Kekkaishi (Japanese: çµç•Œå¸«, lit. "Barrier Master") is a supernatural manga series written and illustrated by Yellow Tanabe. It was serialized in Japan by Shogakukan in the manga magazine ShÅnen Sunday from 2003 to 2011, and licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media. It was adapted as a fifty-two episode anime series by Sunrise, which was broadcast between October 2006 and February 2008. The series is about Yoshimori Sumimura and Tokine Yukimura, heirs to rival families of kekkai (barrier magic) users, who must defend their school from the spirits drawn to the sacred land upon which it is built. Kekkaishi received the 2007 Shogakukan Manga Award for shÅnen manga.
Plot
According to the legend, five hundred years ago, there was an insignificant lord who possessed a mysterious power that drew ayakashi (妖) (supernatural creatures) to him. A demon exterminator, Tokimori Hazama, was called upon to protect the lord and his castle. The lord's power stayed on the land even when he had died. Thus, Tokimori founded the Hazama clan, who inherited his techniques, to protect the land for centuries to come. This land is Karasumori (çƒæ£®).
In the present day, Yoshimori Sumimura and Tokine Yukimura, heirs of the Hazama clan, are the kekkaishi (çµç•Œå¸«?) that protect Karasumori. They are ability users (people who can use supernatural powers) who use a technique called Kekkai (çµç•Œ?). Kekkai is a form of magical energy barrier which is primarily used to capture and destroy ayakashi that are drawn to this shin'yÅ«chi (神ä½'地?, "sacred land"). Any ayakashi that stay on the land become stronger. Yoshimori and Tokine are to guard the land from the intrusion of ayakashi who try to "power-up" there.
Yoshimori and Tokine suffered a lot of hardships in their responsibilities to protect Karasumori. The ayakashi they must fight are becoming more and more powerful, but they managed to protect the land with the help from Yoshimori's older brother, Masamori Sumimura, and the Urakai (è£ä¼š?, "Shadow Organization"). The Shadow Organization itself is an organization of ability users that is governed by a council of twelve, consisting of high level ability users.
Over the course of the story it is revealed little by little that the legend is full of lies. The real source of Karasumori's power is Chūshinmaru (宙心丸), an illegitimate son of the Hazama clan's founder, Tokimori Hazama, and the Karasumori clan's heiress. Tokimori used forbidden arts to try to give his son unearthly power, but the plan backfired, and instead gave Chūshinmaru the power to draw people's life force, killing everybody around him. Tokimori was forced to seal his own son beneath Karasumori. However, being alone with no aid Tokimori was unable to completely seal off the Shinkai he created. Which allowed Chūshinmaru's power to leak out, and it is this that draws ayakashi to the land.
In the end, with the help of Yoshimori's mother and Tokimori, Yoshimori and Tokine find a new site for Chūshinmaru by displacing the founder of the Urakai from the domain of a land-god that the founder had taken over. To seal Chūshinmaru, Yoshimori's mother sacrifices herself by sealing the domain with herself inside.
Production
Yellow Tanabe says that she uses reference books with pictures as inspiration for designs of ayakashi. She used her own images of the appearances of kanji characters of special terms and placed the terms in a system in order to create the special powers of the Kekkaishi and the terms of magic in the series. In regards to what inspired her to create the Shadow Organization, she said "I'm not really sure. I just sort of thought that's the way organizations are."
Media
Manga
Kekkaishi was written and illustrated by Yellow Tanabe. It was serialized in Japan by Shogakukan in the shÅnen (aimed at teenaged boys) manga magazine ShÅnen Sunday in 345 chapters from 2003 issue 47 to 2011 issue 19. Serial chapters have all collected in 35 tankÅbon volumes, with the last volume published on 18 August 2011. The series is licensed in English in North America by Viz Media. It is also licensed in France by Pika Édition, in Germany by Carlsen Comics, in Hong Kong by Rightman Publishing Limited, in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo which serializes it in ShÅnen Star, in Italy by Panini Comics, in Malaysia by PCM Comics, in South Korea by Bookbox, in Spain by Editorial Ivrea, in Taiwan by Tong Li Comics, in Vietnam by Kim Dong. and in Brazil by Panini Comics.
A guidebook to the series called a "teacher's guide" (çµç•Œå¸« 指å—之書) was published as a ShÅnen Sunday special on December 16, 2006 (ISBN 4-09-120710-3).
Anime
Kekkaishi was adapted by Sunrise as an anime television series directed by Kenji Kodama with character designs by Hirotoshi Takaya and music by Taku Iwasaki. The opening theme for all episodes is "Sha la la -Ayakashi NIGHT-" (Sha la la -アヤカシNIGHT-) by Saeka Uura. There are four different ending themes: "Akai Ito" (赤ã„糸, "Red Thread") by Koshi Inaba (episodes 1â€"15, 38, 40, 48, 52), "Sekaijuu Dokowo Sagashitemo" (世界ä¸ã©ã"ã‚'探ã—ã¦ã‚‚, SekaijÅ« Doko o Sagashite mo, "Looking for Another World") by Aiko Kitahara (episodes 16â€"23, 39, 44, 51), "My Mirai" (マイミライ, Mai Mirai, "My Future") by Uura (episodes 24â€"30, 41, 46, 49), and "Kyukei Jikan 10pun" (ä¼'憩時é–"10分, KyÅ«kei Jikan Jippun, "10 Minute Break") by Uura (episodes 31â€"37, 42â€"43, 45, 47, 50). The series was broadcast for 52 episodes in Japan between 16 October 2006 and 12 February 2008 on Nippon Television, Yomiuri TV, and Nippon Television Network System, in the "golden" timeslot of 7 p.m. Monday.
The anime has been licensed in North America by Viz Media. which began broadcasting episodes online through Hulu.com in January 2010. The series premiered on TV on May 29, 2010 on Cartoon Network's block Adult Swim. It has also been broadcast in Taiwan on TTV and Videoland Television Network, in Malaysia on 8TV (Cantonese dubbing with Malay subtitles) and NTV7 (Malay dubbing), in Hong Kong on Cable TV, in the Philippines on Hero, GMA Network and on Hero's Competitor: Animax Asia (but Japanese Audio with English Subtitles), and in Indonesia on antv.
Video games
Namco Bandai released two "action based" games for the Nintendo DS, the first on 24 May 2007. A Wii game Kekkaishi: KokubÅrÅ no Kage (çµç•Œå¸« é»'èŠ'楼ã®å½±, Kekkaishi: Shadow of the Kokuboro) was released in December 2007 in Japan.
Reception
In 2007, Kekkaishi received the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shÅnen manga. The series is among the best-selling manga in Japan.Volumes 19, 20, and 21 all reached number 3 or 4 on the Tohan best-seller list.
The English edition of Kekkaishi was named by the Young Adult Library Services Association as among the best graphic novels for teens for 2007.
During its initial broadcast, episodes of the anime series were frequently among the top ten rated anime television shows, sometimes as the only original (non-sequel) show to do so.
References
External links
- ShÅnen Sunday official manga website (Japanese)
- Sunrise official anime website (Japanese)
- Yomiuri TV official anime site (Japanese)
- Namco Bandai official DS game site (Japanese)
- Viz Media official anime site
- Kekkaishi Episodes, Downloads and More from Adult Swim
- Kekkaishi (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Kekkaishi (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
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