(CR) New Gegege no Kitarou

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Again, I just don't get the point of the whole thing. Slavish devotion to tradition is not a message this series normally peddles.

It could be argued that Kitaro has always being a defender of the status quo:

- A wandering soul that belongs in hell is loose, Kitaro will send it where it belongs.
- A youkai is altering the peace and quiet, Kitaro will try to convince him to do otherwise, or else.
- A human steals the joke of a youkai to get his 5 minutes of fame, kitaro will talk to him and if he does not changes his ways he can rightfully become yokai fodder.

So Taitanbou might be evil or petty or inscrutable, but he IS the status quo, probably even before Kitaro was born, so it does not betrays his character to try to convince the boy to continue the family tradition.

I even think the only reason Nezumi Otoko has not become an adversary is because all of his schemes fall apart by themselves or with a small push from Kitaro. Nezumi Otoko is unable to change anything for long.

[bakato]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Taitanbou is an old-time GGGnK antagonist from the original manga. Mizuki makes it clear he's a God and indeed, that's how Shinto works. Even if he's taken up residence in a boulder, the boulder is just where he has his mail delivered.

Again, I just don't get the point of the whole thing. Slavish devotion to tradition is not a message this series normally peddles.

There's nothing slavish about this. The duties of bloodline must be upheld out of necessity.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Taitanbou is an old-time GGGnK antagonist from the original manga. Mizuki makes it clear he's a God and indeed, that's how Shinto works. Even if he's taken up residence in a boulder, the boulder is just where he has his mail delivered.

Again, I just don't get the point of the whole thing. Slavish devotion to tradition is not a message this series normally peddles.

Yeah, the message in this weeks episode rubbed me the wrong way. I think this is the first time where the message actually pissed me off.

[SeijiSensei]

With the exception of the preceding episode with Rei, the last few weeks have felt distinctly different from the earlier episodes. Kitarou has been relegated to almost a side character with the humans placed in the forefront. I miss the other characters as well. Sand-Witch had a half-minute walk-on in this episode, but in general we've seen little of the rest of Kitarou's crew lately. Not knowing much about the manga, I've wondered if Toei has been devoting themselves to presenting some of Mizuki's original stories, or whether they have a new crew of writers.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

Yeah, the message in this weeks episode rubbed me the wrong way. I think this is the first time where the message actually pissed me off.

It's not for me. There were a couple of eps in the Western Youkai arc where things got very nationalist and xenophobic. That was even more surprising, because it seems totally in conflict with the series' usual perspective (before and since).

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

It's not for me. There were a couple of eps in the Western Youkai arc where things got very nationalist and xenophobic. That was even more surprising, because it seems totally in conflict with the series' usual perspective (before and since).

Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about those episodes. I don't remember those moments pissing me off so much as making me sign, and roll my eyes. But, yeah not great.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

With the exception of the preceding episode with Rei, the last few weeks have felt distinctly different from the earlier episodes. Kitarou has been relegated to almost a side character with the humans placed in the forefront. I miss the other characters as well. Sand-Witch had a half-minute walk-on in this episode, but in general we've seen little of the rest of Kitarou's crew lately. Not knowing much about the manga, I've wondered if Toei has been devoting themselves to presenting some of Mizuki's original stories, or whether they have a new crew of writers.

I dunno if I have already said this, but here I go. To me it does not feel like a strech to say Kitaro has been a victim of success. I think the original plan was to have one year of Kitaro and this year (2019) have Dragon Ball Super re-runs to broadcast new episodes of Super next year (2020). But you can't argue with success, this series has been steadily in the top 10 (something other series of Toei couldn't muster *cough*Sailor Moon Crystal*cough*). IMO the writers were taken by surprise and asked to write another year worth of episodes out of the blue. So unlike the first year where the tone was constant and there was a feeling of the plot slowly but steadily going forward, we have a plot (the generals of hell) that has little to no connection to the rest of the episodes (I would dare to say they could be easily rearranged in another order and there would be no way of noticing plot wise). I haven't checked in the latest episodes, but if they still have a 2018 copyright, chances are they were done in a hurry because no doubt atm they are doing the new episodes for DBS next year (that also proved to be a financial success, so they have a reason to give it a bigger budget and more time to produce each episode).

So yeah, I agree the quality overall of the plot is lower than in the nanashi arc, but at least it has a never gotten below a certain level and with trainwrecks this season like Cop Craft and Arifureta, I am glad this is still enjoyable (for me there are two kind of animes, the must watch now and Kitaro is still in that list and those I can watch later, no need to rush).

[Guardian Enzo]

I actually think a bunch of the recent eps have been really good. And the Western Youkai arc was similarly spotty to the Four Generals in weaving in and out of the narrative.

[SeijiSensei]

Umbrellas again! The current OP for Fruits Basket is also full of umbrellas. This week's episode had a good moral though, about life in a society full of disposable items.

I never carried an umbrella in school (we drove since it was 20 miles away) and finally only bought one when I had to traverse longish distances on my college campus.

