Movie
Description
Backbeard (Bakkubeādo) originates from Shigeru Mizuki's manga *The Great Yōkai War* (1966), leading an army of Western yōkai to invade Kikai Island. His goal: establish a yōkai nation. His forces slaughter half the island’s population and nearly eradicate the Kitarō family before Medama-Oyaji defeats him by stabbing his central eye.
Physically, he manifests as a colossal spherical shadow with a single large eye encircled by a pale eyelid, covered in short root-like tentacles. His design evolves: the 2018 anime reimagines him as a disk-shaped black circle with elongated crack-like tentacles, later adopting a fleshy humanoid form featuring green-tinged skin and a facial eye. This form enables physical sensations, including delivering pain.
His powers center on his eye—hypnotizing minions, countering spells, disorienting glares, heat beams, energy blasts, and lightning emission. Tentacles serve as weapons for stabbing, binding, or capturing foes; he can sprout limbs for specialized tasks like sumo wrestling.
Personality blends pride, moodiness, and social Darwinism. He deems Japanese yōkai weak, despises fragility, and asserts the strong should dominate. While obedient to superiors like Akashita during the Yōkai Rally, he betrays followers, sacrificing them for objectives like the Brigadoon Project—which strips global yōkai of free will for blind obedience. His traits amalgamate his servants: Wolfgang’s scorn for weakness, Carmilla’s sadism, Victor Frankenstein’s amorality, Adél’s tactics, and Agnès’s mystical prowess.
Some manga stories depict alliances. In *Kitarō’s Vietnam War*, he aids Medama-Oyaji in tracking a Futakuchi-Onna spy in New York. In *Yōkai Lockheed*, he rescues Kitarō from hypnosis and battles Western yōkai legions. Despite these truces, he retains malice—deliberately causing traffic accidents for amusement.
Later anime adaptations reduce his role as Nurarihyon becomes Kitarō’s archenemy. However, the 2018 series reinstates him as a primary antagonist, amplifying his menace and ideological ruthlessness. Mizuki frequently incorporated the character, expressing particular fondness for him.
Physically, he manifests as a colossal spherical shadow with a single large eye encircled by a pale eyelid, covered in short root-like tentacles. His design evolves: the 2018 anime reimagines him as a disk-shaped black circle with elongated crack-like tentacles, later adopting a fleshy humanoid form featuring green-tinged skin and a facial eye. This form enables physical sensations, including delivering pain.
His powers center on his eye—hypnotizing minions, countering spells, disorienting glares, heat beams, energy blasts, and lightning emission. Tentacles serve as weapons for stabbing, binding, or capturing foes; he can sprout limbs for specialized tasks like sumo wrestling.
Personality blends pride, moodiness, and social Darwinism. He deems Japanese yōkai weak, despises fragility, and asserts the strong should dominate. While obedient to superiors like Akashita during the Yōkai Rally, he betrays followers, sacrificing them for objectives like the Brigadoon Project—which strips global yōkai of free will for blind obedience. His traits amalgamate his servants: Wolfgang’s scorn for weakness, Carmilla’s sadism, Victor Frankenstein’s amorality, Adél’s tactics, and Agnès’s mystical prowess.
Some manga stories depict alliances. In *Kitarō’s Vietnam War*, he aids Medama-Oyaji in tracking a Futakuchi-Onna spy in New York. In *Yōkai Lockheed*, he rescues Kitarō from hypnosis and battles Western yōkai legions. Despite these truces, he retains malice—deliberately causing traffic accidents for amusement.
Later anime adaptations reduce his role as Nurarihyon becomes Kitarō’s archenemy. However, the 2018 series reinstates him as a primary antagonist, amplifying his menace and ideological ruthlessness. Mizuki frequently incorporated the character, expressing particular fondness for him.