GeGeGe No Kitaro Episode 5: Rat Man Really Doesn't Learn

I’ve often wondered why villains or gray characters in kid friendly shows seem so persistently thick and don’t learn their lesson. Now anime presents me with a character I can look at and wonder what on earth do they think will be the outcome of their next plan?

There’s little to say in regards to Kitaro this week given he kind of just appears at the end to clean up Rat Man’s mess. The episode focuses on corruption and cheap electricity though drops in a little bit about reporting and kills-off a reporter in a fairly innocuous manner. Presented differently this could all be quite dark but instead it just comes off as a little bit of a hiccup that Kitaro eventually solves fairly easily despite an initial beating.

The light feeling to what is otherwise fairly dark subject matter kind of works here. It doesn’t feel as though they trivialising the issues, more that they are keeping it family friendly. It’s a double edged sword though because while it makes for some pleasant viewing and it manages to bring up some difficult subject matter it also doesn’t leave much of an impact. Another perfectly fine episode that doesn’t do much more than any of the others so far.

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Thanks for reading.

Karandi James