After watching this episode, I went back and watched episode two of Samurai Flamenco, another story about umbrella thieves. Boy, the girls in that show are cute, with a great trio of actresses, Tomatsu, MAO, and Yamazaki Erii. They can sing, too.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/SuGPPuW38R0

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[BBOvenGuy]

Oh my goodness, that was phenomenal.

Once I realized how much I liked GeGeGe no Kitaro, I went back and checked out the previous versions, and I've noted before how different the various Neko-musume incarnations are, so much so that I compare them to the Doctor's regenerations on Doctor Who. It turns out that how much I like them is inversely proportional to how hung up they are on Kitaro. So Neko #4 (1996), who rarely sees him as anything more than a friend, is my favorite. Neko #3 (1985), who is the most into him, is my least favorite. Neko #5 (2007) is strong and capable, but is also basically Kitaro's waifu, so she gets a mixed reaction from me.

Neko #6 is also strong and capable, and while she's hung up on Kitaro too, there's always been something different about it. This week, we got a full treatment of what that difference is. Neko #3 and Neko #5 might very well have taken up Iyami on his offer, at least temporarily. Neko #6 doesn't. I've always liked her, but this episode elevated her game to new heights.

And the punch line of the story is that Kitaro does love her. He went and got her out of Hell, and put his own soul on the line to do it. It's just that the traditional trappings of romance aren't his style. Sooner or later, Neko is going to find out what he did. That will be a very interesting day.

And meanwhile... WAY TO GO, MANA! Have you ever seen the Doctor Who episode where they meet Shakespeare? Shakespeare says something flirtatious to him, and he mutters "57 academics just punched the air." Well, when Mana came after Neko, about a million Kitaro fans around the world punched the air.

[Guardian Enzo]

That whole episode may as well have been called "To Comiket With Love".

[AntonKutovoi]

Wait. Is that Luffy's strawhat next to Sunakake-Baba (who is also voiced by Mayumi Tanaka)

[SeijiSensei]

I noticed that lately we haven't seen much of that boy who looked like he'd be Mana's love interest at the outset. Now we know why

Neko's feelings for Kitarou have always been a bit under the surface, but even before Iyami appeared we see her trying to come up with excuses to justify bringing him dinner. The cat's out of the bag, if you will.

[Faux Mecha]

episode 72 is holy doujinshi material madness!

[serenade_beta]

From what I hear, the Yamato Orochi episode is based off a non-Kitarou short-story? Which would explain the pointlessness of Kitarou in this week's episode.

[BBOvenGuy]

Well, that certainly cranked things up to eleven.

Spoiler for Episode 74:

So, Kitaro's secret is out. The reaction was more muted than I thought it would be, but then again they're in the middle of some pretty heavy stuff. Pretty sure they'll get around to hashing through it once the situation calms down.

I couldn't help noticing they've decided to come right out and say that Mana killed Neko-neesan. The time for euphemisms is past.

Interesting that Neko-neesan's power has been unstable. That might explain why she's gotten kicked around a few times in recent episodes.

Great to see that Mana's getting involved as a full-fledged member of the Kitaro team.

Isurugi turned out to be pretty useless in this battle. Is he going to blow himself up, or will Kitaro save him?

And will next week really be the end of the arc? Where will they take things next? And if Kitaro rescues Enma-daiou, is that as good as fulfilling the deal?

[AntonKutovoi]

So, not only Isurugi became even a bigger scumbag than before, it was all pointless and he quickly got his ass kicked. Good job, Rei, you sure showed Tamamo, who's the boss *claps hands*

[SeijiSensei]

Veteran Atsuko Tanaka gets a star turn as Tamamo-no-Mae. Think the first time I heard her was as Yuu's controlling mother in Noein.

Quite a succession of events. Looks like the kitsune has been busy seducing powerful men across the world, not to mention "eating" Enma-Daioh. Wonder if we're supposed to guess what real-world nation is Principality A. Whatever it is, it has a decent-sized fleet.

[Guardian Enzo]

That scene where Mana tries to convince Kitarou to accept her into the group was so great. Fujii Yukiyo continues to do a great job as Mana.

[mangamuscle]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Wonder if we're supposed to guess what real-world nation is Principality A. Whatever it is, it has a decent-sized fleet.

Well, russiA comes to mind. Not only they have a big fleet, but they have not signed peace with japan since WWII, so rather than escalation it would be the continuation of a paused conflict. To add insult to injury, atm both koreas and china would no doubt cheer russiA from the sidelines and agent orange would no doubt say "not my problem" like he did on this episode. So even if australia (the guy with the giant fish tank on his office) sent naval vessels, they are too far and comparatively too puny. In simple terms, japan is sooo toast in this scenario.

I do hope next episode shows at the very least a one time Neko-musume power-up after spending so many time recharging her youkai batteries. Do wonder if Tamamo no mae is going to fall to the mana-gun.

So Tamamo no mae has taken a note from many mexican drug lords in prision and has decided to rule hell.