Series 1 Episode 22

Yō-Kaijū (Part 2) is the 22nd episode of the 1968 GeGeGe no Kitarō anime.
==Cast==
;Main
*Masako Nozawa as Kitarō
*Isamu Tanonaka as Medama-Oyaji, Bucktooth Tanuki
*Chikao Ōtsuka as Nezumi-Otoko, Next Episode Preview
;Guest
*Kōsei Tomita as Gyōbu-Danuki, Ittan-Momen
*Keiichi Noda as Silk Hat Tanuki, News Caster
*Akiko Tsuboi as Kimono Tanuki
*Yonehiko Kitagawa as Dansaburō-Danuki, Eyepatch Tanuki, Umi-Jijii
*Kōsaku Sugiura as The Secretary
==Synopsis==
Kōryū rampages through Tokyo before burrowing a giant hole in Mt. Fuji, giving the tanuki a path directly to Tokyo. The Gyōbu-Danuki demands the Japanese government to hand over the country, and in the face of their overwhelming power, he has no choice but to comply. Kitarō seeks help from Ittan-Momen and the two of them head off to the city to fight Kōryū, but are overwhelmed and defeated. They are captured and Kitarō is forced to surrender under the threat of Medama-Oyaji being beheaded, while Nezumi-Otoko, on the other hand, had switched to the tanuki side. Ittan-Momen, believed dead, is used by the tanuki Dansaburō as a loincloth.
Kitarō and Medama-Oyaji are fed to Ōnamazu, but one of Kitarō's geta falls off before he is swallowed. The geta jumps to the monster's nostril and tickles it until it spits them out and they attempt to make their escape. Ōnamazu catches him with it's whisker and throws him into the water, but Kitarō finally stuns the beast with a surge of his electric powers. As they recuperate, Medama-Oyaji tells Kitarō the only way to seal Ōnamazu is to find the magic capstone the tanuki removed from over it's home.
As construction on Tanuki Castle is nearly completed, Dansaburō takes a nap and is strangled to death by Ittan-Momen, who had only been playing dead. Nezumi-Otoko and two tanuki find him and deduce that it as Ittan-Momen's doing. As the tanuki go to hunt him down, Ittan-Momen captures Nezumi-Otoko and forces him to help him get close to the Gyōbu-Danuki. Meanwhile, Kitarō finds the capstone and is compelled to touch it and turns to stone upon doing so. Medama-Oyaji realizes this is probably a curse place on it by the Gyōbu-Danuki. The curse doesn't last long, though, as around the same time Ittan-Momen is able to get close to Gyōbu-Danuki and strangle him. Once he is knocked unconscious, Kitarō returns to normal and makes a run for it. Nezumi-Otoko is chased down and beaten by the tanuki while Ittan-Momen is captured an cut up into pieces. Nezumi-Otoko is then tied up and sentenced to be burned at the stake for betraying the tanuki.
Nezumi-Otoko's cross falls over, causing the a tanuki to fall back and knock over a pail of water. The water is soaked up by the pieces of Ittan-Momen, which then expand and reconnect, bringing him back to life. Before the tanuki can set fire to Nezumi-Otoko, Ittan-Momen saves him and they make their escape. Kitaro comes to the giant hole Kōryū dug and runs into the secretary just as the beast is released once again. Kōryū steps on Kitarō, so the secretary decides to seek help from the Hokkaido branch of the army. Just as Ittan-Momen and Nezumi-Otoko arrive, Kōryū begins to melt. As it turns out, Kitarō was crushed so hard his stomach burst, causing his powerful stomach acid to melt himself and Kōryū down to a puddle. Medama-Oyaji weeps because, since Kitarō and Kōryū have melted together, it will be harder than normal for Kitarō to revive himself. Ittan-Momen then suggests Resurrection Powder, which should be able to separate Kitarō's essence from Kōryū's.
The tanuki are preparing to grind the men of Japan into sausage when Gyōbu-Danuki receives the news that Kōryū has been defeated. He summons Ōnamazu out of the depths to rampage through Tokyo. The Hokkaido army arrives to fight back, but they are completely wiped out by Ōnamazu. Meanwhile, Kitarō's puddle has successfully separated from Kōryū's puddle and he is ready to fight. Nezumi-Otoko informs him of the situation and how not even the American army stood a chance, but Kitarō refuses to quit and asks Ittan-Momen if he can carry his puddle, which eventually begins to reshape into his original body. They soon find Ōnamazu in the middle of the ocean and are almost immediately eaten. However, Kitarō is able to control Ōnamazu from the inside and makes it swim away from Japan to the arctic circle, where it freezes solid.
Meanwhile, Medama-Oyaji heads back to Shikoku with Nezumi-Otoko to once again repair the seal on their cave. Nezumi-Otoko is chased by the tanuki as Medama-Oyaji replaces the seal. Once it is done, the tanuki all turn to stone and Tanuki Castle in Tokyo crumbles to pieces. Later, the secretary thanks Medama-Oyaji and Nezumi-Otoko in place of Kitarō, as he and Ittan-Momen have not been seen since they left with Ōnamazu. After the secretary leaves, Umi-Jijii walks up, having found frozen Kitarō and Ittan-Momen frozen and floating in his sea. Medama-Oyaji and Nezumi-Otoko take them to a hospital, where Ittan-Momen is sewn back together and Kitarō is put in an incubator, with hopes that Kitarō will be back to normal in a couple of months.
==Characters in order of appearance==
==Differences from manga==
*Kitarō endures far more in the manga version. He loses all of hair using his Hair Needles and the Ōnamazu takes out his good eye, forcing Medama-Oyaji to climb into his empty eye socket and act as a substitute eye. He also stayed in the form of a puddle until he was brought to the hospital at the end of the story.
*In the manga, because Medama-Oyaji was acting as Kitarō's eye at the time, they were both turned to stone when Kitarō touched the capstone.
*As with the previous episode, the secretary was actually Japan's prime minister at the time Eisaku Satō in the manga.
*Many side stories were dropped: The prime minister starts a resistance against the tanuki, the tanuki make the police of Japan wear fake tanuki tails that allow them to be controlled by the Gyōbu-Danuki, and the American army is brought in to fight off the tanuki after Kitarō is squashed by Kōryū.
*The news report Kitarō and Ittan-Momen see before heading out shows the prime minister blaming the tanuki takeover on Kitarō's "incompetance". He makes a similar public statement after the tanuki have been defeated, as Medama-Oyaji and Nezumi-Otoko resealed the tanuki just as the American army launched a missile at the capstone, making it seem like the Americans were the real heroes.
==Navigation==
Category:1968 Episodes