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House of 1000 Manga - Kekkaishi


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bobob101



Joined: 28 Jun 2013
Posts: 201
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:40 am Reply with quote
Kekkaishi is definitely a good Shonen Romp. I do remember being very confused in the later parts of the show with all the body swapping, alliance shifting things. There were plenty of times I didn't know who was on whose side. Aside from that gripe though I do think this is an above average series. Here's hoping Birdman comes out in America. that one looks really cool
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Gasero



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 939
Location: USA
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:59 am Reply with quote
Kekkaishi has a lot of endearing qualities. Despite having many shonen tropes on the surface, there is a lot to the plot that doesn't ride those tropes as the story develops.

I liked that the magical powers were unique and not typical elemental magic. There were a lot of creative battles with the boxes.

I still hope that the rest of the series is animated. I would like to see it all in motion.
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here-and-faraway



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 1528
Location: Sunny California
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 10:06 am Reply with quote
The manga sounds interesting. Thank you for the review.

I know there's also an anime. Sorry if this question is a little off-track, but...I run a middle school anime club and am interested in getting some new titles. Does anyone know if the anime is appropriate for middle school kids? I can get away with "PG" swearing words and "tame" fan service. Thanks!
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 11:33 am Reply with quote
I watched the anime a couple of years back, and as far as I remember, there was nothing too bad in it. I'd show it to middle schoolers happily.

I found the manga dragged a bit at the beginning. I almost gave up on it, but was convinced to keep going and I'm glad I did. I've only read up to volume 9, but I've enjoyed what I've read so far, and I do plan to read more. I like how it's not just super mega power action. A lot of shonen series written by women are like that. I don't think it's a coincidence that all my favourite shonen series are by women.
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Thatguy3331



Joined: 18 Feb 2012
Posts: 1790
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 11:36 am Reply with quote
I have to remember to give this a read, I remember wanting to keep uo with it when it's anime aired on adult swim and was generally alright with it but I think my family lost it's cable or something and when ever my viewing schedule gets broken up like that I always wind up not watching the rest until a long time later (Something similar happened to me with part 2 of Jojo, I STILL haven't seen that part yet). I wouldn't mind starting over with the manga though.

Also Its funny you mention shonen sunday as an "underachiever" in the shonen demographic magazine because while I can definitely see now why Jump is considered the "cool kids" magazine I've generally liked and often times preferred the slower pace manga in that magazine seem to go. (a good manga is a good manga though regardless of what magazine it may or may not have been published in. I'm buying bulks of volumes in the end after all.)
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bahamut623



Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 1463
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 11:57 am Reply with quote
I have a lot of love for this manga. I loved how the plot evolved, and her art has this nice 90s/Yuuki Masami feel to it. It's a shame the anime didn't continue since all the stuff that happens after what the anime covers is great. I plan to re-read it soon.

I really hope Viz brings over her new series Birdmen, too.

here-and-faraway wrote:
The manga sounds interesting. Thank you for the review.

I know there's also an anime. Sorry if this question is a little off-track, but...I run a middle school anime club and am interested in getting some new titles. Does anyone know if the anime is appropriate for middle school kids? I can get away with "PG" swearing words and "tame" fan service. Thanks!


It definitely is. Most of the action is them capturing enemies in their cubes, and the cubes will explode in a poof of smoke. So there isn't much blood or anything. There are maybe some parts that are a bit violent, but nothing obscene and nothing middle schoolers can't handle.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 12:01 pm Reply with quote
I remember Kekkaishi when it was just a puppy too! I started collecting it around vol 4 (I got it for free and read it out of order, but quite liked it and decided to get 1, 2, 3, and at that point 5) and pretty much collected it ever since. Though I really marathon read it after I got the final volume, since I was collecting and reading many other things and had forgotten some plot points, so marathoning it worked quite well. Also, I enjoyed all the shadow politics quite a bit, it's like she knew her shonen leads were fairly vanilla, so spending more time on the villains works for both of us.

I always feel like it got an unfair rap on Toonami/adult swim though. A lot of people were really mad at the time that they got Kekkaishi instead of Soul Eater, so a lot of people went in going "I already hate this, how dare they get anything else except Soul Eater, therefore, Kekkaishi is terrible". The slow start for the manga (and therefore anime) probably didn't win people over in the first few episodes.

