This is a prequel that doesn't waste time on exposition, trusting you to piece together how a half-dead man becomes Kitaro's father while a political conspiracy unravels around him. Every frame is hand-drawn with deliberate, suffocating precision, the kind of animation that makes you feel the weight of secrets pressing down on the village itself. You watch Mizuki navigate the Ryuga family's succession war carrying her own hidden mission, and the detective work of figuring out who wants what becomes more compelling than any supernatural reveal. This film respects the original manga enough to add real texture to Kitaro's origin without explaining it to death. Come for the mystery structure that works even if GeGeGe is new to you. Stay because the animation alone justifies the runtime.

Japan, 1956. Nagura Village lies under the hidden control of the Ryuga family, whose influence reaches across the country's politics and finance. Mizuki, an employee of the Imperial Blood Bank, comes to the village claiming to mourn the family's late head, while carrying personal ambitions and a secret assignment. Kitaro's father arrives at the same time, looking for his wife. Meanwhile, a bitter fight over who will succeed the late head has broken out among the Ryuga. This supernatural horror film was made to mark the centenary of Shigeru Mizuki's birth, and it tells the story of Kitaro's father for the first time.