Thanks to barnesandnoble.com for the Nightmare Inspector cover image.

Rated “T” for “Teen”

People come to the Silver Star Tea House seeking Hiruko, a “Baku,” or dream eater.  Hiruko will rid you of your worst nightmares (or at least help you fix them), but the price is that he gets to dine on your nightmares.

In Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector, Vol. 2, a telephone operator discovers that she may be the girl of a customer’s dreams, but not exactly the way she thinks.  Then, a blind girl finds that her hearing is driving her mad, and only Hiruko can help her by seeing her dream.  Also, new characters join the series.  Hifumi Misumi and his cat Naamu move into an upstairs apartment at Silver Star.  Also, Kairi, the owner of the Delirium (where people who are lost in their fantasies go), and his assistant, Shima, take one of Hiruko’s customers.

THE LOWDOWN:  The stories in this second volume of Nightmare Inspector mark a huge advancement for manga-ka Shin Mashiba over the tales in Vol. 1.  There is more consistency in the characters’ personalities, and the ebb and flow the narrative has a pace ideally fit for the themes and moods of each tale.  For instance, the two-part tale in Chapters 10-11 moves quickly, as befitting a tale destined to end, at worst, in tragedy or, at best, with bittersweet disquiet.  The art, as before, remains beautiful in appearance and superb in design, and (I swear) resembles the art of Chris Bachalo.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  A less sophisticated version of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, but captures a similar mood.

B+