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EP. REVIEW: GeGeGe no Kitarō


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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:00 pm Reply with quote
yuna49 wrote:
The fact that Mana and Neko communicate via text has been vitally important in a number of episodes, so I wouldn't say the writers think all social media is bad. Neko-musume seems consumed by her phone much of the time, especially when she is hanging out at Kitarou's home.

I personally don't think of texting or email as social media. but I may be alone in that view. By the technical definitions of social and media, they are, but that would also make a landline telephone and snail mail social media. Smile Also, the internet =/= social media.

Neko is up on all the trends, so she is clearly partaking. But while that knowledge has been useful, you could also look at it as a subtle jab that she's using it to avoid directly interacting with Kitaro while she hangs out with him. He's not interested and so they don't have much to talk about, even face to face. But she can be with him without risking revealing her feelings by actually having a conversation with him that's not about "work."

Along with the several storylines that directly were about the ills of social media, there have been several more where fear and loathing have been spread online. The series seems to use it not only as a handy way to illustrate how the public feels about whatever is happening in the episode, but to show how toxic it can be overall in driving herd mentality.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 12:28 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
I personally don't think of texting or email as social media. but I may be alone in that view.

The RAIN network seems to involve more than just one-on-one conversations. Mana appears involved with multiple friends simultaneously in some scenes.

In her non-yokai form, Neko-musume seems like a role model for girls. Mana certainly sees her that way. In that regard I find it a bit surprising that Neko is portrayed as staring at her phone so often given the writers' at-best mixed opinions about social media. I do see those scenes in Kitarou's house more or less the same way you do.

My favorite show about social media is Gatchaman Crowds, especially Gatchaman Crowds Insight which explores the possibility of exploiting social media to establish a form of "soft fascism."
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Cab329



Joined: 01 Apr 2017
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 5:50 pm Reply with quote
Phew, that new episode was a roller coaster, probably some of the most freakish imagery the show has ever had. The bit where he is vomiting up his human body and then reconsuming it was terrifying. And yet despite that it was really heartwarming at the end
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Neko-sensei



Joined: 19 Jan 2007
Posts: 283
PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:42 am Reply with quote
That wonderful autophagia sequence relates closely to the Buddhist concept of the "hungry ghost"; there's a famous scroll depicting the "life" cycle of the hungry ghost that heavily influenced some of the imagery of this episode.

I love the fact that the first half of this episode is just pure, unrelenting horror. Happy Obon, kids! (Of course, the terror serves the purpose of providing context for the hopeful conclusion, but I wonder how many of the younger set managed to make it to the end...)
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 9:20 am Reply with quote
^Yeah, i definitely didn't expect a hopeful ending, though i really appreciated it. Still, it would have been interesting to learn how exactly his father died since he claimed that he "ruined the lives of his wife and child". You usually wouldn't phrase it like that if you died in an accident?
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:31 am Reply with quote
I raised that same question over on AnimeSuki and got this reply:

https://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=6363762#post6363762
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:14 am Reply with quote
^Thanks. That did cross my mind and it would make some kind of sense if he was the one causing the accident, but it still sounds odd to me...so yeah, cultural differences, i suppose.
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Cab329



Joined: 01 Apr 2017
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:44 pm Reply with quote
Neko-sensei wrote:
That wonderful autophagia sequence relates closely to the Buddhist concept of the "hungry ghost"; there's a famous scroll depicting the "life" cycle of the hungry ghost that heavily influenced some of the imagery of this episode.



That’s really cool! Thank you for sharing that!

So next week it’s another general of hell episode and it looks like this is the one that burned down Rei’s village. Since Rei’s only popped up a few times, I’m looking forward to the show going a bit more in depth about him
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:35 pm Reply with quote
This was a good episode, but I think I don't quite understand how Kitaro got his part time gig as a shinigami. I guess this time he was answering a request (from a dead person), but previously I don't think he was. They made such a big deal about him entering the Underworld when he needed to see Enma, but he seems to have no problem when he's playing conductor of the dead.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:55 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
This was a good episode, but I think I don't quite understand how Kitaro got his part time gig as a shinigami. I guess this time he was answering a request (from a dead person), but previously I don't think he was. They made such a big deal about him entering the Underworld when he needed to see Enma, but he seems to have no problem when he's playing conductor of the dead.


Let's talk perspective. Imagine Kitaro delivers merchandise to the amazon warehouse. Part of his work is delivering at an area at the entrance, he has no reason to get into the warhouse. Yes, the land around the warehouse is also owned by amazon but you can't say you know the warehouse just because you drive there quite often and you can bet there is no reason for him to be know Jeff Bezos just because he works at amazon. Also, it makes sense that Kitaro is not the only one delivering the merch at the warehouse.

Now, about Kitaro being a Shinigami, I think there has been an evolution. From what I gather, recently anime has portrayed them as grim reapers, entities that come for your soul when the time has come. But the shinigami of old (when Kitaro was being written and before) was rather nasty, it actively caused the death of individuals, just like in the story a couple of episodes ago. Shinigami of old are rather similar to the bimbogami in the sense that it caused harm for no good reason.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:42 am Reply with quote
In the 2007 Hakaba Kitarou that aired on noitaminA, it's suggested that Kitarou can travel back and forth to hell at will. I was actually more surprised by the Enma episode.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 1:25 pm Reply with quote
My question actually had two parts. I'm satisfied with the answer regarding his access to the Underworld, but I'm still unclear as to why he has the soul-shuttling job at all, especially since it seems to be a side-gig. The stories utilizing this are interesting ones, but it doesn't really seem to mesh well with his supernatural detective/guardian role.
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yuna49



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PostPosted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:59 pm Reply with quote
Maybe Mizuki just liked dressing him in that conductor's suit.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 9:56 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
but I'm still unclear as to why he has the soul-shuttling job at all, especially since it seems to be a side-gig. The stories utilizing this are interesting ones, but it doesn't really seem to mesh well with his supernatural detective/guardian role.


I do not think there is a definitive answer to that, but it might be the same situation Batman is. No, seriously, everybody remembers the batcrusader as the guardian of Ghotham City, but seems to me that nowadays his facet as the worlds greatest detective is but an after thought sparely used.

So there might be no world building behind the whole driver of the dead gig (albeit it would be hilarious if Kitaro was Truck-kun or was driving the ambulance that snuffed not david bowie), but I would simply retrofit that he likes the job, remember Youkai are not formally a part of human society and if Neko Musume can do community service and Rat Man can do every con ever invented, then doing something with a greater purpose must be rewarding in itself. The alternative would be boredom as Kitaro does not seem to be into TV broadcasts, internet, electronic games or anything similar.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:20 am Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
it would be hilarious if Kitaro was Truck-kun

Laughing You win today's internets. But that would also be a full-time job.

I'm not sure Kitaro is capable of boredom. He seems perfectly content to sit in his treehouse sipping tea with Daddy Eyeball all day.
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