The Brigadoon Project is the name used to refer to Backbeard's ultimate goal and the primary reason of conflict between the Japanese and Western Yōkai in the sixth anime series. The project is first mentioned in Invasion! Backbeard's Army, the beginning of the adaptation's Western Yōkai Arc.
Details[]
The Brigadoon Project is the plan with which Backbeard plans to enslave all the world into submission, to do so, he needs the Ring of Arcana, a powerful magical artifact. By having a witch like Adél use the Ring of Arcana it can unleash its powers which in turn will transform humans into yōkai , allowing Backbeard to easily take over entire nations and essentially reign over yōkai and human alike.
Story[]
Pre-Series[]
At some point in the past Backbeard had Adél and Agnès' mother a loyal servant to use the Ring of Arcana's power, doing so however, costed her life. Horrified by this event Agnès decided to defy fate and steal the Ring of Arcana. The Ring was protected with a security alarm which prompted Agnès to escape, before being cornered by Adél and her forces. Refusing to accept Backbeard's plans for them, Agnès tried to escape on her broom. Adél tried to attack her but her attack was blocked by Nanashi who pointed to Agnès to where she should go, as he secretly plots to use the conflict for his own goals.
2018 Anime[]
Episode 27: As Agnès arrives in Japan disguised as a jewel from foreign yōkai seeking refuge after their land was taken over by Backbeard's Army, the high ranking Wolfgang appears and tries to reclaim the Ring and Agnès by force, sealing Kitaro and his friends in a magical barrier by using an artifact given to him by Adél. The refugee yōkai try to defend their new home, but Wolfgang easily destroys them and their souls. Kitaro not being able to stomach this cruelty, breaks the barrier and the gang confronts Wolfgang who using his werewolf form, overpowers them with little difficulty. Agnès provides Kitaro with a silver bullet which he used to injure Wolfgang and force him to retreat.
Episode 28: Agnès then tries to have Kitaro destroy the ring but is unsuccessful, so she uses a curse to unleash his powers at his fullest to try to destroy the ring, but fails as Adél is able to retrieve it in time. It turns out, that Backbeard ordered a massive invasion which results in a siege in the GeGeGe Forest. Adél and her lieutenants, Victor Frankenstein, Carmilla and Wolfgang, begin their assault on the forest. The Japanese yōkai put some resistance but the Western yōkai gain the advantage. Kitaro manages to gain control of his current powered form and fights Adél on even ground snatching the Ring from her as the Japanese yōkai are able to fight back against their aggressors.
Not late after, Backbeard himself appears and using his eye powers, repels Kitaro and bombard the forest. Agnès then decides to unleash the Ring's powers in order to fight against Backbeard. The western emperor is forced to retreat and orders his servants to do the same. Using the Ring, however, caused it to disappear, but Agnès reveals the Ring will materialize somewhere in Japan as it is by its nature, tied to the supernatural energies where it was last used.
Episode 29: Agnès requests Kitaro's help in stopping the Brigadoon Project and she explains what it entails, however Kitaro angered at Agnès' lack of concern for anybody else, demands that she leaves Japan as soon as she has the Ring. Before long, Agnès is able to detect the Ring and tries to acquire it but disappears before she can. Kitaro then appears and reprimands her for trying to search it in the open, as her yōkai nature causes trouble to humans.
She soon finds Mana Inuyama who tries to befriend her, although Agnès tries to distance herself so as to not put her in harm's way. After sleeping at her home Agnès tries to survive by herself but is found by Victor who was researching materials to be able to pinpoint the Ring's location. Agnès tries to fight but holds back as she doesn't want to cause more disturbances in a human city, allowing Victor to stun her with a lightning blast from his weapon. Mana then appears and demands Victor to stop, and the mad scientist falls in love with her. His advances terrify Mana until Kitaro attacks Victor as Agnès tell him to stop or else Victor will transform if he cries but the warning came too late. With a hulking size Victor seizes Mana and flees with Kitaro and Agnès in pursuit. Agnès manages to rescue Mana from Victor as he's teleported away by Adél. Agnès tries to distance herself from everyone so as to not cause further trouble but Kitaro proposes she stays at the yōkai apartment, where he can keep her under watch, thus enabling a more cooperative relationship.
