Four Video Games Set During Christmas!

For all three of you out there that live under a rock (or have somehow escaped the nonstop blasting of Christmas music on the radio) it may come as a surprise that, yes, it's that time of year again. The days are shorter, the nights are colder, and the snow is coming--as long as you live in the right hemisphere (cue those angry Australians). Considering the holiday season, I thought it would be fun to wrap up my blogging for the year with some simple Christmas and New Years related content, and since a prior year’s Christmas List went pretty well, I figured why not just take another swing at it. Instead of anime episodes though, for this year I felt I should list off some Christmas video games since I sort of exhausted all I could say about anime this year with my Zero Frights project.

In my head this blog post seemed like it would be a slam dunk. “It should be super easy to come up with a list fast” I thought to myself, but then … I actually got around to thinking of all the classic examples to use in video games and realized something ... they all suck! Yeah, it's something I never stopped to think about much before but did you ever notice that most Christmas games; are just lazy assortments of Christmas iconography, or even worse some random snow level in a Mario game or something? I mean, sorry guys, but putting a santa hat on Master Chief or adding some snow effects to the city in GTA does not make Halo or GTA a Christmas game. Where are all the games that actually have Christmas in them? Where the games at that take place during Christmas? You see, after pouring through countless BuzzFeed lists to steal ideas, er, no wait, I mean, after countless hours of very academic research, I came to a weird conclusion--Halloween has plenty examples of games that take place during that holiday specifically, but Christmas related games are the exact opposite. Almost none of them are actually on Christmas! Like what the heck Elf Bowling for Wii, step your game up. This is just a sham by this point!

Looking through the sheer large amount of holiday themed games made me come to the realization that while not a perfect track record, Halloween themed games, have a much higher rate of being actually good, where as Christmas games are almost guaranteed to be crap. I can think of a bunch of solid, fun, Halloween holiday games, where maybe I got like, 2 games that are actually good for Christmas. We need better Christmas games! And these games better take place on Christmas! Too long have we gone with these hallow lies.

In order to fix this great tragedy of Christmas fail, I feel like I have to produce a list to end all lists. A list that is so good, it will blow all game developers’ minds and they will have no choice but to make some sweet Christmas game. SET ON CHRISTMAS. I will have to take some drastic measures to accomplish this sadly, so that means I will skip over a lot of beloved classics like Nights into Christmas, but it will all be worth it to spread the word that video games CAN take place on Christmas day! And the ones that do ARE good! So strap yourself in and get ready for some Die Hard-esque Christmas hijinks; here’s four games that actually take place DURING Christmas.

2064: Read Only Memories

Here’s a game that wears its inspirations right on its sleeve. Read Only Memories, or ROM for short, is an indie adventure game made in the bane of classic titles like Snatcher (which coincidentally took place during Christmas too) complete with bright colorful sprites, and an old school UI you would see in a game like Jinguji Saburo on the Famicom.

ROM takes place in the far off future year of 2064, specifically December 20, 2064, and the plot progresses over the course of multiple days, with the final chapter taking place on Christmas Eve, and an epilogue on Christmas day. The story centers on robots called "Relationship and Organizational Managers" or ROMs for short, that are commonplace tools used to do almost anything in the city. There are police roms, there are janitor roms, there are medical roms, and most importantly, the biggest market for roms: a replacement for the personal computer for consumers at home.

The protagonist is contacted by the robot Turing, the first truly sapient ROM who enlists your help to find its kidnapped creator, Hayden. Together the two of you uncover the dark conspiracy behind Turing’s creation, and Parallax, the mega corporation that created all the ROMs--all set during a delightful holiday season.

Parasite Eve


The 90’s was a really weird time for video games, and I totally love how experimental a lot of early 3D titles were on the N64 and Playstation. Parasite Eve is definitely among one of Square soft’s more experimental fares for the Playstation (which is saying a lot since this was the same console where Square gave us Chrono Cross and XenoGears).

This horror, action based, RPG, third person shooter, really is quite hard to put into words, but feels like, in a lot of ways, a precursor to more modern action based menu-driven interface JRPGs such as XenoBlade Chronicles. So what makes this strange, gruesome M-rated experiential game from 1997 a Christmas classic? Well easy. It starts on December 24th! Yup, this whole shindig is one long Die Hard like video game, where the protagonist Aya Brea is wrapped into the crazy battle against Mitochondria powered mutants right smack dab on Christmas Eve night in Manhattan, New York. She’ll have to kick some serious ass if she wants to make it to see the New Year. Now this is more like it!

Hotel Dusk/Last Window

Hotel Dusk Room 215, and its sequel that was too good to come to America, Last Window The Secret of Cape West, are both fantastic adventure game/visual novels released on the Nintendo DS by the small, and sadly now defunct, company Cing. Both games were written by the great Rika Suzuki, a living legend in the Japanese adventure game scene, and represent some of the best the Nintendo DS has to offer in the genre--which I shouldn't have to remind you--was a genre that flourished on the console with excellent title after title releasing on the Nintendo DS such as Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, 999: Nine hours, Nine persons, Nine doors, and my much beloved Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past.

Both Hotel Dusk and Last Window have their own plot that don’t tie together per se, but they both star everybody’s favorite wise-ass detective turned washed-up salesman of useless crap, Kyle Hyde, and guess what, they both take place during the holiday season! That’s right, these noir lite little vignette of a game were both set during the end of December, and both games feature Christmas celebrations in them, and let me tell you, Christmas with Kyle Hyde is quite something, and involves a good glass of bourbon. But in all seriousness, what makes both of these games fantastic are the wonderfully fleshed out characters, how they all communicate to each other, and how they are all related to each other in some way once you uncover everyone's back-story. Spending Christmas night with the other vagrants staying in the Hotel Dusk, and in the sequel seeing more of Hyde’s personal life on Christmas, really is some of the best reading. I still can’t not recommend these gems. These Christmas gems now!

