I have a certain sentimental regard for Yuta, the occasional guest character and FOM (Friend Of Mana) who turned up on this week’s episode of Gegege no Kitarou.  That’s because he was the focus of the episode that tipped me off that this version of GGGnK was going to be something special.  That would be Episode #04, the Ghibli-esque journey to Gegege Forest through the eyes of a human child entranced with the world of youkai.  To this day it’s the most visually impressive episode in a series full of them, and it remains one of the handful of masterpieces that show off what this show is truly capable of.

Well, this wasn’t.  Not to say it was a bad episode (and this series has had a handful of those, too), just not a special one.  It sees Yuta on a camping trip with Mana and her dad, along with Hiroto and Souma, the brothers who enjoy teasing little Yuta (and seem to have developed a fondness for Engrish).  I might wonder why these three boys would be on a camping trip with Mana and her family, but never mind – the scenery is as lovely as you’d expect, and while it’s a small thing it was nice to see the minutiae of car camping depicted in relatively realistic fashion.

The villain of the piece this time is Buruburu (Horikoshi Mami) who in Japanese folklore is the youkai of cowardice and known for sending shivers down the spine.  Cowardice is very much the theme here, as Yuta is generally ashamed of his needing Mana to protect him (mostly from Hiroto and Souma) all the time.  After Souma finds the scroll on which Buruburu has been sealed (which is conveniently sitting out in the open next to the woodpile at the campground) and Hiroto decides to burn it, she’s set free and sets to picking off the campers one by one.

Yuta being protected by Mana is a theme we definitely saw earlier in the series, but I must confess this version doesn’t seem like the same gung-ho youaki otaku who plowed into the unknown of Gegege no Mori not just with abandon, but glee.  I would have expected a little more pluck than we saw here, though when push comes to shove Yuta does manage to muster his courage and save Mana from the Buruburu (thanks to an inspirational speech from Medama-oyaji, who seems especially fond of imparting life lessons to kids).