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Kekkaishi 3-in-1: Volumes 1-2-3

By Leroy Douresseaux
May 25, 2011 - 9:46

Kekkaishi 3-in-1 Volumes 1-2-3 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “T” for “Teen”

Kekkaishi is a shonen manga from creator Yellow Tanabe that focuses on 14-year-old Yoshimori Sumimura.  By day, Yoshimori is just a student, going to high school with his pretty 16-year-old neighbor, friend, and rival, Tokine Yukimura.

By night, both Yoshimori and Tokine are demon hunters known as “kekkaishi” (the word means “barrier master”).  Kekkaishi specialize in creating magical barriers around their prey, especially the natural enemy of the kekkaishi, a race of demons known as the ayakashi.  Both teens’ families fight over which of the two will be a true practitioner of the art of the kekkaishi.

VIZ Media is reprinting early volumes of Kekkaishi in their “3-in-1” editions, which collect three volumes in one larger book that is the same trim size as the original volumes.  Kekkaishi 3-in-1, Volumes 1-2-3 gives readers a chance to take a trip back to the beginning of the series.  Readers will get to see a 9-nine-year old Yoshimori in action and also be witness to the incident that played a large part in shaping his personality and his goal to continue to improve as a kekkaishi.  Yoshimori and Tokine also take on amphibious demons, the goofy ghost of a young pastry chef, a charming teacher who uses magic snakes, and a dangerous, embittered demon dog.

THE LOWDOWN:  Although it is not part of the magazine, the superb Kekkaishi would fit perfectly in the legendary shonen manga anthology, Shonen Jump.  Kekkaishi is like Naruto and other boy hero shonen manga.  I also find similarities in the art of Kekkaishi creator Yellow Tanabe to the 1960s comic books Steve Ditko did for Marvel Comics, in everything from characters’ facial expressions, in Tanabe’s compositions, and in the visual concepts.

I think what makes Yoshimori Sumimura endearing is his scrappy nature.  He is a fighter, and not only must he fight demons, but he must also fight the notion that he is not living up to his potential – something he seems to believe as much as anyone else.  He may be destined for great things, but that greatness doesn’t seem to be naturally in him (as it is with characters like Naruto and Harry Potter).  It’s fun to follow his journey because Tanabe is such a vivid storyteller that I feel like I am right alongside Yoshimori.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers looking for the best shonen manga will enjoy Kekkaishi.

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Comments

By "he may be destined for great things, but that greatness doesn't seem to be naturally in him" do you mean that, unlike Naruto or Harry Potter, Yoshimori appears to have little interest in becoming a great kekkaishi/ninja/wizard for its own sake and would apparently prefer a more ordinary life, perhaps with a future career as a pastry chef? Aside from this lack of ambition, Yoshimori strikes me as having a fair amount in common with Naruto. Both have an impressive amount of raw power, but start out somewhat lacking in technique. In fact, Naruto is so inept at basic jutsus that it takes him two tries to qualify for training as an apprentice ninja. At least Yoshimori's fellow kekkaishi know that he actually has potential to live up to, no matter how much they may criticize him for wasting energy by using the magical equivalent of a bazooka when a flyswatter would do (because that's easier for him than learning subtler, more precise techniques like those Tokine favors). Similarly, Naruto proves to be quite adept at more advanced jutsus he's not supposed to know yet, like the shadow clone jutsu and what the Viz manga translates as the "ninja centerfold" jutsu, which involves transforming into a nearly-naked pretty girl. The main non-attitude-related difference between the two protagonists is that although early on both boys prove capable of doing things that normally aren't possible for a less than stellar pupil at their level, at that point in the manga, people in the know seem to assume that Naruto is only able to do this by subconsciously drawing on the power of the demon fox confined within him. In Yoshimori's case, on the other hand, his family and Tokine automatically assume that he's capable of more than his usual somewhat slapdash performance because he was born with a mystical birthmark identifying him as his clan's legitimate heir--as well as because he's strong enough to eventually vanquish the average ayakashi even when he doesn't bother to think things through or come up with a clever strategy.

#1 - Marfisa - 05/31/2011 - 22:32