“Chirizuka Kaiou”
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)
Garaku has a hold of Suzu and won’t let go. What the hell, Garaku!? He doesn’t plan on messing with Chirizuka Kaiou, the King of Tsukumogami. It looks like Matsuri will have to handle this himself. He can’t come into contact with Chirizuka or else he’ll decay. It’s a good thing he can use wind jutsu! However, Matsuri’s wind is swallowed up by Chirizuka’s own wind! Yeah, he can use wind jutsu, too. Matsuri is hit by his Decaying Demon Wind and his clothes start to disintegrate. The ayakashi energy eventually reaches his skin. It burns! This isn’t looking good for Matsuri.
Shirogane tells him that if he defeats Chirizuka, the ayakashi energy should go away. Chirizuka decides to taunt Matsuri by revealing his ayakashi tool, the dust chest. Once he turns to dust, he’ll be placing him inside the chest. Out of nowhere, a giant octopus destroys the chest!? As you can probably guess, this was the handy work of Garaku’s Art Reflects Reality jutsu. I guess he’s not such a bad guy after all. He wanted Matsuri to save the day but it was clear that he wasn’t strong enough. That’s why he stepped in. It’s then revealed that Chirizuka is Garaku’s former master.
Why is Garaku turning on his former master? Simple, he never wanted to serve him in the first place. He had no choice 150 years ago because he was too strong. But guess what? He’s stronger than him now. Thus, Garaku proceeds to soundly defeat Chirizuka. We learn that Suzu is the reincarnation of the previous Ayakashi Medium. And guess what? Garaku was in love with her. Oh my!
In Summary:
Figuring out what’s going on in Garaku’s mind can be a real challenge. This chapter gave us a little glimpse into it. He’s strong, there’s no denying that. He was able to defeat the King of Tsukumogami with ease. You definitely don’t want him as an enemy. We learned that he was in love with the previous Ayakashi Medium. Suzu is the reincarnation of that Ayakashi Medium. Does that mean Garaku is in love with Suzu!? Looks like you’ve got some more competition, Matsuri!
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: A
Age Rating: T
Released By: Shonen Jump/VIZ Media
Released Date: February 7th, 2021