Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: GeGeGe no Kitarō
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Gurren Rodan
 Posts: 263 |
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WOW, episode 83 was heavy. I'd like to see a more clear resolution, but maybe the point of the tale is that there AREN'T clear solutions to some problems. This was a tragic situation all around, but how could one possibly solve it to satisfy everyone?
Hopefully Takumi gets a chance to redeem himself in a future episode. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2617 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I've been thinking about this a lot. My best guess, from a children's literature/media standpoint, is that sometimes you try your hardest and do everything right and things just aren't going to work out. It's a lesson we see a lot more in media for middle grade and young adult audiences than the Kitaro age group (Courtney Summers' YA novel Sadie is a pretty good example), but this show has traded a lot in themes most western works would hold off on. Side note, I always interpreted "Urashima Taro" to be about the perils of curiosity - he's told explicitly not to open the box and is punished when he does. That's a pretty common moral for "stolen away for longer than you'd expect"-themed folktales around the world. (With bonus Pandora!) |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11415 |
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Well, I do see that theme in UT, but when I think about it more deeply, it doesn't work so simply. He'd already lost everything and everyone he knew by the time he returned, so opening the box only cost him a life he'd essentially already spent. It didn't seem like he'd have been happier not opening it, and he only opened it because he was lonely and miserable and what else did he have to do? Death almost seemed like a reward at that point.
And he got to that point because he was kind enough to intervene for the sake of the turtle, and then chose not to stay with the princess - a choice made without knowing about the passage of time there. So he could have had a happier ending, but he didn't realize it. To me, choosing to go back to the modest life he'd known rather than continue to live it up in luxury seemed like an honorable thing to do. And he got shit for it. When I first read it, I asked a Japanese coworker what the point of the story was, and while of course he knew the story, he was as clueless as I was about what it was supposed to mean. 
As to the Kitaro story, there's "not working out" and then there's "everybody dies and/or loses their homes through no fault of their own." 
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Japanese people lost their homes to fire repeatedly throughout history, and not just in the horrific conflagration that followed the Great Kantou Earthquake in 1923. Given the reliance on wood and paper in Japanese housing construction, fire was a persistent threat. There's a fire in the movie Miss Hokusai, for instance. In another Edo-period series, Tsukumogami Kashimasu, the main characters run a shop where people, even the nobility, choose to rent rather than own decorative items and furnishings because they don't want to lose such objects in fires. Japanese housing depreciates rapidly by international standards, with most homes becoming worthless after thirty years or so. Flimsy construction during the postwar boom and the threat of earthquakes are usually cited as the reason for this phenomenon, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that fear of fires persists in the Japanese collective consciousness. Just this year we have a series, Fire Force, and a movie, Promare, that focus on fire fighting.
I'm always struck by the seriousness of the stories in Kitarou. Just a few episodes ago we had a mother contemplating suicide who later goes on a rampage of revenge in league with a yokai. Even her own family are not immune from her rage. Not the sort of story one imagines seeing on American television at 9 am on Sunday mornings. And, of course, we have episode twenty which excoriates the Japanese educational system for its whitewashing of that country's role in World War II. I rarely see such pointed criticism of Japanese institutions even in anime aimed at adults. Toei, for its credit, has decided to stick with Mizuki Shigeru's own anti-capitalist, pro-environmental, and anti-war feelings. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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I am repeating myself (from another forum posting), but I think this episode 83 was hijacked just the same the episode where we had Wally Wall stalking Mana at the end, diluting any worthwhile message. Here the message is clear "share photos/videos in social media about cool/nice places and you might end in a world of suffering". But the real culprit was the nameless old man with gray hair that ordered the tree to be cut down! This problem predates social media, many anime have overnight transformed otherwise normal places into tourist spots, causing discomfort for the locals. I would understand a message of "don't liter", "respect the visiting schedules", "respect the locals privacy", "vandalizing is not cool"; but I do not think anyone will stop sharing photos on social networks after watching this episode and people will continue visiting cool places they saw over the internet.
I think the problem was that not so long ago there was a big fire (maybe the Great fire of Meireki) and many people had lost such items and renting become an option.
