Not since Hunter X Hunter 2011 have we seen a series run continuously for this long and maintain its quality at the level Gegege no Kitarou 2018 has.  It’s a pretty remarkable track record and a testament to the commitment of the staff at Toei who make this show happen every week.  In fact it’s hard to find analogs for a series updating a classic franchise with original material for so long and being this successful – especially when you consider that this is one of the half-dozen or so most influential manga in history.  This series left my expectations in the dust a long time ago – now it’s just a treasured part of my Sunday nights.

GGGnK has tended to utlilize overtly comic or very dark episodes in turn, but the ones that have truly bridged those two styles have been relatively infrequent.  This was one of them, and it reminded me of a perfectly balanced Kitarou meal – everything that’s great about this revival was here in good measure and perfectly executed.  As most series are, this one is best when passion for the subject is evident in the writing, and that was definitely the case here.  This ep broached a lot of themes that are near and dear to Gegege no Kitarou’s heart.

Manga is one of them, of course – and one way this episode functioned was as an unabashed love letter to manga.  The youkai in focus is Hiderigami (Ebara Masashi, surprisingly making his franchise debut), a manga-loving youkai who dreams of adding his contribution to the medium.  But the real hero of the piece is Sumitomi (the superb Kusunoki Taiten, veteran of the 2007 series), the editor who winds up championing his cause.  Before that, though, Hiderigami runs a gauntlet of rejection from editors horrified by his youkai nature who reject his work based on his species.

Eventually Hiderigami turns to Kitarou for help, asking him to submit the manga for him.  This is a pretty revealing conversation, as it sheds light on just how much his recent painful experiences have made Kitarou leery of human-youkai interaction.  Hiderigami is an affable youkai, not especially threatening – but Kitarou still predicts the worst.  Finally he relents, just a little, and admits to the departing Hiderigami that “happy endings between humans and youkai do happen – once in a while”.  That’s his blessing for Hiderigami to keep trying, which he does – spurning an offer from Nezumi-otoko to upload his manga on his pirate website (more on that shortly).

There are a lot of levels to what’s happening here, make no mistake about that.  Sumitomi’s love for manga is honest and pure, and he’s a hell of a good editor (hard-ass though he is – and maybe that’s why).  But in a country as historically insular and often outright racist as Japan is, one can’t take this stuff about humans and non-humans and “protecting human culture” strictly at face value.  It so happens that foreigners attempting to break into the manga industry (while rare) have always been met with a wall of resistance and prejudice, but that’s only one example and a pretty uncommon one at that.

This version of GGGnK has had a sometimes-awkward relationship with the theme of foreign influence in Japan, but through the highs and lows it’s pretty clear it’s a subject of deep fascination for the writing staff.  This ep hits it out of the park, and manga is the perfect vehicle for that message.  There are also not remotely subtle digs at manga piracy and the manga awards game (“There’s Nothing Wrong With Eating in the Bathroom” wins the Manga Taisho after Sumitomi’s cowardly chief editor pulls “Rocket Men” from consideration when Hidergami – at Sumitomi’s suggestion – outs himself).

Ultimately, this episode is one of the most unabashedly positive in the series’ entire run with its messaging.  Manga is universal, there are no shortcuts to success, prejudice is bad, and happy endings between youkai and humans really are possible.  Sumitomi stands up for his mangaka – and himself – and quits to start his own magazine with Hiderigami as its anchor.  And the approving look on Medama-oyaji’s face as Kitarou laughs his way through Hiderigami’s new series (whose protagonist looks naggingly familiar) is the perfect benediction to bring things to a close.  Manga brings people together, and unites Japanese culture with world culture.  And anyone who thinks that’s a bad thing can get bent.