Nurarihyon no Mago

If there's one word I could describe Nurarihyon no Mago, it would have to be BORING.

Having read the adaptation I really had high hopes for this series as the formula to which Mago is about, is seldom used in shonén anime and if done right, would have definitely been one of the better series for 2010.

...but like I said, BORING. Here's why:

Story - 8
Nurarihyon no Mago is a tale of the supernatural. It's a tale of demons and spirits and the co-existence between their kind and ours. It's also a tale of Rikuo Nura and how he takes over his grandfathers clan known as ... the Hyakki Yakō, a clan made up of yōkai(demons) and other familiar spirits of Japanese folklore. Nurarihyon no Mago is about the trials and tribulations Rikuo goes through to achieve being the head of that clan(to which at first he has no interest in) while knowing that he is only a quarter yōkai himself.

What makes the story even more interesting is how the Nura yōkai clan portray chivalry, similar to those you'd find in yakuza(Japanese gangster) movies, and how this series uses fear to gauge their strength.

Nurarihyon no Mago is Rikuo's story, as he struggles to find his place between both worlds, and it's a tale of superiority between other yōkai clans as you'll find in the second half of the series.

So far so good right? So what went wrong?

Art & Animation - 6
This is where it was a miss for me. While I was happy the art stayed true to Hiroshi Shiibashi's manga, giving you a richly detailed account to Japan's yōkai like you'd find in an old Japanese tapestry, I was really disappointed in its animation. For a shonén title, the series really lacked 'fluidity' for a better word making each scene seem like your watching still-frame art from the 90's. The execution and pacing was lacking and for a series made late 2010, the choreography was non-existent.

While there are times when you think animation might improve(like watching the intricacies of a Sakura tree blossom at night), you are let down the next moment when characters clash....very...slowly. Even anime such as Hikaru no Go, which is a series about an Asian 'bored' game provided better excitement. I usually have a benchmark when it comes to shonén anime(specially ones released in the last few years) and Mago simply did not cut it for me.

If I had to make a comparison to Mago's animation, it would probably come close to Samurai Deeper Kyo(which aired back in 2002), another anime that had all the right premises but didn't deliver.

Yes, Nurarihyon no Mago may have picked up after 20 episodes into the series, but that's 20+ episodes too late! For some people, an anime is good if it entices you through the first few episodes. NOT at the very end where people have already dropped it or have put it on hold waiting for someone to tell them to pick it up again. It's not fine wine which you to mature(unless you're one who don't drop anime regardless)

Sound - 5
While I have no complaints about the voice actors chosen for Mago(besides the obvious of some being miscasted), where I really felt the series was also lacking was a 'strong' musical score. Shonén anime can be gripping when a running score is played in the background. The series I mentioned earlier, Hikaru no Go is a very good example to this in that it has such a moving soundtrack, that regardless how boring the game is played in Hikaru it still keeps you riveted, and at times even on edge. Whilst Nurarihyon no Mago does have BGM running(softly), none felt suited to the tempo of each scene making it seem like I was watching an 80's series due to just hearing dialogue.

I will commend that the OP's for both arcs in the series were consistent( with both titles performed by Monkey Majik) giving you that feeling for what the show is going to be, but I'll be honest and admit that the ED's(performed by Katate☆Size) just did not feel appropriate for each ending episode. Instead of thinking I was watching a series about demons and the supernatural, the upbeat tempo at the end of each episode made it sound like it was done by a backyard DJ adding music to his favorite home video.

Characters - 6
The series as a whole only really shines through its characters. For one, you have Rikuo who is a quarter yōkai which means like any shonén anime, there is a part of the main character that would make any fan who's into transformations go: "Wow! Sick! I want to see more of this!" And I admit, when I had first read the adaptation, I was pretty much all over it the moment Rikuo turned into the 'Master of the Night'.

Just seeing his transformation made me feel like a little boy again watching Goku turn into Super-Saiyijinn 3.

