Shinrei Tantei Yakumo and Obake Life

Happy Halloween! I picked two "spooky" ghost stories just for tonight, a two volume manga and an extra one-shot. I had hoped to get more manga read for this season but tomorrow's post will be the final Halloween Spectacular for this year. Enjoy.



Shinrei Tantei Yakumo (Psychic Detective Yakumo) Story by Kaminaga Manabu and Art by Miyako Ritsu



           Genre: Shojo
           Length: 2 Volumes - 9 Chapters



           This art is a little generic but drawn really well. The eyes are bright and expressive and the characters are all individual looking. The hair is a bit plain but has good shape, the clothes are nicely drawn and the girl's clothes are cute and fun to look at, and the emotions play really well. Body proportions are on the very lean side, which I don't personally like but look proportional in this manga. The movements are well done, and action is easy to follow.

Story (c)Kaminaga Manabu and
 Art (c) Miyako Ritsu

            Haruka has a friend in the hospital after a supposed courage test ghost sighting and she is at the end of every avenue she can think of to help her friend get better. After hearing about a man on campus who has spiritual powers, she decides to give him a visit just in case. Yakumo, the man in question, who hangs out in something called the 'movie research club' room is gruff and rude to her from the start but she endures for the sake of her friend. Until he starts saying things he has no right to know and tells her he can see Haruka's dead sister following her around. Haruka runs away but she wonders if, in doing so, she has thrown away her friend's only means of getting better.
           Nearly had a panic attack when I looked this up because I thought what I had read was an incomplete file, but this manga is based off a set of light novels and has two different manga published under the same name, and the confusing part is they start out exactly the same except the art is different. One is longer than the other, though, and is currently on going. Still, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo (as far as the version I read anyway) is a good example of the 'unlikely duo' murder solvers in shojo form. Solving crimes with ghosts is a fairly old plot but Haruko and Yakumo have a really good partnership and the ghost are so human it has a lasting impact. This is a good manga of substance where different types of people are looked at but every one, this being a crime solving manga after all, admit to their murders in the end. I wanted to delve a bit deeper into Yakumo's past but you don't really get any of that so it can be a bit disappointing in that respect since you get to know a lot about Haruka right off the bat. Still, what you do get is solid and fun as well as spooky. Maybe the other version excels where this version fails, if the plots are as good as this one its probably worth a try.


4.5/5 Very Recommended


Obake Life by Takahashi Ichirou



            Genre: Shonen
            Length: One Chapter - 45 Pages

Art and Story (c) Takahashi Ichirou

           Very unique art on this one, yes sirree. Hair and eyes are done with bold strokes and look very defined and confident. Clothes, too, but the girls' clothes have a definite softness to them. It feels like a mix between One Piece and Soul Eater. When you look at it at first it seems odd, but then you realize the art and story go hand in weird hand.
           When a young girl who can see ghosts is cursed by a grudge manga, she finds herself in a panic, during which she meets another ghost who vows to protect her. Or at least he says he will, once she agrees to marry him.
           Uhhhmmm, where is the rest of this manga? Anyone? This deserves, at least, a whole one volume of wacky hijinks by itself. It did not go where I thought it would after reading the first few pages. The action was a little hard to follow, it being ghost action that can be forgiven, but the plot more than makes up for any other wrong doings. So original and the ghost boy is just bizarre in the best of ways. I want to read it again just so I get more of him. Slapstick and just a touch disturbing, it left me wanting. As far as one-shots go, this was really amazing.


5/5 Very Recommended one-shot.