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.

Zero Frights: Devilman: The Birth & Devilman: The Demon Bird Sirene (1987-1990 - OVA)

As discussed previously, when the Devilman manga originally started in 1972 Japanese television was not yet ready for it. GeGeGe no Kitaro just hit the airways only 4 years prior, and it was a long road transferring that particular horror themed series from the pages of manga to the small screen--which was thought far too morbid for children until then. Devilman as a manga is renowned for its sexual themes, grotesque violence, and hideous monsters, but as a manga it’s still not too out there. There was other more extreme stuff in print by that point in the early 70’s, and it was far from the only manga to touch on incredibly mature themes. The point is, for a manga, while still shocking--especially for its younger boy to teenage audience--it was still right at home for a manga, where as the budding television anime market was far too young to touch it.

That’s where the ever expanding anime market of the mid-to-late 80’s and early 90’s really came in. The growth of the anime market saw original video animation (OVA), or direct-to-video film and shows that bypassed theatres and television alike instead going directly to the consumer. The waves of OVAs to follow in the years after Dallos would range wildly in quality--many productions, such as The Heroic Legend of Arslan, were passion projects that animators poured all their imagination and talent into; as well as all their money--while other productions just seemed to really relish this new found freedom to work out of the restraints, guidelines and censors, leading to a golden age (or maybe a dark age depending on whom you ask) of overly violent and sexual animation. All kinds of schlock would eventually fill video stores, and titles like Urotsukidoji and Demon City Shinjuku started to become the norm for anime shelves. Finally there was an animated market where Devilman would feel right at home.

For the longest time these two particular Devilman OVAs were easily the closest to the original material that any anime had ever got--a somewhat ironic statement when you realize these 2 OVAs were adaptations of the Devilman novelization written by Go Nagai’s brother, and not actually a straightforward adaptation of the manga itself; although it’s a pretty common misconception that it is amongst fans. But all that aside, the franchise finally had an animated series that fit the visceral tone of the original manga: an anime with all the blood, violence and tiddies that the manga had, and maybe even more! For that alone it’s easy to see why The Birth and The Demon Bird Sirene are still very fondly remembered today more than 20+ years later. Both OVAs were directed by the late Umanosuke Iida, who later went on to direct and storyboard part of the Hellsing OVA, but has storyboarded, directed, and drawn key animation for many other works--touching everything from Cowboy Bebop, to Lupin the Third, to even Mobile Suit Gundam. It would not be unreasonable for newcomers to worry over the quality of The Birth or The Demon Bird knowing the bad reputation OVAs from this era have--mostly that the majority of them are nothing but pure schlock--but thankfully both land overwhelmingly on the artistic side instead. If anything, The Birth and The Demon Bird are those rare crossbreeds that go full batshit in the sex and violence not to shock the audience or to disguise a low budget, but to compliment the story they tell.

The 2 OVAs compliment each other, with each leaning heavily on different aspects. The Birth is just that, the birth of Akira Fudo becoming Devilman. This OVA relies heavily on suspense and while it may be a bit too exposition heavy, it is actually my favorite of the two. The general atmosphere of The Birth is just handled so creepily and all the world building and set up is just so fascinating, that I don’t mind if it’s essentially; Ryo explains demons to Akira: the movie. The small fights dispersed in-between conversations certainly helps too, and more interestingly, they are all Akira and Ryo desperately struggling with just their wits and everyday weapons (mostly a lot of guns), instead of relying on superpowers. Of course that is until the ending bloodbath where Akira finally becomes Devilman and all hell gloriously breaks loose. The Demon Bird is the polar opposite of The Birth, where very little is explained since pretty much all of that has been covered, and instead goes all in on action scenes. This is where the OVAs bring in some of their best animation, as it essentially runs through back-to-back battles with all the biggest, baddest demons in the franchise, culminating with the final fight against Sirene. Together the two strike a very perfect balance of story and action, and are really satisfying to marathon.

