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Japan's Killing Suspect Says He Is a Precure, Kitarō Fan (Updated)

The Mainichi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun papers report that the man accused of dumping the body of a neighbor's daughter in September is a self-professed anime fan who has said he likes the Precure magical girl anime and imitated the title character of the GeGeGe no Kitarō children's horror manga. Police accused 21-year-old Ryō Satsuki on Saturday of disposing of the body of his five-year-old neighbor Yukimaro Narita in Tōganeshi, a city west of Tokyo, but have not yet charged him with Narita's murder yet. Satsuki reportedly quit his three-year job the day before the incident.

According to the police investigators, the suspect's room had posters of anime, aimed at schoolgirls, on the walls. Also, one wall was reportedly filled with bookshelves of shōjo manga, include those for the Precure franchise. He told the media in September that he liked the Precure anime and added that he wore geta (Japanese wooden clogs) to be like the title character in GeGeGe no Kitarō.

However, Yomiuri has reported that Satsuki rented over 100 titles from a local store, and that list included not only idol singer and anime titles, but also non-Japanese films and period dramas. In addition to anime and manga, Satsuki told the media that he likes the scary stories of suspense author Edogawa Rampo (Rampo Edogawa or Taro Hirai). His resume listed "music appreciation, reading, and karaoke" as his interests.

Update The Sankei Shimbun paper reports that the suspect's room also had compiled volumes of Saint Seiya and Bleach manga, along with Pokémon and sentai (fighting force stories typified by Toei's Ranger franchise) goods. On the floor were coloring books from different series such as Pokémon and Precure as well as shitajiki (writing boards) and DVDs from tokusatsu (live-action special-effects) sentai projects. His video rental records included Saint Seiya, Pokémon, Detective Conan, other anime, various tokusatsu projects such as Godzilla and Kamen Rider, hit international films such as Harry Potter and The Last Samurai, and period dramas. The suspect also rented many CDs such as a Detective Conan theme song collection, Morning Musume, and Arashi.