Shinto-Adjacent Manga

I read quite a bit of Shinto-adjacent manga — that is, manga in which Shinto features as more than just an occasional torii in the background. This is both research and entertainment, and I have given up on some series after one volume when they were simply not very good. In this post, I want to introduce a couple of ongoing series that I think are good. I am not aware of either being available in English — and if anyone with those sorts of connections is reading, I think they are good candidates for translation. Thanks to the comment (see below) I now know that both series are being translated into English. The links are affiliate links.

The first is Kaii to Otomë to Kamikakushi (怪異と乙女と神隠し), of which the tenth volume has just come out. The central character is a writer who had a big success with her first book, when she was still at high school, and has since been blocked on writing more, so she is working as an assistant in a bookshop. She steadily acquires friends, though, so it is really an ensemble cast, and the plot is about Japanese urban legends, some of which have clear links to Shinto, even when they are about V-tubers.

One of the things that makes this appealing to me is that it is set in Kawasaki, the city where I live. The manga calls it “K”, but I recognise quite a few of the locations, and the bookshop she works in is “Green Book Shop (みどり書店)”, which just may be a reference to “Blue Book Shop (あおい書店)”, a big bookstore near Kawasaki Station. (It is mostly set in the south of the city, so not that close to where I live.)

The English version is called Mysterious Disappearances, and seems to be up to volume seven, although volume eight is announced for February. The blurb says that things are happening in Tokyo. It’s not Tokyo! It’s Kawasaki! Are you blind?!

The second is Reiwa no Dara-san (令和のダラさん), of which the seventh volume has just come out. I would describe its genre as “cozy horror”. Yes, it is a bit strange. The primary plot takes place in the present day, which is where “Reiwa” comes from, as that is the current era name, but the first section of each episode tells the story of what happened centuries in the past to set up the current situation. The events of the past are much closer to straight horror, and seem to have been largely resolved by volume seven. “Dara-san” is one of the three main characters, and she features in both the past and the present.

The English version of this one is called Dara-san of Reiwa, which makes Reiwa sound a bit like a place. (“Dara-san in Reiwa” or “Dara-san Today” would be better, I think.) This translation is up to volume two, with volume three due in June. The blurb here makes it sound like a screwball comedy, which is true in places — but it is very common for the themes to be much darker than that categorisation would suggest. Mind you, it is not easy to tell people what sort of story it is, because it is rather unusual.

I want to avoid spoilers for either series, so I will not go into details of the plot and characters. In both series, the revelation of who or what certain characters are is significant, which makes it very easy to spoil things. While they both have essentially contemporary settings, neither is quite set in the real world, even leaving aside the supernatural elements. Dara-san even has a fully developed alternate pop culture, with one-page Wikipedia-style summaries of the fictional anime series and games that the characters are referring to. I will note that both comics are aimed at adult (or at least teenage) audiences; both deal with violent, sexual, and other adult themes, although neither is going for shock value. Kaii has occasional nudity, while Dara-san has occasional scenes in which characters are nude, but thanks to strategically placed hair, scenery, and frames the reader cannot see any of the “naughty bits” — but Dara-san probably addresses sexual themes more often. Both have occasional scenes of violence, but the graphic parts are almost always just outside the frame. Dara-san deals with heavy themes, including exploitation and abuse, and takes them seriously. Both are very funny in places, but I would not describe them as comedies. Both of them, however, seem to want the best for the characters in the fiction, and that is one of the reasons I like them — they have a fundamentally positive attitude.

From a Shinto perspective, they both stay away from the “standard” kami, but both deal with supernatural beings that are, in some cases, revered as kami — Dara-san more so. Both of them show characters in a version of the modern world dealing with supernatural events in ways that are clearly shaped by Shinto practice, if not by Shinto myth. Those depictions are based on genuine folk Shinto practices, and the characters occasionally explain these to each other. This, obviously, is part of what I find interesting.

I recommend both, but if you want a single recommendation, then I think Reiwa no Dara-san (Dara-san of Reiwa) has a slight edge.