Nabari No Ou (originally written in Sep 08, updated 13 March 09)

I'm reminded of this because of the beautiful ending song, called Hikari, and also because a friend wrote a review on it as well.

Anime: Finished, 26 episodes
Manga: Ongoing, No volumes published in English yet - May 2009!! (according to Gocomi's website, let's hope they stick to their schedule), cos if you look below I wrote March 2009 (in Sep 2008). Dunno if that was a typo or they delayed their date.

Starting to really like this manga. But the first volume will only be published in March 2009. The characters look a bit different in the anime, a bit more childish and young. Seriously tempted May want to get the manga when it comes out.

Not too dark and pace is quite fast. The characters are nicely drawn - hee, in fact the main character is so "pretty" some people thot he's a girl, though ya, in some angles he really does look like one. And his rather weak character matches that perception. And, well, so far no boy love! ;p hehhahahh... Oh, sad to say I've to take back what I said about there being no BL, although it is not anything close to yaoi.

Will try to write a bit more on this when I've the time.Looks like I write about it even when I don't have time.

Wanna see a cosplay of Yoite? Miharu? Thobari Sensei (done by a girl)?
Looks fun. Hahahha...Oh, but some of the fanart really ruin it! No no no no to the yaoi please! ;p


This part courtesy of Simplejoysinlife/Coboypb who watched the anime because of the Ending Song called Hikari (Light). Do have a listen if you have an opportunity, and if you google the lyrics you'll find them very very sad...but I'm sidetracking. Here goes Coboypb's review:

The story is about Miharu, a schoolboy who had some secret art/power in him - he didn't know about it at first and people (who were ninjas/samurai in the Nabari world) were interested in his power. Some became his friends and others just wanted to use the power for their own gains or to create their ideal world. It shows how misguided some people can be by destroying lives around them just to get what they want. There is also goodness where strangers became Miharu's friends and were there to help him. Another important character is Yoite who had the power of Kira and was also called the Death God. The scenes of him and Miharu were very touching as the 2 of them were similar in some ways and they shared a special bond.

I also like how the anime portrays some baddies with some goodness in them and even the good guys had some secrets they were keeping. Things were not what they seemed to be. It was fascinating to see how the story developed. I feel it's kind of unpredictable. Initially, I was attracted to the ninja fighting scenes, then in the later part, it was how the feelings and emotions of the characters were played out.

Most of the guys in the anime (especially Thobari Sensei)look cute and I initially thought one of them (Raiko) was a girl with his pink colour hair. Thobari sensei (another good guy) looks very cool and he was very funny to have a phobia of taking any form of transport.

Additional Ramblings:
Was additionally discussing this and told my friend (above) that I got the goosebumps when the characters appeared on Miharu but she said she thought it was cool. :)

Spoilers (please highlight the text below to read):

There seem to be some notable differences between the manga and the anime. Was discussing with my friend and realised that in the ending of the anime, the memory of Yoite's existance was not erased by the Shirabanshou as it is mentioned in the wiki. She considers the anime version a happier one for this, as I mentioned it was really sad that Miharu no longer remembered Yoite, but then perhaps it's not sad if one doesn't remember/know (the whole purpose of Yoite's wish). But, as a reader/viewer, it's really sad to know. She also mentioned that she thinks Yoite didn't want Miharu to use the Shirabanshou to erase him as it was unnatural and "what's done is done". I think all in all this series seems to set us thinking about deeper issues. :)