Nurarihyon no Mago also features a huge cast of characters which at most 'can' be likable, but I wouldn't start saying that they'd be memorable like other well known shonén supporting characters and the only one I'd take real note of is Kiyotsugu(of the Kiyo Paranormal Squad) who happens to probably be the most annoying side character in all of anime history.

Enjoyment and Overall - 5
In all honesty, I have mixed feelings for this series as a part of me wants to grow to like it thanks to having known how the manga continues, while the other half is screaming "Bloody Murder!" at the anime director.

Overall I am clearly disappointed with Mago as an anime due to the segments I had mentioned earlier and I'm surprised that it's even getting a second season when there are clearly far better anime out there who hasn't seen the light of day since they first aired(Berserk & Kenichi to name a few). I can only hope that they find a better director(or another studio take it up) for season 2 as there is no way I'd be buying the first once its licensed.

Nurarihyon no Mago is more 'superficial' then it is supernatural and at best may pass time for people with nothing to do, but it definitely isn't praiseworthy let alone top-shelf when it comes to action anime.

This show, to me has it's ups and downs. The first few episodes were really good in my opinion. However my liking for this show started to slacken as I went on. When I first read about this show it seemed like it was going to be areally great show with a lot of battles and action. I was disapointed greatly. Although there are some good parts in the show. I watched the whole seiries because it wasen't areally long anime show that had some hundreds of episodes. So I rated this a 6.

Nurarihyon no Mago is neither inspired nor terrible. It's rather mediocre actually, which comes as a disappointment especially since it has a decent MAL score. I like the premise and I tried to be as open-minded as I could. It pleasantly surprised me in some areas; for example, the plot elements suggest some strategic thinking on the part of protagonists and antagonists alike. However, the outrageously bad action in the fight scenes is unforgivable in a shonen anime. Neither the character development nor the dialogue are sufficient to redeem this glaring weakness for this sub-genre.

So let's get that out of ... the way first. I have come to expect bad action in shonen anime, especially older anime, but this anime tries to push the lower bounds of that expectation. Characters stand around spouting long monologues, just begging opponents to skewer them with a surprise attack (if only to shut them up). Martial arts are flashy, unrealistic, and lack any sort of kinetic weight. Expressions are grossly exaggerated, moves are telegraphed, and characters cover distances at inconsistent rates. Damage has varying effects on characters, inversely proportionate to their importance to the story I suppose. Nothing resembles highly skilled fighting which is ugly, abrupt, and brutally efficient. Only small children would be entertained, but given the other subject matter small children are not the target audience.

The worst are the sword duels. Obviously, I don't expect anything approaching realism in an anime. I would, however, appreciate things that LOOK cool, as is the case in some more modern anime. But here, sword fights are mostly blade locks that give the combatants a chance to whisper sweet nothings to each other for long stretches while we yawn. It gets old quickly and makes us wonder if perhaps their animators were on a strict budget or simply lacked imagination.

Other visual elements are also lacking. I suppose the anime was made during that awkward time when CG started gaining traction in anime, and it is mixed in poorly enough with hand-drawn elements to stick out. The art itself hails back to an earlier anime art style that I rather dislike. Monsters look silly and cartoonish rather than terrifying and intimidating. Facial features are mushy and indistinct, and nobody in the cast really stand out as having superior character design.

Why did I score it so highly given these obvious flaws? Well, I was expecting absolutely terrible storytelling to go along with the poor visuals, but some of it seemed well-constructed. At one point an opposing faction invades Nura family territory and instead of a direct assault (which probably would have failed), they do strategically sound things like attacking scouts, making feints, and eroding power base through indirect attacks.

I cannot say ALL the story elements were sound, however. Rikuo, the main character, has the most annoying classmates and they get a huge amount of screen time. They do improbable things that human beings of sound mind would never do. Despite almost dying several times due to youkai activity, they repeatedly put themselves into compromising and dangerous situations. They visit abandoned, remote areas without adult supervision. Somehow they gain permission from their parents to sleep away from home despite the obvious spate of violence and property damage that recurs in town (and very publicly on the news).

