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GeGeGe no Kitarō (2007)

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The fifth anime was aired from April 1, 2007 to March 29, 2009, replacing Digimon Savers on the Sunday 8 AM timeslot, until it was replaced by Dragon Ball Kai on April 5, 2009. It ran for 100 episodes. This series was notable for portraying Neko-Musume as a main rather than supporting cast member and for taking place primarily at the setting of Yōkai Yokochō.

Story[]

"Hello, humans. My name is GeGeGe no Kitarō. If strange or mysterious things happen around you, it is undoubtedly the work of a yōkai. In many cases, yōkai just cause mischief or will only threaten humans. However, please be careful. I can't guarantee that there are other yōkai that will understand you humans like we do. There are yōkai that target and attack humans. It would mean serious trouble if you came across them. Standing your ground with human abilities alone will not be enough. The truth is, yōkai are amazing. Honestly, my friends and I are allies of humans; we're the ones that solve incidents by defeating evil yōkai. With that being said, if anything scary happens, please call out for me! My dad, Neko-Musume, Sunakake-Babaa, Konaki-Jijii and the others will continue to protect you from fearsome yōkai! Next time, we will appear in front of you!"

About[]

As established with the title of the first epsiode, "The Street Where Yōkai Dwell", this series stood out for focusing primarily on the lives and struggles of the yōkai like on Yōkai Yokochō. The style mixes social commentary and pop culture trends, and each episode starts with Kitarō narrating to the audience in a darkened area to build anticipation for the story.

Other unique elements to this series include the depiction of Kitarō as several decades old but still with the body of a child. He is also more willing to punish humans who commit wicked deeds, especially if children are involved. Neko-Musume is promoted from supporting cast to main heroine and appears in every episode along with Kitarō and Medama-Oyaji. In contrast, Nezumi-Otoko has a significantly smaller role, whereas in the past he appeared in all but a couple of episodes throughout the other four adaptations. Although his basic treatment was unchanged, there were several episodes early on where he barely appeared or didn't appear at all. There are also several episodes that are treated as sequels to classic stories, or episodes that are adaptations of classic stories but have a mostly original plot. In the episodes that referenced past cases, the exact details of the cases were left unclear, and elements from the original stories were mixed in with the new plot. For example, in episode #3 they mention having fought Yasha in the past and implications are made he is the same character from the fourth series. Writer Keiichi Hasegawa claims to not be aware of the referrences, but head writer Riku Sanjō has suggested it's easier for the fans to think it's the older characters.

The Yōkai Post is used less frequently, and more often it is Neko-Musume who informs Kitarō of yōkai activity.

Yōkai who had usually only made a handful of appearance in past adaptations, such as Kawauso and Azuki-Arai, are given far more screen time and battle appearances, though as a result of this, the regular Kitarō Family members have a somewhat smaller presence. Weapons like the Yōkai Ocarina and close human allies like Yumeko Tendō or Yūko Murakami are absent this time around, although there is a recurring human character in Makoto Washio. However, the team of Nurarihyon and Shu-no-Bon were brought back as the main antagonists. Unlike previous adaptations, Nurarihyon is depicted as a completely legitimate threat with very few comical moments, although he does show a shred of humanity. He was also depicted with more regular minions other than Shu-no-Bon and even gathered some as the series progressed. The Western Yōkai, who had always made only one appearance in previous adaptations, were also made recurring antagonists. Other long term plans of the series included the 47 Yōkai Warriors, allies of Kitarō's representing each of the 47 prefectures of Japan who were to be introduced gradually.

In an interview with "Otona Anime", Sanjō expressed interest in building the show to run for several years, but the series was abruptly cancelled to make room for the series "Dragon Ball Kai". A lot of stories were left unsettled and so many staff and voice actors of the series referred to the cancellation as a hiatus. In the outro for the final episode, Kitarō even implies the series may continue at a future date. Following the cancellation, Kitarō's voice actress Minami Takayama and other staff members teamed up with Shigeru Mizuki to begin campaigning for a continuation of the series, even campaigning at the World Yōkai Association's annual event in Kyoto at the Toei Kyoto Studio Park.

