Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon

Book excerpt: The second in a seven volume series of the best of Shigeru Mizuki's Kitaro comics, designed with a kid-friendly format and price point! Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon is the second volume in the adventures of Shigeru Mizuki’s bizarre yokai boy Kitaro and his gaggle of otherworldly friends. These seven stories date from the golden age of Gegege no Kitaro, when Mizuki had perfected the balance of folklore, comedy, and horror that made Kitaro one of Japan’s most beloved characters. In “Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon,” Kitaro and his father Medama Oyaji face off against one of their most powerful enemies—the self-styled Yokai Supreme Commander known as Nurarihyon. Over the course of this volume, Kitaro takes on the swamp-dwelling Sawa Kozo, the mysterious Diamond Yokai, the sea giant called Umizato, and wages a double-feature of battles against the bizarre Odoro Odoro. Finally, Kitaro journeys to hell itself in the infamous and surreal story “Hell Ride.” In addition to more than 150 pages of Mizuki’s all-ages monster fun, Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon includes bonus materials: “Yokai Files” that introduce Japan’s folklore monsters and a “History of Kitaro” essay by translator Zack Davisson. If you found the world of yokai fascinating in The Birth of Kitaro, you will find even more to love in Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon! Translated from the Japanese by Zack Davisson.