There seems to be a cliched love triangle brewing between Rikuo, the childhood friend, and the snow woman bodyguard. There is a tiny amount of character development, mostly in Rikuo who goes from being an annoying, whiny kid to being a slightly less annoying, whiny kid. Beyond that, don't watch this for the character interactions.

Overall, I enjoyed this more than it deserved given the quality of its individual elements. I just happened to like this kind of anime and its sense of style. But it's executed quite poorly and you'll find better examples of the genre elsewhere. Oh, and regarding the music, although most OP and ED are bad in this anime, the worse is the terrible OP during the second half of the season. Is that some kind of country-western R&B hybrid? I don't know, but feels like they went out of their way to offend my ears.

This anime is bad. Its got a very average and predictable story with problems of telling and not showing. They drop names and nouns as if we are supposed to care. What makes it worse is the over sexual tones throughout, the characters are 12 and 13, is there really a need to have bath scenes? Come on Japan, what are you like... The protagonist does a yugioh and gets a lot older when it's night time and they hint at the conflict being that his 12/13 year old love interest is more interested in his adult version, yikes. I did like the once off ... episode where the yokai slayer girl sees the protagonist and the other demon chick bending down and thinks they are kissing and is openly confused about the plot, thinking that the love interest and protagonist are going out already, I related to this because I also had trouble paying attention to this snore fest of a show. The main villains are introduced towards the last few episodes and the build up is rather weak, they all have basic uninteresting attacks with no real flair on both sides. The villains are posing as school boys, and they set up obvious traps and talk a big game, never felt any bit of tension once. It's a very average show that has some fleeting cute moments, but they are few and far between, all and all a very average and forgettable show, most annoying part is that the demon girl is seen by the humans throughout the show both as a demon and a human and it is never questioned. Also the characters will really cheesely slip up and say something obvious that makes them seem suspicious and it's never questioned either. Weak. Also he's the Lord of pandemonium, the guy is extremely quiet, reserved and well behaved even in his adult form, seems like he really doesn't fit the role at all, the bad guys are kinda right he's a bad leader.

Firstly the story of this anime which I give an 8. It was simple, straight forward and relatable. It's all about accepting who or more precisely what you are and accepting ones responsibilities so that's pretty cool.
The art was okay, I wasn't amazed by it but it if very decent.
The sound was good, especially loved the into sequence of the second half which was dope.
Now where this anime loses a lot of it's flare is when it comes to characters. The good guys are all well and okay but the problem is the villains. They start out with a big hype seeming to ... be extremely powerful adversaries but turn out to be little more than a minor threat. They were just so anti climatic that they almost ruined this anime for me. After all what is a good heroe without a good villain.
The general enjoyment is fun. It has a light hearted comedic tone so you won't necessarily get bored watching this anime.
Now overall I'd say that it is a good anime to pass the time but don't expect to much for it or else you'll just be disappointed

I feel so much potential was wasted on this one, it is kind of frustrating.

The anime has nearly all ingredients to make a great shounen: first a good plot concept, then there's youkai and humans and their various relations, yakuza styled youkai syndicate, great art style, nice VAs and BGM, enough space to develop the plot and characters and a great deal of Shinto concepts and ideas....

And then...enter THE characters...

For me personally, the characters ruined a fair bit of what otherwise could've easily been an 8/10 shounen. While I can ignore unrealistic age and pretend they are older than what they're supposed to be in ... the anime, what I can not ignore is their intellectual level. I reckon stupid characters exist in nearly every anime, however, in the case of Nurarihyon no mago, at least 70% of them had about the same intellectual level as my 2 year old nephew. You know, when you tell a child "don't touch the hot iron" and the next thing you know is that is exactly what they're doing.

