Kitaro and the Great Tanuki War

Kitaro: Drawn and Quarterly Edition #3

by Shigeru Mizuki

Kitaro faces off against a swamp monster, a paper screen come to life, and an army of mythical raccoon dogs

Kitaro and the Great Tanuki War features adventures of Shigeru Mizuki’s beloved yokai boy. In the epic title story, Kitaro battles the tanuki, a Japanese animal that features prominently in the country’s yokai legends. The furry beasts draw on the power of the blood moon to awaken the monstrous catfish that lives in the depths of the earth. The twisting of the catfish causes earthquakes that threaten to destroy all of Japan. With his yokai allies captured, Kitaro is the only one left who can take on the great tanuki and his army. Will he be up for the challenge?

This volume contains two additional stories about traditional folklore monsters as seen through Mizuki’s whimsical and genre-defining lens. In “Mokumokuren,” Kitaro faces off against a paper screen come to life, while “The Obebenuma Yokai” introduces a grisly swamp creature. Kitaro and the Great Tanuki War showcases the golden age of the Gegege no Kitaro series from the 1960s—and has never before appeared in English.

D+Q’s Kitaro series celebrates Mizuki’s expert blend of folklore, comedy, and horror, sharing the all-ages stories that made Kitaro one of Japan’s most beloved characters. This kid-friendly edition also features a “History of Kitaro” essay by the award-winning series translator and Mizuki scholar Zack Davisson.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Japan, Japanese Literature, Graphic Novels Comics

176 pages, Paperback

Published June 20, 2017

About the author

Shigeru Mizuki (水木しげる) was a Japanese manga cartoonist, most known for his horror manga GeGeGe no Kitaro. He was a specialist in stories of yōkai and was considered a master of the genre. Mizuki was a member of The Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, and had travelled to over 60 countries in the world to engage in fieldwork of the yōkai and spirits of different cultures. He has been published in Japan, South Korea, France, Spain, Taiwan, the United States and Italy. He is also known for his World War II memoirs and his work as a biographer.

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enormous fun! a fast paced rip-roaring adventure with giant monsters, angry yokai, tons of magic, and the human population of Japan helpless to deal with an army of tanuki determined to reclaim the country as their own domain. Right in the middle as always is Kitaro, trying to run interference between the human and yokai sides despite being distrusted by both, aided (or not) by his father and the shifty ratboy Nezumi Otoko. Mizuki gallops through this adventure at a breathless pace, giving Kitaro new powers whenever he needs them (and he's going to, because the dangers in this book are epic, not just the monster yo-kaiju but the Earthquake Catfish itself!) , but keeps up the sly humor and great characterization that makes the Kitaro stories so endearing. The translation by Zack Davisson is as always stellar, subtle and deeply informed with his knowledge of Japanese culture and tradition, and includes enjoyable notes on Mizuki's life and career, the history of the Kitaro stories, and the yokai featured in them. I just loved this book and will be on the lookout for future volumes

[Derek Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book stands out in D&Q's Kitaro series in that it's mostly one long story, "The Great Tanuki War." There are two very short pieces that follow, but for all practical purposes, this is a more "novelistic" book. I enjoyed it well enough, but not as much as the other stories in the previous collections. This has me wondering if, perhaps, Kitaro may not be better served in shorter narrative spurts instead of longer storylines.

[Derek Newman-Stille · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story about one of my favourite yokai, the Tanuki, but rather than presenting them as cute, cuddly, teddy bear like creatures, Mizuki’s Tanuki are powerful and frightening otherworldly beings with a different code of ethics and a desire to reclaim heir world from humanity.

Zack Davidson provides some background to contextualize Mizuki’s work and post WWII Japan.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the least episodic and darkest of the Kitaro manga published thus far. These are not your friendly shoujo tanuki!

Full review eventually appearing on ANN.

[Leila Anani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume focuses mainly on one story - the 800 Tanuki get released and decide to take back the human world making all the women slaves and turning the men into sausages. They are aided by Onamazu - a giant catfish that causes earthquakes and a yo-kaiju (a yokai/Kaiju hybrid).

Kitaro, chamipion of humans join forces with greedy ratman Nezumi Otoko, his eyeball father and floating cloth yokai - Itta Momen to save the day.

I love the Tanuki beating their bellies like drums - Pom Poko Pom (anyone familiar with Miyazaki's Pom Poko will love this) - I also love the two monsters - artwork here is fantastic.

This is quirky and bizarre choc full of traditional Japanese folklore - classic.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tanuki War is the first long story in this (not chronologically reprinted) series and it fleshes out some of the personalities of the main characters a bit more. Plus, we get to meet Ittan-Momen, who is just awesome. Read this and then watch Pom Poko by Studio Ghibli and learn a bit about tanukis and Japanese culture.

[Knight Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were much higher stakes than I expected for a book like this. But it was still cute and funny.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF
i dnf this one after the main story. while i loved the art and the general idea behind it, the story was confusing and hard to follow.

[Sasha Boersma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't always enjoy each of the mini collections of the Kitaro stories, but this one included a longer story which I was really into, even though it was very much rooted in the Cold War era thematically.

[Kazima]

Well, that took a dark turn... Although at the same time it was one of the better Kitaro stories I've read so far. I don't know if these are presented in published chronological order, but they do seem to be getting better, and it was nice to read one that had some length to it.

[Mateen Mahboubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely have a soft spot for Kitaro and his seemingly endless ability to get out of any mess (although he needs more help than usual to deal with the threats in this volume). The tanuki in this volume are causing lots of trouble and it's up to Kitaro to save Japan.

[Ty Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old Yokai hijinks alway ensue whenever and wherever Kitaro and crew show up. This volume is especially interesting due to the long title story.

[James G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mizuki's ability to weave the improbable, historical, folkloric, and happenstance inspires me to no end. I know nothing else like it.

[Lillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Manga for Read Harder Challenge. Difficult for me to read right to left. Front of the book is what I consider back of the book. Traditional Japanese manner. Story
is based on spirit folklore.

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third volume in D+Q's English-language reprint of classic Kitaro comics, and the first one that primarily comprises a single longer storyline. 800 tanuki (i.e., Japanese raccoon-dog monsters) are accidentally unsealed from an underground cave, setting in motion an epic tale of giant monsters, with the fate of Japan in the balance. Wonderful, weird stuff - way darker and knottier than the equivalent kids' stories in American comics.

[DrCalvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell it's an old manga, in both style and how the story jumps back and forth, Kitaro always surviving through some recently revealed power. But the great Tanuki war is interesting to read as a foundational story for manga-tanuki, and for how politicians as well as the US are depicted.

[Comics Alternative · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://comicsalternative.com/manga-re...

[The Book Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 3 of Kitaro’s yokai adventures, this time featuring a Tanuki army, a Kaiju, and the giant catfish that causes earthquakes. And also two additional stories.

As a random thought, I’ve been… obsessed with Jujutsu Kaisen lately, and after reading this, I wondered if Gege Akutami’s name had some relation to the “Gegege” part of Kitaro. (Probably not, but this is where my rabbit chase started) Then one of the later stories had Kitaro choking a bad yokai with his own hand which made me think about Yuji doing almost the same thing to Sukuna and Suguru doing it to Kenjaku. So I went looking and I did find a minor connection. Turns out Gege was influenced by Tite Kubo (author of Bleach ) who was influenced by Shigeru Mizuki’s Kitaro . Not sure how much bleed happened, but I dunno, I just think it so interesting to find these little connection threads.

This series has 7 volumes.