The Birth and The Demon Bird are such solid fun OVAs that have some of the best the late 80’s could really offer, but they are also kind of infamous on the internet too--but not for what you might think. It isn't the actual content but the hilarious and genuinely gratuitous dub that that it received from Manga Entertainment. This practice was very common for Manga Entertainment back then, whom banked on a lot of hyper violent, sexual, horror anime releases in rental stores. This lead to their dubbing adding a whole slew of swearing and F-bombs that wasn't ever present in the Japanese scripts in the hopes to raise the age rating of the anime in order for it to have to be placed near the Rated R (or equivalent) movies in rental stores. That way when the average Joe is checking out Friday the 13th Part LXIX they might stumble onto Devilman in the store and want to check it out too. There are of course people who will tell you to steer clear of this ludicrous dub and just stick with the much more appropriate Japanese audio and subtitles, but I honestly highly recommend it at least once. A dub this insane has to be experienced, and honestly how fitting is it that OVAs known for their shock value and schlock ended up getting dubs that try so hard to be shocking and schlock-y! It’s in some ways the perfect dub for Devilman (okay maybe only in crazy town logic it is, but whatever).

No matter how you do watch the The Birth and The Demon Bird however, you are definitely in for a good time with what was one of the best Devilman adaptations for many, many years.

Zero Frights: Devilman (1972 - anime)

As discussed earlier in my Zero Frights Introduction and my Mao Dante Review the original 1972 Devilman anime played a key role in the creation of the franchise as a whole. The short version for the uninitiated is that executives over at Toei animation wanted to create a series based around Nagai’s earlier Mao Dante (aka Demon Lord Dante) manga but with changes to make it more appropriate for television and a hero with a more humanoid appearance. Nagai felt that instead of just tweaking the earlier Mao Dante into something else he should start fresh and this is how he took similar elements from Mao Dante reworked them and created the new series Devilman.

Nagai oversaw the production of the TV series and was invested in it greatly but would later put most of his attention into his own manga version that he controlled himself. Eventually the two projects diverged and became wildly different. This was due in part to Nagai’s freestyle writing without any planning ahead as well as how he felt the audience for the magazine in which his manga was serialized under was much older than an audience that would watch television anime making him feel a need to up the maturity level of his work.

Some of the major characters from the manga not present in the anime came about because of these reasons, with the biggest example being the character Ryo Asuka whom was a key component to the manga but noticeably absent in the anime. Go Nagai conceived of Ryo much too late in the production cycle for the anime to incorporate him into their version, much to the dismay of some of the staff whom loved the character and felt he would have been a fantastic addition to the anime version. The anime seemed to try its hand rather hard from that point to create its own hand similar character, first with the rival character Iwao Himura and later with the demon Dorango, former friend turned foe.

It’s the intended audience that is the biggest difference between the two works, however, and goes much deeper than just missing characters. The television anime was conceived to thematically be about evil vs evil, with the villainous demon Devilman assuming the role of the now deceased Akira Fudo and falling in love with the “goddess” Miki Makimura. Instead of spreading death and destruction like originally intended Devilman fights to protect Miki and her family because of this love he now harbors even though it meant fighting the very evil forces he was once part of. Eventually we watch Devilman grow as a better person--he mellows out and loses some of that sharp edge he used to have, and noticeably carries a deeper respect for ideals like love and friendship. This is very much at odds with the strong anti-war message of the manga where humans assume demonic forms and power being a message for war drafting and arming young people with weapons. The second the protagonist Akira Fudo lets the demon Amon possess him he is throwing away his innocence and arming himself with a weapon. Hate begets more hate and the cycle becomes increasingly violent until eventually things go too far. Devilman the anime sees concepts like justice and love winning out in the end where as Devilman the manga sees a world where violence carries heavy consequences.

The Devilman manga is a story with a deeper meaning meant to be interpreted through its pages and it’s easy to look at that and feel the original 1972 anime just doesn't belong with its typical tokusatsu superhero monster-of-the-week formula, which is why it has a bad rap amongst some fans. This however is pretty unfair as the 1972 anime series is thoroughly well crafted and written. Scenario writer and novelist Masaki Tsuji oversaw much of the writing for the anime and produced incredibly solid scripts for the series. Tsuji was a huge writer at the time and wrote a large amount of episodes for an extensive amount of now legendary TV series such as Astro Boy, GeGeGe no Kitaro, Cyborg 009, Tiger Mask, Dokonjo Gaeru, Babel II, Dr Slump, and Giant Gorg--just to name a few.

Putting aside the manga, and what the franchise later evolved into--after all there was no franchise at this point--the original 1972 Devilman is a great 70’s superhero series that really deserves more love from the fans. Devilman’s multiple powers are all fun with cheesy names like Devil Cutter, Devil Eye, and Devil Beam (that the catchy opening song of course explains), and he posses the ability to grow into a giant much like Ultraman. Fights are dynamic and even a bit bloody at times, but the best aspect by far, however, is the fun monsters-of-the-week themselves. These demons typically looked grotesque and often used underhanded and sometimes actually scary methods to fight Devilman. A lot of the demons in the original manga made an appearance here and they are all great enemies for Devilman to fight. The general horror themed based animation really just started by this point on Japanese television as GeGeGe no Kitaro only just aired 4 years prior, so you can see the yokai boom in full effect.