More than a few characters were simply unnecessary to the story, many conversations were repetitive and shallow, the pace was slow and painful, and the climax didn't really feel like one, whether the conclusion was satisfying is questionable.

These 24 episodes could have been compressed in a 13-15 episode series easily.

As majority of animes are influenced by Japanese folklores or yokai stories comes another series about battles of territories between yokai.

There’s a long review coming………..

About the STORY
The story is interesting in the sense that there are quite a number of adventures dealing with different yokai. It is also about battle between clans as it is very famous and typical in Japanese stories. Fighting over territories and competing who should lead or not; It’s really like mafia clan battle but the difference is it’s a battle between yokai clans.

About the CHARACTERS
As this is a story about yokai and leadership over countless of yokai, there are ... quite a number of yokai. There are many interesting variations to choose from. However, there are really no particular likeable or memorable character. The grandpa is quite cool for his age. Sometimes, I still can’t believe that he really looked like the gorgeous Nurarihyon when he was younger. He’s younger version is a lot more gorgeous than the night form of Rikuo.

About NURA RIKUO
Nura Rikuo is somewhat the same with Natsume Takashi of Natsume Yujincho who started of bothered by Yokai. And also with Sawada Tsunayoshi from Katekyo Hitman Reborn for not wanting to succeed a leadership that is force to him. Gradually, as the series progresses all these three learn to accept it because it’s who they are. When someone has something to protect they always tend to get stronger and have an absolute resolve. He also has an alter ego who’s very different from him not only physically but with the whole personality just like a typical protagonist with a dark side or alter ego. Rikuo’s day form is not that impressive and the night form is way cooler. However, both are not particularly memorable, character-wise. I guess, the thing that’s admirable about him is his sense of responsibilities.

About the ANIMATION and SOUNDS
The attention to details with the different yokai is really nice. I personally like how the Nurarihyon and Rikuo’s night form looks. Making the hair like that really helps on making him a yokai and stand out from the others, thus, really making him the boss. The whole Sakura petals scattering whenever the night form of Rikuo appears is really quite beautiful and cool. Is it just me or one of the themes really sounds like the Harry Potter theme? It is also quite amazing that there’s a massive gathering of the most talented and famous seiyus in the series; from important characters to the small roles to villains.

About the ENJOYMENT
I gonna say, what’s with very young boys inheriting an extremely dangerous and important leaderships. If you’re a yokai or Japanese demons fanatic then this is absolutely for you. A yokai story is always a chance to learn more about Japanese folklore whether it is fictional or not. However, setting aside that I believe the pacing of the storyline is quite slow. Sometimes, episode would end without an important or exciting thing happening. It really makes the story less interesting. The plot is interesting enough, that much I can say but I believe it’s lacking a certain impact or certain excitement. It is not exactly what I expected it to be as I’ve really wanting to see this in a long time since everyone seems to like it.

English Version


(I do not usually give scores to Animes that I do not finish because it seems to me an unfair treatment but due to the "MAL" policies I am forced to do it, so try to be as impartial as possible in the score I hope you know how to understand).


The truth is that while the show works thanks to the plot focused on the Youkai, it is not what you would expect from an anime cataloged as "Shonen" especially in its 3 introductory chapters in which one would expect full action or at least a rapid development towards reaching the same focus. However, ... this is not how this show works, Nurarihyon focuses more on one of the genres that does not even appear as everyday life, or at least it is the image that leaves the viewer as soon as we obtain such a slow rhythm, accompanied by such a generic and uninteresting cast of characters. (especially by classmates), making it seem like the end product is simply "defeating the monster of the week".
Another point that does not help from the perspective of an "average Shonen", is Art. Since to a great extent when we obtain scenes of "action" the planes are really very static and the battles are resolved in an unpleasant movement for the viewer.
Finally I want to clarify that the Anime itself may not be bad if you have too many expectations regarding what has already been mentioned. If you have free time to continue the series and you want to see a story that is not episodic, but very slow, go ahead and you will like it.