Blue Stinger

Speaking of weird experimental 3D games, I think most people forget about the Sega Dreamcast. It's easy to just think of the N64, or Playstation, and maybe even the PC, but most people are often too busy comparing the Dreamcast to the PS2--the console that essentially killed it--which fair enough, but because people so often only think in those terms they can forget that 3D games were still not fully figured out yet, even on the Dreamcast. It's easy to find a lot of stinkers on the console now in 2018; we can all look back in hindsight at Sonic Adventure and have a cheap laugh at the horrendous controls, bad camera and hilarious Clutch Cargo-esque lip syncing quality, but when the 3D games worked on Dreamcast they really worked. This is probably why the console is still so fondly remembered to this day; it goes beyond just simple Sega nostalgia for their console making days. There were tons of strange, excremental games on the console that were trying to figure out what to do with 3D space, and it's Blue Stinger here that was one of the earliest.

Blue Stinger was one of the launch titles for the Dreamcast back in September of 1999, and it was greeted to the world with more or less subpar reviews and general indifference. Over time however, a lot of people have started to really come around on this very strange launch title and some even find it it fun to boot!

So what is Blue Stinger, I see you asking. Well, it's kind of a mess. It's like what would happen if you threw in a little bit of everything that was popular at the time in the blender with reckless abandon. We got survival horror that just became popular, arcade style beat 'em up action game play that you saw in a lot of Sega arcade cabinets of the era, and a sci-fi story that is not unlike what you would expect out of the SciFi Channel complete with aliens and dinosaurs. You can really see the developers were trying pretty much anything they could at this point and not just sticking to typical conventions. No, Blue Stinger didn't want to be in the usual horror theme settings, it wanted to be in a science fiction lab on a tropical island in the year 2018. It didn't want you to conserve your ammo or, to even feel powerless, no, it wanted to double down on the campiness of beat 'em up games with the main character, Eliot Ballade, over here punching alien monster things to death with his goddamn bear hands. Move over Resident Evil, there's a new king in town! 

So what makes this a Christmas game? Well you guessed it! Blue Stinger's plot starts on none other than Christmas Eve 2018. Wait! That's tomorrow! Oh boy, I wonder what kind of day it will truly be.

I hope you all enjoyed this semi-humorous list, and have a wonderful, safe holiday season. It's been a lot of fun this year blogging again on a somewhat consistent basis, and I really hope to keep it up. See you next week for a New Years post!

It’s a Jake Hunter Thanksgiving!

With Thanksgiving coming tomorrow what better a subject to discuss than a game that I am truly thankful for in 2018. Honestly this year has been packed solid with fantastic releases for both mainstream and niche games alike. It’s been a spectacular year for me especially--with titles I've been crazy about like 428: Shibuya Scramble, Dragon Quest XI, and even a new Metal Max! (Haven’t had one of those localized since 2006) But today I want to talk about the little detective game series that could.

Jake Hunter, or Jinguji Saburo as it it known in Japan, is one of the longest actively running adventure game series that you have probably never heard of. Jinguji Saburo started life on the Famicom Disk System all the way back in 1987, and has consistently produced games for almost every major video game platform since for over 30 years--Famicom, Playstation, PS2, GBA, PSP, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, PS4, mobile phones, you name it and good chance Jinguji Saburo probably has a game on it. Despite that longevity however, the series has never had a fair shake in markets outside of Asia. It wasn't until 2008, a whole twenty-one years after the series started, that it would get an English market release on the Nintendo DS, and it was ... less than spectacular.

The first US release of Jinguji Saburo was the Nintendo DS game Tantei Jinguji Saburo: Inishie no Kioku, or roughly Detective Jinguji Saburo: Ancient Memories. This game was a compilation of past titles, featuring remakes of first 5 Famicom games with the third and fourth game on the Famicom, Kiken na Futari Zenpen and Kiken na Futari Kohen combined into one game since they were originally one story split across two Famicom disk games. Included on top of the Famicom remakes is a remake to the 2004 mobile phone game Tantei Jinguji Saburo Akai Me no Tora, as well as a brand new game for this compilation, the titular Inishie no Kioku, which ties together the other games into one grander story. When it came time for Aksys Games to release Tantei Jinguji Saburo: Inishie no Kioku it was given the Americanized name Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles and all the characters within it followed suit, with the real life setting of Shinjuku being altered into a vague, nondescript, “every city” named Aspicio to boot.

Now Americanizing names has always been a pretty hot debate online in anime and video game communities--there are people that feel very strongly about this, so while I have traditionally been pretty lenient about the practice (I still don’t like it much either but can live with it) I understand others whom can’t stand it. With all that said however, Jake Hunter Detective Chronicles sucks, and I honestly can’t defend it. A lot of weird decisions were made when bringing Inishie no Kioku over to the US--and when the Americanization is the least of your worries it’s a pretty bad sign. The biggest issue of this release is all the cut content: the game skips the fun little omake, or gag stories, that were in the original, as well as cutting out 3 games from the compilation entirely for no real reason. And of course the real kicker was that the translation was just plain bad! Typos and grammatical errors littered a wooden, uninteresting script that was a slog to read. I have no idea how Aksys botched this release so much, but oh boy did they make sure the first localized Jinguji Saburo game would be the worst localized Jinguji Saburo game.

