Medama-Oyaji (目玉おやじ or 目玉親父, Lit. "Eyeball Father"), or Medama-no-Oyaji (目玉のおやじ), is a major character in the GeGeGe no Kitarō franchise and Kitarō's father. Once a fully-formed adult ghost, he perished of a disease, only to be reborn out of his decayed body as an anthropomorphic version of his own eyeball. His primary role in the series is to support Kitarō with his knowledge of all things yōkai.
Appearance[]
Medama-Oyaji appears has one giant eyeball for a head. He has a little body and wears no clothing. Before his death and Kitarō's birth, he had the body of a large adult suffering from a "melting disease", forcing him to wrap his body in bandages and giving himself the appearance of a mummy.
Mizuki never showed how he looked before contracting the disease, but the 2018 anime depicted him as a human-looking man of average height with gray hair in the same style as Kitarō's, covering his left eye. As this form came about through Makura-Gaeshi's dream powers, it is unknown if this was his true appearance or just how Medama-Oyaji wished for himself to look. However, since his appearance matches the description given by Sunakake-Babaa, it can be assumed that this is Medama-Oyaji's true form before his decay. It is also possible that this form could have taken qualities of both his younger self and his current self as he was depicted with only one eye, whereas he had both before his decay.
History[]
Like Kitarō, Medama-Oyaji is a survivor of the once mighty Ghost Tribe. Before Kitarō's birth, he caught an incurable "melting disease". While living in seclusion with his pregnant wife Iwako, he began to sell his blood for income. However, this resulted in patients receiving the blood in transfusions coming to resemble ghosts, which caught the attention of the president of the blood bank. When blood bank employee Mizuki discovered them while investigating the case, Medama-Oyaji told him their story and asked him to look the other way. Mizuki agrees to give them eight or nine months, but at some point during that time the couple both die from illness. Motivated by his love for his son Kitarō, who had been born from the grave after Iwako was buried, he willed his spirit into the last living part of his body, his eyeball, giving him the appearance he is known for today.
The backstory of Kitarō and Medama-Oyaji is generally accepted as taking place in the early 60s, when the manga was first published. In the second live action movie, it was instead said that it took place during the Edo period.
About[]
Medama-Oyaji looks small and fragile, but has a strong spirit and a great love for his son. Like Kitarō, his spirit is so strong that even if he is stepped on a squished as thin as paper, even if his eyeball head is crushed, even if he is deep-fried in tempura, he will always return to normal eventually. In the manga Kitarō Kunitori Monogatari, it is established that he and Kitarō can go 10 years without food or drink. He also cares about Kitarō and his wife with great heart.
Because he wandered all over the Earth before Kitarō's birth, he has obtained extensive knowledge about yōkai, including nearly every type of yōkai and their nature and weaknesses. He is also knowledgeable in other occult subjects, such as Akuma and Ancient Inca. He has known Enma-Daiō personally for long (but unspecified) time, and he and Kitarō frequently speak to him directly and request permission from him (Ex: 4th anime, Ep. 91). This is not a privlidge unique to Medama-Oyaji, though, as a number of other yōkai in good standing with Enma have been allowed to come and go between Jigoku and the normal world as they please.
He enjoys staying clean, and is often seen bathing in a small bowl. Although primarily seen used as Medama-Oyaji's bathtub, Kitarō will also use the same bowl for meals. Starting with the 3rd anime he has been shown bathing in different tableware and liquids, including cups, tea cups, black tea, coffee, sand and sake. He also bathed in a pool of cola in a strawberry package.
His eyeball head has an eyelid, though it is always depicted as a simple line over his pupil. According to Shigeru Mizuki, "the fact that he cries and sleeps makes it obvious he has an eyelid". Whenever Medama-Oyaji sleeps, his pupil is replaced with a line curving down like the letter U.
He has a mouth, although it is very small and rarely seen. It is located under his eyeball head and he can bring it out and in as he pleases. However, in the story Mokumokuren, he is shown breathing out through his pupil. Until the 4th anime, he was rarely shown eating. His voice actor Tanonaka commented on this once, saying "I've never seen him eat, I'd like to see him eat more". His favorite foods are cherries and plums and he drinks the morning dew for breakfast. In the 5th anime his favorite food is fish eye soup and he is shown eating it. This time his mouth was depicted as a line underneath his pupil. From then on he is shown eating more frequently, even appearing to have full cheeks and a full belly. Also in the 5th anime, he appears to have a bronchial tube, as he is shown sneezing out mucus. Although he has a mouth, he doesn't have teeth.
He is usually naked, but has sometimes worn clothes such as robes and coats. He also owns some clothing such as a silk hat he got from the English demons (Hakusanbō in the 5th anime) and a single shoe he got from Santa Claus. During the 5th anime's 4th ending, Natsu no Mamono, he is shown dressed as famous TV painter Bob Ross.
