Welcome to your next anime.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Jun Kirarazaka
Translation: Junko Goda
What They Say
In a world swarming with yokai demons… One day, mediocre exorcist Kazami encounters a beautiful girl named Paira. But who is she?! And could the seemingly useless Kazami actually have a special ability? Get ready for a new generation of yokai battle comedy manga!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The latest Shonen Jump installment has a new launch title in it with Bone Collection, which like most launches is a double-length piece at nearly 60 pages and has a color piece as well. After getting a one-shot version back in 2019, Jun Kirarazaka has put the right polish on it in a way that almost feels too polished. The opening chapters of a lot of manga series are generally pretty rough, especially in the Shonen Jump mold, but this one manages to work the formula and deliver something that feels very well thought out and planned for. You can see the big picture that can develop here while also seeing how it can have a lot of fun with smaller stories and one-off tales.
The premise works with yokai, which are an evergreen staple, and in a world where they’re known to everyone and come across to cause problems from their own world. Exorcists are a well-established thing in this modern day world where you can either work hard and achieve status as one with talent and training or you’re born into one of the long-established families and can grow from there. The series focuses on Kazami, a 16-year-old kid who was born into it and has almost no skill. His spellcraft is weak across the board but he has the right sense of duty and desire to be a good exorcist. The main thing that he’s good at is the forbidden spell which allows an exorcist to reach into a yokai and use their abilities. It’s blacklisted, however, because yokai can use that to take advantage of the exorcist and basically eliminate them that way – eventually. So, Kazami hasn’t got a great track record but the family name and his own desire to do it has him jumping out of classes often to try and deal with a new threat.
Luckily, his childhood friend Rino is someone who has the talent and a range of spellcraft to handle the threats, so they get along well. He’s not exactly ashamed that he can’t do better but he’s a bit envious of her and wishes he was more like her. She’s got the usual light childhood crush on him that can be explored while he’s just a typical male teen that’s interested in big boobs. But Rino’s your solid character that has a lot going for her and seeing her talents means she’s definitely going to be a formidable player along the way in her own right and not just a supporting character, even if the focus is going to be on other characters.
That focus is going to revolve around Paira, a young woman who has fallen from the sky in front of Kazami while he was out and about. She eventually reveals herself to be a yokai but by then Kazami had easily befriended her and he’s been friends with minor yokai in the past. What he didn’t realize is that she’s actually one of the ruling triple-s class yokai from the other world and is here for reasons to be revealed. It doesn’t hurt that she largely looks humor here with a few aesthetic quirks that work nicely and you can see why he’s going to fall for her, big time. But it’s also because he’s able to reveal his true ability to her at a time when a fight comes up (and he’s already at death’s door because of it) and he uses it to reach into her to draw from her. It’s not something that’s expected by any stretch and the way Kazami comes to life is pretty great, especially as his confidence level was already high even while getting beaten to a pulp. It’s because it’s all about protecting others. So, seeing him stand tall with actual power that he can handle, something that others can’t, gives him that unique spark. Tying him to Paira, as she reveals herself to be named, simply elevates him to a whole other level.
In Summary:
I’ve no love of yokai stories as there’s just something that tires me after having decades of them. Which is why it really surprised me just how much I enjoyed this. I mean, I really enjoyed this from page to page without checking what page number I was on. There’s a really strong polish and professionalism here that lends itself well to an ongoing series with room to grow and expand and a cast that can become really engaging and interesting. Jun Kirarazaka definitely did everything right from the notes they must have gotten for the one-shot to put this together. For reference, they were previously Daijiro Nonoue’s assistant on The Last Saiyuki so they had some strong talent to observe before going off on their own with something like this. I’m definitely excited to see what comes next in two weeks.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Shonen Jump
Release Date: April 26th, 2020