The entire series was shot digitally, in contrast to the previous series which didn't go digital until episode 64. It was broadcast in widescreen for the terrestrial broadcast and it was displayed in high definition, though this was actually done with upscaling. It was originally cut to full screen for analogue broadcasts, but in December 2008 this changed to letterbox.

Theme Songs[]

Opening
  1. GeGeGe no Kitarō - Shigeru Izumiya (Ep. 1~51)
  2. GeGeGe no Kitarō - The 50 Kaitenz (Ep. 52~100)
Endings
  1. Urameshi Ya - Hidekazu Nagai (Ep. 1~26)
  2. Yōkai Yokochō GeGeGe Bushi - Junichi Suwabe (Ep. 27~51)
  3. Kakumei no Uta ~Diggin'~ - Rock'a'Trench (Ep. 52~64)
  4. Natsu no Mamono - Tsuru (Ep. 65~76)
  5. Star Fruits - Merengue (Ep. 75~89)
  6. Mikazuki to Kitakaze - Hi Lockation Markets (Ep. 90~100)

Soundtrack

  • TV GeGeGe no Kitarō Original Soundtrack (2007, 39 tracks)

Cast[]

Main Cast
Minami Takayama Isamu Tanonaka Hiromi Konno Wataru Takagi
Minami Takayama
as
Kitarō 		Isamu Tanonaka
as
Medama-Oyaji
Youaltepuztli 		Hiromi Konno
as
Neko-Musume 		Wataru Takagi
as
Nezumi-Otoko
Shibaten
Main Cast
Keiko Yamamoto Naoki Tatsuta Jouji Yanami
Keiko Yamamoto
as
Sunakake-Babaa
Shisa 		Naoki Tatsuta
as
Konaki-Jijii
Nurikabe 		Jōji Yanami
as
Ittan-Momen
Main Recurring Cast
Yuuko Maruyama Haruna Ikezawa Machiko Toyoshima Sara Nakayama Yasuhiro Takato Hideyuki Tanaka
Yūko Maruyama
as
Kawauso 		Haruna Ikezawa
as
Amabie 		Machiko Toyoshima
as
Rokuro-Kubi
Kuro 		Sara Nakayama
as
Yobuko 		Yasuhiro Takato
as
Kasa-Bake
Wild
Kyūso 		Hideyuki Tanaka
as
Bakerō
Recurring Cast
Toshio Furukawa Tomoko Naka Masato Hirano Takeshi Kusao Hikaru Midorikawa
Toshio Furukawa
as
Aobōzu 		Tomoko Naka
as
Ohaguro-Bettari
Jion-Ō 		Masato Hirano
as
Abura-Sumashi 		Takeshi Kusao
as
Makoto Washio 		Hikaru Midorikawa
as
Kuro-Karasu
Recurring Cast
Takeshi Aono Katsuyuki Konishi Reiko Suzuki Masami Kikuchi
Takeshi Aono
as
Nurarihyon 		Katsuyuki Konishi
as
Shu-no-Bon
Azuki-Arai
Dracula III 		Reiko Suzuki
as
Jakotsu-Babaa 		Masami Kikuchi
as
Kamaitachi
Recurring Cast
Daisuke Gori Masashi Hirose Eiji Takemoto Hidekatsu Shibata Ai Nonaka
Daisuke Gōri
as
Enma-Daiō 		Masashi Hirose
as
Gokan-Ō 		Eiji Takemoto
as
Sō-Daiō 		Hidekatsu Shibata
as
Backbeard 		Ai Nonaka
as
Zambia
Semi-Recurring Cast
Fumihiko Tachiki Isshin Chiba Daisuke Kishio Masumi Asano Hiro Shimono
Fumihiko Tachiki
as
Akamata 		Isshin Chiba
as
Langsuyar 		Daisuke Kishio
as
Po 		Masumi Asano
as
Miu 		Hiro Shimono
as
Kai
Semi-Recurring Cast
Mayumi Tanaka Hisao Egawa Kouji Yada Naomi Kusumi Masaya Takatsuka Daisuke Sakaguchi
Mayumi Tanaka
as
Nurikabe-Nyōbō
Kemedama 		Hisao Egawa
as
Tsurube-Otoshi 		Kōji Yada
as
Ido-Sennin 		Naomi Kusumi
as
Yagyō-san
Dai-Tengu 		Masaya Takatsuka
as
Tsurube-Bi 		Daisuke Sakaguchi
as
Tofu-Kozō
Semi-Recurring Cast
Mie Sonozaki Rumi Kasahara Jouji Nakata Bin Shimada Chikao Ohtsuka
Mie Sonozaki
as
Aoi 		Rumi Kasahara
as
Yuki-Jorō 		Jōji Nakata
as
Yadōkai 		Bin Shimada
as
Qi 		Chikao Ōtsuka
as
Hakusanbō

