Series 1 Episode 31

Mōryō
Series 1 Episode 31
Japanese Title	もうりょう
Rōmaji Title	Mōryō
Information
Air date	August 4, 1968
Manga Story	Mōryō
Written by	Toyohiro Andō
Directed by	Fusahiro Nagaki
Animation Director	Hiroshi Wagatsuma
Featured Yōkai	Mōryō
Episode Guide
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Mōryō is the 31st episode of the 1968 GeGeGe no Kitarō anime.

Cast

• All cast members are listed in order as they appear in the episode's credits.
• All main cast members were credited only for their first role listed.
• All guest cast members were not credited for any specific roles.

Main

• Masako Nozawa as Kitarō
• Isamu Tanonaka as Medama-Oyaji
• Chikao Ōtsuka as Nezumi-Otoko

Guest

• Ichirō Nagai as Mummy, Coffin Mover
• Kōsei Tomita as Priest, Doctor
• Keiichi Noda as Police Officer, Young Doctor
• Yōko Ogushi as Tamakichi

Synopsis

Nezumi-Otoko visits the GeGeGe House once again to tell Kitarō and Medama-Oyaji about a potential business they can work on together to capitalize on the recent Yōkai Boom. It is called "GeGeGe Yōkai Industries" and is a company that specializes in making cars that are also used to take humans on tours to places in Jigoku. Kitarō declines his over, so Nezumi-Otoko farts in retaliation and leaves angered. Kitarō decides to go for a ride in his Yōkai Locomotive, since he hasn't rode it in a while.

Elsewhere, in a remote village, the funeral of a grandfather to a boy named Tamakichi is ending. A priest lectures the boy about grave watchers and to watch out for a yōkai that could rob the graves. Tamakichi is instructed to be the newest grave watcher, and keep watch even during the stormy night. Naturally, he's a bit paranoid, and even throws a rock at a nearby owl, thinking it's a robber. He ends up sleeping as the rain ends. When a raindrop wakes Tamakichi up, he heads to check up on his grandfather's grave, and spots a living mummy digging it up! The boy tries to stop it, but it runs away, severing one of its pinky fingers in the process, and all Tamakichi gets knocked out with a rock on the ground.

When morning comes, the priest tells Tamakichi the thing he saw last night was the yōkai Mōryō, an evil spirit that has lived near the village for as long as he can remember, constantly possessing new corpses to becomes stronger. The priest last saw it possess the corpse of a man named Goro, someone who died just ten days earlier. The two are then spooked when Nezumi-Otoko appears. Despite being rejected yesterday, Nezumi-Otoko tells them about the GeGeGe Yōkai Industries and offers to help the two, offering a limited time deal costing 50,000 yen. The priest doesn't have enough money for it, so Nezumi changes it to a huge service fee of 2,000 yen. He then writes a letter to Kitarō and sends it to him via a crow. Afterwards, Tamakichi actively tries to leave Nezumi-Otoko, but changes his tune when the hanyō tells him the Mōryō will return to attack him.

That night, Nezumi-Otoko gets drunk of some sake Tamakichi gave him. When the two are sleeping, Tamakichi tells Nezumi-Otoko he'll go outside to go to the bathroom. When he goes outside, Tamakichi goes to a well to get some water, but finds the Mōryō clinging onto the rope! While he doesn't appear once Nezumi-Otoko rushes to help Tamakichi, the Mōryō appear outside the well to scare the two. Nezumi-Otoko crawls with Tamakichi to hide, but when the Mōryō gets closer, Nezumi deserts him.