Anime[]
First & Second[]
At the beginning of the first anime his voice was much more higher pitched than the voice Tanonaka would use later. In both anime he is very much a doting parent always concerned for his son. In the first anime he is often scolding Kitarō while in the second he is always worried when Kitarō goes up against a strong yōkai. He proudly proclaims that Kitarō, as the last survivor of the Ghost Tribe, was born an elite among yōkai. In the first anime he is depicted keeping his pupil open when fainting and shedding tears from his entire eyeball head, but in the second anime and on he pupil is shown closing and shedding tears like an eye.
Third[]
He has many new anime original techniques, such as being able to see into the past (Ep. 2) and emitting a beam from his pupil to reveal hiding writings (Ep. 26).
He tends to support the relationship between Kitarō and Yumeko and helps them along in any way he can, such as by searching for the right date spot for them (Ep. 41) or taking Nezumi-Otoko fishing so he can't disturb them (Ep. 46). This is in contrast to other adaptations where he usually opposes Kitarō's interest in human girls, as humans live at best around 100 years, meaning Kitarō would eventually be left alone and sad. His feelings may be different here because in this series Kitarō is half-human.
This is the first adaptation to show Medama-Oyaji before he became just and eyeball (in a flashback in Jigoku-Hen, Ep. 6). However, it is not his banaged form from the original manga, but rather a figure with a full head of hair whose face is obscured by a futon blanket. When his wife Iwako disappeared, he cast away his normal body and became an eye in order to find her.
Fourth[]
His doting personality is on full display in this series. Anytime Kitarō is eaten by an enemy yōkai he begins crying for his son. In a more comical side to his character, whenever they go into someone else's house, he will usually bathe in their tea.
Fifth[]
In this series he serves a mascot type role and is featured a lot more in marketing and opening and ending animations.
While still over protective as in the 4th anime, he has more comical elements now, such as exercising occasionally, being scared of fireworks, watching comedy shows on TV, and even making his own bad jokes. He is also more aware of current trends and fashions.
While he does remark that Neko-Musume might make a good wife for Kitarō, whether or not he was serious is unclear, as he meddles far less in Kitarō's love life here. In a scene adapted from Yōkai Sen Monogatari, Medama-Oyaji declares to love Neko-Musume's cooking, but after she violently attacks Nezumi-Otoko for insulting her food, Medama-Oyaji hides in Kitarō's hair and says Neko-Musume would be "the wife from hell", to which Kitarō nervously agrees.
This was Isamu Tanonaka's final performance as Medama-Oyaji, as he died the year after it concluded.
Sixth[]
Medama Oyaji briefly appears in the first episode as his mummy, rotting self. However, it's later revealed by Sunakake-Babaa how in his prime he was quite handsome: when he regains briefly his youthful body in the dream dimension of Makuragaeshi, he becomes a taller, older, prettier version of Kitarō himself, with a single red eye showing (the other covered by hair like Kitarō's empty socket), platinum-white hair and a tattered navy blue kimono instead of the tattered gakuran Kitarō usually wears.
Medama Oyaji in this version is fully aware of his diminitive features, and he feels his current body robbed Kitarō of a strong parental figure, forcing him to grow too fast and burdening him to care for both, shaming him.
Hakaba[]
For the first time, Medama-Oyaji's bandaged form from the original manga is shown. Because he and Kitarō are more reflective of the ironic and slighty anarchic tone of the rental manga, Medama-Oyaji makes fewer father-like speeches here. Because of this, he actually gets angry with Kitarō from time to time and is far more verbally abusive to Nezumi-Otoko. In particular, he gets very frustrated with Kitarō's irresponsibility and his ignorance of his Ghost Tribe lineage.
Live-action[]
Abilities[]
Post-Decay[]
Medama-Oyaji has a small body that cannot for the most part fight by itself. He is, nonetheless, capable for the most part of possessing bodies and matter, living or not, and manipulate or transform them to varying degrees with differing limitations. Below are some of the applications of this:
- Eyeball Substitute: Medama-Oyaji is capable of functioning as an eyeball by resting in an empty eye socket and using his body and limbs as the optic nerve. He did this for Kitarō in the story The Great Tanuki War when his good eye was destroyed and also secretly replaced the eye Amefuri-Tengu was getting surgically replaced after Kitarō shot it out with his finger bullets.
- Mind Control:
- Other Body Manipulations:
- Reverse Mochi Murder (逆餅殺し Gyaku-Mochi-Goroshi): By being mixed with a sufficient amount of mochi, Medama-Oyaji can take over the substance and incarnate into masses of mochi shaped like souls with reddish eyeballs at the center. These "souls" can levitate and pursue a target and overwhelm it and even suffocate it to death.
