Kappa: A River Goblin and Sampei
Sanpei is a carefree but lazy seven-year-old boy who lives with his grandfather in the mountains. He spends most of his time daydreaming about school meals and pays little attention to anything else. Though his classmates tease him for looking like a kappa, it doesn’t bother him much-he’s generally happy with his quiet life. One day, his school announces a swimming competition with a grand prize: an all-expenses-paid trip to Tokyo. Sanpei decides to enter, hoping to finally visit the city and reunite with his mother, who has been working there for as long as he can remember. The problem is, he’s a terrible swimmer. Determined to improve, he sneaks off to a nearby lake to practice in secret. But the strong currents pull him under, and he drowns-only to wake up in the magical world of the kappa. There, he meets a young kappa named Gartaro, and together they begin unraveling the truth about Sanpei’s family-including his mother’s mysterious life in Tokyo and the reason behind his father’s disappearance.