Nezumi-Otoko sees a pair of Tsurube-Bi and gets frightened, but in reality they're just the headlights of a Yōkai Locomotive driven by Kitarō! As the Mōryō muches on Tamakichi's forehead, Kitarō uses his Hair Needles to drive him off. In the morning, Kitarō talks more in depth about the Mōryō, and decides to burn the body of the man he's possessing, Goro. Just as Kitarō, Nezumi-Otoko, Tamakichi, and the priest head to burn the body, a police officer suprises Nezumi-Otoko and tells them all Goro's body was taken to a university's forensic medicine department. As a result, Kitarō and Nezumi-Otoko decide to visit the university. When they get there, Nezumi reminisces of the time he went to university. They head to a Science classroom, and the doctor there tells them they took Goro's body because they sensed something strange about it, and so decided to dissect and examine it. Kitarō tells the doctor the Mōryō is inside, but the doctor laughs it off. A younger doctor enters the room and says that the body's autopsy was rescheduled tomorrow because the inspector for it was unable to attend currently, and also says that something strange happened after two medical students brought the body. When they left, the young doctor heard the body's container rattling, and saw its hands opening it, however the movements stop when the man noticed it. Even though he had proof of Goro's body being strange, the doctor once again dismisses this claim and kicks out Kitarō and Nezumi-Otoko.

When night comes, the doctor hears laughter coming from another room, and when he opens the door, out pops the laughing Mōryō! Kitarō comes to the rescue again and pursue the yōkai while driving the Yōkai Locomotive. The Mōryō is noticeably faster and so escapes, heading to a building used to keep dogs for animal testing. When the two follow it, they find that Goro's body is finally burned, most likely from the Tsurube-Bi. Nezumi-Otoko gets attacks by one of the dogs, the Mōryō's new host, and so Kitarō once again attacks it with his Hair Needles. The dog jumps into a window to escape, and they once again pursue it with the Yōkai Locomotive. Tsurube-Bi burns the dog, and the Mōryō's true form appears briefly.

When morning comes, the doctor thanks Kitarō for his help, and him and Nezumi-Otoko head back to Tamakichi's village. When they visit Goro's grave, Kitarō somehow still senses the Mōryō. When he mentions that the yōkai is only truly defeated when the body of its host is burned, Tamakichi discovers Goro's pinky finger inside his pocket! Mysterious wind starts to blow, and Kitarō summons Tsurube-Bi to burn the remaining finger. The undeterred Mōryō reappears again for one final scare, this time in it's true form: a giant, monkey-like yōkai, and finally fades away. The priest and Tamakichi thank Kitarō for his help and while Nezumi-Otoko ask for his 2,000 yen, he gets interrupted by Kitarō driving away without him and hastily chases him out of the village.

Characters in order of appearance

1. Nezumi-Otoko
2. Kitarō
3. Medama-Oyaji
4. Tamakichi (First appearance)
5. Priest (First appearance)
6. Salaryman Yamada
7. Bake-Garasu
8. Constable
9. Doctor (First appearance)
10. Tsurube-Bi
11. Mōryō (First appearance)

Differences from manga

• The funeral of the body Mōryō will dig later on is shown, alongside other villagers.
• Mōryō digs out the grave with a shovel instead of his hands. He also uses the body of a man named Goro, who died just ten days ago, and not Yamada, who died over a year ago, like in the manga.
• Tamakichi gets knocked out with a rock and not the coffin Mōryō was digging out.
• The Priest tells Tamakichi what he saw last night inside a shrine rather than outside.
• The company Nezumi-Otoko introduces is now called "GeGeGe Yōkai Industries" and is first seen telling it to Kitarō and Medama-Oyaji before Tamakichi and the Priest.
• Kitarō now says he'll ride the Yōkai Locomotive, while in the manga he first appears on it without explanation (though it was hinted early on Kitarō was working on it).
• In the anime, Nezumi-Otoko is treated to some sake by Tamakichi before they sleep.
• Mōryō appears to Tamakichi and Nezumi-Otoko hidden inside a well, rather than breaking into their inn like in the manga.
• The headlights in the Yōkai Locomotive are now also Tsurube-Bi.
• The plotline of the body Mōryō possessing being taken to the university is exclusive to this anime.
• Tamakichi first discovers he still has a finger left of the body Mōryō possessed while its true form appears, while in the manga, he discovers it as soon as he wakes up and just recalls it once the true form appears.