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Kitaro: Drawn and Quarterly Edition #5
Kitaro's Strange Adventures
More bizarre and hilarious adventures with everyone s favorite one-eyed boy!
In the fourth installment of Shigeru Mizuki s Kitaro series readers meet a whole new cast of yokai monsters, including a giant Cyclops, the villainous Blackbeard, and a malefic sea captain who attempts to summon hell on Earth. The lead adventure Yokai Cloth, follows Kitaro and his gang as they intercept a plot by Chinese yokai who want to enslave the Japanese population to turn the country into a yokai paradise, bringing forth the largest yokai battle yet! But anyone familiar with Kitaro knows that even the toughest yokai squad is no match for him. With the help of a few friends and some funky magic, Kitaro will do everything in his power to outwit and outplay all who challenge him.
Drawn & Quarterly s kid-friendly edition showcases stories from the golden age of Kitaro, now available for the very first time in English. It also features a bonus History of Kitaro essay and more yokai files by the award-winning series translator and Mizuki scholar Zack Davisson. Comedy, folklore, horror, and action meld in Kitaro s Strange Adventures, epitomizing the whimsical all-age stories that make Kitaro one of Japan s most celebrated and beloved characters.
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In the fourth installment of Shigeru Mizuki s Kitaro series readers meet a whole new cast of yokai monsters, including a giant Cyclops, the villainous Blackbeard, and a malefic sea captain who attempts to summon hell on Earth. The lead adventure Yokai Cloth, follows Kitaro and his gang as they intercept a plot by Chinese yokai who want to enslave the Japanese population to turn the country into a yokai paradise, bringing forth the largest yokai battle yet! But anyone familiar with Kitaro knows that even the toughest yokai squad is no match for him. With the help of a few friends and some funky magic, Kitaro will do everything in his power to outwit and outplay all who challenge him.
Drawn & Quarterly s kid-friendly edition showcases stories from the golden age of Kitaro, now available for the very first time in English. It also features a bonus History of Kitaro essay and more yokai files by the award-winning series translator and Mizuki scholar Zack Davisson. Comedy, folklore, horror, and action meld in Kitaro s Strange Adventures, epitomizing the whimsical all-age stories that make Kitaro one of Japan s most celebrated and beloved characters.
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188 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2017
1 person is currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Shigeru Mizuki
742 books332 followersShigeru 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.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 1, 2018
Another collection of Kitaro stories that I'm reading for the next manga episode that Shea and I are recording. I love Mizuki's work, and Kitaro is one hell of a fun ride. Outlandish at wacky at times, but that's a big part of its charm.
March 11, 2020
I like this collection more than the original “Birth of Kitaro” manga! The stories are a little longer, and feel more serious. Mizuki’s writing makes it easy to lose track of time and read “just one more story.”
April 19, 2020
This is the fourth paperback volume of Kitaro manga from Drawn and Quarterly. The history segment this time starts in 1960 when Shigeru Mizuki was fired from drawing Graveyard Kitaro and the book was assigned to a different creator! He went to another publishing company that liked his work, and started bringing out Kitaro’s Night Stories, with a very similar cast. Neither company had the money to pursue a copyright suit (and since Mizuki had based Kitaro on an earlier character, his legal status was tenuous.)
As a dig against his competition, Mizuki created a villain for the new storyline, Nise-Kitaro (“Fake Kitaro”), a boy who strongly resembles the real Kitaro and wants to use his lookalike status to gain fame and money, even if it means disposing of the original. He’s been recycled a few time in later stories, but none of those appear in this volume.
“Yokai Cloth” starts the volume off with a Chinese yokai who initially pretends to be friendly. He tricks Japanese yokai into ingesting a drug that turns them into cloth, then sells the cloth to Japanese humans. Any human that wears the cloth falls under the Chinese yokai’s mental control. This is all part of a plan to bring Japan under the domination of Chinese yokai. The first yokai to catch on is Satori, a monkey-like fellow who can read minds to evade hunters.
