The finale to the series ties everything up in great detail.
Creative Staff
Story: Yellow Tanabe
Art: Yellow Tanabe
Translation/Adaptation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki/Annette Roman
What They Say
Who among our friends and enemies will sacrifice themselves – or others – to save the world from annihilation? What will be the ultimate fate of the child Chushinmaru, a “spirit reservoir” trapped alone for 400 years in the mystical site of Karasumori? And what is the final destiny of Karasumori’s faithful guardians, Yoshimori and Tokine…?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This volume sees the conclusion to Kekkaishi. For all intents and purposes, by the time this volume fires up, the main conflict is over, and all that’s left is to watch all of the pieces fall into place. Considering this was my introduction to the series, I was a pretty lost for all of it. There were mentions of a Shadow Organization (yes, it really was called that), there were all sorts of spirits and deities whose fates have now been dictated, and plenty of people to put back on the path of their regular lives. Frankly, I felt it dragged quite a bit for long stretches.
To be fair, I came into this series at the 35th volume of a 35 volume series, so it’s only natural to be lost. But where a lot of manga are ramping up their final climax heading into the final volume, this is almost exclusively resolution to the climax that I assume came in volume 34, and there is a lot of resolution to get to. It felt overdone to me, but I’d imagine that if I had read everything that came up to it, it probably would have been fine. The storytelling is solid enough, and I liked what I saw from some of the characters, but I just didn’t have any background to really get a hold on what was going on.
In Summary
My review of this volume is a little stunted: it’s the final volume of a lengthy series, and I have no background with it whatsoever. This was my introduction to Kekkaishi. On the surface, it seems to be a perfectly fine resolution to the conflicts setup through the first 34 volumes, but it was tough to really get into without all that back knowledge. There just wasn’t a whole lot going on. If you’ve been following the series, you’ll likely be perfectly happy with what’s here. But, and this might seem very obvious, if you haven’t been following it, don’t start here. Mildly recommended.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: December 4th, 2012
MSRP: $9.99