Things did not go so smoothly for the franchise in its first English outing, but if you fast forward to just a year later it starts to finally turn around for ol’ Jake. In 2009 Aksys Games released a title by the name of Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past, and if that title sounds somewhat familiar, that is because it is. Memories of the Past is a faithful release of Inishie no Kioku (Ancient Memories) with zero cut content this time and an entirely new localization from the ground up that still Americanizes the script but actually reads wonderfully and is a huge improvement over the original Detective Chronicles release. This whole situation is honestly quite fascinating to me, as I really can’t think of many examples where a company completely botches a localization, then releases the same game with an entirely different name that fixes the localization. Aksys Games is pretty wild.

Moving ahead to the year 2012 and the Nintendo 3DS, the next Jinguji Saburo game; Tantei Jinguji Saburo: Fukushuu no Rondo, or roughly Detective Jinguji Saburo: Rondo of Revenge was a no show in English, and even in Japan a long drought started, with only mobile phone releases of the Famicom remakes coming out. It wasn't until 2017 when our boy Jinguji “Jake Hunter” Saburo returned, again on the Nintendo 3DS with Tantei Jinguji Saburo: GHOST OF THE DUSK. And as if to make up for the five years it was asleep, Tantei Jinguji Saburo: PRISM OF EYES followed right after in 2018 for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch--marking the series’ first leap to HD. A new game is set to follow for the PS4, Switch, and PC in 2019; Daedalus: The Awakening of Golden Jazz, a prequel to the entire franchise feating a younger (and now ikeman) Jinguji Saburo in New York City investigating the death of his grandfather.

The Jinguji Saburo series is back in full swing again, and the future so far looks bright, but what about the “Jake Hunter” series? Well back in September Aksys Games localized Tantei Jinguji Saburo: GHOST OF THE DUSK as Jake Hunter: Ghost of the Dusk for the Nintendo 3DS, even giving it a physical print run. Given the declining health of the Nintendo 3DS in the US at this point, and how awkward a release the only prior game localized ever got, Ghost of the Dusk coming out in English came as quite a surprise to even me. Unfortunately with Dragon Quest XI in September and my focus in October being on Zero Frights I never had a chance to talk much about this game. Untimely that is what I wished to express today, my gratitude that the Jinguji Saburo series still has a chance in the North American market.

Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past is one of my personal favorite games on the Nintendo DS, a system that is very near-and-dear to my heart and jam packed with many games I consider some of my favorites. That game filled a detective itch in me like no other I could find on any video game console. It brought back really great memories of old school point-n-click detective games on PC, and the hardboiled atmosphere and characters felt so refreshingly familiar. I can’t recommend Memories of the Past enough, and now that there is Ghost of the Dusk I really want to urge anyone that loves point-n-clicks, visual novels, or just any plain detective story to try it out! It’s in stores now and may be one of the last chances you have to experience the series.

So if you asked me what I am thankful for in 2018, here it is. Jake Hunter coming back to North America is something I never expected to even be possible and can’t stop being giddy about. The hope that Prisim of Eyes and Daealus can come out in English warms my heart. I want this series to have a fighting chance in the North American market, hell in any English speaking market even. The world needs more Japanese styled adventure games--even with the sheer amount of visual novels being localized into English and created by English fans, there really is a sever lack of games quite like Jinguji Saburo, aka your boy, Jake Hunter. 

Zero Frights: Kitaro in Comic Form (2013-2019 - manga)

The late Shigeru Mizuki’s Kitaro always was a hard series to get into in English--maybe that’s not too surprising given how heavy it is steeped in Japanese folklore, but for many it always felt unfair to miss out on such a well regarded part of Japanese animation and comics. Recently, this all changed with the newest television series: GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018) finally getting picked up for official simulcast release in North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Europe. Finally a large portion of the English market can watch Kitaro every week just like the fans in Japan. However this was not the first time that Kitaro came to the English market, so let’s talk about the other mainstream Kitaro release in English: the manga.

In 2013 the Canadian comic publisher Drawn and Quarterly released the conservatively named ‘Kitaro’, a collection of famous Kitaro manga chapters that were hand picked by translator Zack Davisson (Devilman (1972), Captain Harlock (1977), Showa: A History of Japan (1988)) and approved by Mizuki himself. This collection stands at 8.7” tall and 6.4” wide, making it much larger than your average manga volume--just about the same size as Seven Seas’ Classic Collection, for those who may be familiar with those releases. With such large paper, the book really gives Mizuki’s unique artwork the room it deserves and is jam packed with over 430 pages of encyclopedia entries on yokai, essays about Mizuki himself, and of course the manga chapters. Have you ever been curious what the heck “Ge Ge Ge” even is? Well, these essays will finally put that to rest! This book has everything a fan could want, and has been one of my absolute favorites in my entire collection.

Sadly, this particular book has since gone out of print. For the longest time you could still find it on the second hand market (i.e. used through Amazon, eBay, or Barnes and Noble) for a fairly cheap price, but it lately has seemed to gone up quite a considerable amount since last I checked. Is it just a spike for Halloween?--I hope so. But fright not, as ‘Kitaro’ was just the first of many releases Drawn and Quarterly would put out. In 2015, they announced that they will release 7 more volumes worth of Kitaro manga, each containing around 150 pages. The books in these releases are all still in print and can be found anywhere where manga is sold. 

This new set of 7 Kitaro volumes starts with ‘The Birth of Kitaro’, where you guessed it, the chapters surrounding Kitaro's origins is the main focus. Each book continues this pattern where they have at least one major story arc, like ‘Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon’ covering chapters with one of Kitaro’s greatest enemies: the Nurarihyon, and ‘Kitaro: The Great Tanuki War’ covering the Tanuki War story arc (fans of the recent 2018 anime should remember this story from episode 11: Conquer Japan! The 808 Tanuki Army, and episode 12: Capital Annihilated! The Terrifying Yokai Beast). So far there has been a total of 5 volumes released, with the 2 remaining volumes coming next year. Each volume just like the original 2013 ‘Kitaro’ contains yokai encyclopedia entries, and essays about Mizuki. The subsequent essays in the 5 volumes I have so far as well as the 2013 ‘Kitaro’ have been a large part of my research for these latest blog entries. Essays about the creators and their works are some of my favorite parts about classic manga releases, and these beefy essays by Zack Davisson really don’t disappoint.