The 1972 Devilman anime is one of my personal favorites from this era and anyone that enjoys older tokusatsu shows or are looking for some horror in their cheesy monster-of-the-week romps can easily fall in love with this series. I always was really fascinated with the series just for the fact that it stars the demon (not yet named Amon) instead of Akira Fudo as well. That difference is just so interesting in retrospect for the franchise and puts a whole other spin on much of the later created content. There’s also obvious Mao Dante trappings left behind that are a lot of fun to notice for long time fans as well; such as the demons all living in a frozen wasteland and being sealed in ice for thousands of years, the character Zannin who is blatantly just a reused Zennon from Mao Dante, and the ruler of the villainous Demon Tribe looking very much like a silhouette of Mao Dante himself as well as (kind of confusingly) being named Zennon.

The series as of late as found a renewed interest thanks largely in part to the many lovingly placed references to it in the brand new Devilman Crybaby. Thankfully it is incredibly easy to get a hold of nowadays as well because of Discotek releasing it on DVD (you know I was there on Day-1). The Discotek release contains a great translation that is easy to understand which is a huge improvement over the old days where I watched the series with bootleg English subtitles that were pretty questionable and always refereed to Devilman as Debiman (I like to think this was his nickname because he ate one too many Little Debbie snacks). With such a huge milestone as Go Nagai’s 50^th anniversary this year and all the recent releases for Devilman in North America from Netflix to the many newly released manga, maybe now the original anime can finally get some more love too.

Zero Frights: Mao Dante (2002 - anime)

So I am going to kick off Zero Frights by looking at Devilman titles released in North America. We’ll be starting this process by taking a closer look at the three Devilman anime released on home video by Discotek. All of these releases are currently in print. Tonight’s blog entry will be on the first of the three, Mao Dante.

Mao Dante (or Demon Lord Dante as it’s often translated) was Go Nagai’s orignal attempt at making a horror based manga where the forces of good and evil are not clearly discernible at the beginning. Although popular the original 1971 manga was canceled because of the magazine it was published in going under. Despite this it caught the eyes of some executives at Toei animation who wished to create an anime based around Mao Dante but with slight alterations to make it fit better for TV. So Nagai reworked elements from Mao Dante and Devilman was created. It took almost 30 years of living in Devilman’s shadow ever since but Mao Dante finally got its due in the year 2002 with a brand new manga Shin Mao Dante (sometimes referred to as New or Neo Mao Dante) that remakes the entire series as well as adding new content--the most prominent of which being an actual ending, and an anime adaptation of the original 1971 manga which will be our main focus tonight.

The Mao Dante anime comes from that magical era in the early 2000’s where animie studios wanted to remake classics but they were all especially terrible at it. You know right from the start if you’re picking up a show from 2001 - 2005 that adapts a classic manga you’re in for an awful time. I’m not saying every attempt at it back then was bad, after all we got the much beloved Captain Herlock: Endless Odyssey (2002) out of that era, but well, I am saying Mao Dante was in good company, with the majority of its contemporaries being more akin to Babel II Beyond Infinity (2001), and the mega hit show that everyone loves: Genma Wars (2002). Who could forget Genma Wars?!!! I know I can’t; I tried. The less-than-stellar track record of this early 2000’s fad of trying to cash in on classics combined with the fact that most of these animes were created very cheaply when the use of digital paint was just in its infancy and they all look especially terrible really is a gut punch whenever you scroll through titles of this era. We live in a much better time where the majority of anime based on classic manga get the treatment they deserve.

So you may be asking yourself, besides some poor presentation what’s so wrong with the Mao Dante anime? Well ignoring the bad animation and funky Adam West Batman - esque soundtrack (yes, the background music is bonkers, and never fitting for any scene) the worst culprit is the medium itself. The Mao Dante television anime should have never existed. I’m not saying that in a bitter, sarcastic way either, but as an actual critique from someone who read the manga. You see, Mao Dante is incredibly short, it was published in just 2 manga volumes. It’s a brisk read, you can honestly finish the entire thing in about 90 minutes, probably even less. There is just barley any content to work with here. The studio behind this adaptation should have instead just focused on creating a feature film based on Mao Dante or at least only made Mao Dante a 2-3 episode OVA series. Instead we have 13 entire episodes, over 300 minutes of content, telling something you can read the entirety of while cooking dinner. Basically, I hope you like filler content and a story that is paced as fast as snails, because that’s what you’re getting.