To battle this menace, the Japanese yokai call upon Ido-Sennin, (“Well Hermit”), a Chinese sage who came to Japan a millennium ago, and learned how to become a yokai so that he can subsist on methane gas. The invasion turns out to be another deception. The only actual invader is Qi, the nine-tailed fox, who has created his minions using magical drawings. That doesn’t mean he’s a pushover once you know that, though!
“The Demon Bael” starts with Nezumi-Otoko meeting a ramen shop waiter who has an evil hand. Turns out he got that hand from a mysterious dude after he lost his original in an accident. The mysterious dude turns out to be Bael, one of the Seven Princes of Hell! (It’s never explained why he’s running a petty evil hand scam.) Once Kitaro confronts Bael, the demon unleashes the Fifteenth Army of Hell. There’s only one way to fight this overwhelming foe, but will the cure be worse than the disease?
“Iyami” is a yokai that looks like an old man wearing a woman’s kimono. Two kids lost in the woods find the hibernating Iyami, and mistaking it for a human in need, get Iyami to a hospital to be revived. Once awakened, Iyami turns out to be an eromodoki, a spirit of ice and cold. It feeds on humans’ capacity to feel happiness, leaving them numb and irritable. It can also make other beings fall in love, though it’s a shallow obsession rather than joy.
Iyami’s true form is not humanoid, but does have testicles, which Kitaro hits with machine gun teeth(!) Now powerless, Iyami is returned to hibernation, and happiness returns to Japan. However, Nezumi-Otoko did bad things while mind-controlled and is hunted by the law.
“Miage Nyudo” is the cover story. A bully poops on the sacred mountain forbidden to humans. The “looking-up monk” kidnaps the boy to teach him some harsh lessons. Kitaro goes to rescue the young hooligan, but Miage Nyudo’s abilities to control wind and grow to immense size make him a dangerous opponent. This story features arbitrary skepticism by the adults, who believe none of what the children tell them about the adventure.
“The Demon Belial” came to Japan at the beginning of the Meiji period, disguised as a Portuguese merchant. He planned to use his powers to gain control of the island nation. But before he could carry out his plans, the karasu tengu (crow goblin) discovered what was up, and secretly stole Belial’s demonic power, sealing it in a rock.
Reduced to the human charlatan he appeared to be, Belial has been wandering Japan ever since performing parlor tricks for pennies. But now Nezumi-Otoko has accidentally broken the sealing rock, and Belial is back, baby!
The first thing Belial does is seal away his old tengu enemy, but there’s enough of a crack for the yokai to send a warning to Kitaro. Now our hero must battle Belial’s body part orbs (some body horror here.)
“Yokai Cloth” is the most interesting of the stories, and features other yokai getting a chance to shine while Kitaro is indisposed. “The Demon Bael” has the most striking ending, with Kitaro and Medama Oyaji indefinitely trapped inside a monster (which suggests that it was at the end of one of the manga’s runs.)
Recommended to fill out the set.
As a dig against his competition, Mizuki created a villain for the new storyline, Nise-Kitaro (“Fake Kitaro”), a boy who strongly resembles the real Kitaro and wants to use his lookalike status to gain fame and money, even if it means disposing of the original. He’s been recycled a few time in later stories, but none of those appear in this volume.
“Yokai Cloth” starts the volume off with a Chinese yokai who initially pretends to be friendly. He tricks Japanese yokai into ingesting a drug that turns them into cloth, then sells the cloth to Japanese humans. Any human that wears the cloth falls under the Chinese yokai’s mental control. This is all part of a plan to bring Japan under the domination of Chinese yokai. The first yokai to catch on is Satori, a monkey-like fellow who can read minds to evade hunters.
To battle this menace, the Japanese yokai call upon Ido-Sennin, (“Well Hermit”), a Chinese sage who came to Japan a millennium ago, and learned how to become a yokai so that he can subsist on methane gas. The invasion turns out to be another deception. The only actual invader is Qi, the nine-tailed fox, who has created his minions using magical drawings. That doesn’t mean he’s a pushover once you know that, though!
