Manga Review: Kitaro’s Yokai Battles by Shigeru Mizuki
Oh hey, I was missing one of the volumes of the Drawn & Quarterly Kitaro reprints! This one has an introduction that covers from 1966 to 1971. While the Hakaba no Kitaro series seemed like a good choice for animated adaptation, network executives thought it was too creepy for kids. So one of Mizuki’s other series, Akuma-kun, got the nod first. Then the artist was asked to create lyrics for a recording of potential anime theme songs. Yep, Shigeru Mizuki wrote the words to “Gegege no Kitaro”, and when “graveyard” was considered still too scary for TV, that song title became the anime’s title.
The success of the anime led to an explosion of interest in the manga, and at one point Mizuki was running stories with the character in five different manga magazines! The overwork caused him to collapse–the trap of success. He recovered, and lived many more years.
There’s seven stories in this volume, starting with “Hoko.” Kitaro receives a spavined horse as a reward for helping some yokai off-page. The greedy Nezumi-Otoko knocks Kitaro out and steals the steed, declaring that he’s now the star of the story. (Why are these two friends again?) The rat man is quickly approached by a forest yokai that offers him a chance to get in on the ground floor of a pickled daikon radish business. The stranger provides a huge barrel of sake wine, while Nezumi-Otoko steals all the daikon from the fields of a nearby village. (This kills the horse from overwork. Shame on you, Nezumi-Otoko!)
The recovering Kitaro hears about the missing daikon and quickly realizes who’s to blame. He investigates and the Hoko reveals its true nature as it stuffs Kitaro into the pickling vat as well. Eventually there’s a big battle where the Hoko uses its ability to split into four elemental forms. Kitaro prevails by tricking the forms into colliding the wrong way and eliminating each other.
“The Great Hair Battle” starts with an isolated island village having to choose a human sacrifice to the Hair God. Naturally, they decide on Hanako the orphan girl. She’s friends with a crow, and Kaw flies off to seek help. Kitaro’s away, so Nezumi-Otoko hears that the high priest is just a hairy eyeball and figures maybe he can handle this solo.
The rat man is able to get Hanako out of her pre-sacrifice cell, and Kemedama is yeah, kind of a wimp. But the priest is crafty and gets Nezumi-Otoko to try to steal a magical mirror. This turns out to be the portal through which the Hair God operates, and the greedy yokai is swallowed up. When the village is unable to deliver the expected sacrifice as Hanako is well hidden, they try a substitute girl only to be told they’ll need to sacrifice a hundred humans.
To enforce his will, the Hair God controls all the villagers’ hair as its military. Meanwhile, Hanako contacts Kitaro, who brings the Self-Defense Force with him to the island. This proves to be a tactical mistake, as the Hair God simply controls the soldiers’ hair as well. Only Kitaro’s better relationship with his own hair allows him to use it as a spy. He smashes the mirror, freeing Nezumi-Otoko and reducing the Hair God to merely a lump of sentient hair that can be entombed.
“Amefuri Tengu” is about a tengu “crow” goblin that’s causing anyone who drives an automobile through the new mountain pass road to be “blown away.” His weakness is turning into stone when it rains, but at the end it’s conceded that the exhaust fumes in his territory were too much, and the road is closed to motorized traffic.
“Doro Tabo” takes place at a military airfield that is being haunted by mud monsters whenever it rains. It turns out the base was made by paving over rice fields and displacing the farmers who died of heartbreak. The military agrees to properly memorialize the dead so their spirits will be at peace.
“Akashita”, “red tongue”, is a gigantic yokai that controls water, and is working with Hone-Onna (bone woman) to become the new king of the yokai. Naturally, Nezumi-Otoko switches allegiance to the more powerful monster until it’s tricked into drinking Kitaro’s digestive fluids, which turn out to be Akashita’s one weakness.
“Oboro Guruma” guest stars Shigeru Mizuki himself (we can tell it’s actually him by the missing arm.) Somehow, the local cafe has become a thin spot between the human and yokai worlds, and Mizuki meets Kitaro and Nezumi-Otoko, taking them home to meet his long-suffering wife and toddler daughter. The neighborhood is covered with mist, and soon becomes a no-go area for humans as the yokai take it over.
Mizuki’s kind of resigned to the new government, but Kitaro realizes that he needs to destroy the device causing the mist. Afterwards, the Mizuki family are the only ones that remember the events–everyone else acts as though there had never been any yokai at all. Very meta.
“Hakusanbo” begins with a man about to commit suicide due to poverty and bad luck when the title yokai, a particularly wicked kitsune fox spirit, offers to help him out…in exchange for being allowed to marry the man’s daughter when she turns sixteen. Sure enough, the man’s luck turns and he becomes prosperous.
Hanako (no relation to the previous one) is not keen on marrying a man she’s never met, especially a monster. She consults with Sunakake-Baba (Sand Witch). The old lady yokai soon determines that Hakusanbo is planning to eat his bride. She summons Kitaro to help.
Kitaro scores an easy victory at first, but Hakusanbo is tricky, and it comes down to a shapeshifting battle.
The volume finishes with “Yokai Files” that talk a bit about the folklore of the monsters. For example, oboro guruma, “hazy carts”, are the result of people fuming about not getting good parking spots.
Of the stories, Oboro Guruma is the most interesting, but all of them have exciting bits and some fascinating art. Recommended to monster fans!
