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  1. YumikoStarlight
    October 12, 2019 @ 12:04 pm

    I’m back, again OwO I can’t keep up with this anime weekly anymore and it sucks, I miss our long comment chains :’D I actually would’ve waited until next week to catch up on the episodes because I worked super early today and my eyes hurt from staring at a computer screen, but I saw this episode’s review pop up in Google news for me, and as soon as I’ve seen it actually had to do with developing Rat Man and Kitaro’s relationship really well I had to catch up on all the past three episodes that I missed :’D
    I think this ep is a missed opportunity, but not because it was bad, not at all. The ep itself was really great and I really enjoyed it, but the reason why I think it’s a missed opportunity is because this ep didn’t come EARLIER in the series. I think this ep, or rather this ep’s setup, should’ve been used instead of Wanyudo episode with the diamonds (wow, that was a long time ago). Wanyudo was a good episode, but it didn’t really showcase Kitaro’s and Rat Man’s relationship well for 2018 watchers only. Whoever has watched past series knows that Rat Man has always been like that and has either betrayed Kitaro or helped him, and he’s shown a whole lot more human side in the past too, so why Kitaro always forgives him is a lot more understandable, and the watchers of the previous series already easily accept their relationship as a given, no matter how rocky it may be.
    Now this episode really shows their relationship well, especially how they’re capable of fighting over the smallest of things like a stolen bun/ramen, but are also capable of making up over the smallest of things. If this episode came first, followed sometime down the line by Wanyudo and all the other times when Rat Man at least TRIED to be useful, this relationship would be a lot easier to swallow for 2018 only watchers.
    It also showcases two other things about Rat Man, those being that he’s actually quite street-smart (as shown from him quickly figuring out that Kuro-Bozu’s true form is the painting, which he promptly uh… destroyed :’D) and that he’s incredibly resilient. The dude was tortured by Rei and still pulled through, holy crap. :O Kitaro is right, his survivability is admirable :’D
    I really liked Kitaro’s reasoning for why they’re still friends despite everything. Despite Rat Man’s greedy heart, he can see that Rat Man is capable of remorse, which is why he can also see that he isn’t all bad. What I find quite interesting about the group dynamics (and that goes for other past series too) is that NOBODY in the family besides Rat Man and Kitaro really understands this relationship. It’s a definition of ‘It’s complicated’ relationship status on Facebook. To Sand Witch and Old Man Crybaby or even Neko this relationship is completely absurd and incomprehensible, but it’s not incomprehensible to Kitaro, since it falls into his conviction to forgive when possible. And although Rat Man keeps falling into the same patterns over and over and never REALLY changes, it’s not like he’s using Kitaro’s kindness with malicious intent because If he did he wouldn’t be genuinely touched and tearing up when Kitaro forgives him. In short it’s a really REALLY great bromance with these two and I hope to see more of it in future eps :’D

  2. Grumpyzard
    October 12, 2019 @ 12:27 pm

    Kurubozo is voiced by Shigeru Chiba who voiced Nezumi Otoko in the 1996 series, the 2018 series has been doing a lot of bringing back voice actors who played the main characters from the previous series of GeGeGe no Kitaro. Masako Nozawa, who voiced Kitaro in the 1968 and 1971 series, is the voice of Medama Oyaji and Yuko Mita, Chinami Nishimura and Hiromi Konno who voiced Neko Musume in the 1985, 1996 and 2007 series all came back to voice Yuki’s mother, Yuki and Numa-Gozen as well as Oshie Aino, the girl from the Dating Sim who has a similar design to 5th series Neko Musume, in episode 39. By the way, the latter was made into a big announcement with them uniting four generations of Neko Musume voice actresses, with Umeka Shoji, who voices the 2018 series Neko Musume, being the foruth.

  3. Szen *
    October 12, 2019 @ 12:36 pm

    Amazing episode! They finally explored in depth the relationship of Kitaro and Rat man. That made Rat man more likeable and now you can feel better their relationship. The action was amazing! The duel between Kitaro and REI was so well choreographed and the animation was off the charts! Also I found quite interesting that Kurobozu basically knocked out both Kitaro and Rei. I mean they were in a tough spot until Rat man figured the painting thing out