With her father off overseas, Yachiho is left to move into a new house all by herself…and it’s a genuine haunted mansion, full of ghosts and spirits! But Yachiho is determined to tough it out. To learn her family’s secrets, can she brave all that lurks in the dark of night?
Ghostly Things Make a Haunted Yōkai House Yōkai or spirits from Japanese folklore are one of my favorite topics focused on in manga. Different mangaka use different kinds of yōkai, but the rare manga touches on all sorts. Ghostly Things vol 1 has a house full of them for us.
Did Ghostly Things vol 1 delight this Yōkai Fangirl? The best thing about Ghostly Things vol 1 is the sheer plethora of yōkai. The mangaka goes to a lot of effort to showcase well known spirits like a dragon and lesser known ones like Azare that eats old things. I appreciated this immensely because learning about spirits I don’t know is the best thing about these types of manga.
Yachiho is a bit boring though. This high school girl is sent to live in this haunted house by her workaholic father. Her mother has passed on, and they’re looking for the book of the dead so they can retrieve her. But everything she does to find the book happens off the page. It’s boring. We meet the spirits through her but I wanted a bit more personality and oomph from Yachiho.
The house is a spiritual crossroads. While the point of travel between the spiritual world and the world of the living being a house is used quite often, I enjoyed the mysterious history the house is heir to. The previous owner also has a connection to spirits like Yachiho does and we learn in one chapter that his relationship with the spirits runs deep. A major part of the search for the book centers on this person.
Moro the Guardian is here to help… and eat! Moro was a delightful way to teach Yachiho about yōkai and how to protect her food from hungry spirits. He has all the personality to keep us entertained and all the knowledge Yachiho needs to figure out what each spirit needs to cross over. That’s his job… get the lingering spirits to finish their business in the living realm so they crossover to the spirit realm.
A decent start to what could be a fun manga series. Several things make me believe Ghostly Things could be fun… we meet a helpful spirit dragon who seems to have designs on Yachiho. Then there’s the mysterious visitor who can trick and capture spirits. He does something quite evil and we realize Yachiho maybe in a ton of trouble. And the yōkai really were on point!
Ghostly Things vol 1 introduces us to a regular girl with a mission to rescue her mom. With the help of a guardian spirit she’s in a race to find a mysterious book in a house at a spiritual crossroads. Fall into this yōkai filled world!
4/1/20 This one was alright! Though I didn't find it very interesting, unfortunately. I wasn't gripped by the story, nor the main character whose personality still remains a mystery to me.
A story about a high school girl moving into the “haunted” house and getting along with the spirits who live there too. I liked the art, I especially liked the spirits designs. The story is very atmospheric, there were some horrror-esque scenes and some charming and adorable scenes.
It has a similar vibe as Natsume’s Book of Friends as in it’s the story about s human who sees spirits and tries to help them. For some reason, I liked Ayashikoto-Gatari better.
Warum kann man keine halben Sterne vergeben? Hatte mir bisschen mehr erwartet aber find es nicht schlecht. Ich mag Yokai Geschichten. Ich warte mal ab wie sich die Story im nächsten Band entwickelt. Ich hoffe es geht einen Stern hoch.
Was für ein süßer und dennoch ernster erster Band! Gefällt mir sehr gut und ich bin mir sicher, dass die anderen beiden Bände auch bald einziehen dürfen! <3
Bon, autant vous dire, rien qu’en voyant le titre et la couverture, j’ai acheté le livre. Pour moi il y avait tellement de kawaii, que j’étais obligée de me le procurer et de le lire !
Franchement, j’ai beaucoup aimé l’univers. Je suis passée par trois phases lors de ma lecture. La première, un peu effrayé. Tout allait très vite et j’avais peur qu’au final rien ne nous soit expliqué. Ensuite, quelques explications sont venues se parsemer dans la lecture et je restais quand même dubitative. Puis enfin, vers la fin du tome, j’étais complètement charmé et complètement à fleur de peau à cause de certaine scène.
Yachiho vit dans une maison étrange. Enfin, c’est surtout son père qui a décidé de vivre ici. Sauf qu’il est actuellement en déplacement pour son travail et elle se retrouve seule dans cette maison. Or, ce n’est pas n’importe quelle maison, des rumeurs cours dessus. On dit qu’elle est hantée et qu’il s’y passe des choses étranges qui ont fait fuir tous les anciens propriétaires.
En effet, un jour elle va découvrir qu’il y a des esprits bien étrange. Les esprits éternels, qui permettent le bon fonctionnement de notre planète. Sans eux, les hommes ne pourraient pas vivre comme ils le font.
