By night, junior high student Yoshimori Sumimura is a "kekkaishi" - a demon-hunter who specializes in creating magical barriers around his prey. By day, Yoshimori's got some other demons to battle: an addiction to sweets and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori's pretty 16-year-old neighbour and childhood friend, Tokine Yukimura, is also a kekkaishi, but their families are feuding over who is the true practitioner of the art. Yoshimori couldn't care less about catching demons...until he realizes that his apathetic attitude is taking a toll on his friendship with Tokine. Just as he decides to take matters into his own hands, a couple of amphibious demons and the pesky ghost of a pastry-chef show up to complicate matters!
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From Publishers Weekly
A family legacy, an inherited magical power, an attractive girl next door and fighting against monsters all come together in this humorous coming-of-age shonen manga. The kekkaishi are "barrier masters" who trap demons in a kind of force field, and Yoshimori is the latest to enter the family business. He's powerful but unsure of his talent—what he really wants is to bake cakes. He's also confused by his relationship with Tokine, the female successor of a competing neighboring clan. Yoshimori is only two years younger than Tokine, but the age gap often results in his losing out to her in battle. In addition, Tokine is happy with her role instead of chafing against family strictures. Although the two have similar backgrounds, constraints and pets (centuries-old demon dogs), this is clearly his story, with her as a supporting character. The obvious comparison is Romeo and Juliet, but the way Yoshimori's grandfather froths at mention of the other family's name, it's more like the Hatfields and the McCoys. Scenes of adventurous monster-trapping alternate with surprisingly solid character development. The character designs are cute but not cloying, and a strong but restrained use of black guides the eye through the pages. Tanabe's explanatory captions and diagrams allow the enjoyable story to unfold without confusion. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Born June 13th in Tokyo. Yellow Tanabe's first manga story "Yami no Naka" (In the Dark) received an honorable mention in Shogakukan publishing's New Comic Artist competition. Her first published manga Lost Princess debuted in 2002. Kekkaishi first appeared in 2003, in the weekly magazine Shonen Sunday.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Currently one of my favorite manga series.,
By
This review is from: Kekkaishi, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
The author, Yellow Tanabe (nice name, eh?) mentions that when she was a kid, she and her friends would play a game in which they pretended to create invisible walls. Their declaration was, "I stretched the barrier from here to there!" And if someone walked into the area, they would get the cold shoulder, as if breaking the most important law of life.
From this imaginative game comes the making of Kekkaishi. In the first volume, we learn that in order to make a barrier, called a kekkai ("protective ward"), a Kekkaishi must perform three acts: (1) say the word "Hoi" to designate a target, (2) say "Joso" to position the Kekkai, and (3) call out "Ketsu" to create the barrier. Once that is established, the user has the option to either say "Kai" to let their prey go, or "Metsu" to destroy it. Since the first volume is so filled with content--more so than most manga--my brief overview only covers a little bit. So just keep this in mind. Story overview: Where a Junior and Senior High School stands, there once towered a castle. Buried deep below the school is the spirit of the master of that castle, who was from the Karasumori clan. He possessed a power that to this day attracts nasty beings called ayakashi. If they spend any significant amount of time in the school grounds, they will grow bigger, more powerful, and dangerous. Two children, who have special Kekkaishi powers passed down from generation to generation, are designated the guardians of the school. Since ayakashi are creatures of the night these guardians must lose out on a lot of sleep. If that wasn't enough, it just so happens that their families are in a feud over who should be the true successor. This puts both Yoshimori (age 14) and Tokine (age 16) in an awkward position, as they so often end up working together. When Yoshimori was nine years old, his naivety lead to the scars on Tokine's arm. To this day he has two major goals: (1) never allow someone to get hurt in front of him again, and (2) make a castle cake big enough to live in. His dream to build the cake is constantly being overcome by his crotchety grandfather, lack of money, and fighting off ayakashi. As is the case when he finds out that one of Tokine's teachers happens to posse inhuman powers, and the two of them must put a stop to it. My thoughts: The characters are wonderfully designed, the artwork is top rate, and the story is brilliant. A page turner for sure. This is currently one of my favorite manga series. James D. Maxon [...]
