posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Film opens in Japan on Friday
The official website for the Kitarō Tanjō: Gegege no Nazo (Kitarō Birth: The Mystery of Gegege) anime film unveiled the film’s “final” trailer on Wednesday.
©水木プロ・フジテレビ・東映アニメーション
The film will open in Japan on Friday.
The main cast includes Toshihiko Seki as Kitarō’s father, who would eventually become Medama Oyaji, and Hidenobu Kikuchi as Mizuki, a salaryman who heads to a cursed village under secret orders. Other cast members include:
- Atsumi Tanezaki as Sayo, Otome and Katsunori’s daughter
- Yumiko Kobayashi as Tokiya, Kanoko and Kenji’s son
- Tetsu Shiratori as Tokisada Ryūga, the head of the Ryūga family that secretly manipulates politics
- Nobuo Tobita as Tokima, Tokisada’s eldest son
- Yoko Soumi as Otome, Tokisada’s third daughter
- Yuko Minaguchi as Hinoe, Tokisada’s second daughter
- Masaya Matsukaze as Yamada, a journalist that is chasing after Kitarō’s past
- Umeka Shouji as Neko Musume (returning from the TV anime)
- Akira Ishida as Kenji Nagata, Kanoko’s husband
- Rie Kugimiya as Kanoko Nagata, Tokisada’s third daughter
- Kazuhiro Yamaji as Katsunori, Otome’s husband
- Kazuya Nakai as Kōzō, Tokisada’s second son
Gou Koga (Gegege no Kitarō: Nippon Bakuretsu!!, One Piece Episode of Sabo) is directing the film at Toei Animation, and Hiroyuki Yoshino (Macross Frontier, World Trigger, 13 episodes in 2018 GeGeGe no Kitarō) is writing the screenplay. Touko Yatabe (2018 GeGeGe no Kitarō‘s third ending sequence unit director, Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time assistant director) is designing the characters.
The film is part of four “big projects” commemorating the 100-year anniversary of Shigeru Mizuki‘s birth. Mizuki passed away in 2015 at 93 years old. Another project is a new Akuma Kun anime that premiered on Netflix on November 9.
The latest GeGeGe no Kitarō anime — the sixth television anime incarnation — premiered in April 2018 and replaced Dragon Ball Super in the same timeslot. The show ended its run in March 2020 after 97 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired.
The 2018 anime starred Miyuki Sawashiro as Kitarō and Masako Nozawa as Medama Oyaji. Both will reprise roles for the film, although Nozawa is credited as “Kitarō’s Father” instead of Medama Oyaji.
Mizuki’s manga, which began in 1959 under the name Hakaba Kitarō, has spawned seven television series (including one Hakaba Kitarō anime), several animated movies, and two live-action films. The stories center on an inhuman boy who straddles the line between the human and supernatural worlds.
Sources: Kitarō Tanjō: Gegege no Nazo film’s website, Comic Natalie
