Rikuo Nura never thought his life was especially odd. He had friends, family and a destiny. It never seemed strange that most of his friends were Yokai (creatures of Japanese folklore who brought fear to humanity), or that his father was a half-yokai. By his birthright, he was destined to become the Third Heir of the Nura yokai syndicate that his grandfather Nurarihyon had founded centuries ago. Bearing a love of both humans and Yokai, Rikuo has vowed to become a leader who can unite the yokai and live in peace with the humans! And he’s just in time, because several ancient evils have just begun to make their move…

The manga begins as a day-by-day adventure story with Rikuo juggling his double-life as a schoolboy in modern Japan and his status as the soon-to-be Third Heir to the Nura Clan. Whenever he or his friends are in danger, he taps into his yokai heritage and transforms into his “night” self, gaining access to the powers he inherited from Nurarihyon. (He’s got a few things to worry about, of course—he initially can only transform in complete darkness, and only for one quarter of the day.)

The manga also has a lot of fun working in a lot of the various yokai from folklore and art. If you’re even vaguely familiar with some of Japan’s ghost stories, then you’ll surely come across at least one familiar face. (Not just the characters that actually get dialogue either—my personal favorite, Kuchisake-onna the scissor woman, has a cameo!) Japan-lovers—this manga could double as a decent refresher in Japanese mythology!

Still, while action was always a major part of the story, most of the early plotlines focused on Rikuo saving his human friends from constant yokai attacks while still keeping them in the dark (so to speak) about his real identity. Because this clearly wasn’t hard enough already, his friend (and naysayer-turned-yokai-fanatic) Kiyotsugu becomes obsessed with Rikuo’s “other self” and decides that the best way to meet him again is to chase after every yokai rumor he hears about. However, Rikuo soon has bigger worries than his incognito, friend-rescuing routine: both the outbreak of dissent within the Nura clan and the formation of a rival gang quickly force him to take his duties more seriously. Around this time the story really comes into its own—we get a stronger sense of how the magic works, as well as established rules regarding the world of Nura and it really ramps up the action with the introduction of multiple awesome monsters, creative superpowers and unforgettable characters.

The Final Volume

Of course, the final clash between the godlike Abe No Seimei is nothing short of epic. But even though Rikuo and Hagoromo Gitsune have put their differences behind them, it’s not a fight they can win easily. Seimei’s spells and abilities not only allow him to manipulate the planets above the Spiral Castle, but he can also, with a mere gesture, unmake matter itself. And as the Nura clan and Gokadoin House fight their climactic battle in the castle far, far below, Rikuo knows that their fear and their future alike rest upon his shoulders. With centuries upon centuries of magic and grudges stacked against him, can Rikuo win, or even survive the encounter?

After The Credits

This volume contains some nice little extras, including five (!) bonus side-stories. The first is a small side-story about Shoei, Zen and Rikuo bonding over their plans about the future, while another expands on a scene where Nurarihyon briefly meets his dead wife and son while on the border between worlds. A third explores a day in Ryuji’s life as an onmyoji, where he deals with a shady peddler of cursed artifacts! The other two are purely comedic and instead deal with Rikuo’s (as-yet) nonexistent love life! (Getting sired by a legacy of ladies’ men leaves the lad with a lot to live up to!) We also get a couple extra pages that didn’t make it into the last few chapters, some of which clarify the ultimate fates of characters who didn’t have enough space for a proper send-off in the final version. Closure is awesome, after all!

If you’re a mythology geek (like me), then you’ll enjoy some of the more creative interpretations of various classic monsters from Japanese stories. And this manga oozes with style. Heck, the fact that this manga turned the not-so-exciting sounding ability of Nurarihyon (to sneak around unnoticed) into illusions is pretty sweet by itself! If you’re a fan of yokai, shonen manga or just large-scale action in general, then Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan is the manga for you.

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan volumes 1–27 are available here. 

by Chris Turner