cloth that wraps itself around the faces of random people to choke them to death.

    Sunakake Baba (Sand Witch) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6d79e71a_63fa_4d75_b4a5_f70537499e0c.png
Voiced by: Yoko Ogushi (1968), Keiko Yamamoto (1971 / 1996-2007), Hiroko Emori (1985), Mayumi Tanaka (2018)

A yokai from ancient lore, a sand throwing spirit not unlike the german Sandman, bringing sleep to children.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Usually depicted with white or gray hair in most adaption, but has blue hair in the 4th anime.
  • Appeal to Tradition: She's a traditional old woman, clinging to her tradition and often claiming that they are the only good way to live for old people like her.
  • Children Are Innocent: She's wary of adult human beings, but she reveres and protects the innocence of children.
  • Cool Old Lady: She's, along with Konaki-Jijii, the eldest of the Kitaro family, but she's revered as a capable fighter and a kind soul by every good yokai.
  • Cranky Landlady: A downplayed example in the 5th anime. She doesn't hate her tenants, but she is mad she can't renovate the building because they don't pay her in time (Konaki-Jiji owes her 200 years of rent).
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The "Sand Drum" which sandblasts a large area with considerable impact, but puts enormous strain on her body. After she's used it once, attempting to do so again causes enough pain that she can't complete the necessary ritual.
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Has the power to control the sand she contains in a jar.
  • Elderly Immortal: She's an immortal yokai, also a gentle old woman.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: In most continuities, she's mistrustful about human adults. Still, she believes that children are naturally innocent and deserve to be protected and cared for.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: In the 4th anime continuity it's invoked in her backstory.
  • Secretly Wealthy: in the 2018 anime, we learn that Sunakake Baba has managed her assets well, and has plenty of money in the bank. She'd never mentioned it before because the episode this is revealed in is the first where extra money will actually solve the problem. Her funds are depleted, but she's philosophical about the loss.
  • Youkai: In the Japanese myth, Sunakake Baba is a wizened crone who throws sand in the eyes of children to make their eyelids feel heavy and make them feel the need to sleep.

    Nurikabe (Wally Wall) 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4e813580_e14d_47f5_85ac_ca7d0c624c02.png
Voiced by: Yonehiko Kitagawa, Kenji Utsumi, Kosei Tomita (1968), Keaton Yamada (1971), Yusaku Yara (1985), Naoki Tatsuta (1996-2007), Bin Shimada (2018)

An ancient Yokai of lore, Nurikabe is a living stone wall.


  • The Big Guy: The largest and physically strongest of Kitaro's close companions.
  • Happily Married: In the 2007 anime, he has a loving wife and kids.
  • Nurikabe: The Nurikabe of Japanese myth is meant to block travelers, preventing them from following their path and causing them to lose their bearings.
  • Pokémon Speak: Most adaptions have him only speak his name.
  • Sizeshifter: Nurikabe is able to change his size at will, becoming large enough to fight against Gasha-Dokuro and to cover a cracked dam.
  • Terse Talker: In the adaptions where he does speak more than his name.
  • Third-Person Person: Occasionally on some points.

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