I really have to say as a quick aside, that I’ve enjoyed flipping through all these manga volumes again and rereading a lot of the stories to get myself in a Halloween mood--not to mention to also prep for all these recent Zero Frights blog posts. With the 2018 GeGeGe no Kitaro anime now covering The Great Yokai War--and giving it the premium treatment, no less--I have really enjoyed reading that story again in particular, and laughing at the small things. Stuff like how Konaki Jiji drowns Frankenstein’s monster in the original, and how the Witch was just an ugly old hag before, but now we have two, very beautiful witches--which don’t get me wrong, is pretty nice. I really have been enjoying this new modern take on The Great Yokai War, as well as most of the modernization in the show in general, but if Toei wants to bring back Frankenstein’s Monster getting straight up murdered in cold blood by Konaki Jiji who proceeds to give zero fracks, I am game.

There is a part of me that loves that despite the fact that the major staying power of the Kitaro franchise is tied into the many television appearances it has enjoyed over the past 50 years in Japan, that it was the manga that got a wide release in English markets first before any of the animes did. Shigeru Mizuki’s work has always had this mesmerizing nature to it, and while all the animes out there are fantastic and capture a lot of his spirit, there is just something special about the work he did himself, the art he penned, the pages he storyboarded, and the way his Kitaro looks. I can’t get enough of Mizuki’s mangas, and I am really glad that we finally have easy access to them in English. Now if you excuse me, I think I am going to read some more of his work and enjoy what’s left of this spooky time of year. Happy Halloween!

Zero Frights: Hakaba Kitaro (anime - 2008)

Last week I wrote about all the previous GeGeGe no Kitaro anime series, and went over what made each unique--ultimately saying that what I liked the most about the original 1968 black-and-white TV series was how close it was to the darker atmosphere and macabre tone of the late Mizuki’s comics. While I definitely still defend that opinion that out of the 6 GeGeGe no Kitaros, the very first 1968 series is the most like a Mizuki manga; there is another, different anime that is even closer to the morbid and weird stories often flowing from Mizuki’s pen: Hakaba Kitaro.

Created in 2008 for the late night adult animation block, noitaminA, Hakaba Kitaro is perhaps the most interesting production out of all of the animated works adapting Mizuki. Never before had there been a program that catered to an older audience, so this is definitely not your average GeGeGe no Kitaro anime meant for the younger day time television audience. Right from the opening theme there is an obvious statement being made that this is not your typical Kitaro. Hakaba Kitaro adapts, well, Hakaba Kitaro (aka Kitaro of the Graveyard), that being one of Mizuki’s many earlier Kitaro manga before eventually creating GeGeGe no Kitaro for Shonen Magazine. Think of it as almost a prototype to GeGeGe no Kitaro, where rounded edges haven’t yet been sanded down, and the tone and atmosphere of the manga is a lot darker, and definitely a bit extreme for children.

Funny enough, big fans of Kitaro will find a lot of GeGeGe no Kitaro in Hakaba Kitaro, as Mizuku would later reuse plenty of the stories from his older, unsuccessful Kitaro manga in GeGeGe no Kitaro to help speed up his writing when deadline crunch became too extreme. That said, while you may spot familiar yokai, and recognize prototypes to famous Kitaro episodes, these characters are not the ones you love; Kitaro is far from a protector of the weak, nor does he really care about peaceful coexistence between human and yokai. He’s petty, conniving, and even chases girls. Throughout the anime you can see him slowly becoming more and more corrupted by “modern” times--Nezumi Otoko trying a get rich scheme is normal, but when Kitaro is concerned about making a quick buck, oh boy are we in trouble. 

Kitaro’s transformation throughout Hakaba Kitaro is perhaps one of my favorite aspects of this anime, as right from the beginning this version of the story has no qualms about letting you know Kitaro isn't a good guy here, he’s just your run-of-the-mil yokai like any other in the series--he doesn't really possess any aliment, good or bad, but over the course of the 11 episodes you really see him kind of become a worse and worse person. The ending of the series can even be interpreted as such that he and his father, Medama Oyaji, are in the middle of a falling out; something that you would never see in the kind GeGeGe no Kitaro whom has always shown his father the utmost respect.

Kitaro’s journey throughout Hakaba Kitaro can also be seen as a foil to the greater meaning of the entire show itself--that modern life styles and luxuries corrupt. All previous Kitaro series have had somewhat of an environmental message to them, somewhere in all of mankind's rapid development there has been destroyed greenery and yokai that have lost their homes--but Hakaba Kitaro really shows more of a personal corruption. I always found this super interesting because of the era it is set in, being post-war Japan and not an actual modern time. You can definitely feel some of Mizuki, an ex-WWII soldier, coming home and discovering that everything is different now in Japan. This once quiet and mostly isolated nation is now rapidly expanding and changing with the times once again, all-the-while dealing with one of its worst economic crises because of the war.

Even though I have written a lot about this new version of Kitaro, the funny thing is that Kitaro is far from the main character in Hakaba Kitaro. A lot of times Kitaro is more of a bridging device that ties together episodic yokai stories. Kitaro may just observe certain humans that brought on their own destruction by angering yokai, or he may cause some trouble, but he hardly ever really intervenes in matters that don’t involve him personally. I really enjoy this episodic nature of the series, as it lets a lot of the human "victims-of-the-week" be the main attention of their own episode. Kitaro is just along for the ride, and maybe there to laugh at them too. This give Hakaba Kitaro a great horror anthology feel, where Kitaro is almost like the host, and occasionally the protagonist in certain situations that can involve him.

