Yūko Murakami

Yūko Murakami (村上 祐子 Murakami Yūko) is a human friend of Kitarō's in the 1996 anime and a member of the Elementary School Trio.
==Appearance==
==Personality==
==History==
===1996 Anime===
In a ghost town, Yūko accompanies Jirō as he plans to leave his cat, Mike, here since his mother refuses him to keep him. She tries to get him to try and change his mother's mind, but he refuses as his mother would never say yes. Seeing that Mike does not want to leave Jirō, who kicks him away, she scolds him that he did not have to do that. She watches as Mike runs into the darkness, but soon see eyes staring at them. They are then surrounded by a group of angry cats, making them run away but the cats manage to pounce and attack Jirō.
After this, she sends a letter to Kitarō about this. Sometime later, Yūko shows Kitarō and the others where Jirō was attacked. They wander through the town, finding talking cats walking upright and acting like humans. Soon enough, Yūko finds a pet store with humans instead. Here they meet Daikoku-Neko, who she asks why he is doing this, who answers that he is only doing what humans have done to cats for centuries. She tries argue that humans and cats are different, saying that cats are pets. He retorts that here it is the opposite and shows her and the others the humans here, each who have abandoned a cat, how cats feel being pets and watches as a cat adopts a human boy. Yūko wonders what is going to happen to Jirō, which she is told by Daikoku-Neko that he will be put on trial. In the courtroom, she sees Jirō and tries to get to him, but the cat guards refuse and she is sent to the public gallery. She watches as the trial goes, surprised to see Mike standing, and is shocked that Jirō is sentenced to pethood and taken away. She tries to go after him, but Kitarō stops her.
After Daikoku-Neko reveals himself to be Neko-Sennin, Yūko is guarded by Kitarō from the cat sage and his cats. The group manages to escape, and hids within an abandoned building, where she repairs Ittan-Momen. She looks out the window with Kitarō, noting that the cats are still looking for them. The group plans to lure the cats away from Neko-Sennin, trying to find rats in the building, but they do not find any. She and the others notice the noises outside, where they find Nezumi-Otoko tied on a cart pulled by cats to his trial. Later after Neko-Sennin is defeated, she stands with the other humans as they apologize to the cat hermit after understanding how cats feel by being pets. After Neko-Sennin is freed, promising to not control cats again and takes the stray cats to live in the mountains with him, everyone is surprised of what the court room actually looks like. She smiles with Jirō as he carries Mike in his arms.GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996): Episode 12
==Trivia==
===Etymology===
* The name Yūko means "help, assist" (祐 yū) and "child" (子 ko), while her surname, Murakami, means "town, village" (村 mura) and "above, top, upper" (上 kami).
==References==
==Navigation==
pt-br:Yūko Murakami
Category:Characters
Category:Females
Category:Humans
Category:Elementary School Trio
Category:Anime original characters