Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: GeGeGe no Kitarō
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Gurren Rodan
 Posts: 263 |
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Last week's episode was kind of imbalanced, I guess, but I still found it interesting. On one hand, Hihi was obviously abusive, and was rightfully called out for it; on the other hand, it's kind kind of tragic to see the generational disconnect present there. On top of that, we have the media reaction, which goes from validly based to comically overblown in a manner I could totally see happening in real life. I agree that the episode would have benefited from a moment when Hihi was able to properly understand his mistakes, and then redeem himself (maybe one of his old students reconnected?) That's water under the bridge now, though.
It was nice to see the otter yokai again. And leave it to Rat Man to stoke the media's fire, the scoundrel. Speaking of Rat Man, I did enjoy this week's episode a fair bit. Elite Vampire's kinship with Rat Man was an interesting angle to approach, even briefly; sometimes I want to strangle Rat Man, sometimes I want to root for him. I really liked seeing past events like the Backbeard arc getting referenced. Those little tidbits of continuity make the show as a whole feel even meatier, and judging by the next episode preview (yet another western yokai vampire, and spoiler[were those Agnes's eyes I spied?!]), I'm guessing this is the start of a buildup to something important. Does anyone think Kitaro's comment about not tolerating humans or yokai eliminating the other will come back in some way? We've certainly seen this conflict show up before. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Yes, it's pretty clearly Agnes. I, for one, am happy to see her back again. I liked how her relationship with Mana developed during the Backbeard arc. I'm sure she'll be happy to see her friend again.
Nezumi-otoko's relationship with Johnny ("Elite" in this version) is even darker in the Hakaba Kitarou version of this story (episode nine). Nezumi-otoko is perhaps the most complex character in this story. He bounces back and forth between being an antagonist and being an ally. |
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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Honestly, it's impressive how much garbage Kitaro puts up with from Rat Man, even acknowledging that Rat Man was his first friend. Rat Man has deliberately gotten Kitaro almost killed several times, and has threatened Mana and the other yokai friends before too. I wonder just what it would take for Kitaro to say "enough".
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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Well, shoot, I was wondering if Rei might show up again, but I wasn't expecting to learn that Backbeard himself was returning!! Obviously this new sub-arc will continue for a while, so I look forward to seeing more of Agnes, and seeing how much this may tie in to the four generals arc.
Kitaro got pretty badly beaten by La Seine at the start there, but watching his chanchanko harass the vampire was hilarious. Kitaro tricking La Seine was also a fitting turnaround from last episode, where Kitaro fell into Elite's trap in the same manner. Rei's accusation of Kitaro being soft was interesting. Kitaro isn't one to pull punches usually, but I wonder if he really is finding himself hesitating more in battle. I can't really say Rei was wrong in eliminating La Seine, and his intolerance of yokai harming humans almost - almost - mirrors some of Kitaro's sentiments. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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But Kitaro isn't as biased to let yokai (or humans) go free no matter what they've done...Rei's attitude of not harming humans regardless of their guilt (but then handing them over to Kitaro anyhow...), shows that he's only driven by revenge/hatred and while Kitaro has come close to that, he's always come around in the end (thanks to the yokai/humans who care about him). Anyway, good episode and it was nice to see Agnes again! |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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Too bad they never let her out of that sand cage.
I'm a little worried that the writers are having a hard time coming up with new material. I didn't find the Backbeard arc all that compelling the first time around. I'd be happy seeing some one-offs where we encounter other famous Japanese yokai. To me, Kitarou has become much more conflicted about his role as the show has worn on. He obviously doesn't like killing his fellow yokai despite their actions, and his underlying distaste for most humans is coming more and more to the fore. (HIs feelings about human are made especially clear in the Hakaba Kitarou adaptation.) I believe his dedication to humans comes from having being rescued by a human man at birth, and essentially adopted along with Medama-Oyaji, though this rendition of the story doesn't really explain this. (Again, Hakaba Kitarou depicts Kitarou's origin story where these events take place.) |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11339 |
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It kinda felt like Kitaro's writers used Rei to let him off the hook. Mammoth said right in front of him that they could go someplace else to get blood, which means more humans dying and Backbeard coming back, neither of which Kitaro ought to countenance. But he sure seemed like he was going to let them go, and argued that Rei didn't need to kill La Seine. So what alternative did he have in mind?
Chanchanko is best chanchanko.  But what a violent scene they made of crucifying a piece of cloth... 