De plus, si le père de Yachiho les a emmenés vivre ici, c’est pour une raison en particulier. Ben oui, qui irait volontairement vivre dans une maison dite hantée pour le plaisir ? Son père veut qu’elle trouve les notes du premier propriétaire qui faisait des recherches sur les royaumes des morts. Ainsi, grâce à ça, il lui promet qu’ils pourront retourner voir sa mère…
L’univers est vraiment sympathique et touchant. Il y a deux trois personnages bien atypiques qui se démarquent de par leur prise de position différente et qui peut amener des récits intéressants dans l’avenir. Les esprits aussi ont leur propre caractère, colérique, dangereux, comme tout à fait mignon !
En bref, c’est un manga vraiment intéressant. Si j’ai pu être apeuré au début d’être plongé dans un univers graphique plaisant, mais une histoire sans fond, j’avais bien tort. Plus ma lecture avançait et plus je découvrais un univers riche avec une histoire qui nous promet de belle chose.
The story description gives the impression that the girl is unaware of the nature of the house she is moving into,wich turns out to definetely not be the case as she was sent there by her father to find a specific object Apart from this the author doesnt give the heroine much to do in the story.
Instead of Yachiho solving the spirits problems with some aid from the masked doll it essentially ends up like this: a spirit shows up and Yachiho is fed information from guardian without ever gaining any connection to the spirit or any character growth.
I often found myself confused by the story and especially the supporting characters. Who was the concerned woman on the phone with or what is her relationship with the boy classmate?
...and speaking of relationships I might be wrong about this but I dont think I am as you would have to be pretty dense the way the story hammers in the hints not to realize that
I am going to bore you with another comparision but just to illustrate,if Natsumes book of friends is on the psychological and slice of life side and some other mangas take a more action approach the same subject then "Ghostly things" is caught in the middle and suffers for it.
The art is...capable but very uninspiring. Most of the spirits are definetely lumpy looking and lacks something of the fantastical and imaginative that I have come to associate with japanese folklore.
Compared to other supernaturally-inclined manga — think Noragami, Kamisama Kiss, Kakuriyo, Natsume’s Book of Friends, etc. — Ghostly Things doesn’t really do a lot to give a foundation for its lore and mythos. Greater characterization would help weak world-building, but this series does not focus heavily on characters either. We are introduced to different creatures and beings, yet even so we are not given much reason to root for or against them. Add to that a bland heroine and a shaky plot, and you have a largely forgettable manga, unfortunately.
This was an appealing series I found at the library, three volumes together, and it looks so good you hope it lives up to that expectation. The covers are bright and multicolored, featuring a teenage girl surrounded by all manner or creatures: dragons, little gobliny things on clouds, forest spirits and more.
The premise is simple: with her mom missing and dad working overseas, Yachiho moves into a new house that locals say is haunted, and it...is, actually. Living there is a small spirit whose job is to guide those supernatural creatures whose time on earth is done back to the spirit world. Yachiho is promptly recruited to assist. Shenanigans abound.
The series starts well. Yachiho is far from the most original or compelling character I've read, but she's not bad, just generic: nice and kind-hearted, but unwilling to be walked on or bossed around by her new spirit housemates.
What we think is going to happen during the series is: Yachiho will uncover information about her missing mother, who has some unspecified connection to the supernatural and probably this house. Yachiho will also probably find out what happened to the elderly previous owner of the house, who could also see spirits. We'll learn about folklore and see pretty pictures.
...that last one happens, at least.
Okay, okay, to be fairpartially what happened to the previous homeowner. Like confirmation he did a thing they thought he did, and that's why he disappeared. But no answers about motivation, or what happened after.
This felt to me like a manga that anticipated having a longer run than it ended up having. We have all these mysteries and are unraveling at the speed of molasses (but at least the stories about spirits and supernaturals are fun and pretty), and in the third volume Yachiho gets a couple answers, and the story ends.
Like, ends. We still have no answers about her missing mother, we don't know the supernatural guide's tragic backstory despite the many ominous references. We don't know why a mysterious man with a prior connection to the house has shown up and is poking around the house and village, or why he's allied with some mysterious organization that wants him to find something in the house.
The story basically stops at a natural breaking point, but clearly nowhere close to the end of the story--it would need at least another volume to actually wrap everything up, and probably more. When I finished volume 3, I had to get online and confirm that there wasn't anything more, because it's so definitely not done
That said, it was a nice diversion. Definitely a get-from-the-library type, but I don't regret reading.
