What is GeGeGe no Kitaro? Beginners Guide & Watch Order 

Translation Update: 1960-1990 Kitaro releases now have 1 additional English episode each thanks to fan translators working on a 2022 Halloween project.

The translator has actually explained why the DQ realise is the way it is. Basically, Kitaro has very little acual potential to sell well in the US, and everyone involved knew that going in. So they knew from an economic standpoint that publishing the entire series would be impossible. So since the series was epsoidic anyway they decided instead of publishing it in order they would focus on getting the best chapters possible. This seems to be based on a combination of what chapters are considered important and well loved in Japan and what chapters the translator personality just really wanted to include. Golgo 13 release takes the same approach. As for the panel differences I seriously doubt they are made on the part of the western distributor. It is very common for changes in art and layout to be made in between new publication of manga, and this is essentially true for manga from before the mid 80's. Likely both English publications were just given the most recent version that was published in Japan, and the difference comes from new collections being published in Japan between the English realise's. Tho all that is an educated guess because finding specific details like that in English online is basically impossible for a more obscure series like Kitaro.

Its great to see someone take this amount of love to this series. Im glad someone take some time to explain why people should watch this show and a way to explain it. I love this manga/anime.

I enjoyed the 2018 version quite a bit. Glad to see such a video!

30:15 This film is most likely a tribute as its director, Takashi Miike, is a huge manga fan and has directed several film adaptations of manga. He's directed stuff like MPD Psycho, Ichi the Killer, and the JoJo part 4 film adaptation (though I heard most people don't like that one).

I'm very happy that you are still putting these out, they are really valuable videos for giving in-depth yet straight forward information on these obscure(in the West) titles that are generally passed on my most Anime reviewers. Thanks you.

I watched Kitaro in chronological order, starting from the 60s to today. I might be biased, since I'm a '90 kid and grew up with that animation style, but I have a soft spot for the '96 anime. The writing might be lacking, but the artstyle is great. In my opinion, the '68 series is the best, old timey, retro, black&white, great animation compared to its contemporary (like Scooby-Doo) with a childish, sometimes gullible Kitaro unburdened by his immortality + the gratuitous violence between him and Nezumi Otoko. The 2007 series is good too. It's fresh, dynamic... I like the style and the vibrant colours. Plus, there's something in Kitaro's design, the way his eye is drawn... he looks softer, kinder, more expressive and less aloof. The additional power-ups were a bit too Dragon Ball-esque, but I get it, the series had to keep up with the times and the competitors. The 2018 series is the one I enjoyed less... the episodes are fine, the animation is impeccable, but it's too modern, too "social network" for my liking (am I getting old???? 🤣). All the characters look the same stick legged token bishōnen. No hate, but pass. That being said, I can't wait to see the 2023 movie. That has to be a banger!

What an amazing video! After watching this video, I understand that GeGeGe no Kitaro has more - many more - renditions that any given Gundam story and understand why that is the case. I’ll definitely give a few of these titles a watch in due time. Thank You!

I like this series. I really liked the 60's version even the Monster War. Catchy theme song. Good review. I'd like to see you review the "Laughing Salesman" series.

GeGeGe No Kitarou Is my favorite anime so It Is absolutely great that you made a video talking about It.

So you're telling me I have almost a full series to translate when I learn enough Japanese? Hell yeah, dude!

Thank you for providing quality content about anime on youtube. I discovered your channel in 2009 after my then recent exposure to the wonderful world of anime.

I don't know anything about this, definitely want to give this a try now!

Thank you so much for the work you done with this video, Gegege is such an underrated IP that deserves much needed attention and you have done a great job introducing it to more people the best way possible! cheers!

Thank you so much for making this video 🙏

I do really love all the evolutions of Gegege no Kitaro and I am a BIGGEST SUPER FAN of it!!!! ^^

Kitaro is one of those franchises that will hold my heart forever it's so charming and creepy it's everything to me Thank you for for this video!

amazing video it's nice to see a video that covers Kitaros amazing history

Great video. Thank you.

im quite literally your biggest fan

just got into kitaro recently. the video was really helpful.

Just FYI D+Q is reprinting that first volume of Kitaro soon. To be out sometime next year and should be available for pre orders.

I got into the Kitaro series thanks to my HUGE love for Nurarihyon no mago when I soon discovered the series also had a Nurarihyon character. So um yeah, probably could guess my favorite character then lol. Despite being evil in this series, I do adore that crazy diabolical grandpa XD Somtimes his plans to take over the world will be somthing dark like, "Create a cult" Othertimes it's somthing as silly as challenging cryptics from the spirit of halloween store to a IRL Mario Kart race. Lmao 🤣 I'll even root for him even though I already know Kitaro is likely to just send him back to Jurassic Park again... Fun fact: Nezumi-Otoko old voice actor Chikao Ohtsuka also played as Nurarihyon in Nurarihyon no Mago. Rest peacefully Mr. Ohtsuka

One of the best supernatural anime that I ever watch, I say what

Great video, these’s always some 50+ year long franchise i’ve never heard of or paid attention to. Backlogged.

