Gegege no Kitarou is in the midst of one of its best runs of episodes in quite a while. After one of its best serious episodes we got the funniest straight-up comedy ep in months, and this week brings us something of a hybrid of the two (though definitely tilted towards the serious). In addition to a good creepy vampire story, it was also an episode that dove in on Nezumi-otoko and his unique place in the cast – and I always love those, rare as they are.
This episode also serves as a reminder that Gegege no Kitarou continues to be one of the most visually impressive series on TV, a fact which gets almost no attention. The animation on the guitar playing was really spectacular (the vibration of the strings was a thing of beauty), but this show isn’t just about sakuga, it’s full of creative flair too. I loved the shot of the glowing eyes in the dark, which turned out to be taillights. And Ratman dancing to the strains of the flamenco guitar was really superb, witty and oddly touching if you have a soft spot for the character.
This week’s villain is one of the most interesting one-offs GGGnK has served up in ages. He’s Elite the Vampire (Nakao Ryusei – considering his prominence it’s almost a surprise he’s only been in the 2007 version before this). We first meet him through the strains of that guitar, which Nezumi-otoko hears while scrounging through trash cans (thanks to Kitarou turning down a commission on a job). It will come to be known that the guitar is how Elite manages to control his slaves, but he chooses not to use it on Ratman – because he has another use in mind for him.
Elite is a really interesting antagonist in many ways. Indeed he is a vampire, and as he tells Nezu-oto he’s been controlling human events from the shadows for 1000 years – hypnotizing and controlling people through his music, and having them do his bidding in the corridors of power. At the moment he’s accomplishing this through being headmaster of an academy for- well, elites. His mansion is full of slave boys (one hopes all he does is what he admits to), including the roommates of a boy whose wealthy father hired Kitarou to protect him from the vampire he claims kidnapped his friends.
Where Elite really takes off as a character is when he admits to Nezumi-otoko – who naturally assumes he’s a noble vampire – that he is in fact from the lowest of the low in vampire society (his true name is Johnny). By drinking the blood of noblewomen he evolved from a servant bat into his human form, and used his natural talent to climb over those of noble birth and become the Svengali he is. Ruthless, smart and deadly – and reviled by those of higher birth who’s power he’s usurped. It’s no wonder that Ratman feels a bond with him as a fellow outcast – and the converse is even true to an extent, though Johnny doesn’t allow sentiment to stay his hand when it comes to disposing of an ally whose usefulness has expired.
Japan has a fascination with this sort of story – it’s why Hideyoshi remains one of the most famous figures in Japanese history – but it’s not only Japan that does. Figures like this tend to be viewed with a mixture of admiration and contempt, because it’s our tendency to believe that the social elites rule because that’s their rightful lot in life, and lowborn scum shouldn’t rise above their station. And these conflicting attitudes are very evident in the way Elite – and his demise – are portrayed here. It’s a gruesome end, but Ratman stays Kitarou’s hand and lets it happen in its own course – though whether it was a kindness or not is very much open to debate.
Zol
May 20, 2019 at 3:54 amI agree that this episode was quite interesting in more than one way, but I’m really starting to crave some main plot progression. It’s hard enough since Nanashi is gone – he was the main reason I became interested in this show, and I really, really miss him. Knowing there is a full year ahead without him already made the series feel kind of pointless to begin with, but now the main plot isn’t progressing at all, judging from the episode titles that won’t change soon. I’m starting to wonder if they really are going to stretch out the Four Generals arc for two or more cours?
Guardian Enzo
May 20, 2019 at 7:25 amI loved Nanashi, but for me all the best eps of this series have been stand-alone ones and as long as we keep getting those, I have no complaints. GGGnK his historically never been about long recurring arcs in the main, anyway.
Collectr
May 20, 2019 at 8:41 amI’m sure that there will be Serious Development(tm) sometime before the end of the second year; there always is. However, I too like the stand-alone, “slife-of-life-with-youkai” mode of Kitarou better. The plot-driven episodes are too monotonic in tone; I prefer the show’s variations, from serious to humorous and in-between.
I actually stopped watching during the Backbeard arc and only came back when Enzo said the coast was clear. 😉
Guardian Enzo
May 20, 2019 at 12:06 pmGeh-heh
Robert Black
May 20, 2019 at 9:59 amI really don’t like Nezumi-Otoko. I’m just going to say that up front and get it out of the way.
In your review of Kono Oto Tomare! this week, you noted (accurately, I thought) that Kurusu’s story gets wrapped up too quickly and easily. Ten minutes and boom, she’s all better. I would like to point out that Nezumi-Otoko has gone through similar rapid rehabilitation many times – and yet, by the next episode, he’s back to the same old Rat Man he’s always been. Does the guy never learn? No, of course he doesn’t, because that would break the format of the show. And that sets up an impossible situation. If he never had these moments of redemption, we’d wonder why Kitaro kept hanging out with someone so hopeless (not to mention someone who’s gone in on plots to kill him multiple times), but each time he comes back down from one of those moments, we again wonder why Kitaro keeps hanging out with someone so hopeless.
If in next week’s Kono Oto Tomare! we find Kurusu being back to her old tricks, we’ll wonder why she doesn’t get booted from the Koto Club and think the others are stupid for keeping her. If in next week’s GeGeGe no Kitaro, we find Nezumi-Otoko back to his old tricks, we won’t bat an eye.
And I know plenty of people who at this point would note that Nezumi-Otoko is a man and Kurusu is a woman, and try to make something of it – but that’s a whole other kettle of fish…
Guardian Enzo
May 20, 2019 at 12:08 pmI think your overall point is valid, but your last sentence strikes me as being a misread of the situation. I don’t think gender is the issue here – I think it’s a matter of genre and demographic.
Robert Black
May 21, 2019 at 12:03 pmHa! The last sentence is just me being contrary. I said I *know* people who would argue that, not that I’d necessarily agree with them.
Enamelthyst
May 20, 2019 at 11:29 pmWell, I thought this episode was absolutely superb, and I loved its implicit critique of the whole idea of class: Johnny learned from his masters that the role of the strong is to abuse and ridicule the weak, and after successfully putting an end to their tyranny he knew no way of being except to emulate them. He fell into the trap of rebel leaders throughout history.
Speaking of history, it occurred to me that “Johnny,” being French, really ought to be “Jeannot”… and oddly enough, there actually was a leader of the Haitian revolution named “Jeannot,” whose vindictive personality and brutal actions mirror our vampire’s to a T… right down to literally drinking the blood of his prisoners! I highly recommend reading the brief Wikipedia article on him at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannot
Honestly, I felt the themes of this episode, and the character of Elite, could have sustained a much longer story arc. In fact, if we’d had an Elite Arc instead of a Backbeard arc, this whole series would have been all the better for it!
Guardian Enzo
May 20, 2019 at 11:44 pmInteresting insight, thanks for that.