Kekkaishi Volume 1
Here’s a manga that flew under my radar for the longest of time. Bloodline abilities, spiritual combat and warm humour are some of the things that pop into my head here, and while it’s not one of those mangas that you’ll notice because it’s so damn outrageous in some way, you’ll probably be like me in simply enjoying it.
One thing that should be noted is that while the manga is really nice, it’s got a massive fundamental problem that I won’t bother trying to cover up; it lacks the zest of other mangas that I’ve mentioned earlier. It lacks the outrageous battles and humour of One Piece. It lacks the flow and scope of Full Metal Alchemist. It’s not ridiculous fun like AIKI, but thankfully(!) it doesn’t fall in the traps that Bleach and Naruto does. At least not yet. There hasn’t been any defining moments yet, moments that make you go “WOW! BLOODY AWESOME!”, fall over laughing, or simply “Awww…” (though some have been acceptably close). It’s weird how a manga can be so good (in my opinion) without being as exciting as many of the alternatives.
Maybe that’s why I like it. After having read a bunch of mangas that does things in various ways I keep thinking I’ve seen before, or just getting stale because it tries so hard to be special, I finally found one that decided to take a relatively original path (compared to many others). That’s not to say that it doesn’t walk the path of a lot of mangas, hell no, it borrows from most of them! Bloodline abilities (Naruto), Spirit stuff (Bleach), freaky creatures (One Piece), nice but slightly dim main character (… all of them?), hints of a calamity going to happen (… all of them?). The list is long, and it works!
It’s gotten to chapter 257, and even though I think the main story’s looking really interesting, it’s slow in developing. While the author is good at dropping hints at things to come, I think the mangaka could cut down on some of the filler-moments, even though that’s probably half the charm, leaving me wanting more and more.
An oddity with this series, compared to a lot of the mangas I enjoy is that the character roster is pretty damn bland. There’s the family, sure, they’re cool enough, but nothing special. There’re the friends they pick up as they go who’re marginally interesting at best. I suspect a reason I like it is because the characters just make sense, if you know what I mean. If I didn’t like any of the characters I wouldn’t be reading the manga at all, probably.
So while it’s a manga that appears fairly bland it’s incredibly charming and makes some sense. The art is pretty fantastic, and the warm humour in it adds to the aforementioned charm. Oh, and relationships actually look like they’re moving somewhere, and if they don’t, it’s not because of some half-vague daft gimmick added to stretch it along another 50 chapters. The story so far has been a fun ride, and it hints at more fun to come, so while the manga might seem unimpressive, and I seem unimpressed by it, I still recommend checking it out because it’s simply an enjoyable read.
Oh, and it’s made by a woman. Maybe that’s why it’s so odd? While it’s not unusual with female mangakas, it’s unusual for me to read them since women usually dabble in the shoujo (young girls) demographic.
Scanlated by Franky-House – Wikipedia description:
Five hundred years ago, a feudal lord was attacked by demons wanting to retrieve his mysterious inner power, the invincible power that can help them take over the human world. The famous mage, Tokimori Hazama, was called upon, and with his 2 students, managed to save the whole land. But they fell ill, the feudal lord was killed, his power was also buried with him at a site called Karasumori.In the present day, Yoshimori Sumimura and Tokine Yukimura, heirs of the Hazama clan, became the kekkaishi protecting the land and the power. They use a technique called Kekkai, a form of magical barrier, used to capture and destroy Ayakashi (monsters/demons) that are drawn to this land. Any demons that come near the power will become stronger and therefore Yoshimori and Tokine are to guard the land from intrusion of the Ayakashi.
But some of the demons form a powerful organization to take over that mysterious power. Yoshimori plans to destroy not only the demons, but also to gain the power to completely save the world from being controlled by demons. To do that, he first needs to know what the power actually is, and also strengthen his poor kekkai skills.