Genre: Shoujo
Range: Older Teen (16+)
Price: 9.99 USD
 
Teen slacker Keita's family members have been the masters and trainers of a certain mountain's inukami for generations. Inukami are "dog spirits" and it is a rite of passage to go to the mountain and find one's matching spirit. Keita's initial attempt came up empty, but a visit to grandma's house reveals that Keita's inukami, Yoko, is ready to bond with him and come off the mountain.
 
If it sounds like something you have read before, it probably is. Boy-meets-sexy-sprite-and-sexual-tension-ensues is a popular sub-genre that has a significant audience, and for them Inukami! will be a welcome addition. For those who aren't into sexy animal spirits teasing, harassing and fawning over cig-smoking teen boys, this may not be your title.
 
What Inukami! has going for it: Keita and Yoko are supposed to clear the neighborhood of wayward spirits, and their mission to a local hot springs ends up with some nice ghostbusting. Also, the introduction of rival inukami to Yoko in the final chapter adds some real tension to a relatively light story.
 
What Inukami! doesn't have going for it: Comedic sexual tension at the older-teen level reads like 80s sit-com reruns. Keita pisses Yoko off at the hot springs and she steals his clothes, so he has to find his way back to their room...in the nude! And there are cute college girls there! Like I said, there is an audience for this stuff, but I could have just reread Puri Puri for this storyline again. Also, Yoko and Keita's relationship is nothing short of confusing. Keita is Yoko's master, but she does nothing he asks. He likes her, and she comes on to him, but he does nothing about it. When she isn't falling in love with him, she is berating and abusing him. This better get settled if Inukami! wants to keep its audience. Or maybe I am just too old to keep up.
 
Once this silliness settles down, Inukami! reveals its potential as what it becoming a harem title with cliffhangers that may really be intriguing. In the end, Inukami! pulls it off with some nice artwork and a story that finds itself...eventually. Will Inukami! shed all of the confusion and silliness in the second volume? Probably not, but I'll still read it anyway.

7.5