Intriguing and Fun: Kakuriyo - Bed and Breakfast for the Spirits

I am extremely particular with my consumption of anime. Anyone who's seen my facebook/goodreads profile knows what I mean. (Hint: It's Vampire Hunter D). And though I certainly watch much more anime than I read manga, I do venture in some of the time: The Getbackers, Phoenix Wright, and most recently, Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for the Spirits.


As a religious historian and also as a fan of Japanese culture, I'm always intrigued by stories of yokai, Japanese spirits, and the dark more monstrous elements of Japanese spirituality. So the title pretty much sold me on this one. After having read the first two volumes, I immediately requested the third from my library. Manga is always a fast read (no more than 20 min for a volume, for me anyway), but in this case what is going to keep me coming back is the sympathy I have for Aoi, a young human girl who recently lost her grandfather and has now been sucked into the world of the spirits to pay off his debt to a powerful ogre who also runs a B&B. To pay back his debt (for what we don't know- apparently the spirits were afraid of her grandfather's spiritual power, and he wasn't always kind), she is being forced to marry the ogre. Unless, of course, she can work off the debt in some other way - perhaps by cooking the delicious human food that yokai love so much?

There's a lot of back story to this premise that pulls me in, and I want to know more - about Aoi's grandfather, the nature of his powers and his reputation among the spirits, and why the Odanna is insisting on marrying a human girl even though everyone in his circle thinks it's the worst possible idea. There's a lot of room for this series to grow, and I'm interested to see both more of the spirit world and more of the internal workings of the inn and its staff, and their relationship to Aoi and her grandfather.

K Rating: 4/5