@owly
Definitely agree that most all of my favorite shonen manga are by women. This and Hikaru no Go are prime examples. Except for Firefighter Daigo, easily my favorite shonen my a man.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 1:57 pm Reply with quote
I never read the manga but I remember the anime being hot garbage of the worst sort. It arrived on Adult Swim, the last place something so safe and generic should have been, proceeded to stink up the block for months, and offered nothing, nothing of value. When Toonami picked up Soul Eater after the relaunch it almost felt like an apology for this thing.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:00 pm Reply with quote
There's also the fact that the anime adaptation just abruptly ended with no sign of there being a second adaptation that will cover the entire series.

Something I really liked about Yoshimori that was never mentioned in this article is that he is left-handed, and it's plot-relevant. You can see him doing every one-handed task with his left hand, and if it's a two-handed task, the more important hand will always be his left--the exception being casting spells. Hence, the reason why he's inaccurate and has to resort to expending a lot of magic energy making huge barriers to compensate is because he's using his non-dominant hand without even realizing it.

You can see it in this article's link image: Yoshimori is holding that stick with his left hand, whereas Tokine is casting a spell with her right.

It's one of the few times in fiction I see left-handedness being something other than a background detail (like Jon Stewart at the beginning of The Daily Show), animation error (there are lots of these f you look carefully), a trait of the actor (like Tippi Hedren in The Birds), or reference to a real-life left-handed person (like Bart Simpson being a lefty because Matt Groening is, "When Flanders Failed" notwithstanding).

It's probably not a big deal to someone who isn't left-handed like myself, but to me, it is, and I appreciate the nod.

Quote:
“If I'm to have a hero in my story, I don't want her to just scream for help,” Tanabe writes in her notes.


I noticed that with Blue Exorcist, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Reborn! too. Does it take a female manga author in order for female leads to be treated fairly? (Probably not, if Attack on Titan and Medaka Box are any indication.)
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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1524
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:11 pm Reply with quote
I really love this series. Breezy and fun, yet smartly written, imaginative and introspective. Could've done with maybe one less volume's worth of monster of the week adventures, but I can live with that.

And it really can't be overstated how great an example of female character Tokine is, in terms of screen time, writing, portrayel (though I think we could've done without that one bath-scene.) and depiction of strength. Hell, over the course of the series she spoiler[kills one god, and later convinces an even stronger one to move house]


Last edited by Shenl742 on Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Jedi Master Kirito





PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:29 pm Reply with quote
I love Kekkaishi. After FMA, it was the first manga series I read from beginning to finish. I do hope they make an anime of the rest of the series, because it gets better and better after the Kokuboro arc. I cried at the final volume.
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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 1628
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 3:24 pm Reply with quote
I like Kekkaishi, but the best part of the manga is the first arc (which is what the anime covered). After that, it steadily goes downhill, until the underwhelming final arc arrived. I dunno, I thought it dragged, had lame villains, and had an anti-climax.

IMO, it's best to just watch the anime, which was a pretty solid adaption.
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yaki-udon



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 83
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 4:01 pm Reply with quote
I remember watching a couple of episodes of the anime. I thought Madarao suspiciously looked like a sperm.
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ajr



Joined: 29 Nov 2010
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:37 pm Reply with quote
I've only seen the anime, but I'd be happy to read the rest of the manga. Trope-ridden but well executed, with a pleasant emphasis on everyday character relations despite the (creatively-constructed) everyday battles. Sounds good to me!
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crosswithyou



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Posts: 2892
Location: California
PostPosted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 8:11 pm Reply with quote
Loved the anime (Yoshimori and his thousand faces X3) and then found all the volumes of manga at work so I blazed through them in a couple weeks' time. Great stuff.

Quote:
if a Kekkaishi is feeling mean they can shout “Zetsu!" and the kekkai will explode, destroying whatever is within.

Actually, unless my memory is failing me, I'm pretty sure it was "metsu," not "zetsu." Metsu (滅) means "destroy."
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