Hakaba Kitaro is the first Kitaro series I've ever watched, and to this day, one of my favorite animes, just in general. At 11 episodes it is by far the easiest Kitaro series to watch still, and not too hard to track down (although it’s starting to get a bit harder to find considering its age). For people wanting to get into Kitaro I think it’s a great spot to start, just so long as you understand it’s thematically nothing like the other Kitaro series--you aren't gonna get anything else this dark or twisted in any of the GeGeGe no Kitaro series, nor will you ever find a Kitaro character like this ever again. But whether or not you're already a big fan, looking to get into Kitaro finally, or just someone that wants to experience a light, fun, macabre series this Halloween season, I can’t recommend Hakaba Kitaro enough.

Zero Frights: GeGeGe no Kitaro Takes Over the Small Screen (1968-2018 - anime)

This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the original GeGeGe no Kitaro television animated series. This 1968 landmark series was one of the earliest horror themed anime to succeed on Japanese television during a time where the medium was just starting up, and would lead to many other similarly horror/folklore themed series; eventually creating a whole trend for television and manga that some refer to as the 1970’s Yokai Boom. The success of Kitaro and his fellow yokai friends could not be ignored and they were brought back again in 1971 right smack dab in the boom they helped started--however it wasn't until the third time Kitaro and co. reappeared in 1985 did it become apparent that these particular yokai are here to stay--as the fad they ushered in had long since died and Japan had moved on from its rekindled fascination of yokai, yet here they were, still as popular as ever on TV.

While the creation of the Kitaro characters and concepts do in fact predate this 50 year milestone by quite a few years, and the late Shigeru Mizuki’s journey from starving artist, to little known indie creator, to a voice of a nation, is a fascinating one, I will mostly be sticking to this 5 decade milestone for the sake of this blog post. However, if you were to ask me why GeGeGe no Kitaro was able to have the staying power that it did and how it became a staple of Japanese TV, I would have to say it’s because of the late Mizuki’s past as a starving artist. I know, I know, we’re here to mostly talk about the franchise in terms of its television appearances and not the original kamishibai and manga origins prior, but stay with me, because I think this is important.

You see, Mizuki while a mildly popular kamishibai artist, was actually a pretty huge failure as a manga creator. His titles kept getting dropped during the rental manga days, then his later titles in manga magazines--like we have today--were always constantly dead last in the popularity rankings (any Jump fan will tell you this leads to your cancellation), and he had a reputation for being incredibly stubborn to work with. Yet despite literally being on the cusp of poverty, having to sell everything he owns, and barley being able to afford food, Mizuki did not give a shit, he drew what he wanted, despite it not catching on with an audience initially. Mizuki was greatly attached to his creations, and while he wavered here or there and worked on other books, Kitaro was where his heart was, and where he always came back to.

Kids just didn’t gravitate towards to Mizuki’s manga in the early days of his career: his unconventional artwork was considered too ugly and his scary stories were too out there--early on Weekly Shonen Magazine even got letters complaining why Kitaro hasn't been canceled yet! But this was also Mizuki’s blessing, as industry insiders loved his work, and critics ate it up. His artwork that combined a pulp American comics style with traditional Japanese scroll like painting was fresh, and his focus on something not adventure or super hero related was fresh. Mizuki survived these early days in large because he was able to win these kinds of adults over, and eventually the kids that flipped through the magazines skipping his stuff slowly came around to trying it out again, maybe just a reading it a little bit here and there at first, but eventually enjoying it. Then an opportunity of a lifetime: a TV deal! It wasn't easy, and took many years, but GeGeGe no Kitaro eventually won people over with its persistence, never succumbing to being something it wasn't. Mizuki’s creation is something eerie yet exciting, it’s solely its own thing, its own reflection of the unique individual that was Shigeru Mizuki, and isn't something any imitator can fully mimic--and that’s how you create staying power that goes beyond even your own life time.

My favorite thing about the now 6 different GeGeGe no Kitaro anime is that they each reflect subtle and not so subtle changes in Japan over the years. It would not be a stretch to say that Kitaro can be used as a time capsule. The original 1968 GeGeGe no Kitaro started out when Japanese TV was just getting huge, television anime as we know it only just started 3 years prior with Astro Boy, and animation companies where all rushing trying to get in on the whole television boom. This version of Kitaro is still produced in Black and White, which gives it a gorgeous and eerie look like classic horror movies, and the simpler production values while not stunning still hold up really well. Out of all the episodes from all 6 series I've seen, I’d say the original 1968 anime is the most accurate to Mizuki’s manga, with changes here or there, some padding to fill out entire episodes, and some other aspects being toned down slightly.

The 1971 GeGeGe no Kitaro series started only a few years after the original, and it’s obvious Toei had two things in mind: not missing out on the Yokai Boom and producing a color version of Kitaro. Because it was so close to the original series this is one of the few Kitaro series that doesn’t rely on remaking classic episodes (those classics were only like 3 years ago after all), and instead adapts a lot of stories from Mizuki’s other works relating to yokai such as Nonnonba and inserting Kitaro into them. This makes the second series really stick out. The third series in 1985 was the longest in the franchise spanning over 115 episodes and starts modernizing a lot of the classic elements in the Kitaro series, giving Kitaro a human side-kick/love interest of sorts, and some new gadgets--mainly the first appearance of the yokai ocarina, as well as remaking a lot of classic episodes. This is also where the series began recasting every character (sans Kitaro’s father Medama Oyaji) for every new installment. The biggest change is a more action focus and making Kitaro a lot more heroic than previously seen.

