GeGeGe no Kitaro

Six television series across six decades, none of them continuing the last, and five hundred and forty seven episodes with no correct place to start.

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Where to start with GeGeGe no Kitaro

There is no wrong answer and no right one, because the six series do not continue each other. Every one is a full reboot with a new cast, new animation and no memory of the last, made roughly one per decade since 1968. So the question is not what order, it is which decade, and the honest answer for most people is the newest one.

  1. 1
    The 2018 series GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018)

    Ninety seven episodes, the newest, the best looking, and by a distance the most likely to be legally streaming where you live. It also has the sharpest writing of the six, taking the yokai stories somewhere considerably darker than a children's slot suggests.

  2. 2
    The 1996 series, if you want the long one GeGeGe no Kitaro (1996)

    One hundred and fourteen episodes, the longest in the franchise, and the most complete tour of Mizuki's yokai. A better fit if you want a big comfortable run rather than a sharp one.

  3. 3
    The 1985 series, if you want the one Japan remembers GeGeGe no Kitaro (1985)

    One hundred and eight episodes plus the seven episode Jigoku-hen block. This is the version most Japanese adults picture when they hear the name, and the four 1980s films all hang off it.

  4. 4
    The 1968 series, if you want the original GeGeGe no Kitaro (1968)

    Sixty five episodes in black and white, and the series that turned a cult manga into a national institution. Slow by modern standards and worth it for the atmosphere.

Then what? Two traps, and both catch people. Hakaba Kitaro from 2008 looks like a franchise entry, was made by the same studio, and is officially not one: it adapts Mizuki's earlier and much bleaker Hakaba manga, and it is a fine eleven episodes but it is not GeGeGe no Kitaro. And Kitaro Tanjo: GeGeGe no Nazo from 2023 is a prequel to the 2018 series that arrived three years after that series finished, so it reads as the newest thing on the list and is the worst possible entry point. On the films, every one is tied to whichever series was on the air when it was made, and watching a thirty minute short from 1997 without the 1996 series behind it is the most common way people bounce off this franchise. The notes on each film say which series it belongs to.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.

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The Showa series

  • GeGeGe no Kitaro (1968) 1968, 1 season, 65 episodes
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro (1971) 1971, 1 season, 45 episodes
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro (1985) 1985, 1 season, 108 episodes
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: Jigoku-hen 1988, 1 season, 7 episodes

The Heisei series

  • GeGeGe no Kitaro (1996) 1996, 1 season, 114 episodes
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro (2007) 2007, 1 season, 100 episodes

The newest series

  • GeGeGe no Kitaro (2018) 2018, 1 season, 97 episodes

Not part of the franchise

  • Hakaba Kitaro 2008, 1 season, 11 episodes

The films

  • GeGeGe no Kitaro (1968 film) 1968
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: The Divining Eye 1980
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: The Yokai Army 1985
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: The Great Yokai War 1986
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: The Strongest Yokai Army, Disembark for Japan! 1986
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: Clash!! The Great Rebellion of the Dimensional Yokai 1986
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: The Great Sea Beast 1996
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: Obake Nighter 1997
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: Yokai Express 1997
  • GeGeGe no Kitaro: Japan Explodes!! 2008
  • Kitaro Tanjo: GeGeGe no Nazo 2023

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