Shu-no-Bon

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Shu-no-Bon
2007 anime art
Name
Japanese	朱の盆
English	Red Plate
Profile
Species	Yōkai
Gender	Male
Abilities	Transformation
Affiliation	Nurarihyon Faction
Other Information
Boss	Nurarihyon
Loyalty	Quite high
Usefulness	Medium
Competence	Quite low
First Appearance
Anime	Series 3 Episode 4 (1985)
Manga	Yōkai Sumo (1992)
Portrayals
see Cast

Shu-no-Bon (朱の盆 Shunobon, lit. Red Plate) is Nurarihyon's right hand man in most anime adaptations of GeGeGe no Kitarō. He first appeared in the fourth episode of the Third anime, Yōkai Nurarihyon.

Cast

• Michitaka Kobayashi (Third Anime)
• Daisuke Gōri (Fourth Anime)
• Katsuyuki Konishi (Fifth Anime)
• Chō (Sixth Anime)
• Toshiya Ueda (The Demon Flute)

Appearance

Shu-no-Bon's most striking feature is his large head. He has a red face resembling that of an oni, with wide, yellow eyes and a horn on his forehead. The tip of his lower lip constantly lays on top of his upper lip. His mouth is otherwise always depicted open, revealing a row of sharp teeth. He has long, dark gray hair, and tends to dress in traditional Japanese clothing.

Personality

Shu-no-Bon is depicted as Nurarihyon's minion in almost every anime adaptation, with his personality changing depending on the series. Despite his threatening appearance, most adaptations depict him as weak compared to other yōkai. The 2018 anime portrays him as a moderate threat, but he's most often seen as a comic relief character.

Despite working with Nurarihyon, he's not necessarily evil. In the 1985 anime, he has a soft spot for Yumeko, and often betrays Nurarihyon in order to help her.

Relationships

Nurarihyon

Shu-no-Bon is almost always portrayed as being completely loyal to Nurarihyon. He often refers to Nurarihyon with the "-sama" honorific as a sign of respect. Nurarihyon often lashes out at Shu-no-Bon when one of his schemes goes wrong, using him as both a physical and verbal punching bag. This is often depicted as comedic, but escalates further in the Jigoku Arc.

Their relationship is heavily strained in the 1985 anime, with Shu-no-Bon often betraying Nurarihyon in order to help Yumeko. Despite this, it's shown that Shu-no-Bon does somewhat care for him, as seen in Episode 91.

History

Manga

Shu-no-Bon appears in Kitarō Kunitori Monogatari as one of the competitors in Boze's sumo tournament. He faces Kitarō in the first round, hitting him with a powerful headbutt to start. He then countered Kitarō's throws with acrobatic tactics, but Kitarō is able to dodge him on the rebound, making him land outside of the ring.

1985 Anime

The 1985 anime was the first adaptation to depict Shu-no-Bon as Nurarihyon's minion. While the reason behind this decision is unknown, it would end up having a huge impact on future anime adaptations.

The biggest turning point for Shu-no-Bon would happen in Episode 58. Nurarihyon asks him to kidnap Yumeko, and he later confides in her that he is only good at startling people. Yumeko raises his spirits, causing him to betray Nurarihyon to let her escape. From then on, Shu-no-Bon considers Yumeko an "angel".

In Episode 91, Nurarihyon is transformed into a stuffed doll by the Hi Clan, causing Shu-no-Bon to turn to Kitarō for help. When Kitarō is unsuccessful, he asks for the help of Fukuro-Sage and other evil yōkai to defeat the Hi Clan, in order to revert Nurarihyon back into his original form. With the Hi Clan successfully defeated, Nurarihyon returns, refusing to accept Kitarō's request to become friends. As Nurarihyon returns to his evil ways, Shu-no-Bon follows.

It was after seeing Yumeko's kindness with his own eyes that he finally turned good. He thanks her for being so kind, before jumping on Ittan-Momen and attacking Nurarihyon. After a struggle, they both fall into the lava of Jigoku.

1996 Anime

In the fourth anime, he has more of a tendency to question or even talk back to Nurarihyon.

2007 Anime

He first appears in the fourth episode of the fifth anime, Be a Man! Ittan-Momen.

