Mugen Spiral Vol. 1

By Nadia Oxford     May 01, 2007

I’ll admit; I’ve picked up this book a few times at the bookstore, flipped through it and put it back. From the back cover description, it sounds like a knock-off of Inu Yasha. Yayoi is a very powerful mystic, and all sorts of demons are after her power. Apparently, whoever absorbs her power will become the next Demon King. Ura, the son of the current Demon King, goes after Yayoi, and she uses a chain of beads to trap his powers and turn him into a black cat. As time goes by, the pair becomes closer, with the spark of latent love flaring up between them.

However, Mugen Spiral (“Demon” Spiral) is a great manga on its own merits. The story is a little rough in the beginning, as it opens with Yayoi and Ura’s plot-thickening fight, before explaining who these characters are. We are soon tossed into the pattern of demons seeking to possess Yayoi’s soul, and thus her powers, and when Yayoi can’t defeat them herself, she releases Ura temporarily from his bonds to fight the demons, or as Ura sees it, encroachers on his “prey.”

Now the manga would dissolve into mediocre action if this was the end of the plot. Luckily, we have three dimensional characters in this story. It becomes clear that Ura is just using the prey excuse to protect Yayoi, as he is become more and more attached to her. Apparently, he’s our boisterous, yet sensitive demon prince, and he was only after Yayoi for the healing magic she possesses as a mystic. If he absorbs that, then he hopes to heal his father and restore his authority as king, thus stopping all this competition to become the next Demon King.

Yayoi has divided feelings about this. On one hand, she doesn’t want to die. (Duh.) However, she was brought up to believe that it is a mystic’s duty to sacrifice herself for her people. After all, that’s how her parents died. But if Ura takes her powers and heals the king, then a lot of people will be saved from having their souls devoured or otherwise harmed by the competing demons.

Yayoi’s decision is postponed by the arrival of Ouga, Ura’s younger brother and the one who cursed the Demon King to death. As the stereotypical jealous brother, he wants to become the most powerful demon and king to prove his father wrong, that he does have the qualities necessary to become the king. In order to do this, Ouga needs Yayoi...and the volume ends in mid-fight, as the brothers duel, to Ura’s sadness, to the death.

Sadly, we have to wait until August to read the second and final volume. The artwork is fairly standard, but Kusanagi draws her faces with very pointed chins; very shonen in style, which suits Mugen Spiral perfectly with its emphasis on action. Like always with TOKYOPOP titles, I really wish that all of the sound effects were translated, but...c’est la vie. If you’re looking for a nice little title to read Saturday morning or in between classes, you can’t go wrong with Mugen Spiral.