Cool, thanks

Informative review as always, I like that your plan to make a video about 60s anime is branching off to videos on different franchises. I always confused this series for Dororon Enma, thought they were related somehow, but it seems different now, a bit less chaotic. Btw, it would be cool if you made a video every once in a while just giving quick thoughts on relevant topics that you won't be dedicating a video for, like Cyberpunk Edgerunners, the new Gundam and Berserk shows, and Rurouni Kenshin's remake.

I recommend the animated movie ``GeGeGe no Mystery''. It features high-quality illustrations that even young people can enjoy, focusing on the anime culture of the 1900s (lightness of life, customs, etc.). It's typical of a horror manga, and it left an impression on me that even good people meet unfortunate ends.

Wow! Thanks!!!!

Had loads of fun with the 2018 version! Definitely would go on my hidden gems list / list of anime that rarely get called out as amazing among the typical picks by the major public.

I remember back in high school watching 2018 kitaro along with jojo part 5 back when both were airing. After finishing both, I watched hakaba kitaro and I remember loving the art/story but was shocked to see how cold hearted kitaro was in hakaba.

The 2008 movie and the 2018 might be ones I look into, if I ever could manage to watch anime consistently for more than a week and I got so much stuff to go through with an evergrowing list. This series seems interesting but it really felt like you had to go through hassles when watching the enteries. Like a game that keeps crashing constantly when you play it. Speaking of games, that Kitaro GBA game looks kind of on the nose from how much it borrows from Metroid. The map looks TOO similar to a GBA Metroid game. Also, speaking of GBA anime games, Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure is really cool.

THIS WAS MY CHILDHOOD SHOW!! THE ONE I WATCHED WAS 2007 VERSION AND I LOVE MIZUKI SHIGERU

Man I thought everyone forgot about this.

I’d love to see a “definitive” Kitaro that has elements from multiple prior versions, sort of like IDW TMNT or Ultimate Spider Man.

Man seriously doubting how much I wanna watch that 1988 VHS recording. I LOVE vhs recordings my two favourite movies that are enhanced by being recorded like that are Return of the living Dead and Picnic at hanging rock. Some stuff just looks better crunchy

So I’m thankful this video existed because I have no idea what in the heck this show is? I remember seeing it in a lot of Japanese video game commercials for the 90s And just recently I was at my local game store and the game store (which is in America BTW 🇺🇸) Has merchandise for this series (pencil holders) I decided to get one! Great video might have to check it out!

A true representation of the horror of the yo kai, unlike yo kai watch

I love this beginner guide videos The space pirate captain harlock universe will be the hardest thing to do in this format I think (more difficult than The Fate series) I don't want to ask you to do it because you will hate me for it. But The world need a video about Leiji Matsumoto universe

That curated sampler pack is a great idea and exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find, wish more reviewers of longrunning old series included that kind of thing at the end of their reviews. Good stuff.

Not my cup of tea, but the original manga on the other hand. Looks like something I may check out. Good work on the editing! Also that is alot of episodes to watch your realy commited man.

Hakaba kitaro is loosely based on the story of Kosodate Yūrei

>sees Bob uploaded Me: It's been 84 years...

It is very sad that Kitaro won't be completely translated because America's poor reception. Luckily the 2018 series is fully subbed. Nezumi Otoko is Mizuki's favorite character, the author used him to make satire and his personal commentary. Ratman is hateful, but a great caracter as well

I have been a "Kitaro" fan since 2014. I was researching yokai on the web. I had seen Shigeru Mizuki's pictures, and then I got curious and looked him up as well as "Gegege no Kitaro." And I have watched as many episodes from each anime as I could find available, but god! I wish Discotek Media would license or release all of the "Kitaro" anime series and films on DVD or even Blu-ray. I have 30 favorite episodes from the 1960s version. 13 from the 1970s version, 41 from the 1980s version, and 24 from the 1996 anime My favorite anime versions are the 1968 and 1985 versions. 1985 is my birth year. I also love the 80s version because I'm a KitaroxYumeko fan. And when you talk about the "Neko-Sennin" story, I love the 60s anime version too. And I love the 80s anime version of the "Suiko" story too. You know, in the five anime series, many episodes are adaptations of stories from the original manga, and for me, it is hard to choose which version I love. "The Great Rebellion" is my favorite out of the 80s movies, and now don't think of me as sick and disgusting, but I shipped Nezumi-Otoko and the girl Caroline, who was on Nezumi's shoulders. Episode 10 is one of my favorite episodes from the 1996 anime series, too. Sadly, I haven't gotten to the 2007 anime, but I'm glad the 2018 series is on Crunchyroll, where I have an account.