Die Zeichnungen sind sehr sehr überzeugend, die Geschichte allerdings eher fade. Die Naturgeister gefielen mir sehr gut, gerade die kleinen Baumgeister sorgen irgendwie für wehmütige und trotzdem schöne Szenen. Zur Hintergrundgeschichte erfährt man nur ein paar Fünkchen und der 'Gegenspieler' gefiel mir leider gar nicht. Nett für einen gemütlichen Nachmittag, schöne Naturbilder, aber von den Charakteren und der Story eher unspektakulär. (2.5-3.0/5.0)
Wie bereits Erwähnt ist das Cover eine Augenweide! Der Zeichenstil gefällt mir auch richtig gut. Jedoch war mir dieser Auftakt der Geschichte etwas zu chaotisch und auf vielen Panels konnte man nicht wirklich erkennen, was jetzt genau dargestellt ist. Ich werde mir dennoch den nächsten Band zulegen,da die Geschichte Potenzial hat :)
Very Studio Ghibli! This volume is a little jarring, we just get thrown into the story with little explanation. I thought it was cute, lighthearted, and fun! I enjoyed volumes 2 & 3 a bit more though!
I need the second one!! The creatures were really weird, the house was too. I absolutely love the tiny plant growing things, I don't remember what their called so, I'll just call them tiny plant growing things. Their so cute 😍!!!!
What lovely art! I enjoyed the style of the art as well as the manga-fied depictions of different classical yokai, especially ones that are not often depicted in modern media (barring the kodama and the dragons/serpents). Besides that, there is a lot to appreciate in Ghostly Things but not a lot that I cannot say has already been done many times before. I don’t think something has to be original to be charming, however, and that much would apply to this manga. It’s average in story but it has charm and aesthetic to compensate for it. To be honest, the art might be my favorite part of it. I enjoy the atmosphere of it too, but I feel as though it could have been done better.
Didn't really connect with this one - things went a bit too fast so it was a bit hard to follow at times, and I'm not a big fan of 'ooo big creepy man who wants to control the universe' type villains.
The start of a new series, Ghostly Things, Vol. 1 by Ushio Shirotori is a paranormal fantasy manga featuring a teenager in a new (and probably haunted) house.
Yachiho’s father is overseas, meaning she moves into the large, new house that’s supposedly haunted. Quickly, she finds that it is indeed haunted—spirits abound, there’s a huge underground library, and her father might have bought this house for a specific reason. Beneath the house in the long corridors and library is a crossing to the Spirit Realm, attended to by its guardian, Moro.
The majority of chapters feature Yachiho exploring her new home, getting to know Moro and the spirits that share her living space, and searching for The Book of the Dead. Many chapters have a distinct slice-of-life tone. With Moro’s help Yachiho learns about the different yokai, who they are, and how to help them.
However, early chapters are guilty of feeding Yachiho information and having Moro do the majority of the work. It is only in later chapters that Yachiho begins to truly get herself fully involved, having true connections to different yokai and a real sense of wanting to help them however she can. Eventually, though, Yachiho begins to grow as a character and gains more personality.
Pacing is a bit irregular throughout the manga. Pertinent elements of the overarching plot tend to be told very quickly, sometimes as if needed to get out of the way for the slower chapters featuring some sort of spirit that needs assistance. These chapters tend to lean more towards an almost slice-of-life feel. While both aspects are interesting and fun to read, the series hasn’t yet truly found its footing in this aspect yet.
The closing chapters of the manga are, perhaps, some of the most intriguing. Stakes are risen. Yachiho begins to find her place, and the plot a little more driven. While this first volume had to find its footing, future volumes look well set up, and I am quite interested to see what sort of direction the series will take.
Those who love reading about yokai, slower pace paranormal stories, and fans of series such as The Morose Mononokean would definitely enjoy checking out Ghostly Things, Vol. 1 by Ushio Shirotori.
I received this manga from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Ein schön gezeichneter Manga über Naturgeister und einem Mädchen, das diese sehen kann und nach einem Buch sucht, das über das Jenseits berichtet. Generell find ich die Idee schön, da es sich auch um das katalogisierne und kennenlernen von Yokai handelt. Aber leider bin ich nicht empathisch genug die Motivation von Yachiho nachzuvollziehen, da der Tod zum Leben dazu gehört und man mit einem Buch sicher keine verstorbenen Eltenr zurück bekommt. Und die ganze Stimmung des Mangas ist eigentlich recht ruhig, wird aber dann ziemlich aprubt von einem Gegenspieler gestört, der Yokai nur als Werkzeuge einsetzen möchte - ich find das passit irgendwie gar nicht zu dem ganzen Stil des Mangas, und irgendwie stört mich das auch. Daher ist es ganz ok, aber leider nicht genug zum behalten - und es ist eh mit 3 Bänden abgeschlossen...
With her father overseas, Yachiho is left to move into a new home by herself. And not before long, she discovers the place is quite haunted.
As soon as I saw the little Dragon, I loved this. It's a cute and fun manga. I know it's short - only three volumes - and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.