For the fourth series in 1996, Kitaro is reverted back to being more subdued and less hot blooded, however he was still given some occasional big fight scenes that the original in the manga could only dream of doing. Per Mizuki’s own request, a greater emphasis is put on the balance of nature and the general aesthetic of the series is inspired by the works of Studio Ghibli. The fifth series in 2007 features the most bitter rendition of Kitaro, who while still polite and trusting, was a lot more apathetic to humans who brought upon their own misfortune because of greed, not flinching to even punish some. This version of Kitaro really plays up the angle that he is an un-aging boy, with references to time passing yet Kitaro's appearance staying the same. In some cases, instead of telling a remake, certain yokai Kitaro fought in previous series are actually clearly written as sequels, with Kitaro defeating them in the past and having to fight them once again, a unique twist no other series has done yet. My favorite thing with this series though has to be that each episdoe begins with Kitaro narrating to the audience about something creepy that relates to the episode you're about to see, a la Rod Sterling. Finally we have the currently airing sixth series that just started in 2018. So far the biggest theme seems to be about modernization, and how things change over time, covering everything from smart phone overuse to viral internet videos, all the while setting up a bigger story to unfold in the background of the mostly episodic adventures. 

I think the best way to really get a feel for each GeGeGe no Kitaro series though is through their first episodes. After marathoning--to the best of my abilities--a lot of the classic series I wasn’t too familiar with, I've found myself enjoying seeing what manga chapter each will try to start on. It became some what of a game to me going back and forth through each decade to see what the earliest episodes of each series would focus on. The original 1968 Kitaro for example starts on the Yokai Baseball chapter. While not a bad chapter at all (it’s quite morbid and funny really), it’s far from what I was expecting! But it makes a lot of sense for its time, where Kitaro wasn't quite a sure thing, so instead of starting on a more intense episode, the series begins with a pretty tame cautionary tale about hard work and not stealing--all while watching little boys get the crap scared out of them because they’re playing baseball against actual monsters!

The first episode in the second series from 1971 is equally as fascinating, as while it’s a pretty run-of-the-mil story about a rampaging yokai that lost its home because of human development, it’s the little things that set it apart. The very start of the episode features Kitaro’s ultimate frenemy Nezumi Otoko desperately searching for Kitaro, giving the impression that he’s been missing since the end of the original series. What Nezumi finds though is that Kitaro is done with fighting yokai and just wants to live a simple life writing haiku by the sea--almost as if he’s washed up and a has been now, yet he is of course brought back into being the hero we know.

The 1985 series’ first episode starts out as bombastic as it can with the Yokai Castle manga chapter; a huge battle against 3 strong yokai that try to turn all the children of Japan into yokai. This first episode kicks so much ass, Kitaro just wastes no time and rushes in to some great fights. What really impressed me is this usually appears a bit later in most series after we've met a couple of Kitaro’s friends so he can have help taking on the yokai castle, but here it is right from the start! Sunakake Babaa, Konaki Jijii, and Ittan Momen do eventually come in at the end for a save but otherwise this is mostly Kitaro just whopping butt right from the word go, complete with awesome 80’s guitar music in the background.

The first episode in the 1996 series is a lot more tame in compassion and doesn't even feature Kitaro for the first half of the episode, instead focusing on the new human characters introduced with this iteration. Of course when things finally go bad Kitaro makes his appearance and rescues everyone. The environmental message is clear right from the beginning since it’s that darn evil construction company that let out the yokai of this episode and over all everything is much slower paced and more reserved compared to the boisterous 1985 series’ beginning. That's not to say there isn't a good fight at the end though, but the atmosphere of a quaint town in the 90's is the most prevalent feeling.

GeGeGe no Kitaro’s 2007 series starts with a first episode that shows Kitaro’s more bitter side as three dumb kids disturb a shrine and let out a yokai--it's up to Kitaro to bail them out. It’s not unusual in any Kitaro series for him to have to save stupid kids, (I mean this is a thing) but I do find it somewhat fitting that the series with the most bitter Kitaro started with kids committing property damage for funsies and then were too headstrong to send for help most of the episode. This episode is unfortunately a bit of a mess however, as much of it is dedicated to shoehorning in every major character in the series, which makes it overly stuffed, and overall the yokai of the week was far from that intimidating to really call for every member of Kitaro's group to be present. This does sort of tie into an emphasis that the 2007 series had on showing tons of yokai and their daily lives though since in this series all the yokai live together in their own city.

Finally we have the current series running now, with its first episode also having some really dumb kids in it, but this time done much better. As it turns out a seal was removed unleashing a yokai all because of a dumb vlogger causing trouble for a YouTube video (*cough**cough*) The vampire tree made for some really great visuals in this episode, and a lot of time is dedicated explaining both the new human heroine Mana and our favorite old buddy Kitaro’s personalities and back stories. You really get to know both pretty well in this episode, and it ends with great set up for the original main villain created for this series that has been subtly building up over the course of the show ever since.

Overall, after watching so much GeGeGe no Kitaro I really gained a greater appreciation for the franchise as a whole. Seeing how much it reflects each decade since its original airing is really fun, and trying to find which series you like the most is a great challenge. I still just can’t decide! I love the currently modernized version of Kitaro running on TV right now, it’s easily the best animation and presentation the series has ever had (are we sure this is the same Toei we've always known?) and never talks down to its children audience, but I also feel like the 1968 Kitaro series has the perfect atmosphere and aesthetic that none of the other series have been able to match! Then there’s the 1985 series that really makes my blood boil with its incredibly 80’s rock ‘n roll soundtrack and awesome action. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to pick just one! Do you have a favorite GeGeGe no Kitaro? Let’s hear it.

