Age Rating: Older Teen (16+)

Genre: Supernatural

Price: $10.99

Kieli is a girl with the supernatural ability to see the ghosts of the departed. Her spirit sense has made her different from the other students at her boarding school, and so, when she meets Harvey, an ageless undead soldier who can also see the dead, she's naturally interested in him. When he saves her life, she feels compelled to follow him as he transports a restless soul back to its final resting place.

This manga is a bit of a mixed bag. Despite its attempts to be cute and delicate, it uses imagery similar to that in Sixth Sense. Seeing dead people with their faces half-torn off or clowns that have reattached their severed heads is not exactly the best way to tell a story that's mostly about love, kindness, and understanding.

One of the positives about this book is its artwork and character development. The writer and illustrator both do a good job at creating believable characters, and the violence and effects are well vizualized.  Unfortunately, it's the very art of violence and the story that bring this manga to its knees.

Kieli tries hard to show that its protagonists are linked in spirit, and Kieli's attempts to allow ghosts to depart give it a kind of feel-good motif. This is quickly banished by the rough talk of Harvey and his ghost friend The Corporal along with the violence of a shonen manga. The brisk storyline doesn't help either. As soon as you achieve a sense of connection between Kieli and the ghosts she sees and interacts with, or even with Harvey, the story is abruptly finished, and nothing seems resolved.

Although Yen Press did a good job with the translation and the book is well put together, Kieli just doesn't do what it sets out to do.

5.5