TV-Series
Description
Medama Oyaji, father of Kitarō and a former Ghost Tribe member, originally lived as a fully formed adult. Contracting an incurable "melting disease" while secluded with his pregnant wife Iwako, he sold his blood to support them, causing transfusion recipients to resemble ghosts and prompting investigation. After revealing their plight to blood bank employee Mizuki, the couple succumbed to illness before Kitarō's birth. His spirit, fueled by paternal love, reincarnated into his last surviving body part—an eyeball—taking on an anthropomorphic form with a miniature body.
His primary appearance is a small humanoid figure featuring a giant eyeball head, typically unclothed. Prior to his decay, his illness manifested as a bandage-wrapped mummy. The 2018 anime presented a possible pre-disease human-like form with gray hair covering one eye via dream manipulation, though its accuracy is uncertain. Despite seeming fragile, he exhibits extreme resilience, surviving crushing, deep-frying, or temporal disintegration and always regenerating. He and Kitarō can endure up to ten years without sustenance.
He serves as Kitarō's primary advisor due to encyclopedic knowledge of global yōkai, occult phenomena, and supernatural weaknesses gained during extensive pre-birth travels. He maintains a personal relationship with Enma-Daiō, facilitating access to the underworld for permissions or consultations. His personality balances comical quirks—like bathing in teacups, bowls, or liquids such as cola or sake—with profound devotion to Kitarō. His paternal dynamic varies across adaptations: earlier iterations portray him as stern or anxious; later series emphasize lighthearted traits like exercising or television viewing; the 2018 anime explores his shame over burdening Kitarō with caretaking.
His role expands in conflicts. He occasionally intervenes directly using abilities like past-vision beams or object possession. In the darker-toned spin-off *Hakaba Kitarō*, he exhibits frustration toward Kitarō's irresponsibility and verbally abuses allies like Nezumi-Otoko. Regarding Kitarō's relationships, he supports human romances in the 1985 anime but opposes them elsewhere due to human lifespans causing future loneliness. He ambiguously evaluates Neko-Musume as a potential partner for Kitarō, praising her cooking yet fearing her volatility.
His historical context appears in media like *The Birth of Kitarō: Mystery of GeGeGe*, exploring his past involvement in Nagura Village's supernatural conflicts seventy years prior while searching for Iwako.
His primary appearance is a small humanoid figure featuring a giant eyeball head, typically unclothed. Prior to his decay, his illness manifested as a bandage-wrapped mummy. The 2018 anime presented a possible pre-disease human-like form with gray hair covering one eye via dream manipulation, though its accuracy is uncertain. Despite seeming fragile, he exhibits extreme resilience, surviving crushing, deep-frying, or temporal disintegration and always regenerating. He and Kitarō can endure up to ten years without sustenance.
He serves as Kitarō's primary advisor due to encyclopedic knowledge of global yōkai, occult phenomena, and supernatural weaknesses gained during extensive pre-birth travels. He maintains a personal relationship with Enma-Daiō, facilitating access to the underworld for permissions or consultations. His personality balances comical quirks—like bathing in teacups, bowls, or liquids such as cola or sake—with profound devotion to Kitarō. His paternal dynamic varies across adaptations: earlier iterations portray him as stern or anxious; later series emphasize lighthearted traits like exercising or television viewing; the 2018 anime explores his shame over burdening Kitarō with caretaking.
His role expands in conflicts. He occasionally intervenes directly using abilities like past-vision beams or object possession. In the darker-toned spin-off *Hakaba Kitarō*, he exhibits frustration toward Kitarō's irresponsibility and verbally abuses allies like Nezumi-Otoko. Regarding Kitarō's relationships, he supports human romances in the 1985 anime but opposes them elsewhere due to human lifespans causing future loneliness. He ambiguously evaluates Neko-Musume as a potential partner for Kitarō, praising her cooking yet fearing her volatility.
His historical context appears in media like *The Birth of Kitarō: Mystery of GeGeGe*, exploring his past involvement in Nagura Village's supernatural conflicts seventy years prior while searching for Iwako.