Of foxes and four-leaf clovers.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Aya Shouoto
Translation/Adaptation: JN Productions
What They Say
Himari Momochi inherits Momochi House, an estate that exists on the barrier between the human and spiritual realms. All knowledge of Aoi’s existence has been expunged from the outside world, but there is one who still faintly remembers him—Aoi’s childhood friend Hayato Hidaka. Hayato seeks out Himari, but it is said anyone who becomes involved with him will be cursed!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This volume of Momochi House starts to dig more deeply into what happened to the family and friends that Aoi left behind when he was spirited away. At the end of the previous volume Himari ran into an absentee classmate who recognized the clover ring she wore. That sets off a chain reaction of events which stretch through the entire volume.
The memory of Aoi as a human was supposed to have been erased from memory, but Hayato is haunted by the vague sense he lost a dear childhood friend. Compounding that is a rumor that his family is cursed. Himari can’t stand by while obvious ayakashi antics are afoot so she makes herself part of the solution. Frustratingly, she can’t get Aoi to agree to meeting with his old best friend. Despite the danger, she attempts to work out the situation herself, with some helpful advice from Aoi to get her through.
The setup and solution to the problem of Hayato’s family and his resident angry fox spirit is pretty standard stuff for this type of series. If you’ve read any amount of yokai or ayakashi series this all feels very well tread. The actual resolution of Hayato and Aoi’s friendship is a bit of a downer. I really expected a hint of a way out for Aoi, or a lingering proof of returning to humanity, but nothing of the sort occurs. The situation is resolved, Himari has a new human friend, but she’s left with lingering doubt about just how okay Aoi is with his state of existence. It’s not a good feeling to have.
Himari also has a new set of resident ayakashi to deal with, including one very stubborn fox spirit. The second half of the volume is lighter and sillier to make up for the outcome of the first half. Kasha, the strange antagonist of Aoi’s, arrives with a closed box and hands it off to the residents before departing. What the box does quickly becomes apparent, but the outcome is tragically dismissive of Aoi and Himari’s feelings. She shouldn’t have tried to cover her tracks, poor Aoi! I’m not really a fan of dragging out will-they-or-won’t-they romance scenarios.
After all of the silliness with the magic box, I really wasn’t expecting mic drop at the end of this volume. I expect the next will pick it back up and tell Yukari’s backstory, which is guaranteed to be tragic.
The artwork in this series continues to be lovely, even if all the boys begin to look the same after awhile. Viz includes the color opening pages, which is always appreciated, especially since these books feel thin on page count.
In Summary
With each volume Momochi House grows less episodic and more melancholic, even with the antics of frolicking ayakashi. Himari’s personal quest to free Aoi from his fate as the Nue seems like a doomed fool’s errand at this point. The more she presses the issue the further away Aoi seems to grow. She can’t even admit to him that she loves him, at least not without some magical help. The artwork is still pretty but the plot remains meandering, and the side characters desperately need developing, but luckily it appears we might get some development next volume. Fingers crossed.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B +
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: B +
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 5th, 2016
MSRP: $9.99