Where can I find these series to watch or download (specifically the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s ones)? I can't seem to find them anywhere. Love the video by the way!

Ghost train 2018 and 2007 is my favorite episodes in gegege no kitaro.

Kitsunekko has english subtitle files for a chunk of the 1985 episodes, including all of jigoku-hen. I'm tempted to get my hands on the raw and make sub files from at least some of the VHS translated episodes

2007 us still my favorite.

Kakuranger has ninjas vs yokai so that's fun

Hey, I’m the person who wrote the Lost Media Wiki article you provided at the beginning of the video. I’ve been writing about and archiving GGGnK related stuff for a little over two years now, and this video is disappointing. You seemed to skip over the 1985 animated theatrical film (just called Gegege no Kitaro) and seem really annoyed with the quality of the NGN subs. I cannot understate the historic importance of the NGN subs. They only aired for a brief time in Hawaii during the 1990s. If memory serves, all of the VHS rips that are available online exist because of one user. The rest are lost media. Complaining about stuff like aspect ratios and poor quality is strange to me considering this translation is so rare!! But I digress. I wish more research was done on this video, as your editing style is very nice but the information provided is nothing new.

This video is a year old but I just saw it. I thought I should clear up one mystery for you. The selections were approved by Mizuki himself who thought this was the most representative of his work. They are almost never printed in chronological order in Japan. Mizuki considered that to be irrelevant. He also reworked the Birth of Kitaro storyline MANY times. The version is D&Q is not missing any pages. It is the version Mizuki himself considered to be the best version of the origin.

The only company that would ever lisence this franchise for home video would be discotec.

where are you finding these? archive has some but im wondering if buying over priced dvds or tubi is the only answer.

Have you ever watched Dororon Enma-kun? It's a Yokai parody Anime from the 70s.

Come to Brazil

I think I know fairly well. I watched all episodes of the 2018 anime, I know about Kitarō's birth and Shigeru Mizuki (his father in law), I watched all of the 2023 Akuma-Kun anime and I am currently watching the original Akuma-Kun anime from 1989.

We’re would I find the full episode.?

I'm still looking for a decent copy (subtitled) of the 2 Kitaro live-action movies.

It's hilarious how youtubers tend to ignore this tiny little thing called "online scanlations" which most people worldwide use to avoid the kind of publisher bullshit you yourself described in the video. There is no point in avoiding those if they are you only choice in the frist place.

Have you ever seen the anime called Mononoke? It is a very dark anime similar to Kitaro but relies more on mystery and horror.

this series gets hate cause people blame it for dragon ball super going off air

From what I've seen, the 60s version is alright and has some interesting yokai encounters, when I watched it only 5 or 6 episodes were translated. Couldn't stand the Hakaba Kitarou 2000s anime series, should be so good in theory to have a darker and less passive version of Kitarou, but the execution wasn't there and the visual style just made it worse.

I watched Kitaro because the 2018 series replaced Dragon Ball Super so when I saw Kitaro, I thought he was kinda cute and had an interesting design so I watched it. I enjoyed the series, there were some good moments, but I don’t think I’ll go back to it any time soon. 27:41 holy shit he looks like Yuma from World Trigger,

I like the 85 tv anime even if the quality isn’t that good

But i can't find the 1968 version where to find that

They made 2018 version get more darker and horror version

ok i'll go with 2018 version

Based on a Kamishibai and a manga franchise.

I think 60s and 90s kitaro are underrated and I like the way they both portray kitaro himself Edit: I think 2007 is the best kitaro anime adaptation but that’s just my opinion

I wonder if you will ever review Digimon Ghost Game, something that is spooky, yet modern. Not that you will re-shape my opinion, just want to know if you will ever brave the 67 episode show.

Does anyone know how I can actually watch this show in the UK ? I know crunchy roll has a few episodes but not everything

Is hakaba no kitarou and gegege no kitarou same person?

Anyone remember time bokan? Or princess anmitsu?😂

🤌🏻🤌🏻

I was wondering if anyone knew where I could find the 2007 version, episode 60 and higher. I looked everywhere and can only find up to episode 59. Im really hoping to finish the series, and it’s been bugging me. (Btw I don’t need subs, anything works)

Kaguya-sama: Love is War - Ultra Romantic Review

Bleach and Yo-Kai Watch were influenced by Gegege no kitaro

Surprisingly the first live action movie has an English dub simply called “Kitaro”. It’s very mediocre, and it’s extremely rare.

In your opinion was Ratman the inspiration for Beetlejuice? the seem two virtually identical characters.

this series real did peek in 1871

Spy x Family Review

So the latest GnK anime turns him into Yusuke lite

You like Ratman?!?! DISLIKE lolol