Apologies for not having been around since the New Year started, but this and that came up; you know how it is.
Anyway, I have a new series here I'd like to talk about called Yokai Rental Shop.
On her deathbed, Yase Hiiragi's late mother revealed to him the existence of his older half-brother. The law-abiding civil servant Yase travels to said brother's last known address, only to find a mysterious shop full of exotic creatures and a bishie employee (who he, of course, immediately mistakes for his older brother).
The older brother in question is actually a heavily-bandaged and some what cynical albino named Karasu, who not only sells the exotic pets that this world provides, but also the services of the yokai (traditional Japanese monsters) to those who desire "that which gazes through to the very depths of desire".
The first few stories of Volume 1 take on the feel of Clamp's XXXHolic or Pet Shop of Horrors, but then the story abruptly changes when Yase takes in some yokai blood and unlocks his full potential as a half-yokai vampire.
I should also mention that I've read Volume 2 also, and that one seems more focused on the over-arcing overstory, which is that Karasu started up his business to gain the money and information he needs to track down and kill their shared father: Nurarihyon, the King of the Yokai.
Speaking of Clamp, the seeming overabundance of hot guy characters, the mysterious artwork and the dependence on traditional Japanese monsters also smack of various Clamp titles.
Not that this is a bad series or anything, but it seems to be struggling a bit with what exactly it wants to be. I mean, first it starts out as a "cruel twist magic shop" story, and then it becomes sort of a "detective and underworld" story with monsters instead of shotgun-toting hitmen.
I enjoyed this series not only because I've always been kind of a fan of yokai, but also because I genuinely want to see where this is all going. Will it intersperse the remaining yokai battle stories with more of what we saw in the first volume?
Whatever else it's doing, you can bet your bottom dollar that Yokai Rental Shop will milk all the "brothers" tropes and "Archnemesis Dad" tropes out of itself that it possibly can.
PS: Thanks to the magic of Amazon.com posting the release dates for various series, I actually have a plan of exactly what to post about next (albeit no idea exactly when).
The series I intend to read and post about are:
1. Nameless Asterism (releases 2/13/18)
2. Saga of Tanya the Evil (releases 2/13/18)
and 3. Kigurumi Friends/Guardians (already released, but I can't remember which one it was)
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