If it weren’t already obvious, there are no third rails for Gegege no Kitarou 2019.  That’s fitting given that Mizuki Shigeru cut his teeth as a writer by covertly penning antiwar messages as the government was paying him to write pro-war propaganda. Still, what’s notable is that one way this update has chosen to honor his social conscience is by tackling issues of pressing urgency to modern Japanese and indeed, the world.  It doesn’t get much more universal than aging, but Japan is especially impacted by issues relating to its aging population.

Plot-wise this episode was pretty straightforward.  It starts, as usual, with Nezumi-otoko causing trouble with a get-rich scheme.  This time it’s hawking an anti-aging cream which is actually aging people, and stealing their youthful essence.  He’s doing this at the behest of the Nuppeppou, blob-like youkai who’ve apparently been making the cream on a remote island (and are working at someone’s behest too, as we’ll discover).  In foklore the Nuppeppou are said to be basically harmless (just unpleasant) – and ironically, it’s said that if one eats the flesh of one they’ll obtain eternal youth.

The real essence of this story, though, is the bond between Sunakake-baba and Konaki-jiji.  These two haven’t gotten a whole lot of love from the writers over the course of these 82 episodes, only occasionally emerging as more than background characters.  It was always pretty obvious that there was a great deal of affection – dare I say love – behind their constant bickering.  But man, what we saw here was really touching stuff.  These two have obviously been around for a very long time, and their relationship seems very much akin to an old married couple who can’t imagine the world without the other in it.

Because Sunakake-baba used some of the cream herself – and was too embarrassed by Konaki-jiji’s teasing about her wrinkles to admit it – she finds herself losing her mental faculties at an alarming rate.  She didn’t have any youth to spare, really, and when the Gegege team head to the island to try and find the Nuppeppou and the antidote, she’s already starting to drift away for long stretches and can’t join the fight.  Konaki insists on staying behind with her, and the others are brought under the Nuppeppou’s aging spell.  Soon enough, things are looking pretty grim for them as they’re trapped by a giant Nuppeppou and too weak to fight back.

I don’t want to overdramatize this, but anyone who’s had a parent or other loved one experience this sort of decline (I have) surely had their heart ripped out by those scenes in the cave with Sand Witch and Crybaby.  When she asked him to tell her old stories to keep her anchored in the moment… oh, my.  This is using fantasy to enlighten reality in the very best way – Sunakake-baba’s feelings as she wrote that goodbye letter to Crybaby (and then covered him with…the…blanket) were agonizingly on-point.  She knows what’s happening to her, and she can’t stop it.  How many other aging souls have had that experience?

Those two got their happy ending, but the message still gets across.  As for the story itself, it turns out that Nurarihyon was behind everything – whether simply to cash up and mess with the humans or because he actually had plans for the youth he stole isn’t totally clear.  Interestingly once the jig is up he tells the others where the essence is stored, which I saw as his way or emphasizing how much in control of everything he is.  One other note about this episode: visually, it’s a pretty distinct departure from the norms for this version.  The art style and maybe even the animation (though that could be my imagination) seem decidedly more old-school than normal.  Was that a conscious choice, to reflect the theme?