Mizuki, a low-rung company employee in early 60s Japan, becomes the unwitting caretaker of Kitaro, a mysterious boy who is born of two worlds: the living and the dead. As Kitaro navigates the strange dealings of humanity, the yokai that have been sleeping for time immemorial begin to make their appearance...
A patient at a hospital has become a ghost. Mizuki, a company employee, is entrusted with the task of investigating the cause. His investigation leads him to a couple who claim to be the "last survivors of the Ghost tribe".
The grave of Yasha, who had been sleeping for a long time, has been uncovered. At the same time, the vampire Dracula came to Japan. Yasha and the vampire compete for one prey. The victim is the president of a certain company, the person who ordered Mizuki to investigate the cause of the ghost patient. Because of Mizuki's disappearance, the president's company is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Trump Omoi, a singer who meets Mizuki by chance, learns of the existence of a sinister child named Kitaro. One night, Nezumi-otoko plants the seeds of a vampire tree in Omoi. Omoi's frightened body gradually turns into a tree.
Neko is a girl Kitaro is in love with. Neko dreams of becoming a singer. Kitaro will do his best to make it happen. With the support of Trump Omoi, she quickly becomes a celebrity. However, someone releases a rat onto her stage.
Kitaro's first love, Neko, is dead. Kitaro is devastated and tries to go to Hell to see her, but someone steals his chanchanko. The culprit is the fake Kitaro. The fake Kitaro walks around Hell with the chanchanko and plots with Nezumi-Otoko to obtain a large sum of money. Kitaro's father, Medama-Oyaji goes to hell and tries to bring Neko back.
Kitaro insults the Water God, who is worshipped as a deity. The Water God follows Kitaro to Tokyo and throws modern society into panic. Furthermore, since the Water God is "water," Kitaro doesn't know where he is hiding. He is helpless.
A mysterious gentleman and a mouseman are in love with a toad lady. Kitaro interferes in their love story and is sunk to the bottom of the sea by the two men. Kitaro dies. However, that night, a package from Kitaro arrives with a curse. But where did it come from? That's when the ghost train starts moving.
A ghost moves into Kanemaru's house, he locks Kitaro, who was the ghost, in the refrigerator and exterminates him. It is then that Kitaro's hand, which he had cut off, begins to take revenge. It begins to wander around the house in the darkness of the night.
The government asks Kitaro to exterminate the vampire Johnny. Meanwhile, Nezumi-Otoko is hired by Johnny and is ordered to exterminate Kitaro. Nihilistic and cold, Johnny kills Kitaro with ease but his spirit is still there.
The Brigadoon, a supernatural phenomenon similar to a typhoon, has struck Tokyo. There is a world where only yokai live. Shigeru Mizuki's family, the only humans left, experience joys they could not have in the impoverished human society. Thus begins a period of strange unrest.
Kitaro starts an insurance scam called "Afterlife Insurance". Nezumi Otoko sells a medicine for immortality. The powerful, the rich, and the poor are driven to hell one after another. What is the happiness of life - and the story ends.