En Español:


(No suelo dar puntuaciones a Animes que no finalizo por que me parece un trato injusto pero debido a las políticas de "MAL" me veo obligado hacerlo, por lo que trate de ser lo mas imparcial posible en la puntuacion espero sepan entender.)

La verdad es que si bien el show funciona gracias a la trama enfocada hacia los Youkai, no es lo que esperaría de un Anime catalogado como "Shonen" sobretodo en sus 3 capítulos introductorios en los cuales uno esperaría acción plena o al menos un desarrollo veloz hacia alcanzar el mismo foco. Sin embargo no es asi como funciona este espectaculo, Nurarihyon enfoca mas en base a uno de los géneros que ni siquiera aparece como la vida cotidiana, o por lo menos es la imagen que deja al espectador en cuanto obtenemos un ritmo tan lento, acompañado de un elenco personajes tan genérico y poco interesante. (sobretodo por los compañeros de clase), haciendo parecer así que el producto final es simplemente "el derrotar al monstruo de la semana".
Otro punto que no ayuda desde la perspectiva de un "Shonen promedio", es el Arte. Ya que en gran medida cuando obtenemos escenas de "acción" los planos son realmente muy estáticos y las batallas se resuelven en un movimiento poco agradable al televidente.
Por último quiero aclarar que el Anime en si puede no ser malo sino tienes demasiadas expectativas en cuanto a lo ya mencionado. Si tienes tiempo libre como para continuar la serie y deseas ver una historia que no es episódica, pero si muy lenta pues adelante y te agradara..

Good idea for a show but failed on execution mostly due to the absolute idiotic nature and actions of the characters throughout the show. Seriously either the writer was mentally challenged and just didnt have the capacity to think logically beyond his lil fantasy world. Seriously every single one of the main cast of characters outside of the mc (he isnt much smarter but a little above the others) have the IQ, sensibility, decision making ability of a f'ing potato. If you have ever seen that commercial from Geico where the kids are being chased in a horror movie and they have ... a choice saying lets get into the running car and get away OR lets hide behind the hanging wall of chainsaws and they choose the chainsaws without missing a beat... well that right there sums up this show and all but 1 maybe 2 of the main cast which ends up being a endless cycle of saving the group of absolute and utter fuktards they are who by no means deserve saving after about episode 7. The story and tradition was a good idea though and the villians and monsters were interesting but as is all the beta bia japanese passive as long as it doesn't mess with my daily life and you pinky promise to stop being a mass murder well i forgive everyone dumb crap every anime craps all over the viewers with all the time (which to all us level headed NON-sus weaknut is just about the highest level of stupidity beyond human comprehension). The mc by day is a top shelf loser or losers and looks the part like REALLY REALLY looks the part like they went all in on making his look as much of a sad sack as possible oh and act the part also aka typical big red target loser just built to be a bullies whipping boy. Then by night when he actually changes into his yokai form its a totally 180 of course (cliche much right) and turns into this cool suave mega badass and just face rolls enemies with ease kinda on the level of Gogeta SSGod mode form vs anyone other than Brolly face roll. Rinse repeat 1/2 sad pathetic potato mined idiots getting in trouble then 1/2 getting them out of said trouble. That said the trouble they get into is just ugh I swear after so many times of rescuing them from their retardational whims all but a cliche anime idiot would have just given up.

Lots of mixed feelings about this series, the concept is good but it's filled with wasted potential.

My opinion is that this series definitely suffered because it focused so much on the yokai side of things while neglecting the human aspect despite the fact that our protagonist is 3/4 human and only 1/4 yokai. The only time I ever felt invested was whenever the human characters aka Rikuo's mom and the Kiyojuji squad, were on screen.

They're always a breath of fresh air considering how much time is spent being suffocated under the oversaturation of the arrogant and honestly unlikable yokai of the Nura clan.