Dragon Eye (Volume 8), by Kairi Fujiyama

Getting back to the Dragon Eye manga series, we leave off with the Exhibition Tournament as Hibiki and Akira battle one another.

Story overview:

The competition between Hibiki and Akira continues in a long and drawn out display of abilities, cunning, and skill. Hibiki is finally able to take the win and the crowd watches with stunned surprise. After the match, Akira seeks out Hibiki and tells him that he will not acknowledge him because he is not a true warrior.

Lan-Lan shows up and teases Issa some more, but she agrees to go and help find the missing Sōsei and Leila, who happen to be tied up with spell notes. One of the Dracules talks to Leila and tries to interrogate her, but his foolish personality allows Leila to do the interrogating on him. Once Sōsei wakes up the two of them find a way to escape.

Sakuraba convinces Issa to continue the tournament rather than try and find his two teammates. Issa reluctantly agrees and defeats his magical opponent in five minutes, even with the nasty trick of attacking Issa’s Dragon Eye. Meanwhile Hibiki prepares his own magical defense as he takes on the same Higher Master who defeated Leila. It is a close battle, but Hibiki’s special trick worked in the end. Unfortunately for Mikuni City, it appears as if the Dracules are getting close to disabling the defenses, which would allow more Dracules to enter the city.

My thoughts:

This series as a whole is an exciting page turner. No less for this volume.

Things to consider:

Leila was stripped down to her underwear when captured, but the Dracule claimed it was because he needed to check for weapons. I don’t see this as totally inappropriate, since; nothing is really shown, in fact, there’s less shown here then if she was wearing a bathing suit. To me, this is funny because of Leila’s reaction, and not to be taken seriously. Still, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Opportunities for discussion:

The motivations between Akira and Hibiki are completely different. Hibiki feels like he wants to prove to everyone that he is the strongest where Akira is all about being a team player and a true warrior. Ask your teen who they think has the better and more moral standing. Then ask them how they can apply this to their lives.

Past reviews in this series:

1) Dragon Eye (Volume 1)
2) Dragon Eye (Volume 2)
3) Dragon Eye (Volume 3)
4) Dragon Eye (Volume 4)
5) Dragon Eye (Volume 5)
6) Dragon Eye (Volume 6)
7) Dragon Eye (Volume 7)

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Kekkaishi (Volume 8), by Yellow Tanabe

Yoshimori and Tokine are caught in a trap, and without Gen as backup. Their Kekkaishi powers have been nullified and all that remains are the abilities of two School-Aged teens.

Story overview:

Tokine executes a plan of action that uses herself as bait. Not on board with this is Yoshimori, whose main goal is to keep Tokine safe. Instead he comes up with a better plan (amazing for him), which destroys the barrier restricting their Kekkaishi powers.

Meanwhile Gen—after mostly recovering from his injuries—nearly transforms into his full ayakashi form. Thankfully for him a man named Hiba (as we discover was put in charge of watching Gen) puts a stop to this. Later we are shown Gen’s childhood and how he goes berserk and almost kills his beloved sister. (With his brothers and parents the way they were, there’s no wonder Gen acts the way he does.) Thankfully his sister didn’t die, but Gen finds himself taken away by Masamori to learn to control his power.

Back in the present time we rejoin our Kekkaishi duo. The battle goes on until all but the head ayakashi, Kaguro, is left. He himself actually kills the last ayakashi since he didn’t like the creature’s tactics. Walking away, he decides to come back and try again another day. Once the two Kekkaishi meet up with Gen, they are thankful to find the boy hasn’t been kicked out of the Shadow Organization.

My thoughts:

It was interesting to learn how there are two types of half-ayakashi: (1) Parasitic type, which can only alter a specific body part, and (2) Integrated type, which can totally transform, but in doing so they turn into a complete ayakashi and lose control. Gen is the latter form. Interesting story for sure. There’s always a new mystery unfolding and great character interactions: still a page turner even in its eight volume.

Things to consider:

Same rating as the others: thirteen plus and targeted mainly towards boys. No sexual situations or major cursing. Just typical manga violence that appeals mostly to boys (and yes, to me as well).

Opportunities for discussion:

Gen’s story shows how he was an unloved child. The only one that cared for him was his sister, and a misunderstanding made him think she betrayed him, which causes him to lose all hope. Ask your teen what their hopes are in life, and if they ever feel like they are totally lost. Then remind them—even though they may no longer like to hear it—that you will always love them no matter what. This means more than they may let on.

Past reviews in this series:

1) Kekkaishi (Volume 1)
2) Kekkaishi (Volume 2)
3) Kekkaishi (Volume 3)
4) Kekkaishi (Volume 4)
5) Kekkaishi (Volume 5)
6) Kekkaishi (Volume 6)
7) Kekkaishi (Volume 7)