Story by Sho Aikawa and Bones, Art by Yaeko Ninagawa
Bandai, 200 pp.
Rating: 16 +

Based upon the anime of the same name, Ghost Slayers Ayashi is the tale of “The Office of Barbarian Knowledge Enforcement,” a group in Tenpo era Japan which was ostensibly founded by the Shogunate to oversee, investigate and handle any instance of foreign knowledge, items and the like making its way into Japan. The truth of the matter is, of course, a bit more complex than that. The small group’s true purpose is to deal with a sudden surge in demons and ghosts known as Youi. Each member of the group members have some sort of special ability or skill that allows them combat the Youis, but only the mysterious Yukiatsu has the ability to banish and defeat the spirits.

The first volume consists of two one-off stories, each featuring the group investigating an instance of Youi activity and then confronting and doing battle with the Youi. The structure of the stories reminded me of Mail or Golgo 13, with the situation and the events leading up to a Youi rampaging or haunting someone being the focus of the story and the main characters serve as the device to unravel the mystery. Not much is revealed about the characters in the first volume, though there are certainly hints and suggestions that Yukiatsu has secrets of his own that he keeps even from his teammates. The two tales, one of a young boy being pursued by a mountain god, and the other about a man that was some how infected by a mermaid, move along at a brisk clip and do a good job of introducing us to the cast and some of the ideas which are central to the series. The mysteries are interesting and intriguing enough as well, and while Yukiatsu and the rest of “The Office of Barbarian Knowledge Enforcement” aren’t exactly the focus, what we do get to see of each has me wanting to see and find out more about them.

I thought Yaeko’s artwork was pretty good. There’s a nice balance between the toning and cross-hatching that results in some really nice artwork. The combination of the two really helps to build a sense of atmosphere and texture for the stories. A brief nighttime scuffle in the grass by a river looks and feels like it should, and the appearance of the massive mountain god, who actually looks like he’s some sort of organic rock critter, managed to evoke the appropriate sense of awe and wonder from me. At times the artwork dips into a style that more closely resembles traditional Japanese artwork, the kind you’d expect to see adorning scrolls in a museum display. I’m not exactly sure whether this was done solely for reasons of atmosphere, or whether it’s some sort of representation of the Youi’s spirit realm, but it’s a nice touch that adds a little something extra to the visuals.

For the most part, I found the action sequences to be pretty dynamic and fairly easy to follow, with the exception of a few scenes in which Yukiatsu uses his special ability. It took me a moment or two realize just what had happened, but even after I puzzled out what had happened, I was still left scratching my head for a bit. So just what is Yukiatsu’s vaguely confusing power? Glad you asked. Yukiatsu manipulates the figures for words, literally pulling them out of thin air to create weapons or tools he then uses to defeat the Youi. On top of that, the words themselves ultimately seem to tie into the specific circumstance surrounding the appearance of each Youi. This makes Yukiatsu one of the few characters in fiction who is capable of physically beating an enemy with language. It’s one of those things that really lends itself to creative and interesting visuals, but at times can be horribly confusing the first few times you see it. Thankfully, there are helpful editorial notes in the back which makes it easier to understand the wordplay going on when he uses these abilities.

Between the eye catching art and the interesting premise, I’d say that Ghost Slayers Ayashi is off to a good start. I’m definitely intrigued as to see what happens next, not to mention being quite tempted to check out the anime as well if only to see Yukiatsu’s power in motion.

Volume one of Ghost Slayers Ayashi is available now.