Kitaro

by Shigeru Mizuki, Jocelyne Allen (Translator)

Overview

Meet one of Japan's most popular characters of all time—Kitaro, the one-eyed monster boy Meet Kitaro. He’s just like any other boy, except for a few small differences: he only has one eye, his hair is an antenna that senses paranormal activity, his geta sandals are jet-powered, and he can blend into his surroundings like a chameleon. Oh, and he’s a yokai (spirit monster)! With all the offbeat humor of an Addams Family story, Kitaro is a lighthearted romp in which the bad guys always get what’s coming to them. Kitaro is bestselling manga-ka Shigeru Mizuki’s most famous creation. The Kitaro series was inspired by a kamishibai, or storycard theater, entitled Kitaro of the Graveyard. Mizuki began work on his interpretation of Kitaro in 1959. Originally the series was intended for boys, but once it was picked up by the influential Shonen magazine it quickly became a cultural landmark for young and old alike. Kitaro inspired half a dozen TV shows, plus numerous video games and films, and his cultural importance cannot be overstated. Presented to North American audiences for the first time in this lavish format, Mizuki’s photo-realist landscapes and cartoony characters blend the eerie with the comic. Translated from the Japanese by Jocelyne Allen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770464834
Publisher:	Drawn & Quarterly
Publication date:	03/17/2021
Series:	Kitaro
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	402
File size:	175 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 18 Years

About the Author

Shigeru Mizuki (1922–2015) was one of Japan’s most respected artists. A creative prodigy, he lost an arm in World War II. After the war, Mizuki became one of the founders of Japan’s latest craze—manga. He invented the yokai genre with GeGeGe no Kitaro, his most famous character, who has been adapted for the screen several times, as anime, live action, and video games. In fact, a new anime series has been made every decade since 1968, capturing the imaginations of generations of Japanese children. A researcher of yokai and a real-life ghost hunter, Mizuki traveled to over sixty countries to engage in fieldwork based on spirit folklore. In his hometown of Sakaiminato, one can find Shigeru Mizuki Road, a street decorated with bronze statues of his Kitaro characters.

Editorial Reviews

Mizuki's artwork depicts cartoonish characters in beautifully rendered landscapes, and his storytelling mixes ghoulish folktales with comic strip humour.” —Cult Montreal

“I was captivated by... Mizuki's virtuoso art style, his charmingly weird tales and his delightful approach to his characters..” —Comics Bulletin

“All told, there is a lot of weird and wonderful stuff crammed into these pages...” —The Star (Malaysia)

From the Publisher

11/15/2013
Originally published in the late 1960s, Mizuki's "Kitaro" series became immensely popular in Japan as horror/humor classics and spun off numerous videos and games. An introduction by Matt Alt (Yokai Attack!) describes Mizuki's enduring legacy. Main character Kitaro looks like a cute little tyke, but he's really a 350-year-old yokai: a supernatural spirit being. Missing an eye that acts as host to his yokai dad (currently reduced to the form of an anthropomorphic eyeball), Kitaro is quick to help whenever humankind and other yokai rub one another the wrong way. In adventures mischievous, inventive, and eerie, the eyeball father and son pair outwit a French vampire, help a village end a cat infestation, force a kid baseball team to return his magical bat, end a plague of vampire trees living on human blood, and drive off a bunch of Western yokai who want to rule the world. VERDICT While a bit grisly, Mizuki's creation will appeal to tweens up through adults who enjoy spooky/goofy oddities.—M.C.

Library Journal

03/01/2014
Gr 9 Up—First published in the 1960s, this popular series organized Japan's many yokai (spirit monster) tales into a clear narrative, resetting them in contemporary times with added social commentary. Yokai are spirits that often cause mischief or harm, but the novel's half-boy, half-yokai hero Kitaro protects humans from their ill effects. Kitaro battles and defeats a blood-sucking tree and a monster who attacks with an army made from his own organs, among others. His closest ally is his father, who exists as an eyeball in the boy's empty left eye socket. The brief chapters highlight the whimsy, fantasy, and horror of Japanese folklore, and manga fans will spot the origins of many of the format's tropes, including shape-shifters, cuddly monsters, and mecha battles. Teens may overlook this title for more familiar, modern series: the illustrations are less angular and more cartoonish than the art found in much of current mainstream manga. However, booktalks of these strange, charming stories, along with connections to folkore in favorite series such as Akihisa Ikeda's "Rosario + Vampire" and Yellow Tanabe's "Kekkaishi"(both Viz Media), should find this volume an appreciative audience.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library

School Library Journal