RIN-NE, Vol. 20

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY NOV 2, 2009

Rin-ne is the newest manga from Takahashi, creator of Ranma and Inuyasha, two of the most successful anime and manga series of all time. Sakura is a teenage girl who can see spirits due to a narrow escape from the wheel of death and reincarnation as a child. One day, her classroom is plagued by a ghost, and she meets Rinne, a living boy filling the role of a shinigami a supernatural being who guides spirits to their rest. Poor and alone on Earth, he tries to cadge meals and scam a living in between dealing with unquiet spirits. Despite potential melodramatic fodder, both characters are too practical and matter-of-fact for theatrics. Instead, Rin-ne tells the wry and funny adventures of two lonely kids becoming friends against a background of ghost stories that are more melancholy than frightening. Rin-ne is not the most profound of comics nor is it the most visually stunning, but it is a satisfying and heartfelt story, with promise of greater things to come as the tale unfolds.