Gegege no Kitaro 2018

In April, The New '10s will finally get its version of Shigeru Mizuki's Gegege No Kitaro. The series is set to premiere April 1st. We have received the characters' redesigned artwork, which can be seen here, as well as this teaser:

I think it looks really good so far. The animation is very beautiful to look at and it seems to retain the tonal spookiness of the series when the 2007 series didn't. I'm not fond of the redesign of Neko Musume and how this Mana Inuyama character looks, but as long as the stories and tone are fitting, I don't mind. I do miss the little, squat Neko Musume though.

Anyone else excited?

edited 22nd Jan '18 7:22:41 AM by arimothereindeer

Perhaps this will be the one to make it to the USA?

I assume they'll be retaining the famous theme song.

Yeah, I saw screenshots of the 2007 version and it did look kind of bland. This new one does seem to have a better art style.

First episode PV

See all those dislikes in both videos? Most of them are fans from the more rabid parts of the Dragon Ball fandom who are angry that Super is ending and are blaming Kitaro for it simply because it is the anime that is replacing it. They have also infected the comment sections of videos that show older Kitaro anime with "This crap is replacing Super?" messages. I find this more annoying than anything else. Hopefully it'll die down after the first episode airs.

Speaking of which, have anime licensing companies been known to pick up a series less than a week before it airs for simulcast? I only ask because that is how much time is left before Kitaro makes its debut this decade.

edited 25th Mar '18 10:20:01 AM by DS9guy

Fuck them. Really.

But honestly, I'd love this series to be the first Kitaro show that gets to come to the US. Things have changed since the last Kitaro series - the whole manga is getting translated, and a lot of Mizuki's other work has been translated as well. We're more aware of this than we were then.

edited 25th Mar '18 11:10:00 AM by Aldo930

Do Japanese fans mind Kitaro replacing DB or is it just international ones?

Anyway, I hope this gets dubbed. This series is so good (and historical). It deserves more recognition outside of Japan.

edited 1st Apr '18 10:39:11 AM by Pichu-kun

Crunchyroll added it! ...just after it finished airing it's first episode.

I saw the first episode. It was enjoyable.

edited 31st Mar '18 9:59:57 PM by DS9guy

International ones, it seems. Japanese audiences are familiar enough with Kitaro that they see no reason to fuss and whine about it.

Never thought I'd see the day one of the Kitaro animes made it to America - but here we are. The day has come.

edited 1st Apr '18 5:19:19 AM by Aldo930

Well, I really enjoyed the first episode! The idea of "humans can only see yokai if they believe hard enough" could be a great base for a conflict in a potential episode about Salaryman Yamada-san. It could be about how Yamada believes in the yokai and sees them, but is afraid. That would be interesting to deal with.

I'm nervous to see how Neko is portrayed, because they seem to make her taller and thinner with each adaptation, but this Neko seems to be more tough, unlike her '07 version. I'm excited to see Nezumi Otoko, as he's my favorite main character. I wonder if my absolute favorite character, Nisekitaro, will be in this one...

It's been a week, so we can discuss Episode 1 in more detail, I think.

I suspect the obnoxious rule-breaking Me Tuber will be a recurring problem for our heroes.

Nice sleight of hand making it look initially as though the transformation spread through smartphones.

That one kid's granny remembered Kitaro—I wonder if she's one of the children who appeared in the 1960s series?

If Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside - The Return of the Oni King is ever dubbed, this will be the first time the Kitaro characters have appeared in English.

Episode 2 (last week's):

Nezumi-Otoko continues to be more trouble to Kitaro than he will ever be worth as a friend. He's never going to learn.

Yep, Mana's thing is that she's a coincidence magnet.

And Neko-Musume is a tsundere this time.

And also, so terrible a gag for the idol group's names.

How is intense does this show get with its horror? I've heard that its meant to be horror but I'm getting mixed messages from the screenshots I'm seeing.

Not hugely intense—this is a children's show, after all. The most genuinely terrifying moment so far was the cliffhanger at the end of episode 1; if you have a small child who's watching the show with you, make sure to have episode 2 cued up immediately to reassure them.

As is the case with most of the adaptations of Kitaro, the yokai powers have No Ontological Inertia and can be dispelled by defeating the head monster. Actual Final Death will be exceedingly rare.

1. 4 is a breather episode, as Mana's little boy neighbor Yuta manages to slip into the hidden Gegege Forest. Scenery porn!

eta: And a possible plot point; it's been many years since the last human visit, who is now a named character.

edited 29th Apr '18 7:22:05 AM by SKJAM

Episode 5: Yeah Ratman is more trouble than he's worth, but he's also the best character. We have our first death. And is the secret about yokai existing just out now?

No Mana in Episode 5. Presumably the mobster has had dealings with Nezumi-Otoko long enough that he already believes in yokai and could see them no problem. It remains to be seen if this incident will cause people to start believing in yokai, be seen as an isolated monster incident, or hushed up somehow.

ETA: I wonder if that car at the end will be relevant; it's way too distinctive for a generic bad luck moment.

edited 6th May '18 9:07:04 AM by SKJAM

New episode...god, rights in the feels.

Ooh, that might have been too on point to watch on Mother's Day.

This week's episode (next week's for me) is a ghost train! I love spooky train stories.

Yep, nice and spooky, with the anvil dropped at the end.

I appreciate that they took three episodes off without Mana, so I didn't get too tired of her. But now, back to probably the main arc,

Old Man Mirror is a voyeur and apparently likes underage girls...

The Kappa were definitely an unorthodox choice for an episode on overworking but the exploitation angle definitely makes a lot of sense, good episode overall, the dad really didn't learn his lesson huh

Liked the bit about the obsolete youkai getting his moment to shine.

And this week, the classic "seven mysteries" setup!

Despite the latest episode's lesson, it feels defeated by the fact they just left Wally Wall at the school to crush on Mana with absolutely no thought put whatsoever into the implications of this decision.

Yeah, I suspected they just wanted a gag of a huge wall somehow hanging on the ceiling like a ninja and didn't think through the implications.