In episode 72 of the fifth anime, when Shu-no-Bon is unable to capture a single Yanari and then accidentally frees all the Yanari caught by Kamaitachi, Nurairhyon threatens to fire him if he can not capture one Yanari. He goes back to capture one but is instead captured by Kitarō and brought to Yōkai Yokochō. He then reveals to Kitarō that Nurarihyon plans to use Yanari to revive Yōkai Castle. Once Kitarō's eye is off of him, Shu-no-Bon escapes and goes back to catch a Yanari. He captures just one and returns to Nurarihyon, but because he revealed the plan to Kitarō, he and the rest of his crew are heading toward Yōkai Castle. Nurarihyon fires him on the spot, but because the Yanari laugh so hard at the sight of Shu-no-Bon's face as he constantly gets accidentally knocked around during the battle that they revive Yōkai Castle, Nurarihyon decides to take Shu-no-Bon back.

Live-Action

Shu-no-Bon appears in the crowd of plaintiffs at The Great Yōkai Trial in the 1st live action film, but does not appear with Nurarihyon in the second film.

Powers and Abilities

Shu-no-Bon using "Yōkai Hō" to communicate with other Yōkai

Human Transformation: Shu-no-Bon possesses the ability to transform into humans. Abruptly switching back to his regular form is supposed to shock humans to death, as is in his legend. He has only used this ability in the 1985 anime. In Yōkai Sen Monogatari, Shu-no-Bon transformed into a young boy which was only canceled out after getting shocked by Kitarō.

Yōkai Hō (妖怪法 Yōkai Hō): By tugging on his bottom lip, Shu-no-Bon is able to call together other Yōkai for help. This ability has only been shown in the 1985 anime.

Enhanced Strength: He has the striking power of 7 human men, however, this is not much when compared to other yōkai. He is much stronger in the 1996 and 2018 anime, especially in the latter where he is able to overwhelm Kitarō in close combat. According to 2018 anime producer Daichi Nagatomi, Shu-no-Bon is just as strong as Neko-Musume. In the manga and 2007 anime, he displays powerful headbutts.

Enhanced Durability: In the 2018 anime, He is very durable, easily withstanding Kitarō's hair needles, and can block strikes from his Geta.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: In the 2018 anime, he is depicted to be proficient in unarmed fighting to block a Geta strike from Kitarō, catching the footwear and striking it back, and block an attack from Wolfgang.

Enhanced Agility: He displays impressive agility, able to perform acrobatics against Kitarō in a sumo match in the manga.

Equipment

Machine Gun: In the 2018 anime, Shu-no-Bon used a machine gun against the human militia who were about to shoot Nezumi-Otoko.

Legend

Illustration of Shu-no-Bon by Shigeru Mizuki.

Another type of Shu-no-Bon with Shitanaga-Baba

There are two prominent variations of the Shunobon legend. One comes from the Aizu region, which has been used as the basis for the design of Mizuki's character, and the other, lesser-known one, comes from the Suwa Region. Their name was originally Shu-no-Ban (朱の盤 Shunoban), but because of the popularity of Shigeru Mizuki's work, Shu-no-Bon became the more common spelling of this Yōkai’s name. The Aizu variation of the myth describes a terrifying Yōkai, who often disguises himself as a human to scare unsuspecting victims. He is said to have blood-red skin, with a large mouth and razor-sharp teeth. Most often, humans are so terrified when they see this Yōkai, that they die from fright.

The Shu-no-Bon of the Suwa region is often seen working with Shitanaga-Babaa, and has little to no facial features, as seen in the OVA Yōkai Art Book. His face resembles that of his namesake: A red plate.

In several media, they are depicted as serving powerful Yōkai such as Nurarihyon here in GeGeGe no Kitarō or Kame-hime of Inawashiro Castle in the play Tenshu Monogatari (天守物語).

Trivia

• In the 1985 anime, Shu-no-Bon was seen at the end of the GeGeGe no Kitarō: Saikyō Yōkai Gundan! Nippon Jōriku!! as a friend of Kitarō and humans. It's unclear if this was a different Shu-no-Bon.
• Despite Shu-no-Bon (朱の盆) being the most common spelling of his name, some adaptations still use the lesser-known spelling , Shu-no-Ban (朱の盤). This can be seen in his introduction from the 1985 film.
• According to an interview with Natsuhiko Kyōgoku, Daisuke Yajima, a screenplay writer for the 1996 series, once wrote a script for an episode focused solely on Nurarihyon and Shu-no-Bon. However, it was quickly rejected. The contents of the script are unknown, though Kyōgoku states that the comedy was like that of a "manzai duo".