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ketsu!,
This review is from: Kekkaishi, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
A lot of anime and manga have the protagonist banishing demons, monsters and ghosts. Not unique.
But "Kekkaishi" manages to be a lovable little story anyway, mainly because of the way Yellow Tanabe tells the story. The first volume of this long-running action/comedy manga is filled with with plenty of humour, action, a hint of potential romance, and a scruffy young hero whose duty is to zap evil supernatural beasties. Yoshimori Sumimura and his older friend Tokine Yukimura are the heirs of rival clans of kekkaishi, whose duty it is to zap ayakashi (little ghost-demons) who gather at a powerful spot at their school. Several years ago, Tokine was badly hurt when Yoshimori hesitated in killing an ayakashi. Now Yoshimori is obsessed not only with becoming stronger, but protecting his older friend -- when he isn't trying to beat her at the kekkaishi game. But he suddenly is confronted by some slightly odd problems -- including a dead confectioner who starts tagging along with him, and witnesses how the kekkaishi have to deal with ghosts. And Yoshimora crashes when Tokine says that he's creeping her out, followed by a hunky teacher asking her to meet him after school. But of course, the teacher isn't all that he appears -- and this particular ayakashi is a powerful one. And Yoshimori's enthusiasm for pastry lands him in trouble when the confectioner puts him in line for the best cake in the world.... and he promptly gets called away on kekkaishi business. "Kekkaishi Volume 1" doesn't make it immediately obvious whether the series is going to be good, bad or middle-of-the-road. The concept is promising and Yellow Tanabe quickly spins out an intriguing backstory for the two kekkaishi families -- and a believable backstory for the two lead characters. And his unique artwork -- with rounder faces and realistic bodies -- adds to the feeling. If there's a problem, it's that the first volume's stories are relatively fluffy pieces -- it feels like Tanabe was figuring out how his series would go, and was making some lightweight tales about pastry, flaky ghosts and Yoshimori's pre-romantic troubles. But there are some spectacularly nasty moments as well, such as a demented ghost threatening the heroes with scissor-hands. And Tanabe sprinkles it with plenty of comedy, from Yoshimori's sexy "lookalike" shikigami to his constant use of kekkaishi to thwart his grandfather. And the feud between the two clans -- which involves lots of brawling and verbal abuse between the old folks -- is more hilarious than harrowing. Yoshimori is a likable hero -- he's naturally pretty lazy and unmotivated at being a kekkaishi, since his chosen calling involves making vast candy castles. But his determination to become stronger for Tokine's sake is quite sweet, although Tokine (who swings between sweet and standoffish) is a bit of a dark horse. Oh yeah, and the demon dogs who accompany the two kids are quite fun. The first volume of "Kekkaishi" is a bit frothy in places, but it has the makings of a brilliant manga series. Definitely worth checking out.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
kek- uh, kek- o? kek...,
By yoshi the kid (San Fran, Califonia!) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Kekkaishi, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
why am i always first to review these books? oh well, this book is pretty cool, regardless of how freakin' hard it is to pronounce the name. it's about YOSHImori, a fourteen year old who has the ability to create barriers out of thin air. He becomes friends with this pastry chef guy, who died thinking about a really lame vegetable. (poor guy) And, of course what manga wouldn't be without a love interest? (hey, read the book. it could happen*eventualy*) Tokine is yoshi's 16 year old neighbor. She, like yoshimori, is a kekkaishi (barrier master)
and both of their families are feuding over who's really the true practitioner(don't know what that means, either)of the art. this book gets a five outta five, because, for now, i can't tell whether it's gonna freakin rock (the highest compliment i know) or whether it'd just be ok. read it for yourself. if i didn't think it was worth reading, i wouldn't have reviewed it, so it's definetly a good way to spend an hour, if nothing else.
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