Trial of Kitaro

Sigeru Mizuki (1922-2015) was a well-respected Japanese artist and founder of the manga craze, responsible for inventing the yokai genre. GeGeGe no Kitaro is his most famous character, a one-eyed monster boy who is also a superhero with magic powers. The yokai are a ghost tribe of monsters who live underground, but Kitaro is willing to use his powers to save humans in all kinds of dire situations.

The Trial of Kitaro is the seventh book in the Kitaro series, and this volume features comics originally drawn in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The series is the first time these characters from Japanese culture and folklore have been presented to an English-speaking audience, thanks to the translation of Zack Davisson.

This book includes five stories, all of which feature Kitaro. The first is “The Trial of Kitaro”, and readers find that the trial is as much about bribes as it is about justice. In “Reverse Mochi Murder”, Kitaro faces a demon in the form of a cat who has stolen a dead body. The third story, “Kamari”, sees Kitaro do battle with a magic pot while in the fourth story, “Kamaboko”, he faces a sea monster. Lastly, in “Onmoraki”, our hero must deal with a mysterious three-eyed bird.

The illustrations are done in black and white and are very detailed, and, in some cases, they advance the plot without the use of text. Davisson has also included a history of Kitaro to help readers understand the background of the story. At the end of the book, there is a section entitled “Yokai Files” in which Davisson explains what the term yokai means as well as the different types of yokai encountered in the stories. It should also be noted that the book is presented in the typical Japanese manner, meaning that it should be read from right to left and from back to front.

The Trial of Kitaro will appeal to fans of graphic novels and the manga genre as well as to those who wish to learn more about Japanese culture and folklore.