Hakaba Kitarou (Noitamina - January, 2008)

[SeijiSensei]

Since there's no thread yet for this anime, the most recent in Fuji's Noitamina series, I'd thought I'd start it by shamelessly stealing NeoSam's original announcement in the "New Announced Series" thread:

Originally Posted by NeoSam

墓場鬼太郎（ハカバキタロウ）
Hakaba Kitarou

http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/hakaba/

Animation Studio as can be seen from the site is TOEI ANIMATION.

Another GeGeGe no Kitaro anime adaptation ???

From the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge_Ge_Ge_no_Kitaro

The Wikipedia article includes only a list of the voice actors for this version. There's also a stub at ANN.

As NeoSam observes, this is yet another GeGeGe no Kitaro adaptation. It seems a curious choice for Noitamina which has generally offered original shows aimed at older audiences like Mononoke, Hataraki Man, Honey and Clover, and Nodame Cantabile. Nevertheless, given the quality of the series in the Noitamina block so far, I'll be giving Hakaba Kitarou a shot.

The first episode airs in Japan on January 10, 2008; hey, that's tomorrow!

[arkon]

Presumably if someone subs it that is. Not many groups showed an interest in the recent Gegege No Kitaro anime so I don't expect things to be any different this time round.

[Westlo]

Since it's Noitamina I'll check it out if it get subbed...

[SeijiSensei]

Looking through the list of Noitamina shows on Wikipedia, I only see one that apparently has not been subbed -- Jyu Oh Sei. I can't find an entry for it here in the fansubbed/licensed/unaired forums, nor does it appear in the AS database as subbed or licensed. That's what led me to believe that someone will eventually choose to sub Hakaba Kitarou, though I can see reasons why that might not happen.

I'm still looking forward to seeing the rest of Moyashimon first anyway.

Edit: Well, I guess I just have to look harder. According to the Wiki entry for Jyu Oh Sei, it's licensed by Funimation. I still can't seem to unearth much discussion of it here on AS, though. It didn't seem to command its own discussion thread.

[gianna]

I think the thread might have been lost because of it's date

Incredible
First episode was beyond what I wanted to see
Catchy OP and nice bg music (rain scene so far)

I'm sure that her (unsurprisingly) doing the ED will draw a bit of attention

[Westlo]

I was going to watch this anyway since it's Noitamina but it's moved upto something I really want to see since it's also using the Mononoke animation technique which is just awesome.

[monir]

Just few seconds into the first episode and already in love with the show. Will write more...

edit 1: The opening theme is funky. Very misleading. Understanding will dawn while viewing if I'm not making much sense at the moment.

edit 2:

Very enjoyable first episode. I don't want to give away anything other than a short description of the opening sequence:

Spoiler for episode 1 specific:

Full moon. A grave yard. Something moves in the grave yard that disturbs the blades of grass. A house near the grave yard comes into the field of vision. Inside the house the clock hands show 2 am. A man is sleeping. Someone outside the door of that house says, "Gomen koudasai"... as in if anyone's in there. There is window in the left hand side from the door that looks outside. From that window a wave of flailing hair can be seen. The man wakes up and opens the door. There is no one there. Confused, he closes the door. There, on the corridor to his left, a basket/box is lying. He opens the basket/box. A pair of eyeballs are in there.

I know I'll be back for more next week.

[Siegel Clyne]

In the Kantou region of Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Saitama, Chiba, etc.), Episode 1 of Hakaba Kitarou reportedly drew an average television household audience rating of 4.8%.

[Lintendo]

This has my attention once I saw Noitamina's name. Hopefully fansubbers would pick this up.

[free_lancer]

I saw the screenshots for this and KNEW I had to watch it. Seeing as nobody's planning on subbing it from the sub wiki, I figured I might as well download the RAW.

This is pretty much my first experience with the series (I watched like... half an episode of the 2007 kids adaption) and my Japanese is pretty shakey, but I really enjoyed it. The whole "look" of the show is really amazing; just like watching a moving comic. Especially the crazy rainbow-colors on the backgrounds (the colorful skulls ) and that parchment effect over everything. The OP is so groovy that I've still got it playing on loop.

Since this is supposed to be only 11(?) episodes, I'm pretty sure I'm in for the whole thing. I just hope someone subs it eventually.

[wao]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Looking through the list of Noitamina shows on Wikipedia, I only see one that apparently has not been subbed -- Jyu Oh Sei. I can't find an entry for it here in the fansubbed/licensed/unaired forums, nor does it appear in the AS database as subbed or licensed. That's what led me to believe that someone will eventually choose to sub Hakaba Kitarou, though I can see reasons why that might not happen.

I'm still looking forward to seeing the rest of Moyashimon first anyway.

Edit: Well, I guess I just have to look harder. According to the Wiki entry for Jyu Oh Sei, it's licensed by Funimation. I still can't seem to unearth much discussion of it here on AS, though. It didn't seem to command its own discussion thread.

Oh, it most certainly had its own discussion thread - it's just a matter of annoying differences in romanization...
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=30059

I'm wondering whether I should watch this or not, but can't be bothered just yet... I'll wait and hear what more of you guys have to say about it. (meanwhile I'll be very slowly catching up on none other than Oh! Edo Rocket. Yeah, finally.)

[SeijiSensei]

I decided I had to watch the raw for this even though I have no Japanese language skills just to see what it looked like. While it's not as psychedelic as Toei's work on Mononoke, it has a similar feel, especially the parchment-like sequences. I just hope someone chooses to sub this rather than releasing yet another version of a show like Spice and Wolf which already has five subbing groups working on it.

I've never seen any of the other versions of this story, either. Looks like waiting for this one was the right decision.

@wao - Knowing your tastes, you might like this better than Rocket.

[SinsI]

An adult re-telling of Ge-Ge-Ge no Kitarou. Quite interesting, although I doubt anyone would sub it.
I wonder how they'll draw Neko Musume.

[Snoop']

Just watched ep.1. Wow. Awesome art, an ambiguous main character, nice music and voice acting, and surely dark stories... I'm sold.
Free screenshots for Kitarou goodness !


Wao, you should really really really watch this.


Aww, I hope some group (and possibly a good one) swiftly subs it so that more people get to know this series.

[wao]

Okay guys, I'm sold. I'm not such a big fan of traditional Japanese stories but I'm going to try watching it before Thursday. Tomorrow I must ban myself from getting stuck on the PC but when I come back I'm going to see what you guys like about it.

Those screenshots also might've helped (I just hope Toei doesn't drop the ball)

[White Manju Bun]

So I get this pm from monir saying Im this anime target audience...yep he was right! Im not too familiar with the manga though I did click the wiki article. First epi was great imho, the art is fab (def has that Mononoke flair to it, though it is different). I love the music in this, that got most of my attention. Im really hoping someone subs this cuz Id love to know what is going on. Thankfully I was able to pick up some of it. But Ill be back next week as well!

[The Chaos]

I Guess I Might Watch This Anime...It Look Interesting..

[Kirarakim]

I definitely want to see this. In fact it is the only series from the winter I am remotely interested in. I hope to see it subbed soon.

[Cyprene]

The OP is just a pain to sub, with all the signs.

[solomon]

I bet it is, but if you are subbing it please do. I love work that always goes the extra mile.