Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits Volume 1
After reading Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits volume 1, I made the following list of cliched elements it has that I’d seen before:
- A nondescript but kind-hearted girl
- Takes pity on a mysterious handsome guy
- Who kidnaps her to a demon realm where he’s the leader
- And demands she marry him
- Because her grandfather owes him a debt
- And she was orphaned when grandfather died a month ago
- And she has the ability to see supernatural creatures
I only tried this series because of the potential for a human girl running an inn for spirits, but there’s so much time and space spent on setup here that I saw very little of anything I was looking for. Aoi strikes me as particularly generic, since she can’t even get mad at her departed grandfather for selling her to the demon lord because of her memories of enjoying her time with him. The only things she has going for her are determination to find a way to work off his debt and her ability to cook regular Japanese food well.
The figure work is nicely done, particularly when we meet the nine-tailed fox demon. He can be an adorable child, a lovely woman, an attractive young man, or a fluffy animal. At least that gives us something cute to look at while he delivers a lot of exposition.
I don’t think I’ll be back for future installments, because I’m looking for something a bit more distinctive. The only reason to read this would be for the various imaginative beings and creative elements populating the demon world. (The publisher provided an advance digital review copy.)
