GeGeGe no Kitarō Franchise Gets New Anime for Planetariums in Japan

The GeGeGe no Kitarō franchise is getting a new anime titled "GeGeGe no Kitarō ~Kappa no Terraforming" for screening at various planetariums and science museums across Japan, starting in September.

©水木プロ, 東映アニメーション

The story follows JAXA employee Sora Yamamoto and kappa Kaasuke, who dream of going to space. Yamamoto aims to make the kappa an astronaut who can terraform Mars. Yūsuke Numata plays Sora, Daisuke Sakaguchi plays Kaasuke, Yukiko Motoyoshi plays Josephine, and Toshio Furukawa reprises his role as Nezumi Otoko. Other characters from the series will also appear.

The anime is the sixth of its kind to screen in planetariums. The anime is also part of several 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 premiering on Netflix on November 9.

The franchise is getting a new Kitarō Tanjō: Gegege no Nazo (Kintarō Birth: The Mystery of Gegege) anime film as part of the four "big projects."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 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.

Source: Comic Natalie