Spooky Kitaro 4 (lost Animax Asia English dub of anime series; late 2000s)

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SpookyKitaro1.png

An image from a TV bumper for Spooky Kitaro 4, provided by the official Animax Asia YouTube channel.

Status: Lost

Spooky Kitaro 4, sometimes simply abbreviated to Spooky Kitaro, is the name of the English dub of the fourth Gegege no Kitaro anime produced by the TV company Animax Asia. Despite airing on a popular network, very little is known about the dub, including the names of most voice actors and those who were involved during production. The entire dub is lost, with only two TV bumpers and a few still images having surfaced online.

Synopsis

A synopsis of the plot, from Animax Asia's official website:

"Kitaro is an adorable young boy who has returned from the dead as a "yokai". When he discovers that the human world is in peril from evil beings bent on destroying it, he embarks on a journey to help save the human world. Possessing special powers - needle hairs that act as weapons, antenna hairs for detecting spiritual activities, magic wooden sandals and no fear of death. Kitaro will travel to the human world whenever he receives a letter from a troubled human. Fortunately, Kitaro is not alone on this journey. Standing with him in his battles is his father, a human struck by a strange disease that caused his body to wither away, reducing him to simply an eyeball with a tiny body, as well as his friends and loyal companions, who lend him a helping hand in his adventures. Watch the mystery unfold as Kitaro strives to stop the evil beings from harming the human world."[1]

One notable change is that both Kitaro and his father were once human and were transformed into yokai, which differs from the original source material. It is unknown why this change was made, though it may have been for localization purposes.

The top right-hand corner of this image signifies that this episode was dubbed by Animax Asia.

Episodes

The fourth Gegege no Kitaro series ended with 114 episodes, each with a run time of approximately 25 minutes. Many theorized that Animax Asia decided to dub only the last half of the series, but this was later disproved. The series was split into two parts, with Spooky Kitaro 4 (Part 2) premiering on September 23rd, 2009. [2] Part 2 had a schedule date of Mondays to Fridays at 7:30pm.[3] Part 1 is believed to have premiered sometime in March of 2008. [4]

Cast & Crew

Many of the cast and crew involved with the dub are unknown. Sarah Hauser is credited as the voice of Kitaro, with Michael Pizzuto credited as Kitaro’s father, Medama Oyaji. (Though his name is shortened to simply Oyaji)[5] Voice Actress Emily Woo Zeller has a voice credit for Spooky Kitaro listed on her website, but it is unknown what character she voiced.[6]

On April 16th, 2021, Richard Magarey (known by his stage name "Ladybeard") would join the Trash Taste podcast on YouTube. Here, he would reveal that he voiced the character of Nezumi-Otoko for Animax Asia.[7]

Availability

Although no clips of the dub have surfaced online, a television bumper was uploaded by the official Animax Asia website on September 8th, 2009, and has been provided below. Due to the upload date, it's believed to be a promo for Part 2, rather than Part 1.

On September 30th, 2021, YouTube user Gokumon Classic would upload a 30 second promo of Spooky Kitaro 4 onto his channel. This second promo is for the premiere of Part 1. Some voice clips can be heard throughout the promo, but most are muffled by sound effects and other outside noises. For unknown reasons, the promo contains footage from the third Gegege no Kitaro anime series.

It was believed for awhile that full episodes of the dub used to be available online, but have since been taken down. Some credence to this theory comes from a tweet from Japanese Twitter user @himesyara1409. In one tweet, they link to a YouTube video titled "Spooky Kitaro 10 minutes Switcheroo to Zero", and discuss the English dubbing.[8] However, attempts to revive the YouTube link they've provided have not been successful. As of the time of writing, no episodes of Spooky Kitaro 4 have surfaced, and the dub is considered completely lost.

Gallery

A TV promo for Spooky Kitaro 4.

A compilation video featuring a promo for Spooky Kitaro 4, uploaded by Gokumon Classic (2:55).

References