Yokaiden

This is the first manga I've reviewed that's had its creative origin outside of Asia. This is mainly because I feel that these second generation manga have a different feel and tone than Asian manga and I would prefer not to blend the two. I will read Western graphic novels, but then the subject matter is usually also Western. Yes it's a horrible, horrible bias and I'm a bad girl but that's the way it is.

Yokaiden has the benefit of not only Japanese style art but also Japanese style subject matter. Namely: Japanese myths and legends. I have been interested in myths since I was quite young, I find that great stories have a habit of lasting.

I think this would be a great book to add to the collection. So far (I've only read the first volume) the main protagonist is a young boy who loves yokai (more like the old school fae than demons, which is how the term is usually translated). He wants to make friends with the yokai and teach them to co-exist with humans. Since some yokai eat people you can see why his neighbors, and especially his hateful old granny, would have a problem with this. When his granny is killed by a yokai the boy sets of to the homeland of the yokai, not to get revenge exactly, but more to find out what happened. His adventures seem to be the core narrative of the book.

With a good natured male protagonist and a lack of romance subplot I think this is an excellent book to introduce to young male readers. It has a little violence, but no sex or language and especially no sports or giant robots: the two main staples of boy manga. I also enjoyed reading it, and I'm not a boy. The back has a glossary of spirits, sort of an encyclopedia of everyone the hero meets and what they do. My fave? The spirit that eats the ring in dirty tubs. Talk about eww factor, right? Now go find a boy and explain it to him, then give him this book.