is a supernatural

shōjo manga is an editorial category of Manga, Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent girls and young adult women. It is, along with Shōnen manga, manga (targeting adolescent boys), Seinen manga, manga (targeting young adult and adult men ...

by Chika Shiomi (the

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

of '' Night of the Beasts'', Yukarism and ''

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

''). It was serialized in Japan between 2003 and 2005 by

Hakusensha is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series. The com ...

in ''

Bessatsu Hana to Yume , also known as , was a Japanese manga magazine published by Hakusensha from 1977 to 2018. It was a sister magazine to . History was launched in July 1977 as a sister magazine to . After 41 years, it ceased publication with the release of it ...

'' and collected in five bound volumes. All five volumes have been published in English in North America by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

. The series is about a teenage girl with strong spiritual powers named Yurara who, with the aid of an ancestral guardian spirit, dispels ghosts that haunt her high school while juggling her relationships with two boys in her class who also have spiritual powers.

Plot

The series follows Yurara Tsukinowa, a teenage girl who has been able to see spirits and sense what they feel since she was a child. Yurara is protected from evil spirits by a beautiful guardian spirit, the ghost of an ancestress after whom she was named; when she is in the presence of a dangerous spirit, Yurara transforms in appearance and personality to that of her guardian, though she considers herself the same person in both forms. In her guardian spirit form, Yurara has the knowledge of how to use her spiritual powers to dispel spirits and send them on to their

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

. Her personality also becomes bolder and serious, albeit a little bit violent sometimes. At the start of the series, when Yurara enters high school, she meets two handsome boys in her new class, Mei Tendo and Yako Hoshino. The popular Mei can use "demon fire", which is able to burn spirits, while taciturn Yako has the power to place protective barriers with water. In their presence and with the increased number of spirits attracted to the trio, Yurara finds herself transforming into her guardian form more and more often. Her guardian spirit tells the ghost of Yurara's grandfather that she can only stay with Yurara until she learns to use her powers on her own. As the series progresses, Yurara in her normal form finds herself attracted to Mei despite being irritated by his habit of flirting with any girl he can. When Mei and Yurara begin going out, however, Yurara realizes that in her guardian form she likes Yako more—and he in turn is attracted to her guardian spirit form. Seeing that the conflict between her two selves is tearing her apart with guilt, Mei asks Yako to give up Yurara, and when Yako refuses, Mei breaks up with her. Yurara's guardian spirit realizes this only saddens Yurara more and separates herself from Yurara, then engineers a situation where Yurara must use her powers on her own to rescue a depressed Mei. Her task complete, the guardian spirit says farewell to Yurara.

Sequel

''Rasetsu'' is the completed sequel to ''Yurara'', following the further adventures of Yako Hoshino. It has been serialized in ''Bessatsu Hana to Yume'' since 2006 and collected in 9 volumes as of September 2012. It is licensed by

, which published volumes 1 and 2 June 2009. Yako goes to an exorcist company because he has a possessed book, and needs help. Little did he know that the person he would meet there, Rasetsu Hyuga, would look exactly like his old love, Yurara. Rasetsu will be claimed by an evil spirit and become his on her 20th birthday if she does not find true love.

Manga

''Yurara'' was written and illustrated by Chika Shiomi and was serialized by

in the

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

'' from 2002 to 2005. The 20 untitled chapters were collected in five ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes. The series is licensed in North America by

and in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing.

Reception

References

External links

''Yurara no Tsuki''
at Chika Shiomi's official webpage
''Yurara''
at