Rise
of the Yokai Clan Vol II
Hiroshi Shiibashi
Viz Media (Distributed
in the UK by Simon and Schuster)
April 2011/ ISBN 142153892X
Teen / Fantasy / Manga
Amazon
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Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Rikuo Nura looks like a normal teenage boy, but he
has a strange secret. He is actually one quarter yokai, those supernatural
creatures that feed on human fear. He lives in a house with the
rest of the Nura clan including their leader Nurarihyon –
Rikuo’s grandfather. He has made the lad his heir, but some
of the other yokai have a hard time accepting this three-quarters
human boy being in charge. Some of his classmates are members of
the “Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol” which was formed by
Kiyotsugu, after he was unknowingly saved some time ago by Rikuo
in his yokai form. Now the team’s fearless leader wants to
take the patrol on vacation to his family’s mountain retreat.
The main reason is to hunt for yokai, but are the yokai hunting
them?
I really think that this manga is one of my current favorites. There
is so much to like about it: the yokai themselves who are so varied,
the hilarious misunderstandings of the “patrol” on their
mountain adventure and, perhaps most of all, the glorious graphics.
There are some beautifully rendered fight scenes in this one, including
some illustrations that would not look out of place painted onto
a scroll and hanging on the wall. Anybody who doubts that a graphic
novel is the equal of one consisting of just the written word would
do well to read this. One to savor.
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