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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It did seem odd that Kitaro hesitated, when he was ready to kill La Seine just a moment before. Either it was weak writing, or Kitaro really is having more inner turmoil than we realize. The fact that Rei - a human - ultimately took out La Seine probably made Kitaro feel even worse.
I hope we get to see Kitaro's backstory and "debt" explained eventually; even if other versions have covered that part of history, this series references it enough that I feel there is merit in showing its own version, especially if there are unique details that could play in to current plot events. I'm also still hoping to see Mana get actively involved as a "fighter". Despite being told twice to just go home, Mana was the one who ended up digging up the cube to save Kitaro. So much of the conflict in this show revolves around killing yokai to save humans; if we saw Mana, a human, fighting for a yokai's sake, that would be a pretty big deal, for Kitaro personally and for the main theme of the show, I think. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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I all comes down to (good) writing. Originally I had my reservations about Mana because at first she was portrayed as a Mary Sue who had no obvious reason to belong with the oddball gang beyond being a self insert character. But surprise, when we saw the end of the nanashi arc, I feel Mana does belong because it was carefully written. Now, for starters, Mana killed Neko Musume when she did not knew she had a gun. Now she knows, but that does not mean she knows how to use it, also, "friendly fire" is a real life term. Kitaro on the other hand has had years to polish his skill and it shows, we have saw him fire in mid air while being upside down and it does not feel awkward and never has been trigger happy, he fires only when he dims it the correct time. I do not see Mana growing from a happy go lucky teenager to a hardened kid soldier, IMO that would require a time skip, but let's see where this arc will bring, at least next episode seems to be on the funny side going by the preview, so plot progression might be put on hold. |
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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Yeah, I don't mean to imply that I want to see Mana start doing awesome Kitaro-style acrobstics, because that would be too much of a jump. Personally, if it's revealed Mana does still have those powers, I'd be down for a few episodes of Mana training with someone to better understand her abilities (maybe the Tengu would know something about that? I dunno...). Even after that, I see Mana being more of a "magic-caster" type than a full-blown warrior like Kitaro or Catgirl.
However it might, or might not, work out, I just want to see the possibility acknowledged because I think it would make prime story material for the show and the characters. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11339 |
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60
I didn't understand the setup for this one. Mana apologized for "dragging along" Yuuta on the camping trip, but why were Hiroto and Souma there, acting like family with her father? Where was Yuuta supposed to be if Mana's mother hadn't cancelled? I know I've just forgotten all the relationships over 60 episodes. The release of BuruBuru was kind of lame too. Why would he grab a scroll off a high shelf that obviously wasn't firewood and act like it was just firewood? Who would do that? And Hiroto burning it was just as weird, since these kids aren't depicted as being deliberately destructive, just overdoing the teasing. It would be like tossing the book he was reading into the fire. And what the heck did Rat Man think he was going to get out of freeing her? I will say one thing for this episode: Kitaro absolutely needs to wear his cool youkai shades more often. 
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Gurren Rodan
Posts: 263 |
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Okay, first thing, mad props to Mana for jumping headfirst into the cactus' maw last episode to save Kitaro. Ep. 59 was solid overall, but I think Mana stole the show in that moment.
The setup for ep. 60 was a bit odd, but those two boys have been established as idiots before (Rat Man, on the other hand, had no excuse whatsoever). I assume Hiroto and Souma were invited in the first place, and they or Mana's dad reached out to Yuuta. ...But let's not get distracted from the lovely atmosphere and production values we had this episode! I think they definitely ramped things up briefly there. |
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Merida
Posts: 1945 |
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Ep. 62
It finally shed some more light on Kitaro's complicated relationship with Rat Man. I liked Kitaro telling Rei that he wants to be someone who can forgive and not to live in a world where someone like Rat Man doesn't have a second chance. Now one could argue that Rat Man had more second chances than you could possibly count and he never seems to learn, but i think for Kitaro (and probably for the show itself) he symbolizes all the good and bad things humans and yokai are capable of, so if he fails to save him, he's failed completely. And you got to admit that Rat Man discovered a very creative way to fight Kurobozu in the end... 
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11339 |
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So apparently Rat Man backed by Kurobozu was secretly the mayor of Flint, MI...
Good episode. Lots of interesting issues got covered. |
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yuna49
Posts: 3804 |
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Well, Nezumi-Otoko does want to be Prime Minister of Japan, so it's a start. Then he'd have to make nice with Trump and not recoil in horror when the US President writes off North Korean IRBM testing as not all that important.
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