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Rise
of the Yokai Clan Vol I
Hiroshi Shiibashi
Viz Media (Distributed
in the UK by Simon and Schuster)
17 February 2011/ ISBN 9781421538914
Fantasy/Manga
Amazon
US
|| UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Young Rikuo Nura has an unusual secret. Although he looks like
an ordinary schoolboy, he is only three-quarters human. The other
quarter is yokai, a species of supernatural creature that feed on
human fear. He lives in a house filled with yokai, and over all
reigns his own grandfather, supreme commander of the Nura clan.
Old Nurarihyon is keen to see his grandson inherit the title, but
Rikuo is not so pleased, especially as other yokai have other ideas.
This one is a lot of fun as the hapless Rikuo has to juggle fitting
in with his spooky relations and fitting in at school as an ordinary
boy. At first the other children scoff when they hear him talking
about yokai, as surely they don’t exist, but when his finds
himself in the company of a would-be exorcist and an older boy who
regards tracking down supernatural entities as a hobby, the fun
really starts and the story takes off. Anybody who isn’t Japanese
will surely enjoy reading about some totally different supernatural
creatures from what you will find in western books, and the illustrations
complement the story and its tone excellently. Scan the pages for
many imaginatively drawn monsters, some lovely Japanese architecture
and plenty of very expressive faces. This series was originally
published in 2008 and is not a series I had heard of before but
will certainly be wanting to read more of.
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