Zero Frights: Devilman in Comic Form (1972-2012 - manga)

The majority of my Devilman coverage in this year’s Zero Frights has been all anime related, but the Devilman franchise covers a wide variety of entertainment mediums from animation, to video games, to comics, to live action, and more. I decided it’s high time I got around to talking about some of the other Devilman entries outside of just anime. That’s why I’m going to wrap up my Devilman coverage by looking at some of the Devilman manga that are currently in print in North America. Sadly, Go Nagai’s presence in the North American market place has been lackluster to say the least. In many European markets Nagai is huge and his books sell incredibly well, with tons of his work translated into French, Spanish, and Italian, but sadly for the longest time Nagai’s works could just never catch a break in English speaking markets. Much of this can be attributed to his work being too controversial for America in the 80’s and 90’s ... well sort of.

It isn't as if the American comics market didn't have some incredibly visceral, graphic, and downright upsetting content as well, oh no, the American comic scene may have very well been ready for Nagai, but the American manga market wasn't. Manga was just getting its footing in the North American market and had many set backs. It took a lot of effort from many corporations to finally give the medium a fighting chance in book and comic stores, and getting American readers to warm up to vastly different manga was a herculean task as well. While there are some weird experimentations like the Fist of the North Star release in the late-80’s, it was much too dangerous to put the incredibly young North American manga market at risk with Nagai’s more risqué and graphic works. Sadly as the market place matured, much of his backlog became too old to be deemed profitable by that point as well--really missing their chance. However, recent years have seen a renaissance in retro anime and manga, and the market for classics have never been this healthy so we’re finally seeing the floodgates slowly open on Nagai’s works.

Seven Seas’ has been leading the pack with a fantastic line of retro manga in their Classic Collection series: including the likes of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Space Battleship Yamato, Cutey Honey, and you guessed it, Devilman (1972). They also have a few more recent Devilman titles in print to boot. Let’s take a look at some!

Devilman Classic Collection (1972-79) - Like I said above Seven Seas’ Classic Collection line is really high quality. I love these huge hardcover tomes; this Devilman volume has over 680 pages and is about half of the entire manga, with the second half coming out in November. I really can’t recommend their Classic Collection line enough. As far as the manga itself goes, while Devilman is famous for its violence and sexual content, I think a lot of the 70’s campiness is often overlooked. This book is pretty goofy at times, and it may seem at odds with the graphic content, but this is where a lot of the fun from its era comes. This collection also contains all the chapters from the semi-sequel series Shin Devilman which featured time travel shenanigans. So one minute you’re reading a Devilman chapter where a child is being tortured to death by their monstrous parents, and the next minute it's a Shin Devilman chapter where Akira and Ryo are Quantum Leaping through time hoping the next jump will bring them back home. Thankfully Shin Devilman takes place during the original 1972 Devilman so this isn't really a continuity issue, but it being there can lead to some pretty hilarious connotations you don't usually see in most Devilman anime, like for instance, did you know Adolf Hitler was actually tricked into hating Jewish people by demons? I mean, yeah, the legendary ending of the 1972 original manga is one thing, but why aren't more people talking about Shin Devilman? This Hitler chapter, man, I just can't even. All jokes aside though I love this odd mixture of goofy and horrid; these two Devilman series make a great collection together and are a fantastic retro read that any fan of classic manga owes to themselves to check out.

Devilman Grimoire (2012) - Hey, did the original Devilman TV series ever sound interesting to you but you wished it was just as violent and sexual as the original manga series? Well do I have a manga for you! Devilman Grimoire by Rui Takato, is an interesting twist on the classic formula, where the demon Amon really does manage to posses Akira Fudo--it's Amon that's the one truly calling the shots here and in full control as the protagonist, but instead of going on a killing spree, he falls head over heels for Miki, himself just like Akira did. Miki is such a goddess even a demon can get a crush on her! With his newfound love, Amon lies and pretends to be Akira Fudo, and helps Miki fight off the many other demons now possessing people. This has become one of my favorite manga I've read this year, and each volume really tops the last. The sheer amount of fan service to the original TV series is insane, but there is also so many other nods and references to everything else in the franchise from Devilman Lady to Mao Dante. This is a series made by a huge fan of Devilman for other huge fans of Devilman, and I highly recommend it.

Devilman vs Hades (2012) - Much like Cyborg 009 vs Devilman, this is another cross-over that is hard to talk a lot about because of the sheer amount of spoilers for their respective series, but is a really well made homage to said series. I came into Team Moon’s Devilman vs Hades with zero expectations but came out really surprised how great it was. On paper Devilman fighting the villain of Great Mazinger seems rather odd, but it works incredibly well here in this book, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that it takes place in the post-apocalypse. Seeing the whole Hades title made me figure this manga would take place mostly in Hell, but a large chunk of it is in the destroyed ruins of Earth after the infamous ending of the original 1972 Devilman manga (so it is best to read this right after that). Seeing what remains of the Earth after the way the 1972 manga ended is a large part of what made this series for me. The fantastic artwork is both a blessing and a curse however, as when it works it is incredibly detailed and jaw dropingly beautiful, but there are more than a handful of times when the art is just incredibly hard to decipher what is even going on in the panels. There would be times where I would find myself thinking "it's pretty, but, what just happened?" Overall though, a really fun read that I did not expect.

Thank you so much for reading all my Devilman coverage this year, it has been one heck of a ride producing this much writing on Devilman in these past three weeks, and I hope you were able to enjoy it. Please look forward to Zero Frights shifting gears next week into GeGeGe no Kitaro! I have a lot I want to say about this franchise as well before Halloween is over, so there is still plenty horror based content to read here. 