- Eyeball Wrap:
- Transformation: In Episode 21 of the 1968 anime, Medama-Oyaji shape shifts into a bump on Kitarō's head while hiding from the 808 Tanuki.
- Spirit Creation
- Yōkai Energy Wave
- Needles
- Soul Separation
- Ear Phone
- Three Wishes
- Finger Guns (指鉄砲 Yubi Teppo): Despite his smaller stature, Medama-Oyaji is still capable of using his Finger Guns as a last resort to save Kitarō. This blast was seen to be many times stronger than Kitarō's normal Finger Guns; where its power is comparable to an enraged Kitarō's Finger Guns. When Medama-Oyaji used the attack, he was just a little exhausted and it is unknown if there are major drawbacks to using this in his tiny form.
Pre-Decay[]
As a member of the Ghost Tribe, Medama-Oyaji used to have most of the abilities attributed to his kin prior to his decay, while also using the signature Chanchanko. However since his real form, or any mention of it is rarely brought up during the different series media, to what extent he could utilize his abilities is rarely is mostly inferred through hints, or verbal confirmation and only seen very scarcely. It is however, implied (and shown during the 6th anime series) that Medama-Oyaji was a overall stronger fighter than his son Kitarō is at present. Below are some of the abilities he could perform on his real body:
Finger Guns (指鉄砲 Yubi Teppo): This technique allows the user to fire either fingers or blasts from their fingertips. In the 2007 anime, Medama-Oyaji teaches Kitarō how to use the technique himself in preparation for The Great Yōkai War on Kikaiga Island. It is also revealed to be a secret technique of the Ghost Tribe. Medama-Oyaji explains that the technique uses air, so it has incredible accuracy. However, it uses quite the load of spirit energy. In the 2018 anime, Medama-Oyaji borrows some of Makura-Gaeshi's power to gain what is assumed to be his former body (with some changes, such as only having one eye with a hairstyle identical to Kitarō's). In this state, he is able to use his Finger Guns using a single hand, while holding Kitarō with his other arm.
In the 2018 anime, the Finger Guns are usually used by Kitarō as a one-shot finishing attack. However, when Medama-Oyaji used this technique against the Dream Bell Girl, he fired a large beam of energy. Kitarō can also fire beams in addition to rapid-fire from all of his fingers.
Equipment[]
Phantom Train (まぼろしの汽車 Maboroshi no Kisha): Medama-Oyaji can summon the Phantom Train, a magical train capable of transporting its passenger back in time, but at the cost of the summoner's life, because whoever reveals the existence of this train shall die, Medama-Oyaji in this case, thus it can only be summoned once.
Story of Joining Sora's Team[]
Medama-Oyaji joins Sora's team with his son, and friend Kitaro, especially He really feels sorry for Rokuro, Saya Kisaragi, Benio, Naruto, Naofumi, Lelouch, Asano, and other Heroes about their past that they're did to his friend especially He becomes Hiromi's listener, and Gakuho's listener as a same parents after hearing They have problems even though Gakuho, and Hiromi has made mistakes but their children like Gakushu as Gakuho's son, and Nagisa, as Hiromi's son still love them especially Medama-Oyaji advises Gakuho to always open up his problems to his students, Korosensei, Karasuma, and those closest to him who can be trusted to him especially Class 3-E, and other heroes call Him, Kitaro, and his friend Kitaro as good yokai as yokai who bring the hope of miracles to innocent because of Class 3-E, and other heroes that all living creatures can bring the hope of miracles especially Kitaro, Him, and his friend Kitaro as good yokai can bring the hope of miracle to innocent that make Him, Kitaro, and Kitaro's friends happy so that Mana, Yuta, Charatomi, Souma, Hiroto, and his friend Kitaro who are fellow humans like Class 3-E and other heroes that believed to support Kitaro, and join in like him, Kitaro, and his friend Kitaro as a good yokai for save innocent especially Medam-Oyaji feels sorry for Class 3-E who is always bullied by residents of the main building from Kunugigaoka who still hate Class 3-E from Shindo's story as a resident of the main building who is kind to Sugino, and his classmate so Medama-Oyaji is happy that Shindo is the five person to be kind to Class 3-E after Korosensei, Aguri, Karasuma, and Irina so He actually allowed Shindo to enter with Class 3-E, and the other heroes into the Gegege forest to especially allow Asano, and Ren who could atone for their mistakes to the Class 3-E so as not to repeat their mistakes especially He told Kitaro to teach Isogai about Kitaro's techniques for protect his classmates, and other innocent as a Kitaro friend making Isogai no problem as a friend as Medama-Oyaji said.