Main Cast Notes[]

Guest Cast[]

Voice actors who voiced main characters in previous adaptations are listed bold.

Episodes[]

# Title Original airdate Written by Directed by Animation director Yōkai

Staff[]

Movies[]


Revival attempts[]

Riku Sanjō revealed on an interview for Otona-Media that the fifth anime was planned to be at least 126 episodes in total and potentially up to 150 episodes. Its abrupt end was due to several causes; Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers severely declined sales of related items of many animes hence the sponsors made Tōei to lose its budget, and correspondingly, it was their timing to promote Dragon Ball series for upcoming Hollywood adaptation, thus the end of the fifth anime was decided to release DragonBall Kai just before the release of GeGeGe no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!! despite the fifth anime had stable audience rates. Voice actors and anime staffs formed a petition team called Team Gegege (ゲゲゲ組 Gegege-Gumi) to try to revive the fifth series and the team was supported by Mizuki Profuction and World Yokai Association. However, deaths of voice actors including Isamu Tanonaka and Daisuke Gōri and Takeshi Aono impacted on their project, and the team was dismissed. However, Riku Sanjo later hired staffs and voice actors for his later work of Digimon Xros Wars (Digimon Fusion). The casting of Hakaba Kitarō also influenced casting of Digimon Fusion.[1][2] The discontinueing of the fifth anime also resulted in the transfer of Digimon Fusion to TV Asahi's timeslot, as the show was planned to be set in the 9AM slot after the fifth anime.[3]

Mizuki wrote on his book My Days (Japanese) that while Mizuki Production had some incomes thanks to a hit of GeGeGe no Nyōbō series, Mizuki was wondering that it might be the end of the fifth anime, and he passed away in 2015. It was in 2018 after the Dragon Ball Super that GeGeGe no Kitarō made the next comeback on TV slot.

DVD Covers[]

First Episode[]

【公式】ゲゲゲの鬼太郎（第5期）_第1話「妖怪の棲む街」

【公式】ゲゲゲの鬼太郎（第5期） 第1話「妖怪の棲む街」

References[]

  1. ↑ Hiroyuki Kakudō, 2012, あとはヤマトパパの部下が当時のアシスタントプロデューサー、現クロスウォーズのプロデューサの桜田と当時演出助手の地岡君で、バンダナ頭は前に上げた写真でもわかるかも。彼は劇中の2002年クリスマスより早く演出デビューして後に墓場鬼太郎の監督となったのでした。 on Twitter
  2. ↑ TV Asahi Corporation, October 2, 2010,「アニメ制作潜入ツアー！！「デジモン」ができるまで」
  3. ↑ ドラゴンボールリバイバルの陰で
Português do Brasil
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