It’s funny, but I knew from the preview that this was going to be an exceptional episode (as I noted at the end of last week’s post). Five or six seconds can tell you so much – don’t ask me how, but it can. Maybe because I’ve been dance partners with Gegege no Kitarou for the better part of two years now – every Sunday after dinner, almost without exception. Perhaps I’ve come to know this series that well, to the point where a few frames can tell me what sort of story it’s going to come up with.
It also doesn’t hurt that “The Phantom Train” is as close to a flagship story in GGGnK as any could be. After running in the manga during the Shounen Sunday period, it’s been featured in some form in literally every incarnation of the TV series, and the 1996 film besides. And it’s easy to see why – even if the details change with every reinvention, the spine of the story is classic Japanese horror fantasy. The update this time is to turn “The Phantom Train” into a Valentine’s Day story – as always, Gegege no Kitarou is the most topical anime running.
What a great episode this was – it’s easy to see the weeks where Toei really has saved up their resources of talent and budget and blows the doors off. It starts off (briefly) looking like a romance episode, as Neko-musume finally – almost unbelievably – finds the courage to confess to Kitarou. That happens on February 14th, of course – but we already know something is going to go very wrong in the weeks that follow, leading to (no exaggeration) the end of the world on February 29th (Leap Day, natch).
It all starts, seemingly, when a boy named Tsukasa (Kouno Marika) happens across Neko-musume and Mana in town and begs for Kitarou’s help. He says his village have all turned into vampires – and when the Gegegang arrive they can see that with their own eyes (and is it me, or does Nezumi-otoko look incredibly Seussian in that getup?). It’s the work of a vampire called Pii (Yamazaki Takumi in his first ever Kitarou appearance), who, with the help of his wife Monroe (Irokawa Kyouko, a longtime member of the GGGnK family in the Yumeko role) have come from Southeast Asia to unleash their curse on Japan. I have no idea why Mizuki-sensei made Marilyn Monroe a vampire, but no franchise version of her has ever more resembled the real thing.
The Macguffin of the piece is the titular train, which Medama-oyaji summons as a last desperate measure when it seems all is lost. Neko-musume is cursed with the responsibility of going back in time to try and change events, with the restriction that if she tells anyone about the train’s existence she’ll die. But she goes about this all wrong – for Neko-musume, this chance to remake the future is all about saving Kitarou, the man she’s finally become a true partner to. But she wasn’t sent back to do that – she was sent back to save the world.
This is a pretty cruel fate for poor Catchick, truly. The message the universe seems to be sending is that she and Kitarou being lovers is so unnatural that reality can’t abide it. Things go so badly, after all, because Kitarou changes his behavior to try and keep her safe – once she transitioned from being a fighting partner to a romantic one everything was thrown out of balance. Kitarou effectively sacrificed himself to save Neko-musume, and with him gone there’s no one strong enough to defeat the army Pii has spawned and save the world.
I pretty much knew that it would come down to this choice for Neko-musume – sacrifice her relationship with Kitarou or let the world burn – but that didn’t lessen the poetic impact when it came down to that. She insists that having confessed once she can do so again, but I’m not so sure. This was hard enough for her that it took her a youkai’s lifespan to do it in the first place – now, having seen what resulted, can she really bring herself to do it again? Neko-musume is no fool – the significance of this story will be as obvious to her as it is to us. And if it comes down to choosing the friendzone or the dead zone, I have a feeling I know what choice she’ll make.
Someone
February 16, 2020 at 11:06 pmI kind of disagree. Kind of, because it’s true that Kitaro changed his behaviour towards Neko-Musume to prioritize her safety more (which doesn’t surprise me, the boy is so oblivious about romance I imagine he had no idea what to do with the change to the status quo lmao. I mean, after a love confession you’d expect for *something* to change too, right?)
But Catchick has no reason to think that her confession has anything to do with the end of the world. It’ll take her a very long time to scrounge up the courage to do it again, certainly, but—tropes aside—there was no way for anyone to know that Monroe and Pii would start their plan at that precise moment. There was absolutely no warning. In-world it’s simply a question of the timing being lousy, not the event; and there’s no guarantee that Kitaro not pushing Catchick out of the way would have either of them better off—Kitaro does have better reflexes, and even without the confession I can’t imagine him leaving catchick behind.
It *seems* it was the reason for the end of the world cus we as watchers know all the tropes about time travel and crushes and status quo, but in-world… I really think it was just bad luck.
It was a good episode! And I don’t think anyone expected Marilyn Monroe lol
Guardian Enzo
February 16, 2020 at 11:18 pmExcept Marilyn has been with Pii in every appearance since ‘71, ROFL.
I get the logic of what you’re saying, but I don’t think Neko-musume will think about this logically. She’ll be looking for excuses not to put herself out there again, because it’s human (well, youkai) nature.
Someone
February 18, 2020 at 7:09 amLmao can you tell this is my first time watching anything Kitaro yet X’D
And ok yeah, point. Although I personally would rather square up than think “we can’t be together without reality collapsing” cuz that sounds a bit too depressing lol, but being able to keep the status quo isn’t a bad consolation prize. (it’s not like he doesn’t care about her, it’s that every time Kitaro shows it it’s at the cost of his own wellbeing lol he really should kick that habit)
Robert Black
February 17, 2020 at 9:17 amThe episode set Neko-musume up with the problem of choosing between being Kitaro’s girlfriend and Kitaro’s partner, but then I felt like they let her dodge it at the end. Even before the got to the village and he pushed her out of the way at the bell, he was suggesting that maybe she should sit out the adventure and go home where it was safe – something he’s never done in this series. He’s off his game because he’s thinking about her in a different way. But she never has to confront that, because lo and behold, it just happens that she needs to go rip up the Cat-in-the-Hat hat at the very time when she’s supposed to be confessing her feelings. It makes her a victim of fate instead of letting her make a decision.
Still a good episode, but it could have been better.
Guardian Enzo
February 17, 2020 at 9:40 amThe franchise has been around for over half a century, so I wouldn’t really expect this series to try and solve that one now. Maybe they kicked it to the curb but that can already has a lot of dents.
My read on the ending was pretty much, as I said, that Neko-musume saw the handwriting on the wall and was lying to herself. But it would be pretty forking sad to just say that outright.
Robert Black
February 17, 2020 at 10:57 amThe different iterations of Neko-musume (is the plural “Nekos-musume?”) have been hung up on Kitaro to varying degrees. The 1985 one and the 2007 one were both more stuck on him, but the 1996 one was less. I think the 1971 Neko was less stuck on him too, but I’ve only seen a couple of episodes with her in them.
Not coincidentally, the 1996 Neko is my favorite.
Matías Nicolás Delgado
October 14, 2020 at 10:59 pmLooks like a good episode, like an anime version of I am Legend, my favourite zombie novel. The thigs can be gone worst with the apereance of an angry romerian zombie horde or the ravenous speed zombies from Return of the Living Dead in the middle. They have been the situation for make a deal beethween vampires, humans, and yokais for survive againt the living dead. Maybe the first victims whould be Pii and Monroe.