Oct 1, 2022
Nihonmatsu Kyoudai is a 2017 manga written by the well known author Mizukami Satoshi, it's about two siblings living in modern day Japan, trying to help a spirit.The story has supernatural and action elements.
You may have heard of the term "onmyouji" or just call them spirit mediums, diviners etc, this is the occupation of our main characters (brother and sister), they just try to make ends meet and they work in this sort of business because of their powers and because they can't do anything normal in today's society.
The story follows a concrete plot, we have this big case involving Nerine (a spirit) and throughout
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the manga, the siblings will try their best to help her, and also they hope to receive something, the siblings are poor, they need money or at least something valuable from this job (same story as in Sanjin Sadou).
The action and the atmosphere are light-hearted, to the point that it becomes a comedy and a parody of supernatural action-adventure stories, it's not meant to be taken seriously, only looking at the villains (speech, motivations, designs) and the readers will understand the general idea. It's not a heavy story, it's very easy to follow and quick to read, with a conclusive ending.
And when the siblings can't resolve the case peacefully, they get into fights (big and flashy) or they run away, that's the style of Nihonmatsu.
In 6 chapters (30 pages each aprox) we don't have enough time to learn about all the characters involved but even so, we do get some exposition about the siblings' origins and powers, some info about the antagonists, some history about the people involved in the plot. It didn't feel forced and the info came in the right moments and the reader won't feel overwhelmed, that was my impression.
If I tried to use a few words to describe the characters it would look like this:
- the main siblings - the girl is hot blooded, the boy is cold
- villain - young rich brat
- villain girl - klutzy with big boobs
- underlings - they wear hoods all the time and talk about their salaries
- spirits from the Wooden Valley - comical plushies
I liked that the mains were brother and sister (small age gap between them), I rarely see that in manga and I liked their interactions, they're so different in personality but they make a good team, they're on the same wave length. I can't forget the manga because of this element.
The main genre is not comedy but you can't read it without smiling, the dialogue is certainly not serious, may times they talk about boobs or about cute giant robot designs. Some situations are pure comedy and comedy appears in the fights too. Just imagine a Gintama comical fight (but not that over the top), it's the best example.
The art style is classic Mizukami, not that impressive, the characters are decent looking, the backgrounds are ok. The adventure in Wooden Valley has some cool backgrounds though and the designs for the giant magical robot-ship and the fighting choreography look great, very detailed parts and lots of expressive movement, I have no complaints with the battles, they are enjoyable, the author did his best here. I don't think an action fan will consider the fights boring.
The girls in this manga are quite sexy if I may say so, so that's a plus in my book, expect an occasional panty shot and some skin here and there.
I read it in one hour and 15 minutes aprox, it's a relaxing manga, the characters weren't annoying, they were kinda fun with their little quirks, even the villains made me smile, the rich brat had a weird obsession about big boobs and he shouts all the time, this klutzy girl was fun too but I am easy to impress for I love comedy and exaggerated traits.
In the end, it's a mediocre manga with cheesy plot twists and ending, it has the Mizukami style but that's about it, a fan will definitely enjoy it but it's still inferior to his other works.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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