Zero Frights: The Devilman Went Down to Netflix (2015-2018 - OVA / ONA)

Previously we discussed how the growth of the anime market place in the mid-to-late 80’s established a new production trend, the OVA, as well as a new precedent for violence and sexual content in animation. This new precedent in turn helped lead to the development of new Devilman anime that could incorporate the more brutal aspects of the manga without fear of broadcast standards or guidelines. With the advent of pay-per-view programming and On-Demand broadcasting, a similar change would occur to the market place again, Original Net Animation, or ONA for short.

The similarities between both OVA and ONA can seem rather negligible for most, where the biggest difference being their intended distribution: either through home video or some kind of video service. However, a gradual shift in the production of ONAs would eventually take place because of technological advances; with ONAs making the shift from being mostly pay-per-view or On-Demand, i.e. cable services, to internet streaming content, either original animations made by indie creators, or for the sake of this article, professionally made content for streaming platforms. 

ONAs have recently found themselves becoming a hot ticket item. Corporations are desperately trying to get a foothold in the streaming market and maintain staying power--keeping their customers paying every month; never lapsing in their subscriptions to their service. A key element to this is curating an extensive library of entertainment you cannot get anywhere else. This has lead to the creation of an astronomical amount of new entertainment, all catered to a younger, online audience instead of an traditional mainstream television audience, and the effects can be felt in almost every medium, anime is no exception.

Netflix’s forway into original anime started out slowly, first with just licensing already localized anime, then to translating and simulcasting new anime themselves, and eventually to funding the creation of their own anime. For Devilman it all started back in 2015 with an OVA series released in Japan called Cyborg 009 vs Devilman. Netflix ended up picking this series for international distribution. This OVA is a bit of an odd one, however, and you don’t see many people mention it, despite Devilman’s eventual rise to the mainstream a few years later on the very same platform. I imagine a large part of this may be the cross-over aspect, as not only do you need to be familiar with Devilman, but you also need to really know your Cyborg 009. Oh boy do I hope you know your cyborgs.

The first episode of this 3 episode OVA is the worst offender of this, as it has a cold opening that animates famous scenes from both series’ manga, a cool treat for long time fans, but an absolute nightmare for everyone else. Not only will the first 5 or so minutes of this anime be hard to follow, lead alone understand, for those who are new to one or both franchises; it’s also spoiler city, showing potential newcomers huge moments from their respective franchises way before they should. It would be as if Star Wars: A New Hope started with the scene from Empire where Darth Vader tells Luke he is his father, then rolls its credits and goes back to the start of A New Hope.

While I want to be more negative, however, the cold opening, while not newcomer friendly at all, is just so well made for its fans. This is also weirdly the only instance in any Devilman adaptation that Go Nagai’s use of negative space was replicated. Nagai loved using negative space in his manga, and Devilman is especially heavy on this use during particularly brutal or emotional scenes, yet no other anime ever made in the franchise actually tried to replicate this use of negative space other than the cold opening seen here. Perhaps this is a metaphor to best sum up the entire OVA, as it’s a fun romp that knew its two source materials inside and out (look no father than the ending theme animating legendary panels from both manga) but just is really hard for anyone to get into who wasn't already a huge fan. It’s a shame as this is great fun with a team up I never knew I wanted but ended up enjoying a lot, but it’s just so hard to recommend to anyone.

It would be 3 years later in 2018 where Devilman really got his major hit on Netflix, Devilman Crybaby, a brand new ONA produced in part for Netflix itself. Devilman Crybaby was helmed by directer, animator, and all around auteur, Masaaki Yuasa, an artist that was for the longest time was an underground darling but has recently started to really garner the more mainstream respect he deserves, much like Devilman itself. Yuasa and his studio Science Saru have a very unique look that isn't like what a lot of people may think when they hear "anime"--instead of usual highly detailed but stiff, Yuasa's works are mostly fresh and emphasize free form movement. Devilman has never looked like this before, and that’s probably the best way to describe Crybaby as a whole.

Yuasa and his team were able to take the original material and adapted it for modern audiences; revitalizing and updating aspects of it to better match today’s times. Crybaby is a whole new beast entirely, that examines parts of the manga that where there, if you read between some lines, and really gives them a brighter focus--aspect like puberty, and even homosexuality are all much thoroughly explored than their original 1972 counterparts where they mostly were left for subtext and later works in the franchise to flesh out. Police brutality, poverty, mob mentality, social movements, and the internet are also now examined under the microscope; aspects that weren't entirely new are given more depth than previous adaptations have ever really taken the source material as well. Devilman is no longer just a metaphor for war in Crybaby, it’s a metaphor for hate, injustice, and intolerance. It touches on how volatile and knee-jerk modern society can become. This is Devilman on a 21st century entertainment platform with 21st century values being examined. That’s the real secret to Crybaby’s success.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to Devilman Crybaby though is that it is the first animated adaptation to Devilman in over 45 years to ever adapt the original, infamous ending of the manga. That is insane to think about, it took four and a half decades until an entertainment platform outside of comics could show the ending. For many fans this was the cherry on top for Crybaby, something that seemed almost impossible by that point was finally delivered. And let me tell you, it was worth the wait. The original manga ending works especially well with this new interpretation of the material too--Yuasa and his team were able to really transform the whole thing into something beautiful. The less said about the ending, however, the better, so all I will say beyond this is: be ready. 

It’s hard to tell where Devilman may go in the future, we examined its prototype, we looked at the original TV series that started it all, went over its OVAs where the series really started to come into its own, and now ended on its ONA where it has finally found mainstream appeal on an online platform. Through the course of all these reviews I really enjoyed seeing how Devilman transformed with the anime market on a whole, but now that my Devilman coverage for this month is coming to end I will like to look at the original medium that it was created on; so the final piece of Devilman related content for this year’s Zero Frights will be an examination of some Devilman manga. Please look forward to it.