“When You Were Young”
Creative Staff
Story: Kentaro Yabuki
Art: Kentaro Yabuki
Translation: Satsuki Yamashita
Lettering: Mark McMurray
What They Say:
Japan may be brimming with mysterious monsters called ayakashi, but they have a special exorcist ninja force to counter the threat! Young exorcist ninja Matsuri spends his days fighting ayakashi to protect his childhood friend Suzu. But when an ayakashi cat named Shirogane shows up, things get turned upside down! Legendary mangaka Kentaro Yabuki returns to Shonen Jump with this new fantasy series full of ayakashi and romance!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s morning and Matsuri is still sleeping. This is the perfect chance for Shirogane to steal the god-sealing scroll…from between Matsuri’s breasts. I must say that’s an interesting place to keep the scroll. Unfortunately for Shirogane, Matsuri is still on guard even when sleeping. He won’t be getting that scroll today! Nice try though. Time for breakfast! Shirogane heads to the table and remarks that Matsuri’s grandfather has gotten old. Old age comes for us all. But hey, now that he’s retired, he gets to watch pop-star videos and play video games all day. Sounds like a sweet retirement life.
Matsuri serves breakfast and Shirogane can’t help how feminine he’s become. His genderswapping technique is truly cruel! Matsuri would be doing these chores though even if he was in his regular body. Surprisingly, he also makes Shirogane a plate. That’s unusually nice of Matsuri. Well, that is until you realize he pretty much just gave him a plate of leftover trash, haha. Shirogane is not pleased. Suzu walks in and remarks that she knew this would happen. That’s why she brought him some dango dumplings for him. Shirogane would rather eat her but these will do. Much to his delight, they’re delicious! He could get used to these. Are they good enough to give up on eating Suzu? Nope. That’s a shame but she’ll keep trying!
Matsuri notes that Suzu is brave. She’s not afraid of the ayakashi trying to eat her. His grandfather agrees. It’s to be expected of the person that Matsuri has idolized for many years. Matsuri is left flabbergasted by his comment. Idolized? What’s he talking about!? It’s revealed that Matsuri was scared of ayakashi when he was younger. He hated being able to see them. He wished he couldn’t. And then he met Suzu. She could also see ayakashi but she wasn’t scared of them. He thought she was the coolest! Matsuri idolizes Suzu in order to protect her. He’s even willing to go as far as to stay a girl for her. His grandfather correctly surmises that she probably doesn’t want their relationship to stay the same. Matsuri has no idea what he’s talking about. Poor Suzu.
The chapter ends with Matsuri attacking an ayakashi. To be more precious, it could have possibly been a familiar sent by someone in their same business. Who is watching them? I don’t know who but I can tell you that he doesn’t look like the nicest guy.
In Summary:
Another decent chapter. Not bad, but not great. And if I’m being honest, the story is starting to lose me. It feels like nothing is happening. The beautiful art can only do so much, you know? I need something to pull me back into the story. I can only hope that it happens soon.
Content Grade: C
Art Grade: A
Age Rating: T
Released By: Shonen Jump/VIZ Media
Released Date: July 5th, 2020