That got real pretty fast.

Almost as if to make up for having taken a week break, Gegege no Kitarou more than picked up where Episode 46 left off – it cranked it up to eleven and kept right on going.  The series also found time to squeeze in some offscreen news, too – the important but unsurprising announcement that the show would be continuing to air for another year.  As successful as this incarnation of the beloved franchise has been both with Japanese anime fans and the general public (a rare double-double) why would they want to stop?

That announcement did carry some hints (and images) of a new recurring plot to come, but just what that means for the Nanashi storyline is subject to some interpretation.  Did Toei know this second year was going to happen all along, or were they planning on wrapping up the existing storylines after 50 episodes just in case?  Either way it’s possible that the Nanashi situation will be resolved this season, but it seems much more likely if a one-year run and done was considered a possibility.

Whichever is the case, this plot is definitely ramping up in a big way, even if it’s not actually about to close the loop.  Nanashi and his unholy obsession with Mana have been the spine that’s run through the entire first year of the series, disappearing for long stretches only to reassert its influence over the narrative (often on the fringes of a smaller episodic subplot).  It was pretty clear with the way #46 ended that the game had changed – Mana was showing distinctly un-human abilities, and Nanashi was acting like a ghoul whose time in the shadows was about to come to an end.

We have another one of those episode sublots that will be subverted at episode’s end here, and it’s a good one.  The key points are a new social media engine (I love how unlike most updates of old chestnuts, Gegege no Kitarou doesn’t just throw modern tech in to call attention to it, but actually utilizes it in a very canny way) called “OMEGA TALK” and a string of baby kidnappings.  OMEGA TALK is all the rage in town, and in fact Mana’s mother has been recruited to work there as an executive assistant – which was a pretty honking clue that Nanashi’s fingerprints (if he has them) were all over it.

The current darling of the platform is a young doofus who’s supposedly invented a camera that can see youkai, and he goes around the city (using drones) to capture them on video.  This has led to a surge in popularity for youkai, especially Kitarou once he’s captured apprehending the kidnapper.  That turns out to be Ubume (Katsuki Masako, veteran of the 1996 and 2007 series), depicted by Mizuki as a giant bird, traditionally a the spirit of a woman who died during childbirth and was known to kidnap babies after becoming a youkai.  Because she acted out of concern and never harmed any of the babies (Nezumi-otoko was roped into diaper duty after an unlucky fall) Kitarou is talked by the others into sparing Ubume, who Konaki Jiji invites to live in Gegege Forest.

This splendid drama makes Kitarou a huge celebrity, and sets off a boom in youkai-otakuism.  This, seemingly, is all in the plans of the CEO of OMEGA – as is the reversal in fortunes which happens after another kidnapping (with an injured baby this time) is wrongfully blamed on the Ubume.  For a long time I thought the main thrust of this episode was going to be the way Kitarou’s view on youkai-human relations had evolved – he makes a fascinating speech where he notes that after befriending Mana, he’s cast his lot in the direction of a closer relationship with humans.  That’s a very significant moment both for him and the series, to be sure, since it’s Kitarou’s view on that relationship that underpins the entire narrative.

However, GGGnK has an even bigger shoe to drop.  Two, actually, and they’re Shaq-size 23 whoppers.  Nanashi arranges for first Mana and then Neko-musume to go to OMEGA HQ, where Neko-musume is tricked into attacking Mana’s mother and possibly (though I doubt this) killing her.  As if that weren’t enough, the horrified Mana’s rune-powers kick in and she does kill Neko-musume to be certain – at least as we understand youkai death in this mythology.  I can’t imagine she’s gone for good – what would the doujin writers do? – but think of poor Mana.  Her mother is bleeding out in front of her having been gutted by her best friend, and she’s just destroyed that best friend.

Part of Nanashi’s plan has seemingly always been built around driving Mana to despair and desperation and, like the genius voicing him, Nanashi is very good at his job.  As cliffhangers go, they don’t get much bigger – and it’s as hard as ever to believe, watching this scene, that children are nominally Gegege no Kitarou’s target demographic.  If indeed the Nanashi arc is to come to an end over the next three weeks, a part of me will be very sad, because he might just have been the best villain Gegege no Kitarou has ever produced – Mizuki-created or not…