Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Why You Should Watch GeGeGe no Kitarō
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Dop.L
Posts: 724 Location: London |
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Yeah, the only Kitaro I'd seen before was the Noitamina show Hakaba Kitaro from ten years back, so I was keen to see this one.
I thought the ghost train episode was particularly superb, but then when last week's episdoe suddenly turned into Shin Godzilla there I really wasn't expecting anything that epic. |
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azabaro
 SubscriberPosts: 253 |
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The super-literal yokai name translations are not from the manga, and the manga's translator (Zack Davisson) seemed sort of aghast at how bad those name translators are.
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tootbrush
Posts: 232 |
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Sounds like the ANN staff would get a kick out of Hugtto! Precure, if it had official subs. Not only are some of Toei's best directors and animators working on it, the writing is also pushing the boundaries of anime aimed at kids, especially in recent episodes.
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2665 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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Technically, the names are from the manga, because before Drawn & Quarterly's releases, there were Kodansha's Bilingual Comics releases, and that translation used the same exact names that the anime translators are using. If anything, this is a decision made by Toei & Kodansha, and the translator has to abide by those rules. It's like how Viz isn't always keeping the same altered names for JoJo characters & stands in its current releases of the manga, like how Oingo & Boingo were maintained this time around, even though that company originally changed the names to Zenyatta & Mondatta for the initial manga release, which the anime translation then maintained. In other words, it's next to impossible to maintain a single, consistent translation when a property is being handled by multiple entities. |
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Gurren Rodan
 Posts: 266 |
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The ghost train episode might be my favorite so far, but as a longtime daikaiju fan, that tanuki episode delighted me to no end. As soon as I heard those classic tokusatsu sound effects, my face broke into a big grin.
That OP is one of the catchiest I've heard in a while, besides. "Ge... Ge... Ge ge ge no Gehhhhh..." |
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Stuart Smith
 Posts: 1298 |
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The name changes are certainly terrible, but they're easily fixed by downloading a resubbed version of the show or changing the sub files yourself. It's a shame they're taking iconic character people have known for decades, based on real folklore, and changing their names. When Yokai Watch did it, at least could hide behind the excuse they were dumbing things down for kids and marketing, but there's no real excuse for Kitaro. It's especially odd given they kept Kitaro and don't call him "Demon Dude" or something, which makes it inconsistent. I wonder how they'll handle the character based on western folklore. Will they change Frankenstein, Gremlin, Gorgon, and all the other Western Yokai's names?
I also have to say the weird gushing over how 'violent' the series is despite being for kids is confusing. It airs in the same block as Dragonball and One Piece do. It's not like kids anime in Japan isn't known for being able to be plenty violent or dark already due to less censorship than American kids shows have. -Stuart Smith |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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The translators don't modify names when they change in the Japanese dialogue either. I thought it was cute when Mana starts calling Neko-musume "Neko onee-san." The CR subtitles didn't change.
In any season that didn't have Golden Kamuy, Kitaro would probably be my favorite show. |
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AsuraTheDestructor
Posts: 485 |
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Agreed with this so hard. |
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we love lain
Posts: 145 |
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Kids shows in Japan are not known for being "plenty violent or dark." Yes japanese kid shows may tend to have content that would not be permissible in a show geared at a younger american audience, but the average anime aimed at young children are actually pretty tame. Dragonball and One piece are not necessarily aimed at children, but rather young pre-teen to teen audience. Kitarou on the other hand, was meant to be a manga aimed at young children for the purpose of immersing and educating them on youkai lore while crafting adventures (mostly serving as parables) kids would find entertaining and engaging. The fact that Kitarou dares to get dark, and not only just that, but emphasize the gravity of the dark material it covers is what's surprising. Not many young audience cartoons aim to depict the grim fate of a dirtbag boss who pushes his employees to suicide or make commentary on the flaws of Japanese Bureaucracy and the devastating consequences that can come from it. Being dark and violent isn't just about the content shown, but the gravity and tone in which you present that content and how far you you go with it. For a show aimed at younger audiences, it achieves this gravity in a way that other kid shows or even something like dragonball doesn't exactly replicate. |
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mike.motaku
 Posts: 160 Location: Indiana |
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This is one of the few new anime I'm watching this season. And it is definitely the only one whose OP and ED have me singing along!
And DARK! For a "kids' show", gigantic amounts of truly nasty horror, mixed with humor. A difficult balance to reach. I initially started watching it out of nostalgia and because I'm reading the manga, but it really is one of the gems of the season. |
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Yune Amagiri
 Posts: 1078 Location: France |
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At first i was a bit angry because they change it a lot of things and didn't make it a sequel to the last one which never finished it's last arc but finally a remake was a good choice it's becoming my favorite of the Kitaro franchise.
Also agree |
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Stuart Smith
Posts: 1298 |
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All three series are shounen. That's what shounen series are, they're aimed at young boys. The Gegege no Kitaro manga ran in Weekly Shounen Magazine, the same one that also printed Cyborg 009, Devilman, and Ashita no Joe, Haijme no Ippo, and The Seven Deadly Sins. It also airs on the same block One Piece does, which is most certainly aimed a children. The last time I was in Japan McDonalds was promoting it's One Piece Happy Meal toys for kids. I get the idea that people might be insecure about admitting the shows they're watching are children's shows, but it's really nothing to be ashamed about. It also doesn't mean these shows don't have huge adult fanbases in Japan. Concepts like bullying, suicide, and other mature topics are not exactly uncommon for these types of works. Whether it includes supernatural elements like Detective Conan, Death Note, Evangelion, or Yu-Gi-Oh, or more grounded series like Sket Dance. |
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we love lain
Posts: 145 |
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Again, my point is that shows like One piece and dragonball, while they can be easily marketed to very young kids, are aiming to grab a pre-teen to teen audience around the age of 12 and up. Kitaro on the other hand, while published in weekly shounen-jump, was intended by the author to be a supernatural show that would be aimed more towards the younger spectrum of the shounen crowd; that was part of what was supposed to make it special. |
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