Anime Kekkaishi

[Dagger]

Based on the [url=http://www.amazon.com/Kekkaishi-1-Yellow-Tanabe/dp/1591169682/ref=sr_1_1/104-6239256-5741537?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173833996&sr=1-1][u]manga[/u][/url] by Yellow Tanabe, Kekkaishi started airing in Japan last fall. It took over the timeslot formerly occupied by Inuyasha, and it's already doing better in the ratings than Naruto and Bleach. So chances are that anyone interested in this series is going to have to settle in for the long haul.

At least at first, Kekkaishi is much more low-key than the aforementioned shows. It sneaks in under the guise of shounen action but actually has a lot of slice-of-life elements. And I like it that way. Although a broader and more serious plot toddles in eventually, Kekkaishi fares quite well without any of that.

The main characters are Yoshimori Sumimura, a fourteen-year-old middle schooler, and his sixteen-year-old neighbor, Tokine Yukimura. Both of them are kekkaishi--roughly, "barrier users"--but they belong to competing families. Their schools were built over an unusual tract of land that attracts and empowers ayakashi (your basic folklore-influenced anime monsters). Each night, they return there as guardians.

One of the things that drew me to Kekkaishi was the nifty powers. Having to work with barriers rather than more obvious offensive skills restricts Yoshimori and Tokine in interesting ways. I also like their demon dogs (the flamboyant Madarao and the Engrish-using Hakubi), who are much cooler, more useful and more amusing than any anime mascot has the right to be.

But my favorite part has to be the dynamic between Tokine and Yoshimori. Tokine is not only older but also more disciplined, strategic and skilled. She doesn't sit on the sidelines, and her relationship with Yoshimori isn't that of a typical token shounen romantic interest. In fact, she deals with him as if he were a slightly annoying little brother. He, in turn, looks up to her and tries to please her. There's romantic potential there, especially on Yoshimori's part. He hasn't realized it yet, though, and watching them interact as partners and childhood friends is ridiculously refreshing. In terms of raw power, Yoshimori possesses an edge--he kind of has to, what with being the protagonist. But Tokine's greater precision and experience makes them about equal, and even as they work together, they're constantly striving to one-up each other.

Besides, who wouldn't love a shounen hero whose greatest goal in life is to build giant cake and candy castles?

~Dagger~