Publishing Information: TOKYOPOP; B&W, paperback, 190pp; $10.99 (US), $13.99 CAN, £7.99 UK
Ordering Numbers: ISBN-13: 978-1-4278-0200-2
Set during Japan’s Taisho period (1912-1926), the manga, Tactics, is the story of Kantarou Ichinomiya, a young folklorist who moonlights as an exorcist. Ever since he was a child, Kantarou has been able to see and talk to various youkai (spirits). As an exorcist, he should kill youkai, but he chooses to reason with them and even sometimes tricks them into doing his bidding.
Kantarou’s ultimate prize is Haruka, one of the legendary demon-eating tengu (winged men from Japanese folklore who are the strongest youkai). Haruka is a tall, beautiful male with large, angelic wings. Once Ichinomiya knew Haruka’s name, he had control over him. Now, Haruka is Ichinomiya’s somewhat reluctant sidekick, and the two debunk charlatans, aid troubled youths, and rescue enslaved spirits.
Tactics, Vol. 8 sees the “Chimera” story arc (Part III of the series) come to a conclusion. Raikou Minamoto, Kantarou’s main opponent, continues his plot to get Kantarou to break his contract with Haruka. That would free Haruko, making him a real demon-eating tengu, and worthy of being defeated by Minamoto, the head of the Japanese government’s Demon Extermination Squad. It’s Kantarou and Haruka versus Minamoto and his sidekick, Sakata, and Minamoto has plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
The main storyline is somewhat entertaining, if you can believe the various characters’ motivations. To me, the characters aren’t written and drawn as to convince readers that they’re that really interested in defending and fighting for the things they supposedly want. The best material in this volume is Record of One Hundred Goblins – Bedtime Stories. This is a series of short piece and short stories built around folktales: telling folktales, confronting creatures from folktales, or situations involving the supernatural. These are very entertaining and make this book worth having. Some of the stories remind me of Neil Gaiman’s stories in The Sandman
. Fantasy readers looking for fairy tales, folktales, ghost stories, etc. will probably enjoy the second half of Tactics Volume 8.Buy tactics Volume 8
