Since birth, Ritsu has inherited the ability to see spirits and demons from his novelist grandfather, a sort of sixth sense. However, when his grandfather passes away, he loses the protection he had when under his care and ends up forming a contract with a demon named Blue Storm.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The beauty of Twilight,
This review is from: Beyond Twilight (Paperback)
Spirits, ghosts, apparitions and demons -- like most anime/manga characters, Ritsu Iijima can see all of them. But few manga explore the eerie invisible world as completely as Ichiko Ima's "Beyond Twilight" -- and the first volume is an absolute work of art, mingling horror and fantasy with lush, eerie illustrations and little spurts of weird humor.
Like his late grandfather, Ritsu can see spirits and demons -- and on the night of grandpa's funeral, he inadvertently gains a new guardian: a demon dragon named Blue Storm (who manifests by possessing Ritsu's late father's body). Several years later, Ritsu's cousin Tsukasa comes to visit the family, and Ritsu discovers that there's something wrong with his beautiful cousin -- an ugly rash on her back seems to have a life of its own. And after doing a favor for an old friend, Ritsu finds himself wandering on a supernatural road with a mysterious woman as his guide. Then a feud between two families about property lines and fences causes several people to die, and the only clue is a white stain left on their clothes... much like the one on Ritsu's clothes. But no sooner has he dealt with the problem than a new one arises -- another feud, this one between demons. I first learned about "Beyond Twilight" because it resembled "Natsume's Book of Friends," another beautifully-illustrated manga series about a teenage boy who sees the supernatural. But this manga has a darker, slightly more surreal atmosphere to it, with strange creatures that can take almost any form -- ghosts, costumed birds, living stones, shadowy little monsters and occasionally swirling magical dragons. And Ichiko Ima does an excellent job with the stories, which center on darkly fantastical explorations of the supernatural world, which seems both inviting and creepy. Fortunately not all is grim and weird here -- there's plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor (the tortoise that sits on people's heads) and a hint of possible romance between Ritsu and Tsukasa. What's more the art is simply lovely -- very realistic and lifelike, with delicate lines and big expanses of shadowy black. Lots of flowing hair, glowing specters, gnarled trees and beautiful old Japanese houses. It takes a while to fully warm up to Ritsu (especially since at first he appears to be a girl), but he turns out to be a good reluctant hero -- he's just trying to live as normally as possible, but his knowledge of the weird'n'supernatural keeps drawing him into strange situations. And Blue Storm is an absolute riot -- a rather messy, hungry, sarcastic demon with a big fangy smile and apologetic eyebrows. "Beyond Twilight" is a truly beautiful little manga, as well as one of the most underrated series I've ever seen -- the combination of lovely art and haunting, funny storylines are just enchanting. A must-read.
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