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Title: Kekkaishi Vol 17

Author: Yellow Tanabe

Publisher: Viz

ISBN:  9781421522234

May Contain Spoilers

Brotherly love can be so hard to understand.  Masamori and Yoshimori have certainly had their disagreements, but when they are trapped together in a guardian site, their family ties are going to be severely tested.  Masamori has always harbored a secret jealousy for Yoshimori because it was the younger brother who was chosen as the Sumimura heir, and Masamori is still having a hard time accepting that the seemingly weaker and less dedicated one would be the guardian of the Karasumori site.  In addition, he’s trying to hunt down a renegade council member who has no qualms about slaughtering helpless humans and ayakashi alike.  Will Yoshimori and Masamori be able to set their differences aside and escape from the enchanted realm they are trapped in?

I love Masamori!  He is so cool!  Don’t get me wrong, I like Yoshimori, too, but Masamori’s dark intensity is so enticing.  Where Yoshimori is softer and less severe, Masamori is dark and mysterious and dangerous.  He doesn’t have his brother’s youthful optimism, nor does he have Yoshimori’s strong desire to protect everyone, even individuals that don’t deserve to be saved.  Yoshimori doesn’t want to see anybody hurt, and all of these life and death battles bother him.  There has to be a better way to resolve conflicts than to mindlessly beat the other party senseless.  Right?

Masamori is a different kind of guy.  He’s not as carefree as Yoshimori – you will never find him in the kitchen perfecting the perfect castle cake.  No, Masamori took a totally different route than his brother, since the guardianship of Karasumori was denied him.  Instead, he joined the Shadow Organization, and whatever idealism he might have had is quickly squashed in their furtive ranks.  When his mentor turns out to be a monster, his faith in himself is shattered by the betrayal.  If someone he so admired could become so vile, is it possible that Masamori, too, might sway to a darker path? Could his jealousy of Yoshimori’s still developing powers turn him into something evil?

I enjoyed this volume because the brothers had to set aside their differences and fight together for their survival.  Both of them need to learn to communicate just a little bit.  The age difference between them must make it even more difficult to get along, as well as the fact that they just won’t listen to each other.  Families are so funny that way.  The people that you should have the most in common with, you often refuse to see eye to eye with.  They have both erected barriers that prevent them from getting along, and if they don’t learn to trust each other, they are going to be in big, big trouble.  It would be awful if one of them had to live with regret from an unwise decision for the rest of their life.

Grade: B+