Copyright © 1998 Shurei Kouyu / Home-sha / Shueisha

Many people know that finding manga series to read is hard; all the more so for series that are worth their time. This is most apparent when people choose not to search for books themselves, but instead look for "top recommendations" from an external source, whether it be a magazine, a website or word of mouth.
How I found ALICHINO was no exception to this rule. It was originally recommended to me by one of the friends I had made on the Internet. Since I ended up satisfied with his last recommendation (KAMI-KAZE), I decided to seek out this series. To this day, a year and a half later, I have no regrets (other than the fact that the next compilation will not likely appear until about June 2001).
The story in ALICHINO begins when a girl finds Tsugiri, the main character, under a tree, and asks if he is human or a creature called an Alichino. She further explains that she is looking for these beautiful Alichinos—creatures who, according to folklore, can grant any wish any human could ever imagine—to help her brother.
The girl's brother, who also had been searching for Alichinos, had apparently encountered one but, days after telling his sister about his discovery, he was found unconscious with only his vital bodily functions remaining. Seeing how lifeless he seemed, the girl concluded that the reason he ended up that way had something to do with an Alichino. Tsugiri asks the girl if it was for her brother, or for her own self (e.g. her fear of being alone) that drove her in search of an Alichino, and that she was better off staying at her brother's side than to look for the creatures of convenience that the Alichinos seemed to be.
The girl returns to her home to find her brother dead, and the pain she feels from his death lures an Alichino to appear by her side. What the girl doesn't know—but Tsugiri is painfully aware of—is that Alichinos in general "hunt" for humans who are weak of will. These mythical creatures lure people, saying that they will grant any wish their vicitims can imagine but, in the end, the human will end up with a wish so large that only his soul can pay for the wish. Tsugiri finds out that an Alichino is after the girl, and he runs out to save her.
What first drew me to this manga was the packaging. The front cover was an intricate piece of color art, slightly clouded by the translucent cover. I quickly made a parallel to the cover designs used by CLAMP for CLOVER, but to my surprise, this was not the only parallel between the two mangas. As I read through ALICHINO, I found that Shurei sometimes opted to typograph the sound effects, giving them a slight edge and awkwardness that cannot be derived from hand-drawn sound effects. Yet, in other places, the effects were written out, giving a more fluid, dynamic feeling to the scene. The initially strange combination of typographed sounds and hand-drawn sounds soon turned into a delicate balance between the real and the surreal, much like the balance between Tsugiri and the Alichinos he encounters.
As for the art itself, the details, the fine lines and the quasi-Gothic atmosphere presented by Shurei in ALICHINO seems to prove that this is one of the current popular styles of art for shoujo manga, especially in the fantasy/occult genre (and more notably, more and more popular amongst the prominent doujinshi/fanzine authors). There is no doubt that fans of Yuki Kaori's art will compare this series with that of ANGEL SANCTUARY. Stretch the idea slightly further, and said fans might even see similarities between characters in the two series.
But it must be noted that Shurei's characters somehow have a more dark, ominous and, I daresay, a more Gothic feel than Yuki's—perhaps stemming from the way Shurei shades each character's eyes. All in all, the strength (or weakness, in parts) of the lines for each character strategically enhance the portrayal of the subtle changes in emotion that they undergo. Page layouts vary from the most simple, empty look, to the lavishly detailed look through overlapping frames filled to the borders with intricate art. In the latter case, the reader gets a strange perception of depth, as the overlap of the frames adds to the levels in the backgrounds for each frame.
The story has no set narrator, allowing every character to show their deepest emotions to the readers. Each scene becomes the foundation for the next; each mystery unraveled brings on a new mystery. Seemingly flat characters are calculated to be so, as they serve only as catalysts for the growth of the main character, Tsugiri, as he goes on a journey to help a friend—and to find his identity and his importance in the world.
Neither ALICHINO nor the magazine it runs in, COMIC EYES, are easy finds, even in most Japanese bookstores in the United States. However, it is worth a try if you are able to acquire it and you have a liking for this general style of manga art. Note that each character uses horribly difficult kanji; but other than that, there are enough furigana for a budding reader of Japanese to force his way through and understand most (if not all) of the plot. Once you remember all the characters' names, you are pretty well off.

Published by Home-sha, Distributed by Shueisha
2 Vols, ongoing (in the bimonthly phonebook COMIC EYES)
144 pages; Black and White
Volume 1: ISBN4-8342-6101-8 C9979 (¥ 619 plus tax)
Volume 2: ISBN4-8342-6128-X C9979 (¥ 648 plus tax)
Available now in Japan
Where to buy