“The Demon Bael” starts with Nezumi-Otoko meeting a ramen shop waiter who has an evil hand. Turns out he got that hand from a mysterious dude after he lost his original in an accident. The mysterious dude turns out to be Bael, one of the Seven Princes of Hell! (It’s never explained why he’s running a petty evil hand scam.) Once Kitaro confronts Bael, the demon unleashes the Fifteenth Army of Hell. There’s only one way to fight this overwhelming foe, but will the cure be worse than the disease?
“Iyami” is a yokai that looks like an old man wearing a woman’s kimono. Two kids lost in the woods find the hibernating Iyami, and mistaking it for a human in need, get Iyami to a hospital to be revived. Once awakened, Iyami turns out to be an eromodoki, a spirit of ice and cold. It feeds on humans’ capacity to feel happiness, leaving them numb and irritable. It can also make other beings fall in love, though it’s a shallow obsession rather than joy.
Iyami’s true form is not humanoid, but does have testicles, which Kitaro hits with machine gun teeth(!) Now powerless, Iyami is returned to hibernation, and happiness returns to Japan. However, Nezumi-Otoko did bad things while mind-controlled and is hunted by the law.
“Miage Nyudo” is the cover story. A bully poops on the sacred mountain forbidden to humans. The “looking-up monk” kidnaps the boy to teach him some harsh lessons. Kitaro goes to rescue the young hooligan, but Miage Nyudo’s abilities to control wind and grow to immense size make him a dangerous opponent. This story features arbitrary skepticism by the adults, who believe none of what the children tell them about the adventure.
“The Demon Belial” came to Japan at the beginning of the Meiji period, disguised as a Portuguese merchant. He planned to use his powers to gain control of the island nation. But before he could carry out his plans, the karasu tengu (crow goblin) discovered what was up, and secretly stole Belial’s demonic power, sealing it in a rock.
Reduced to the human charlatan he appeared to be, Belial has been wandering Japan ever since performing parlor tricks for pennies. But now Nezumi-Otoko has accidentally broken the sealing rock, and Belial is back, baby!
The first thing Belial does is seal away his old tengu enemy, but there’s enough of a crack for the yokai to send a warning to Kitaro. Now our hero must battle Belial’s body part orbs (some body horror here.)
“Yokai Cloth” is the most interesting of the stories, and features other yokai getting a chance to shine while Kitaro is indisposed. “The Demon Bael” has the most striking ending, with Kitaro and Medama Oyaji indefinitely trapped inside a monster (which suggests that it was at the end of one of the manga’s runs.)
Recommended to fill out the set.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2018
I wasn't quite as keen on the stories in this volume compared to the previous two volumes - this one is quite episodic and features two Western demons Bael and Belial as well as some traditional Yokai including the 9 tailed fox spirit. However some of the artwork is amazing - the detail on well Yokai Ido Senin is astonishing - there's also a full page illustration of a Meji period ship which looks more like a professional illustration than a page in manga. I also love the demon Belial - where he splits and multiplies his body parts to be giant balls of 100 eyes, ears and mouths is just super freaky weird.
Anyone who likes either manga or Japanese folklore needs Kitaro in their collection - a true classic.
Anyone who likes either manga or Japanese folklore needs Kitaro in their collection - a true classic.
June 11, 2020
Par for the course, excellent and thoroughly enjoyable all around. This one has Ido-Sennin, one of Mizuki's (if not his) best monster designs ever. And that's saying a lot because his mosnter designs are awesome. The volume opens with a closeup of Ido-Sennin's face and WOW.
April 23, 2018
An unfortunately disappointing collection considering that I've been enjoying this series up to now. While visually, you get what you would expect from Mizuki, unfortunately I did not enjoy the stories here much. Particularly they all seem to fall flat in their conclusions, either ending with a couple frames of just text or leaving a lot hanging and seeming like there should be a some extra pages that are missing.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews