GeGeGe no Kitaro

GeGeGe no Kitaro
Original title	ゲゲゲの鬼太郎
transcription	GeGeGe no Kitaro

genre	Comedy , horror
Manga
country	Japan Japan
author	Shigeru Mizuki
publishing company	Kodansha
magazine	Yokiden → Weekly Shōnen Magazine
First publication	1959-1969
expenditure	9
Anime television series
Country of production	Japan Japan
original language	Japanese
year	1968
Studio	Toei animation
length	25 minutes
Episodes	65
music	Taku Izumi
First broadcast	Jan 3rd 1968 on Fuji TV

GeGeGe no Kitarō ( Japanese ゲゲゲの鬼太郎 ), originally known as Hakaba no Kitarō ( 墓場の鬼太郎 ) is a manga series written by Shigeru Mizuki between 1959 and 1969 . The author is best known for popularizing Japanese folk characters such as Yōkai , a class of ghost monsters to which all of the main characters belong. The manga has been adapted several times as an anime , live action film and video game.

The story is based on a Japanese folk tale performed at the beginning of the 20th century in the form of the Kamishibai paper theater . The name "GeGeGe" was added because of Mizuki's special way of telling the story of Kitaro.

content

The young spirit Kitarō was born the son of a mummy and a human being displaced into the mountains. His mother died in childbirth, his father, now without a body, accompanies him in the form of his second, walking eye. As a child of both the human world and the world of monsters, he acts as a mediator who appeases or helps one side as well as the other. In addition to his father, the rat man is a frequent companion on his adventures. These play in modern times, but Kitarō is mostly surrounded by ghosts in his home in the cemetery. If he leaves this, he enters the normal human world.

publication

The manga first appeared from 1959 in the loan magazine Yokiden at Kodansha . After briefly appearing in Garo , the series moved to Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 1965 and was completed in 1969. The chapters also appeared in nine edited volumes.

An English translation was published in 3 volumes by Kodansha International and in a selection of chapters in 2013 in Drawn & Quarterly . The manga came in French from Cornelius , in Spanish from Astiberri and in Chinese from Linking Publishing.

Anime adaptations

The manga has been adapted several times as an anime television series. The first series with 65 episodes was created in 1968 by Toei Animation . The scripts were written by Motonari Wakai , Shun'ichi Yukimuro and Susumu Takaku and the artistic directors were Hideo Chiba and Makoto Yamazaki . The series aired on Fuji TV from January 3, 1968 to March 30, 1969 . Another four television series followed, one in each decade, and a total of eight films.

synchronization

role	Japanese speaker ( seiyū )
Kitaro	Masako Nozawa
Nezumi Otoko	Chikao Ōtsuka
Medama Oyaji	Isamu Tanonaka
Mrs. Yamada	Akiko Tsuboi

music

The music for the series was composed by Taku Izumi . The opening credits were underlaid with the song Hakaba no Kitarō ( 墓場の鬼太郎 ), sung by Kazuo Kumakura . The end credits are Gegege no Kitaro , sung by Midori Kato, and Kitaro Nai Nai Ontō , sung by Kazuo Kumakura. All songs were composed by Taku Izumi and written by Shigeru Mizuki .

Further films

title	Art	(Start) year
Against no Kitaro	TV series, sequel	1971
Against no Kitaro	TV series, remake	1985
Against no Kitaro	Short film	1985
Gegege no Kitarō: Yōkai Daisensō	Movie	1986
Against Kitarō: Saikyō Yōkai Gundan! Nihon Jōriku !!	Movie	1986
Gegege no Kitarō: Gekitotsu !! Ijigen Yōkai no Daihanran	Movie	1986
Gegege no Kitaro: Jigoku Hen	TV series, sequel	1988
Against no Kitaro	TV series, remake	1996
Gegege no Kitarō: Daikaijū	Movie	1996
Gegege no Kitarō: Obake Nighter	Movie	1997
Against Kitarō: Yōkai Tokkyū! Maboroshi no Kisha	Short film	1997
Against no Kitaro	TV series, remake	2007
Hakaba Kitaro	TV series, remake	2008
Against Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu !!	Movie	2008
Against no Kitaro	TV series, remake	2018

Actual filming

In 2007, a real film version of the material appeared for the first time under the title GeGeGe no Kitarō , which was marketed internationally as Kitaro . A second film, called Kitaro and the Millennium Curse , came out in 2008. Eiji Wentz plays the leading role in both films .

Video games

Gegege no Kitarō: Yōkai Daimakyō for Famicom , 1986, Bandai
Gegege no Kitarō 2 for Famicom, 1987, Bandai
Against Kitaro: Fukkatsu! Tenma Daiō for Super Famicom , 1993, Bandai
Gegege no Kitarō for Game Boy , 1996, Bandai
Gegege no Kitarō: Gentōkaikitan for Sega Saturn , 1996, Sega
Gegege no Kitarō: Yōkai Donjara for Super Famicom , 1996, Bandai
Gegege no Kitarō: Noroi no Nikuto Katachi Tachi for PlayStation , 1997, Bandai
Hissatsu Pachinkostation now 5 Gegege No Kitarō for PlayStation , 2000, Sunsoft
Gegege no Kitarō for Microsoft Windows, 2003, Unbalance
Gegege no Kitarō: Ibun Yōkaitan for PlayStation 2 , 2003, Konami
Gegege no Kitarō: Kiki Ippatsu! Yōkai Rettō for Game Boy Advance , 2003, Konami
Gegege no Kitarō: Gyakushū! Yōkai Daichisen for PlayStation, 2003, Konami
Gegege no Kitarō: Yōkai Daiundōkai for Wii , 2007, Namco Bandai
Gegege no Kitarō as a pachinko machine from Sammy
Gegege no Kitarō: Yōkai Daigekisen for Nintendo DS , 2008, Bandai

Reception and meaning

The manga series became a bestseller in Japan and at the same time introduced the classic Japanese stories and their mythological beings into modern manga. Kitarō followed many other series that dealt with these beings. Because of the realistic to surreal depiction of the background images and the contrasting stylized figures, the series is also assigned to the Gekiga movement , despite its rather young target group . In his review, Jason Thompson praises the mixture of Japanese folklore and crazy ideas of the artist himself and the stories, although recognizable for children, but written very well and with a certain pathos, quickly told. The graphic implementation of the children's classic was even better than this. Frederik L. Schodt also explains the success of the series with the mixture of ghost stories and the everyday world of readers that the series offers. Masanao Amano describes the stories of the monster boy who rebukes evil monsters as a "superhero story of a different kind".

The film adaptations as television series were also very popular with children.

Web links

Commons : GeGeGe no Kitarō - collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry on the manga on Anime News Network (English)
Spooky Ooky - Article about Gegege no Kitarō by Jonathan Clements (English)
Poor Little Ghost Boy - Article in Japanzine by Jack Davisson (English)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Nicolas Finet, Paul Gravett (eds.) And Andreas C. Knigge (transl.): 1001 comics that you should read before life is over . Zurich 2012, Edition Olms. P. 216.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jason Thompson: Manga. The Complete Guide . Del Rey, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8 , pp. 121 f .
^ ^A ^b Frederik L. Schodt : Dreamland Japan. Writings On Modern Manga . Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley 2002, ISBN 1-880656-23-X , pp. 181 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Brigitte Koyama-Richard: One Thousand Years of Manga . Flammarion, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-08-030029-4 , pp. 212 .
^ Paul Gravett: Manga - Sixty Years of Japanese Comics . Egmont Manga and Anime, 2004. ISBN 3-7704-6549-0 . P. 49.
↑ Masanao Amano: Manga Design . Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8228-2591-3 , p. 488.

[1001comics-1] Nicolas Finet, Paul Gravett (eds.) And Andreas C. Knigge (transl.): 1001 comics that you should read before life is over . Zurich 2012, Edition Olms. P. 216.

[thompson2-2] Jason Thompson: Manga. The Complete Guide . Del Rey, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8 , pp. 121 f .

[schodt1-3] A ^b Frederik L. Schodt : Dreamland Japan. Writings On Modern Manga . Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley 2002, ISBN 1-880656-23-X , pp. 181 .

[:0-4] Brigitte Koyama-Richard: One Thousand Years of Manga . Flammarion, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-08-030029-4 , pp. 212 .

[gravett-5] Paul Gravett: Manga - Sixty Years of Japanese Comics . Egmont Manga and Anime, 2004. ISBN 3-7704-6549-0 . P. 49.

[6] Masanao Amano: Manga Design . Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-8228-2591-3 , p. 488.