[BOOK REVIEW] Rin-ne Volume 1 by Rumiko Takahashi

Title:  Rin-ne Volume 1


Author:  Rumiko Takahashi

Genre: Horror / Adventure / Comedy / School


Year Published: 2009


Year Read: 2015


Series: Rin-ne #1


Publisher: VIZ Media


Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Some Scary Imagery)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, I have been a huge fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s works for many years (with “Ranma ½” and “Inuyasha” being my all-time favorites).  So, when I heard that Rumiko Takahashi was making a brand new manga series called “Rin-ne,” my little fan girl heart just cried out in ecstasy since I have been dying to see more new works from Rumiko Takahashi and this volume of “Rin-ne” has definitely been worth reading!

When Sakura Mamiya was a child, she went to her Grandmother’s house and she ended up disappearing in the woods.  She was able to return home all safe and sound, but in the meantime, she ended up getting the power to be able to see ghosts.  Now Sakura is a much older high school student and she is getting used to her powers, although she wishes that the ghosts would stop pestering her.  One day however, Rinne Rokudo, a student who has been absent since the start of the school year, finally arrives in class and it turns out that only Sakura can see Rinne and it seems that Rinne is able to see ghosts himself!

Who is this mysterious boy and what kind of adventures will Sakura go on with Rinne?

Read this volume to find out!

I have always been a huge fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s works and one of the things that I really enjoyed about Rumiko Takahashi’s works is that she is able to present the same scenario in each of her works (having the two main characters arguing with each other throughout the manga and then eventually fall in love with each other); and yet each theme to her works are different from each other, such as “Ranma ½” being all about martial arts, “Urusei Yatsura” being all about aliens and “Inuyasha” being all about demons.  “Rin-ne” is no different from what I have read from Rumiko Takahashi’s works, even though the idea about this series taking place in the afterlife is new and extremely intriguing.  I loved the way that Rumiko Takahashi manages to balance between horror and humor in this volume as the idea about a teenage girl being able to talk to ghosts is a creepy concept in of itself, but there is so much humor going on between Rinne and Sakura that the story is much more engaging to read rather than being outright scary.  It seems that this series is a cross between “Ranma ½” and “Inuyasha” as it is much lighter in tone than “Inuyasha,” but it is a bit darker in tone than “Ranma ½.” However, this series was able to combine these elements by using “Ranma ½’s” boisterous humor and “Inuyasha’s” horror material to a truly intriguing extent!  I also loved the fact that Rumiko Takahashi explains about the Japanese culture in the back of this volume as it helped me understand more about the Japanese terms used in this volume such as “hime” meaning “princess” and “yoroshiku” meaning “hello” or “best regards!”  Rumiko Takahashi’s artwork is as usual gorgeous and hilarious to look at as I loved seeing the characters’ expressions on their faces whenever they are reacting to the strange events that happen around them and I always enjoyed seeing the images where the characters get involved in slapstick violence as it is truly hilarious to look at!

    

Just a bit of a warning for anyone who wants to try this series out; this volume has a bit of scary imagery, especially concerning some of the ghosts that both Rinne and Sakura meet up with and they might be creepy for some readers to handle.  However, since this volume is full of comedy, it would be difficult to really be frightened of some of these images, especially if they are seen during the story’s more hilarious moments.

Overall, “Rin-ne Volume One” is a fantastic introduction to Rumiko Takahashi’s new series “Rin-ne” and I will definitely be looking out for the rest of this series in the near future!