This was an altogether splendid episode of Gegege no Kitarou.  For once it sat at neither extreme of the series’ tonal spectrum, but was right down the middle.  Some comedy, some warmth, some danger, and even a twist ending.  The latter is a relative rarity for GGGnK, which tends to finish on the climactic note of the subplot is without much fanfare or padding.  In doing so it’s surely set up the series’ finale of finales, now only a month away.

If I haven’t mentioned it (HA!) I love Mana.  I simply adore her, and the episodes where she features prominently are favorites of mine more often than not.  The anime landscape is littered with cloying, annoying and pandering examples of her character class, but Mana is a shining example of how to design a character.  She’s realistically a kid but clever and curious, loyal and empathetic while being prone to childish selfishness, and generally a good and noble soul who faces down any challenge thrown before her with good humor.  What’s not to love, honestly?

Ratman cancelling out on the annual onsen trip means a space is open, and Daddy Eyeball offers the suggestion of giving it to Mana (I guess it’s happy coincidence that her folks are on a trip too, but this amounts to kidnapping I think).  The only problem is that the youkai hot spring has a strict “no humans” (even without tattoos) policy, as the caretaker Nebutori (a hilarious return to the cast by Kujira) notes.  “Nebutori” literally means “sleeping fatty”, and in folkloric tradition it means getting drunk and going to bed with a gorgeous young woman, only to wake up next to- well, Nebutori.

I loved the exchange where Kitarou pleaded with Nebutori to let Mana in once her cover was (literally) blown, where he calls her a “dear friend” – it’s plain how much that validation means to Mana.  Nebutori turns out to be a good sort, though she’s gotten too fat to fit through the cave opening leading to the altar below Mount Fuji, where the fiery spirits that power the onsen need to be placated every few decades.  Mana, plucky little soldier she is, volunteers to go in her place.  And Kitarou says he’s going to, and again it’s really wonderful to see how much this means to Mana.

A great moment for the two of them, and that would have been that has Nurarihyon not meddled with things by destroying the cave spirit’s object of worship.  I’d thought at the time it was a rather petty thing, below his station, but his true motives will be revealed before long.  In the meantime an unpleasant surprise is waiting for the happy couple – the guardian spirt Haniwa-Musha (no less than Nomura Kenji for this small but fun role, his first of this version) has awoken, and it’s pretty pissed.  Again it falls to Mana to be brave in the face of danger, but when has Mana ever failed when the chips were down?

All in all this is a great yarn – fun antics from the Gegegang at the onsen (Ittan-momen doing the peeping honors, Konaki-jiji devastated that it’s not mixed-gender bathing, Mana irritated that the youkai just want to chill), and a nice conclusion.  But that twist ending is a big one, as the reason why Nurarihyon got involved becomes clear – he wants that Fuji energy to help the Western Youkai awaken Backbeard.  An East-West youkai alliance, with eliminating Kitarou as the goal – there’s your final big bad storyline right there.  It’s a shame there’s no role for Nanashi in there, but he sort of got redeemed so I suppose his storyline wouldn’t really fit…