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Sisters Kurako, Yuzu and Tama Hieda are miko - shrine maidens at the
Shrine of the Morning Mist in Miyoshi city, Hiroshima. Entrusted by their mother
- a priestess - to take care of the shrine and of the volatile spirit world in
her absence. I say volatile, for it is the reappearance of cousin Tadahiro
Amatsu into their lives which brings a lot of turmoil. For an unknown reason,
Tadahiro is wanted badly by all sorts of unsavoury characters - some of them
non-human - and it falls to the three sisters to protect him.
Tadahiro has a strained relationship with most of his family members; the
sisters' father immediately takes exception to Tadahiro staying with them; Yuzu
also especially seems to have a connection with him which amuses her sisters and
completely embarrasses both her and Tadahiro. When Tadahiro is again attacked,
the sisters' mother Miyuki reappears to save him; and during a visit to
Tadahiro's father's grave, the group meet the elusive Koma. Who is she? Why does
she seem to be observing Tadahiro from a distance? And are the sisters
(especially Yuzu!) prepared for their duty to protect Tadahiro?
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Shrine of the Morning Mist is a delightful manga with an obviously
traditional background, in Shinto, miko and the world of demons
and spirits. This in itself makes the series interesting; those interested in
Japanese religion and mythology would like this. However, this is not the
series' only plus point. The art style is strong and attractive (reminds me of
Love Hina), and the character designs
well-formed; the story begins quite promisingly and the characters themselves
are interesting and endearing enough.
This series was first serialised in a
shounen manga
anthology; it does contain a
reasonable amount of action scenes, but these aren't overdone. I was surprised
to discover that it is considered shounen, as I had assumed it was
shoujo. This
is a manga which would appeal to a great number of people, because it
incorporates a lot of popular elements, and handles these well.
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Manga
Shrine of the Morning Mist has four volumes, all of which have been
translated into English by Tokyopop. This manga series is considered a spin-off
of the lesser-known Ayakashi no Yoru Ie.
Anime
There is also an anime series of Shrine of the Morning Mist of 26
episodes which follows loosely the story of the manga. This was released in
English by Starchild in 2004.
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