Greetings and felicitations, ladies and gentlemen of the Internet! Anna speaking.


Wow...two posts in as many days...this has to be a record (Nick, I hope you're happy!).


Anywho, so I have recently been re-reading one of my most favorite manga of all time, Inuyasha. I love this series so much and I have always been impressed with Rumiko Takahashi's work (with the small exception of One Pound Gospel.). Naturally, I was delighted to hear about her newest project, Kyokai no Rin-ne.


Kyokai no Rin-ne tells the story of high-schooler Sakura Mamiya, a girl with the unwanted ability to see and communicate with spirits. Sakura's ESP leads her to meet Rinne Rokudo, a bizarre classmate of Sakura's. Rinne turns out to be a kind of shinigami, a death god of sorts (Death Note fans know what I'm talking about...). The manga follows their adventures in exorcisms and stopping evil death spirits.


When I read Kyokai no Rin-ne, all I could say was, "...haven't I read this somewhere before?" And then I realised it. Kyokai no Rin-ne is a sad little smoothie of Bleach and Inuyasha with a miniscule splash of Death Note and a sprinkle of Ranma 1/2. Rinne is half-human, half-shinigami (Sound familiar, coughInuyashacough?). Sakura can see ghosts but doesn't want to (Sound even more familiar, coughBleachcough?). Rinne has to deal with guys vying for the attentions of Sakura, who he likes but he can't tell her (Bells should being going off now, coughRanmacough.). Rinne and Sakura fight ghost monsters all while attempting to reach a common end (COUGHBLEACHANDINUYASHACOUGH!). And the worst part of it all is this: THE STORY ISN'T THAT GREAT! I found the characters to be one-dimensional and trite. The bad guys (If you can even call them that...) are way too easy to beat. The scenarios aren't convincing and they get resolved in the most feeble ways possible. I was, all in all, seriously disappointed with Takahashi-sensei.


Rating: D- (I am seriously upset about the unoriginality of this manga.)


Well, that's all I have to report for now. Happy geeking!


~Anna