GeGeGe no Kitarō (Shonen Magazine)

The first serialized GeGeGe no Kitarō manga was published in Shonen Magazine from August 1965 to July 1969. Originally titled Hakaba no Kitarō (墓場の鬼太郎, Kitarō of the Graveyard), the name was later changed to GeGeGe... starting in November 1967.

About[]

The series is a semi-sequel to the rental manga, "Hakaba Kitarō". By the end of the rental manga, Kitarō had begun acting more like a hero of justice type, protecting humans from yōkai. At the start of the "Magazine" series, Kitarō is already seen as an ally of humans by other yōkai. For the most part, however, the "Magazine" run stood on it's own. Incidents and elements from the rental story were mentioned occasionally, but overall the series existed in it's own canon. Some rental stories were even remade for the "Magazine" run, including The Birth of Kitarō, which was given a new ending where Kitarō and Medama-Oyaji left Mizuki's house to live on their own.

The "Magazine" run introduced several elements that would later become standard for the franchise. Before too long, Kitarō and Medama-Oyaji took up residence in a tree house by a lake in a swamp, which would become their regular residence from then on. In addition to Nezumi-Otoko from the rental manga, other yōkai began making recurring appearances as allies of Kitarō, most notably Sunakake-Babaa, Konaki-Jijii, Ittan-Momen, Nurikabe and Yobuko. And although they only appeared as guest characters, Neko-Musume and Nurarihyon both made their first appearances during the series. Other elements introduced during this run include Kitarō's hair needles, the Yōkai Post and the Bake-Garasu.

Many of the stories were self-contained, though there were some stories that spanned several chapters, with The Great Tanuki War spanning 10 chapters. Several chapters were published in Shonen Magazine's monthly special issues rather than the weekly magazine. The final four chapters (beginning with Kamaboko) are all published in the monthly specials. A year after the final chapter, an epilogue, After GeGeGe no Kitarō, was published in the July 1970 special issue.

As the series gained popularity, Shigeru Mizuki was talked into renaming it from Hakaba no Kitarō to the less gruesome GeGeGe no Kitarō in order to attract sponsors for a potential anime adaptation.

Characters[]

Main article: List of GeGeGe no Kitarō characters
Main

Recurring

Chapters[]

*Chapter was published in Shonen Magazine's monthly special issue.

Hakaba no Kitarō[]

#	Title	Date	Featured Yōkai	English Release	Other Notes
001	Hand	August 1, 1965	La Seine	Kitaro	Remake of The Strangest Showdown
002	Yasha	September 12, 1965	Yasha
003	The Cruise to Hell	October 10, 1965
004	Neko-Sennin	October 24, 1965	Neko-Sennin
005	Neko-Sennin	October 31, 1965	Neko-Sennin
006	Obake Nighter	November 7, 1965
007	Suiko*	January 15, 1966	Suiko		Remake of Kaidan: Suiyōki
008	Vampire Tree	April 3, 1966	Nobiagari		Remake of The Vampire Tree and the Neko-Musume
009	Ghost Train	April 15, 1966			Remake of In the Face of the Enemy
010	The Great Yōkai War	April 17, 1966	Backbeard Dracula Witch Wolfman Frankenstein
011		April 24, 1966
012		May 1, 1966
013		May 8, 1966
014	Dai-Kaijū	May 22, 1966	Dai-Kaijū		Remake of A Secret Story
015		May 29, 1966
016		June 5, 1966
017		June 12, 1966
018		June 19, 1966
019		June 26, 1966
020		July 3, 1966
021	Daruma*	August 1, 1966	Daruma
022	Yōkai Castle	October 9, 1966	Tantanbō Kamaitachi Futakuchi-Onna
023	Yōkai Castle	October 16, 1966	Tantanbō Kamaitachi Futakuchi-Onna
024	Kagami-Jijii*	April 1, 1967	Kagami-Jijii
025	Vampire Elite	May 7, 1967	Vampire Elite	Kitaro the Vampire Slayer	Remake of Johnny in the Mist
026		May 14, 1967
027		May 21, 1967
028		May 28, 1967
029		June 4, 1967
030		June 11, 1967
031		June 18, 1967
032		June 25, 1967
033	Yō-Kaijū	July 2, 1967	808 Tanuki Kōryū Ōnamazu	The Great Tanuki War
034		July 9, 1967
035		July 16, 1967
036		July 23, 1967
037		July 30, 1967
038		August 6, 1967
039		August 13, 1967
040		August 20, 1967
041		August 27, 1967
042	Nezumi-Otoko and Neko-Musume*	September 1, 1967	Neko-Musume	The Birth of Kitaro	Remake of The Vampire Tree and the Neko-Musume
043	Yō-Kaijū	September 3, 1967	808 Tanuki Kōryū Ōnamazu	The Great Tanuki War
044	Miage-Nyūdō	September 10, 1967	Miage-Nyūdō	Kitaro's Strange Adventures
045		September 17, 1967
046		September 24, 1967
047	Yōkai Nurarihyon	October 1, 1967	Nurarihyon Jakotsu-Babaa	Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon
048	Yōkai Nurarihyon	October 8, 1967	Nurarihyon Jakotsu-Babaa	Kitaro Meets Nurarihyon
049	The Witch's Doll*	November 1, 1967	Witch