After delivering a deadly serious episode (and one of its best) last week, Gegege no Kitarou whipsaws totally in the opposite direction (as it so often does).  Not that there wasn’t a message here, but we were fully in “subtle as a knee to the nuts” mode, and this was mostly about the comedy.  I will say this for “The Social Media Addict vs The Jōmon Man” – it displays how even when it’s in routine mode, this reboot is far more adept at incorporating modernity into the story than BEM has yet proved itself to be.

There are a couple of pretty consistent GGGnK themes also on display here.  Vanity is a sin for which this series has very little patience – characters whose lives are governed by it are rarely shown in anything but a fully negative light.  And it’s highly suspicious of the tail wagging the dog when it comes to modern culture and those who exist in it – when the trappings of society dictate the decisions we make, trouble is sure to follow.  It’s pretty low-key trouble here (only one character is under any real threat and there isn’t a youkai from outside the regular cast to be found) but it’s ugly just the same.

The social media addict of the title is Christine Minato (Shimamura Yu, making here Gegege no debut).  Again, there’s no subtlety here – she’s a creature to be mocked and despised, a shameless attention-seeker who chases “Inste” likes (and has the nerve to pretend to be half-American to help get them).  And the Jomon Man is, well- a Jomon Man (Inada Testu).  The Jomon were, for the record, an indigenous people (they contributed probably about 10% of modern Japanese people’s DNA) who lived in the Japanese archipelago from about 14000-1000 B.C..  He’s living peacefully in a mountain hut before Nezumi-Otoko stumbles upon it, and decides to use Jomon Man as a new social media celebrity to rake in the ad revenue.

While I do have certain questions, this is probably not the sort of episode where it’s best to ask them.  Still – why is there a Jomon man living in 21st Century Japan, on a mountain or otherwise?  And why, if J.M.’s catchphrase “Kamoi!” means “Scary!”, does he seem perfectly happy to hang out with Ratman and be his meal ticket?  Actually, in point of fact Nezumi-O can’t really be said to be committing any especially wicked acts here.  Chris is the only one being hurt by Jomon’s popularity, and Jomon himself – as stated – seems quite happy to tag along, eat delicious food and gape at the wonders of modern culture.

I suppose the Hippocratic Oath of an episode like this is “first, bring some laughs” – and there are a few good ones here.  Ratman deciding to generate his likes by copying Chris’ posting pattern generated some nice gags (“An organic lunch!” especially).  And the “final battle” between Kita-chan and Chris is so hilariously absurd even he’s having trouble taking it seriously.  I mean, when Kitarou defers to the cops to finish off the big bad, you know we’re not talking about historically high stakes here…