Yokai Doctor 1 [Paperback]

Yuki Sato (Author)

Book Description

Series: Yokai Doctor | Publication Date: May 19, 2009

TIME FOR YOUR INJECTION

Yokai are mysterious, troublemaking spirits and demons that have tormented Japan for centuries. Kotoko’s grandfather exorcised them for a living, but Kotoko never thought that her family lineage was an asset. Then she meets Kuro, a yokai doctor. Yokai have doctors? Now Kotoko is learning firsthand that healing the yokai is a lot more challenging than getting rid of them!

Includes in-depth translation notes and a preview of the next volume!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 10 Up-Kotoko has inherited her grandfather's ability to seeyokai (evil and mischievous spirits), but not the ability to exorcise them. Wanting to be well liked in high school, she uses her lineage to gain popularity, but things get out of hand when her classmates want her to perform an on-location exorcism to rid a forest of dangerous spirits. Kotoko takes on the challenge, putting herself and her classmates in danger. Classmate Kuro also sees yokai, but unlike Kotoko, who hates them, he secretly heals them. When her exorcism goes wrong, Kuro comes to her rescue. Part one of this manga recounts events through the voice of Kotoko, and is Sato's original story. Part two, where the series actually begins, repeats events of the first part but from the point of view of Kuro and then continues on. Yokai Doctor's combination of horror, fantasy, and imminent romance works well, and teens will identify with the characters' desires to be accepted and fit in. The black-and-white art, while not particularly distinctive in style, is attractive.–Lara McAllister, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia END

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 16 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (May 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345512383
• ISBN-13: 978-0345512383
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Enough to Entertain, November 23, 2009

By 

GraphicNovelReporter.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Yokai Doctor 1 (Paperback)

Yokai are adventurous spirits. Some are troublesome, some are downright terrible, and some are not so bad at all. It might be hard enough for common people to believe in their existence at all. But the idea that they get sick is foreign to just about everyone.

Enter Kuro, the class geek who has a weird secret. Cute in a nerdy kind of way, he's the titular Yokai Doctor, treating the spirits and keeping it all a secret. Kuro's classmate Kotoko also has a gift: She can see spirits. The twist is that Kotoko's ancestry includes a lot of exorcists. In other words, even though she can only see spirits and not exorcise them, she still feels it's her family duty to bring about their demise. She's not too keen (at first, anyway) of the idea of someone who fixes those same spirits up and sends them on their way.

That romantic tension ensues is no surprise, of course. Yokai Doctor has a humor that is definitely juvenile but probably inappropriate for younger readers (read: lots and lots of "boobies!" jokes). Older readers who can handle that kind of stuff might actually find the book funny. It's certainly lighthearted and has a terrific sense of laughs throughout, even if you do sometimes feel a little lowbrow for enjoying them.

This translation is incredibly helpful for including extensive translation notes, something that proves very useful to readers. Yokai Doctor sets up an ongoing series, and it will be more fun to watch Kuro and Kotoko grow as characters in future volumes. It's clear that both have a lot more to offer than just what's on the surface (and the book reveals that Kuro is hiding some big secret, which promises to complicate things later on). While this first book doesn't quite delve far enough into the personalities of these two, they're still both engaging enough to entertain and welcome back.

-- John Hogan

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yokai Dokay, May 29, 2009

By 

Tim Lasiuta "Comic Fan 42" (Red Deer, Alberta) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yokai Doctor 1 (Paperback)

Of the recent Manga that has crossed my desk, Yokai Doctor is one of the best. It does certainly have the same conventions that all Manga is characterized by such as left to right, a young love interest, and the cute little panels that show emotion.

Kotoko and Kuro, are classmates by circumstance, and spiritually opposite by nature. Kotoko's grandfather routinely excorcised Yokai (spirit beings), and Kuro Gokokuji is a doctor to those same spirits. This 'assignment' is Kuro's first amongst humans, and as an adolescent he begins to feel the pull of hormones. However, for manga, this is not unusual. Both discover that once you open the door to the spirit world, you never know exctly what happens.

Yokai Doctor is breaking new ground and in the process, not merely following the same conventions traditional manga is known for.

Tim Lasiuta