Riichi Kageyama
Description
Riichi Kageyama is the original creator of the manga and anime series Kiitaro's yokai picture diary, known in Japanese as Kiitarō Shōnen no Yōkai Enikki. The series is a comedy with supernatural elements that follows a boy named Kiitaro who has a highly developed sixth sense, allowing him to see and interact with various yōkai, or spirits, from Japanese folklore. After being expelled from his family home, he moves into a storehouse where he meets a zashiki-warashi (a house spirit) named Suzu, and the story chronicles their daily life and the many folkloric creatures they encounter.
Kageyama began the manga as a web comic, with the first chapter serialized online on October 24, 2008. The series was initially published on a blog before moving to the Manga Goccha website, which was owned by Micro Magazine. The manga is notable for its unconventional presentation, as it was designed to be read on mobile phones. The screen composition often features text at the top and bottom of a single page without traditional panel divisions, and dialogue is presented as text rather than using speech bubbles. The text is also written horizontally, contrary to the vertical orientation common in many Japanese manga. The series was later collected into print volumes under the Micro Magazine Comics label, with a total of fifteen volumes released. The main story concluded on January 5, 2022.
The manga was adapted into an anime television series that premiered in Japan on October 5, 2016. The anime adaptation was produced by the studio Creators in Pack and directed by Hisayoshi Hirasawa. The series consists of twelve episodes, each with a runtime of approximately four minutes. The anime was streamed internationally by Crunchyroll under the title Kiitaro's yokai picture diary. The production staff for the anime included Noriyuki Imaoka as character designer and Kimiyoshi Maruyama as music composer. The voice cast featured Hiromi Igarashi as Kiitaro and Arisa Nakada as Suzu.
Thematically, Kageyama's work is defined by its focus on traditional Japanese folklore and yōkai. The series is described as a not-so-scary ghost comedy, and it often provides educational context about the mythological origins of the creatures that appear. Each episode of the anime includes a post-credits segment that explains the folklore behind the yōkai featured in that episode. The series is recognized for portraying these spirits in a manner closer to their original folkloric descriptions than is common in many other anime and manga. A companion manga series written and illustrated by Kageyama, titled Kiitaro-kun's Spiritual Daily Life, follows the character as a university student and focuses on urban legends rather than traditional yōkai.
Kageyama began the manga as a web comic, with the first chapter serialized online on October 24, 2008. The series was initially published on a blog before moving to the Manga Goccha website, which was owned by Micro Magazine. The manga is notable for its unconventional presentation, as it was designed to be read on mobile phones. The screen composition often features text at the top and bottom of a single page without traditional panel divisions, and dialogue is presented as text rather than using speech bubbles. The text is also written horizontally, contrary to the vertical orientation common in many Japanese manga. The series was later collected into print volumes under the Micro Magazine Comics label, with a total of fifteen volumes released. The main story concluded on January 5, 2022.
The manga was adapted into an anime television series that premiered in Japan on October 5, 2016. The anime adaptation was produced by the studio Creators in Pack and directed by Hisayoshi Hirasawa. The series consists of twelve episodes, each with a runtime of approximately four minutes. The anime was streamed internationally by Crunchyroll under the title Kiitaro's yokai picture diary. The production staff for the anime included Noriyuki Imaoka as character designer and Kimiyoshi Maruyama as music composer. The voice cast featured Hiromi Igarashi as Kiitaro and Arisa Nakada as Suzu.
Thematically, Kageyama's work is defined by its focus on traditional Japanese folklore and yōkai. The series is described as a not-so-scary ghost comedy, and it often provides educational context about the mythological origins of the creatures that appear. Each episode of the anime includes a post-credits segment that explains the folklore behind the yōkai featured in that episode. The series is recognized for portraying these spirits in a manner closer to their original folkloric descriptions than is common in many other anime and manga. A companion manga series written and illustrated by Kageyama, titled Kiitaro-kun's Spiritual Daily Life, follows the character as a university student and focuses on urban legends rather than traditional yōkai.
Works
- Topics: Anime overview