Episode 30: In another attack by the western faction, Carmilla uses a virtual reality cinema in halloween in order to possess young girls into becoming her minions and use them to create even more minions. Neko-Musume and Mana are amongst the visitants and soon find themselves endangered. Kitaro and Agnès try to break into the cinema but it is protected by Adél's spell to counter Agnès'. The younger witch decides to mix her yokai power with Kitaro allowing her spell to not be countered by Adél's and manage to break in. Neko-Musume arrives where Carmilla is and takes a beating but not before buying enough time for Kitaro to arrive and putting the western yokai exactly in Kitaro's Finger Gun trajectory, and is soon blasted away but manages to survive.
Episode 32: The Ring of Arcana is later set to appear in Sakaiminato where Mana decides to take Agnès around the place. They meet Kojirō whom Agnès correctly deduces has a crush on Mana and decides to leave them together for awhile. Things take a turn for the worse when Kojirō accidentally releases Belial's sealed powers and the western yokai thirsty for revenge decides to assault the Karasu-Tengu village and later give Kojirō a beating to unleash his built up rage over the years. Belial is later summoned by Backbeard himself with the emperor tasking Belial to retrieve the Ring of Arcana in exchange for a position of power in the army. Belial accepts and attempts to retrieve the Ring but is opposed by Kitaro and his friends. Belial uses his Multiplication technique giving him the edge in battle, but Kojirō motivated by Mana is able to discern Belial's weak-point allowing Kitaro to defeat the western yokai. Agnès fails to retrieve the Ring in time but manages to restore the Karasu-Tengu village to normalcy.
Episode 33: When Kitaro's gang is tasked with protecting a human girl Yayoi from the Hakusanbō, they learn that the fox yokai has come to retrieve Yayoi as his bride. Kitaro is skeptical since the Hakusanbō is a known human eater but he claims that was the previous generation that he defeated and has no desire to eat Yayoi at all. His case is proven when Medama-Oyaji recognizes that the previous Hakusanbō was missing an eye. Hakusanbō shows a signed contract between him and Yayoi's father that give him wealth in exchange for Yayoi's hand so Kitaro is forced to desist. Things take a sudden change when the Ring of Arcana materializes inside Yayoi with Adél kidnapping the young girl and brings her to Buer so he can dissect her body for the treasure. Kitaro's gang and the Hakusanbō team up to save Yayoi and face the western yokai and manage to fend them off. When the Ring disappears from Yayoi the western faction retreats. Yayoi soon after, marries the Hakusanbō.
Episode 34: Following this incident Backbeard himself would take matters into his own hands and begins kidnapping Kitaro's friends one by one and hypnotism them into his minions. At the same time he would have Carmilla convince Nezumi-Otoko to rally the GeGeGe Forest residents into demanding Agnès leaves the country under the promise the western yokai will leave Japan. Carmilla soon after reveals this was nothing but a deception to isolate Agnès so Backbeard captures her and locks her inside his eye so she can bear witness to Kitaro being attacked by his manipulated friends in order to make her despair for her disobedience. Backbeard provokes Kitaro into choosing between himself or his friends, but he chooses both including to save Agnès and Nezumi-Otoko. The half-yokai then unleashes his putrid body fumes which incapacitates Carmilla and everyone possesed. Nezumi-Otoko ignites the gases in order to propel Kitaro to Backbeard cracking his eye allowed Agnès to burst free from the inside. Backbeard disappears pleased that Agnès is powerful enough to be used as the project's core. Kitaro asks Agnès the meaning behind his words but she does not respond.