And so we begin Spring 2018, as usual the fattest schedule on the anime calendar.  To be precise, Mahou Shoujo Ore’s first two episodes were actually released early on Crunchyroll.  While I did initially plan to do a post on that show, to be honest it was what it was – I didn’t have much to say about it apart from the fact that it was occasionally funny but didn’t interest me enough to make me want to watch a third episode.

It would be tempting to say that the stunning success of Osomatsu-san has prompted a revival of so many old anime franchises.  But while I think there may be some truth to that in the big picture, it’s hard to make that case about Gegege no Kitarou.  By my count this is at least the sixth anime incarnation of Mizuki Shigeru’s manga, and that’s just counting TV anime.  Gegege no Kitarou is, quite simply, one of the most popular franchises in the history of Japanese entertainment – synonymous with the youkai genre for millions of Japanese (especially older ones) and hugely influential on the manga and anime that followed it.

In fact, there’s been a “Kitarou” anime (always Toei) in every decade since the first one premiered in the 1960’s.  The details have been updated here and there (this one is loaded with modern tech, for example – so much so as to suggest it was trying a little too hard) but the basic premise is always the same – the youkai boy Kitarou and his family of oddballs (literally, in some cases) try and weave a fragile peace between the human and youkai worlds.  No matter how much it tries to refresh itself every incarnation of this series has always struck me as quaint – this one included – but one could also use the word “timeless”, and I think the implications are somewhat more favorable.

Based on one episode, I don’t sense we’re going to see anything substantively different in this version.  I did find it interesting that the premise of the premiere was built around an idiot doing something stupid to promote his Youtube channel – that’s a big topic in Japan this year, but I would imagine this ep was in pre-production long before the Logan Paul fiasco.  The plot surrounds said idiot unsealing a youkai that plants sees in humans to turn them into “vampire trees”, and the human cast – mainly the girl named Inuyama Mana – gets Kitarou involved by dropping a help request into the legendary youkai mailbox (this is all part of the drill, if you’re new to the material).

I would guess that Gegege no Kitarou is going to be one of the safest bets of the season – comfortable and familiar.  It should please existing fans but probably not make much impact with new ones.  If any of these old dowagers wants to really explode, I think they’d have to have the courage that Osomatsu-san did – completely break the template and fearlessly venture into meta-reality and self-parody.  So far none of the others has done that, and “Kitarou” isn’t the sort of series that’s likely to anyway – as much success as it’s already seen, it clearly feels very comfortable in its own skin.