This is the most detrimental aspect of the Mao Dante anime, it’s filled to the brim with so much poorly written content not in the original source material, that does not jive well at all with Nagai’s story. For example, the first 3 episodes, none of that was in the manga, just throw it away. You lose nothing! These early episodes try their best to build a slow and suspenseful atmosphere, almost like a mystery themed series, but as soon as the original source material comes back into the story, they just feel off. The conspiracy about Satanist trying to summon their lord Dante back to this world just isn’t that creepy when you later learn these Satanist are lovable outcast, and that Demon Lord Dante is the result of a pissed off dude flying a space ship that is being eaten by a dinosaur while another dinosaur is eating that dinosaur, and all of them got blasted by fire from God who just turns out to be an alien causing them to mutate into one powerful being. So basically Demon Lord = pissed off dude + space ship + dinosaur + dinosaur + alien flamethrower. Got it.

And don’t get me wrong, I love this! I unironically eat this up, this is the campy apeshit kind of science-fiction story I can’t get enough of from the 1970’s. But that’s just it, at its core, Mao Dante is more of a sci-fi series with Christian imagery than an actual story about the struggle of Heaven and Hell. It’s a battle of disgusting looking espers fighting angelic looking aliens. All of this occult mystery stuff really is just basic window dressing in the manga and does not need to take up one quarter of the anime. And this has nothing on the awful Four Demon Kings story arc that literally made no sense and takes up another quarter of the anime. I know Nagai was fast and loose with mythology but at least Medusa feels somewhat at home mixed in with the Christian demons, unlike Buddhist Gods; like what the hell--they aren’t even European.

So we got a sci-fi series at its core with cool Christian imagery now turned into this mess of an occult mystery-conspiracy, meets Buddhist Gods rampaging through Asia, meets an evil corporation that is mass producing fake demons to trick people into hating the real demons, meets I dunno, office hijinx? Add filler characters that are dull, and that minor characters from the manga are given new story arcs they didn’t need nor should have gotten. Why did minor villain Souske need to become a good person? He was a rotten dude in the manga that got off from murdering and torturing innocent demons too weak to fight back. Did I really need to delve into his internal struggles? By making the villains more symptomatic it honestly does a disservice to the manga. It can be kind of hard to decide who to root for sometime while watching this anime version because everyone is just some kind of muddled where the manga is very straightforward on the characters and that when you get beyond how hideous and grotesque the demons are, they are really the true victims and the good guys.

Mao Dante is a horror anime where everything that shouldn't be ugly is ugly: cheap animation abound, lazy character designs, backgrounds constantly warp and change in size, the story is bastardized: riddled with filler, terrible pacing, inappropriate thematic elements, and nothing is scary at all. Honestly Mao Dante is unintentionally hilarious most of the time, with the majority of its attempts at frights creating laughs instead. There’s none of the hyper violence Go Nagai is known for nor any of the sexual content either. It’s an incredibly sterile anime given its material. Stay far away from the Mao Dante anime, no matter how curious you may be about the origins of Devilman. My suggestion is to just read the manga. It’s a light and easy read that is pretty fun. Any fan of classic manga owes it to themselves. Likewise the 2002 Shin Mao Dante remake is an incredibly good read that improves greatly on the original material, has a nice ending, and is all around fun too.

Zero Frights: An Introduction to Devilman & GeGeGe no Kitaro

It’s October 1 today and Halloween already feels like it’s around the corner. For me October marks the start of one of my favorite times of the year--fall weather is a welcome relief from the summer heat, the seasonal food is fantastic, and everybody is a little spookier than normal. It’s just the right time of year to get cozy and enjoy something creepy. That’s why for the past couple years I've desperately wanted to do something horror themed for my blog and sadly I have always fallen short. Last year we got to look at the creepy Kamaitachi no Yoru, but that was just one review and not the celebration of the spooky scaries that I've always wanted.

That’s why I doubled down this year and decided to go all in on a new series of reviews. This is a bit of an experiment to say the least, and I’m not sure if any of this will make it to next year, but I want to try to keep throwing out spooky content until something sticks--thus Zero Frights is now born. Zero Frights will be a series of shorter reviews on horror themed anime and video games that I cover all through the month of October. This means that instead of my usual one or two large reviews a month I am going to be releasing a bunch of smaller ones. How many? Well it’s actually kind of hard to say at this point, I’m just making it all up as I go along.

