Well, after last week’s episode epic for the ages, there was almost no way Gegege no Kitarou was going to be have a repeat.  That might have been the best anime episode of the year, while this one was pretty much “normal”, for lack of a better word.  And maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world – a year of episodes like that would be kind of exhausting, and anyway when you’re typing on an iPad 1200 word posts lose most of their appeal.

All things being equal this was in fact probably the least exceptional Gegege no Kitarou episode for a couple of months, though the standard here is so high that leaves plenty of room for it to be really good (as per usual).  You had a tale of youkai friendship (though with almost no human involvement this time), Ratman being his usual shady self without going outright evil, and in fact, minimal intervention from Team Kitarou at all.

Takuro-bi is definitely a vintage Mizuki youkai, and Yoshida Konami yet another veteran seiyuu from an earlier incarnation of the franchise.  Takuro-bi is the ever-lonely fire spirit, and while Nezumi-otoko undeniably sees Yen signs, his general advice is actually good – and while I felt terrible for him when Ratman left him in the office at night (that vacant stare) he was undeniably happier as entertainer than a hermit.  Fortunately for Takuro-bi he meets a friend when he sneaks out of the office at night – the “robot” Pigu (Toyama Nao), star of a much less successful Nezumi attraction than Takuro’s “Bibibi no Fire” volcano adventure (I’d do that).

This particular story isn’t built on social commentary or complex character dynamics,  but it has a lot of simple sincerity.  Pigu turns out to be an Amefuri-kozo (“Priest Rain Boy”, quite a famous youkai), who Nezumi has been parading around in a robot suit.  The interactions between the two childlike youkai are definitely cute, and the message of opposites being uniquely suited to help each other is solidly in the fairy tale/parable wing of this mythology.  For once, this series delivers up an episode that actually seems to have been written with the time slot in mind.