I just watched a video about such a house, it was worthless in the sense they bought it for cheap and eight months after they still aren't living in it (due to the sheer amount of junk accumulated in the 30 years a family lived there). But the construction is quite sturdy even after three years after the owner passed away leaving it abandoned. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBQ3TEq5SrUuTJuMl1S_4ig/videos |
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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I agree that this episode ends on a bad note, but I also think this episode deliberately presents what is supposed to be a complicated scenario. Takumi may have triggered events with his photo, but he obviously meant no harm and couldn't have foreseen what would follow. The old man might have been the one to cut down the tree, but he did it to protect the town from the increasing toxicity of the tourism. We also have the Hoko themselves, who, in their blinding rage, ironically end up harming the innocent people the old man was trying to protect. All of this ultimately stems from the lack of respect and care displayed by the tourists - a force outside of any one of our main characters this episode to control. I appreciate the episode for presenting a seemingly no-win scenario, as that's the sort of thing which can happen in real life; but leaving the weight of the aftermath on Takumi's shoulders, with no promise of a continuation, does a definite disservice to the story and feels contrary to the themes of the series. Revisiting Takumi to see how he deals with this burden could instantly resolve this (maybe he retires? Maybe he donates funds to rebuild the town and plant a new tree?), but as it is, it seems a little cruel, rather than educational. |
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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Well, episode 84 was another surprise: what looked like another joke episode evolved into an unflinching commentary on Japan's treatment on foreigners. I think this was one of the most on-the-nose episodes yet!
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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Anyone interested in the issues raised by this episode should read this piece on the exploitation of foreign workers through Japan's official internship program: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/29/national/probe-reveals-759-cases-suspected-abuse-foreign-trainees-japan-171-deaths/ The writers at Toei have used the conflicts and relationships between humans and yokai to discuss Japanese xenophobia throughout the series. But in this episode they decided not to beat around the bush any longer. Episode 84 has the most biting criticism of Japanese institutions and practices since episode 20, where Mana learns that Japan was an instigator of World War II and not just a victim of the Americans. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11415 |
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86
Well, that was an unexpected Christmas episode. That "internal electricity" thing came out of nowhere - has he used that before? Episode was ok, I guess. I sooo wanted to see Daddy Eyeball in a Santa suit though. 
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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I forget when he first used it, but Kitaro's internal electricity has been an established trick for a while now.
On the other hand, I don't recall hearing Kitaro laugh before; but he definitely sounded amused by the idea of Daddy eyeball wearing a Santa costume. 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11415 |
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87
That was a pretty typical zashiki-warashi story, but it was interesting to pair it up with a binbougami. Aya's parents were the worst though, even without the youkai involved. 88 How does Rollo Cloth get money? oO I liked how he rolls up his |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11415 |
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89
That was kinda dark. The mayor or PM or whatever she is probably has some youkai-killed-my-dog backstory for her obsession. 90 Followed by one of the weirder, lighter episodes. I guess Kitaro has a secret desire to sing. "What's the G stand for?!"
91 And from light and weird to tragic. Decent mystery. What can Kitaro even do against ghosts? At least it had a happy ending. I wonder about the other women. They had apparently been missing for 8-16 years or more, assuming one every 4 years. I didn't quite get why the ghost bro was checking each one though. Wouldn't he have done it when they were first picked up? And why keep them once he knew they weren't the soul he was looking for? I could see him collecting a bunch of women every 4 years and then letting them go, but since Sorika had been missing for 4 years, that obviously wasn't his m.o. |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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Oh, no, she has much deeper reasons to hate yokai. She has been PM throughout the series and capitulated to the demands of the tanuki after they attacked Tokyo in the first season. At the time she complains that her job approval will take a big hit and fears for her future as a politician. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11415 |
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92
This series really doesn't like social media and reality tv crap, does it.  I have a feeling that irl, if the creator got a conscience, he still wouldn't be able to stop it, as long as it was getting great ratings. They'd just hand it over to someone else.
93 Well, that was sad. I'm a little surprised they still aired it, given the parallels to a world-wide pandemic. Also, they have a funny definition of "once." I suppose they meant one timeline, though even then, being able to choose different starting points for the rewind sort of moots the restriction of "once."
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2617 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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I'm surprised too, but this show has never really pulled its punches, so maybe they decided to leave it because of the pandemic. If nothing else it makes a decent jumping off point for discussing it with kids. The real tragedy, though, is that we never got to see Daddy Eyeball as a vampire. Where would the fangs go? |
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