--As you can imagine, growing up as the grandson and heir-apparent to such a legend as Seimei-dono hasn't been easy for Masahiro, who's a young teen when we meet him, and thoroughly tired of hearing what great things are expected of him. It doesn't help that, because of a dark incident in his childhood, Masahiro's 6th sense and ability to see spirits were locked away from him for his own safety. He faces other obstacles as well, from the jealous rival who thinks he's too young and weak for the position, to his grandfather's own 12 shikigami, who have severe misgivings about his powers and abilities, and are reluctant to serve him unless specifically commanded by Seimei. But he's a proud and determined kid, willing to work until he collapses, resolute upon becoming a top-class onmyouji and a worthy successor to his grandfather. Along the way he repels an invasion of Chinese demons and wins the friendship--and probably the heart--of Princess Fujiwara no Akiko, who also has the gift of kenki, the ability to see spirits. She's not the only one on his side: Seimei's strictness with him is grounded in his absolute faith in his grandson, and always close at hand is Mokkun, the shikigami who is his especial familiar and defender. Mokkun usually appears as a mischievous cat-rabbit, who has great fun with the fact that muggles can't see him, but when called on to defend Masahiro he takes his real form, Guren, a gorgeous, red-headed fire-demon who is so devoted to Masahiro that I'll bet there's miles of fanfic. =)

It's an attractive series to look at, with smooth, pretty art, and lots of Heian-era research visible in the costumes and backgrounds. It's also got plenty of eye candy: nearly all of Seimei's 12 familiars are beautiful, both in male and female forms. In short, a rousing Japanese period adventure with lots of magic, youkai, and supernatural pretty guys. A treat any way you look at it. =)

GEGEGE no KITARO--This goofy little supernatural series stars Hakaba Kitaro ("Graveyard Kitaro"), the graveyard-born, half-youkai son of an an eyeball demon, who's assembled a team of traditional and less-traditional youkai and oddities (a catgirl, a ratman, a Sand Hag (Sunakake Baba) and a Weeping Grandpa (Konaki Jijii)) to battle demon/youkai manifestations in modern-day Japan. Cute, serious, resourceful, and never without his remote-controlled geta, Kitaro generally appears as a wide-eyed kid but becomes very stern and scary when admonishing ignorant humans about the perils of trifling with the supernatural. I just loved this, and am so sad that no one saw fit to sub it beyond episode 1. It's been around forever (the manga's almost 50 years old, and has been made into anime series four times before this one!), and deserves more respect. =) (Wiki: "GeGeGe no Kitaro is a comic (manga) series created in 1959 (under the alternative title Hakaba Kitaro) by Japanese cartoonist Shigeru Mizuki. It is best known for its popularization of the folklore creatures known as yokai, a class of spirit-monster to which all of the main characters belong. It has been adapted for the screen several times, as anime, live-action, and video games." (read much more: Ge_Ge_Ge_no_Kitaro.)--[[Graveyard Kitaro, a new --and more horror-oriented--Kitaro series directly based on the manga, ran 11 episodes on Japanese TV in January-March 2008.]]

==Here's an account by me on a Washington DC gallery show and lecture on Mizuki-sensei's Kitaro art.

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