The Ghost of Tom Joad guitar work and the lyrics on many of the tracks are a somber reflection of life in the mid-1990s in America and Mexico. The character of Tom Joad entered the American consciousness in John Steinbeck’s 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "The Grapes of Wrath", set against the economic hardships of the Great Depression. This spawned a film version starring Henry Fonda, which in turn inspired folk singer Woody Guthrie to pen "The Ballad of Tom Joad". The album's release was followed by Springsteen's solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, which ran from 1995 to 1997 and consisted of mostly small
The Eccentric Family family are still dealing with the foggy past that surrounds their father's untimely death prior to the series's start. To complicate matters, Benten is a member of a social group called the Friday Fellows, people who enjoy a meal of tanuki hot pot at the end of the year. The Shimogamo family must balance between living carelessly, maintaining relationships among other tanuki families, and not getting put into a hot pot by the Friday Fellows. "The Eccentric Family" is written by Tomihiko Morimi, and the first novel was published by Gentosha on September 25, 2007. A sequel titled was released