Hamachi goes questing in the yokai realm for three lost objects.
Creative Staff
Writer/Artist: Nina Matsumoto
What They Say
Yokai are Japanese spirits, and young Hamachi is fascinated by them. Now he continues his quest deep into the Yokai realm in the hopes of finding Madkap, the kappa (water spirit) he believes has killed his grandmother. Armed with nothing but a sacred rope and a lucky kappa's foot, Hamachi has made two friends to help him on his journey: Lumi the talking lantern, and newly awakened, the umbrella that once belonged to his grandfather! (Don't ask.)
Their first stop is the home of the legendary fox spirit the Ninetails, who promises to help in Hamachi's quest if Hamachi can retrieve three lost items. But can Hamachi really find them, or does the Ninetails just want Hamachi to fail so he can keep the human boy as a pet?
The Review!
There's a certain seriousness to this second volume of Yokaiden that the first didn't have; or at least had less of. The earlier book had a strong sense of folklore and much of the classic fairytale feel - with, of course, something other than the familiar traditions of western fairytales at the back of it - but there was also a sense of humour about it. The book used the folkloric element for plot and for laughs about equally. This time things are a little different. The comedy is still there; but it's there as comic relief to the seriously handled story. The plot now seems like a traditional story in earnest, and not like a half-parody of one.
The first thing that happens in the book is a meeting with the nine-tailed fox spirit that can help Hamachi find Madkap the kappa, the one he's come into the yokai realm to find. Actually that's not true. The first thing that happens is a recap of the story for the benefit of people who have trouble keeping up with plotlines in series that have a year between volumes. For instance, people like reviewers who know that they put their first volume in one of those two bookcases, honest, but it doesn't seem to be there anymore, dag nab it. But the fox spirit is the first major new encounter, and it sets Hamichi on the next leg of his quest. Which is, according to a style that's apparently traditional in every culture, three new quests. Hamichi is sent to retrieve three (reportedly) lost objects, guarded by three powerful beings. (I nearly wrote "three powerful yokai," but one of them is actually a pretty contemporary urban legend, and another may not be a yokai after all.) This is where the grim tone of the second book comes out most forcefully. Hamichi is clearly in danger in the first encounter, but when he tries to trick the tengu who guards the first object with a traditional stratagem from his yokai book, we get the best laugh in the whole volume. But the second quest has a tinge of genuine horror and the consequences of failure are grave. When Hamichi is blinded you remember that fairytales can have a gruesome side as well.
But I don't want to let one scene colour your impression of the whole book. The darkness of that one moment of terror is mitigated by the hero's pluck and optimism, and also by the arrival of Binzuru, a godlike yokai, a yokai-like god, or maybe just a normal-type god - it's hard to tell which. His eagerness to help (in a hurry - he never seems to be able to stick around very long), easy-going nature and general dottiness make him a pretty fun character to watch. And he makes it easy (or easier) for Hamichi to keep on completing his quests, getting that much further towards his true goal of finding the kappa. If Binzuru is indeed a god, he's the kind that doesn't mind stepping out of a machine.
In Summary:
At first glance I thought this volume of Yokaiden was far more serious and even grim in tone than the first was. And ultimately it is. But when I looked back at the first volume (I was just kidding earlier, I had it here all the time) I saw that the story was already tending in that direction, so the change was more gradual than I had originally thought, and the style of the earlier volume flows smoothly into this. Yokaiden is still a good series, and one that I'd like even if it didn't make such a strong appeal to the side of me that loves folklore and is fascinated by monsters and mythological beings. It's unfolding well and drawn skillfully; add to that the sudden rise in tension in the final pages and you get a series that I hope I don't have to wait another year to see the end of.
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