GeGeGe no Kitarō

Episode 13

It's easy to forget that kids' shows can be dark as hell, especially if you didn't grow up with terror fuel like The Hugga Bunch Movie or Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure, both of which scarred me as a child. In that sense, GeGeGe no Kitarō is a throwback to earlier days in children's entertainment, with episodes taking on the function of moments like the godawful pound scene in Lady and the Tramp in the context of a much longer story. This episode is one of those moments, and while it lacks some of the obvious impact of the ghost train story, it still covers some very dark material, particularly in the context of our world today.

That's a good thing – kids aren't stupid, and they've probably heard about some of the more distressing things happening around them. This episode tackles the refugee crisis in Europe when Rat Man gets involved with Wanyudo (who you might recognize from Hell Girl), and the two arrange a plan where Rat Man brings greedy people to Wanyudo's cave. Wanyudo eats their souls and turns their bodies into diamonds, which Rat Man sells by the bagful in order to suss out more greedy people to continue the cycle. This isn't a great scheme, but when the diamond syndicate gets involved, they begin shipping in containers full of Middle Eastern refugees, presumably with the promise of a better life. Once in Japan, they're swiftly killed, giving “blood diamond” a whole new meaning.

Greed is the obvious issue at the core of this episode. Wanyudo is greedy for souls, the diamond syndicate (and to a lesser extent Rat Man) are greedy for profit, and the people who buy the diamonds are greedy for prestige. The original agreement between Wanyudo and Rat Man seems to be okay in Rat Man's eyes because they're people he has already found morally wanting, willing to sacrifice their livelihood for shiny rocks. The refugees, on the other hand, just want better lives and the chance to start over – basic human wants and needs like safety and happiness. They in no way deserve the treatment they receive at the hands of the syndicate and Wanyudo, leaving Rat Man uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Perhaps he sees himself in them – early on in the episode, Rat Man and Kitaro have a spat, and Rat Man mentions that he's half human and half yokai, fitting into neither world. He doesn't elaborate much, but he clearly feels like he's not welcome in either, so he's spent most of his life trying to make up for that with schemes and material comforts. That none of them ever work just compounds his issues, and he ends up even more alone than before. Kitaro's rejection of his diamond plan is the final straw for someone who feels so judged, and Rat Man decides to cut Kitaro out of his life, truly making him a person without a home, drifting between worlds.

This makes Kitaro's arrival to save Rat Man, and Rat Man's reciprocity when Kitaro is at Wanyudo's mercy, that much more important. It doesn't matter that they don't see eye-to-eye. It isn't important that they don't really like each other. What matters is that they care what happens to each other, because they're both living beings. When Wanyudo is defeated and all of the people he's turned to diamonds return to life, it's because Rat Man found that he did care after all.

None of this really means that Rat Man's learned his lesson – at episode's end, he's working on a cryptocurrency scheme. But he knows what lines not to cross, and he knows that he does have someone he can count on when he gets in over his head. Ultimately the message this week is that greed can breed cruelty, and that can make humans scarier than any yokai. In any time or place, remembering not to callously ruin lives just because you want something is a lesson worth remembering.

Rating: B+

GeGeGe no Kitarō is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.