This is the basic concept I decided to go with, however for this year I am already going to make an exception. Yeah, I know, I just started and I got excuses! It’s just that this year is a bit different from most as 2018 marks two hugely important 50^th anniversaries: the anniversary of Go Nagai starting his manga career, and the anniversary of the first GeGeGe no Kitaro TV anime from 1968. It was because of this that both Nagai and Mizuki got the red carpet treatment in 2018 with both creators getting brand new animes: the Mazinger Z Infinity film, Cutey Honey Universe, & Devilman Crybaby for Nagai’s 50th, and the brand new ongoing GeGeGe no Kitaro for its anniversary.

Devilman and Kitaro are two huge franchises that I love and have always wanted to do something with for Halloween so I am instead going to put all my focus into just these two this year because of these anniversaries. That unfortunately means the very first (and maybe only) Zero Frights is going to lack any video game content. If this ever goes beyond just this year I will try to make up for that in the future.

So to get everyone up to pace I will just give a quick rundown of both Devilman and GeGeGe no Kitaro’s histories. Let’s start with Devilman because why not.

Devilman is a series from famous manga creator Go Nagai, best known for his big 3 franchises: Mazinger, Cutey Honey, and you guessed it: Devilman (no coincidence all 3 got new anime to celebrate his career milestone this year). But Nagai is perhaps even more well known for his love of pushing the envelope and creating new controversies to enrage parents across Japan. Sometimes Nagai was shock value for shock value’s sake but other times he could be deeply moving and really beautiful. Whatever the case though, if you picked up a manga from Nagai it was gonna be absolutely grotesque, hyper violent, and full of tits. That’s Uncle Go for you.

Devilman started as an anime and manga series simultaneously in 1972, and was more or less Nagai remaking an earlier canceled manga Mao Dante (otherwise known as Demon Lord Dante). In both Mao Dante and Devilman Nagai wanted to show how good and evil aren't always clear, and while nowadays we have a multitude of angels are the bad guys stories (SMT loves that especially) for 1972 in a children’s manga magazine this was pretty groundbreaking stuff. Most classic anime fans agree that Devilman and the earlier Mao Dante are some of the most influential groundworks for apocalyptic narratives in anime today.

I covered a lot of information about the late Shigeru Mizuki and Kitaro earlier in a blog post I wrote dedicated to Mizuki after his passing in 2015, but since then I have learned a lot more about about both and I don't particularly like that post much now. If you don’t want to skim it I think the best way to sum up Mizuki is the father of modern yokai stories. Mizuki helped to popularize yokai in a post-WWII Japan where silly old folk stories and superstitions were deemed too old hat for the (then) modern era. Mizuki was able to make yokai popular again and because of that it started the yokai boom in the 70’s where it seemed everyone wanted to have a yokai anime or manga: with imitators like Yokai Ningen Bem, Dororo, and Dororon Enma-kun (from none other than Go Nagai himself).

What separates Mizuki from all his imitators though is that the man was a living, breathing yokai encyclopedia. Literally! He wrote multiple encyclopedias about yokai, and these are not just fun little anime merch, but real, actual academic encyclopedias. He was considered to be an expert on the subject and his depictions of yokai have ended up becoming some of the default art work for them in modern times. Mizuki’s work at depicting yokai in of itself has had huge affects on lots of creators. Kazuma Kaneko the main artist for much of the Shin Megami Tensei series found a lot of his inspiration for demon designs from Mizuki’s encyclopedias for example.

GeGeGe no Kitaro itself is perhaps one of the earliest horror themed animated series to air in Japan but the road to getting there was actually rough. Kitaro went through a lot of transformations or earlier prototypes, if you will, over the years to reach that point. Before GeGeGe no Kitaro there was the more morbid Hakaba Kitaro (or Kitaro of the Graveyard). This was considered too scary for children though, and Mizuki was able to tone down some aspects of this manga and find the just right mix of horror and action to make his yokai knowhow into the money maker we know today. Kids ate it up and ever since then Kitaro has enjoyed success on TV for over 50 years. Every decade sees a new series, a new generation to grow up with these characters, and we are now in the middle of the most current Kitaro anime on TV. Kitaro isn’t stopping any time soon even after Mizuki’s passing.