Manga Maniac Cafe For the Geek in all of us

Title:  Kekkaishi Vol 20

Author: Yellow Tanabe

Publisher:  Viz

ISBN: 9781421527840

May Contain Spoilers

From Amazon:

Student by day, demon hunter by night! When a number of holy sites are attacked, the shadow organization suspects Yoshimori’s mother is responsible, and sends an investigator to visit Yoshimori’s family. Angered by the accusation, Yoshimori nearly attacks the investigator’s companion, Rokuro Ogi. Meanwhile, Ichiro Ogi, Masamori’s archrival, lures Masamori to one of the holy sites…

Yoshimori and Masamori may not get along, but the two of them certainly know how to get into trouble.  Both of them have a strong set of values and they will do anything to protect the people that they care about.  When they both strike out alone to find answers to the mysteries suddenly surrounding them, they bite off a little more than they can chew.  They also engage the ire of their friends, who become infuriated that they would put themselves in that much danger without taking along some backup in case something goes wrong.  Which it does.  In spades.

Masamori proves to be the most reckless of the two, by deciding to take down the colossal Ichiro Ogi once and for all.  What he wasn’t counting on was a furious battle which he realizes that he probably can’t win.  He does not heed the wisdom of picking your fights wisely, and the blunder is going to cost him.  Masamori is my favorite character, and I’ve made no secret of the fact.  He’s dangerous and just as impulsive as Yoshimori, but he would deny that with his dying breath.  He is also hiding a lot of secrets, and I am looking forward to  seeing them all revealed.

Yoshimori also takes on a bigger foe than he had planned on, when trying to make a deal with Okuni.  She approaches him about working together to discover who is destroying the sacred sites and to clear suspicion from his mother.  After he learns that Masamori is in danger, he wants to help him, but Okuni refuses to let him go.  The resulting fallout surprises even her, and leaves her place much, much messier than when he arrived.

There are conspiracies underfoot, and it looks like the Sumimura clan is going to get in way over their heads.  There are very powerful individuals out to get them, and they are making things rather unpleasant for everyone concerned.  Things are getting very tense as events force the family inevitably forward.  Will they walk into a trap, or will they be able to outsmart their adversaries?  I love this series, and now I think that 200 page chunks of story is hardly enough to satisfy my Kekkaishi fix.

Grade:  A