Rikuo finds himself in a fight with onmyoji, but even in his yokai form he might find it a hard battle to win.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Hiroshi Shiibashi
Translation: Yumi Okamoto
Adaptation: Mark Giambruno
What They Say
Rikuo encounters three siblings from the house of Keikain who are from a generations-long line of yokai hunters. Yura, the sister of the trio, is not sure what to think of Rikuo and seems to be unconvinced as to whether he is friend or foe. But her brothers have other ideas. And the battle that ensues is epic!
Content (please note that the content portions of a review my contain spoilers):
Upset with her inability to really do anything in the Nura/Shikoku fight from the last volume, Yura Keikain takes some time to train, but a pep talk from Rikuo seems to be what really pulls her out of her slump. Then, Yura’s brothers appear, and as more experienced onmyoji they recognize Rikuo for what he is and stage an attack. Wanting to believe that her kind friend is human, not yokai, Yura tries to defend him–but her brother fights not only with strength, but with lying words, making the fight too difficult for the trusting girl.
With nothing but a passing panel being given to the Paranormal Patrol, Shiibashi puts his focus to the characters that actually matter to the plot. No longer drawing Yura with the dead-eyed look of early volumes, Shiibashi gives the onmyoji greater depth as we see her determination and the extent to wish she’ll go to protect her friends. We do get a couple more characters that we’ll have to learn about, but as of this volume their proving interesting. One brother, Mamiru, seems bland and one-dimensional, but Yura’s surprise at his personality hints that something’s been done to make him more robotic. The leader of the pair also seems a little flat, believing in a black and white world where all yokai are bad, but his final statement, “I will not accept the existence of shades of grey,” leads us to believe this is a worldview he’s forcing on himself.
After the fight with the Keikain siblings is finally over, Shiibashi decides to give readers some back story to help us understand the problems between the Nura clan and the Keikain family. However, this is handled awkwardly. It starts with what seems like a minor side-story, as Rikuo must deal with demon who takes his sword, among other things, finally getting everything back when he trades his grandfather’s pipe. This chapter has all the light-hearted, non-consequential feel of a bonus chapter, but is actually Shiibashi’s clumsy way of segueing into a flashback that shows when Nurarihyon met the human woman who would become Rikuo’s grandmother.
One thing that’s interesting about this new story arc is seeing how differently many of the Nura yokai not only appeared, but acted. While some like Gyuki look the same as ever, others, like Karasu-Tengu, have a harsher appearance. The most extreme is Yuki-Onna – while she still fawns over her master (Nurarihyon in this case) her dialogue and actions take on a more sultry appearance, and she somehow manages to look older than her present-day self. I’m hoping there’s a decent reason for her personality morph, but I don’t have much hope that it was anything other than Shiibashi wanting to draw a “sexy” female character.
In Summary
This volume shows the real power that the onmyoji can hold as they handily take care of lesser yokai and even take down the formidable Aotabo. The battles also highlight how much of an interesting character Rikuo has become, as he no longer struggles with accepting his demonic nature and also shows a great deal of intelligence as he doesn’t let himself be deceived by __’s lies. Keikan gets another chance to fight in this volume, and while she’s summarily defeated by her brother it’s mainly due to her pure-hearted naivety, and her steadfast defense of Rikuo is admirable in and of itself. The volume ends with the backstory, and while it’s interesting to see how these problems with Rikuo’s human ancestry began I’m more anxious to see it move on with the plot concerning the current Keikan family. It also feels like this volume ignores other, important problems, such as the existence of a traitor. I can only hope that these issues come back to the forefront soon, so it no longer feels like Shiibashi is utterly neglecting his plot points.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released by: Viz Media
Release Date: February 7th, 2012
MSRP: $9.99
