What's the deal with Shinigamis & who's the genius behind this series? All right, perhaps calling Yoko Matsushita a "genius" might sound a little crazy but it's true- I worship this series. Yes, I completely adore the main character of Yami no Matsuei and some of my friends believe that is the ony reason I like this series well then they are wrong. I love everything, even the villians (well, I don't love Muraki but he plays an essential part in the story, which without him would be dull). I collect almost everything possible of Yami no Matsuei (except for merchandise which I never collect...). But I've got all the CDs, I collect the manga, got the anime too...and the sketchbook...lol..obsessive? Yes... XD What's the Story? I admit, I actually got confused when I first started on this series - but it's good. Let's start off with introducing the characters: our main character is a very powerful & nice shinigami(meaning: god of death). His name is Tsuzuki Asato. To put it fairly bluntly - he's dead. Been dead for a good 70-something years or so but he's still living(in some sense). We begin in the series around the year of 1997. Where most dead people move on and rest in peace in heaven or hell or whatever you like to call the afterlife, Tsuzuki is stuck working in Meifu(land of the dead). Shinigami is supposedly a pretty dirty job - you're responsible to investigate unnatural deaths and escort souls from living world to wheverever thier destination, so in a sense, you have to kill the living. It is said that to be a Shingami, you must have had a pretty bad past in your past life however what our beloved Shinigami suffered through is still unknown (well, I guess it's revealed already but I found it to be a little vague). Most Shinigamis do get promoted and move on however Tsuzuki has been a Shinigami for the last 70 years. Why? I don't know. I do know though that Tsuzuki can be ranked as the second most powerful in Meifu. Let's move on and explain Meifu and it's "organization" structure shall we? You can say that Meifu is like the mirror world of the world of the living. Physically, they look the same (this is pretty much taken from the end of the first manga volume). It's exactly like a mirror - same building, different uses. One on land, the other in Meifu. I will now attempt to explain the government structure in Meifu with my bad Chinese translating skills and understanding, *chuckle*. Here we go. There are about 3 sperate divisions - The Goshoshin library which contains all the records of human life deceased and alive. Then there's the Castle of Candles. Each candle represent a human life and there is an Earl that lives there (he's invisible so the only way to find out that he's there is due to the half mask he wears and two gloves + you hear his voice). The Earl pretty much runs the place and I guess it's his call when one's life is up. If so, he will send a request and one of the Shinigamis will go and collect that soul and take it away to Meifu. The third one is the JuOhCho - translated back into English is roughly the Ten King's Room. Under JuOhCho there are 10 sub divisions called as follows: Block 1)ShinKouCho Block 2)ShoKouCho(Tsuzuki and Hisoka's territory) Block 3)SouTeiCho Block 4)GoKanCho Block 5)EnMaCho(Tokyo) Block 6)HenJouCho(Watari's territory - refer to character guides if you don't know the characters yet) Block 7)TaiSenCho Block 8) HeiZeiCho Block 9)ToShiCho(Hokkaido) Block 10)GoDouTeninCho EnMaCho is a little special; EnMaCho is actually found within the 7th division, TaiSenCho so the same area has 2 subdivisions covering it. However, while there are 2 sub divisions covering the area, EnMaCho only deals with Japan's capital, Tokyo. This is because Tokyo is special. (To be honest, I don't know why). TaiSenCho covers the rest of the area around Tokyo within it's territory. Watari's territory includes Osaka and Kyoto. The land is split up pretty much like a jigsaw puzzle (I'm just highlighting the large cities that people will recognize if they are a little familiar with Japan). In the EnMaCho there is the Shokan Division (Summons Division). It's a special division where all unanswered question will be tackled and they will try to solve those cases that just won't solve. There are 18 employees that answers directly to EnMaOh-sama(pretty much what you call the big boss). Shokan Division will undertake any of the cases that the other 10 blocks can't solve and continue on with the investigation. The ten sub divisions breaks down the area of Japan to cover. In each subdivision there are 2 shinigamis that watch over the territory - it's a rule, the Shinigamis must work in pairs to keep each other in check and doing their job. All right, I think I've covered the basics - this is not the story, this is just to sort out how everything works in YnM. However, I'm pretty sure that I'm missing something - I always do, it's either that or I got something wrong so if you do find something wrong, please inform me & it will be very much appreciated. Now let's get on with the story - whew! Still with me? Well Yami no Matsuei is about two particular Shinigamis and their "adventures", let's just say. I've already semi-introduced you to the main character, Tsuzuki Asato. He's been around for quite a long time and he's been through many partners (none of them stay too long) but finally, it seems that Tsuzuki has met someone who will be his partner - at least for awhile longer than the others. He is our other main character, Hisoka Kurosaki. We first see him as a sharp mouth cold little brat. However, Hisoka's story is quite sad (pretty much all of them have a sad past). Hisoka died at 16 and he's quite upset about it because he will never actually grow up, stuck in a boy's body that will never go through puberty and the way he died was sad too - refer to the character guides for further details. As for enemies - plenty. Most are demons but the resident villian is a doctor by the name of Muraki Kazutaka. He's somewhat insane in my opinion - I don't like psychos very much and especially if they got a thing for Tsuzuki). Muraki wants Tsuzuki for two reasons: 1)His power; he knows how powerful Tsuzuki really is and 2)Tsuzuki himself. Yes, this is where the great "Shonen Ai" kicks in (it's not "great", I'm just being sarcastic). Muraki is constantly finding ways to, uh, get to know our beloved Tsuzuki much better *hint, hint*. Either that, or he's trying to kill him - make up your mind damn it! You want him or not? So, just how powerful is Tsuzuki? In the line of duty, Shinigamis need their weapons to fight off those nasty demons (or sometimes in Tsuzuki's cast the nasty Muraki just so Tsuzuki can slip away and avoid from being groped in time). Shinigamis usually use "Shikigamis" - mythical and spiritual deities which each Shinigami must try to acquire (think of Pokemon here, that's what I do). If the Shikigamis accept them as their owner then the Shinigamis can call them up for help whenever needed. Most Shinigamis can summon 2, 3 at best. Tsuzuki, on the other hand, has 12 Shikigamis for him to choose from - 12!!! Tsuzuki is truly the most powerful Shinigami in JuOhCho and is 2ed most powerful in Meifu, right behind the big boss, EnMaOh-sama. Due to this great deal of power, Tsuzuki is often targetted by demons (I dunno, maybe he's threatening, maybe they want his power...though I don't see how it can be passed on to them) The first 7-8 volumes of the manga had short stories all over. Sometimes dealing with demons sometimes dealing with Muraki. Lately Yami no Matsuei has been concentrating on Hisoka and him trying to start acquiring his own Shikigamis. The anime goes up to volume 7, the last story dealing with Muraki and Tsuzuki. YnM has yet to end and let's see what's in store for Hisoka and Tsuzuki!