cover image Ghost Hunt, Volume 2

Ghost Hunt, Volume 2

Moyoco Anno, , trans. by Akira Tsubasa. . Del Rey Books, $9.99 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-345-48629-5

Mai Taniyama is our guide through this gently creepy series about her boss, a ghost hunter named Kazuya Shibuya, who's in the business of liberating innocent citizens from supernatural infestations. Kazuya investigates psychic phenomena with his team of consultant monks and exorcists and, as this is a manga comic adhering to the usual teenage conventions, this expert exorcist is just 16 years old. The first case involves a haunted house and an evil doll that is a vessel for children who have died there in the past. Before their spirits are laid to rest, they wreak some serious havoc—furniture turned upside down, spontaneous fires, a pit in the middle of the living room—but eventually, all is put right, the spirits are soothed, and the family is safe. The second episode is more light-hearted, although it, too, involved a dead young girl. Spurned by her boyfriend when she was alive, the girl killed herself and vowed to make mischief among happy couples. This spirit is eventually soothed and laid to rest by the champion ghost hunters. With sprightly narrator Mai and an inventive series of ghostly villains, Ghost Hunt should entertain. (Jan.)