이누야샤 1

A teenage girl named 카고메 is pulled into the well of her family's shrine, and finds herself in what appears to be ancient Japan. She is attacked by 요괴, one of which is 이누야샤, who want something she possesses. Soon the two have to team up in order to stop chaos from spreading throughout the land (and possibly back to her own time), defeating monsters and making a few friends along the way.

This is a fun and fast-paced read, with plenty of action and comedy to keep you entertained. Although I was already familiar with the story before reading this, I couldn't pull myself away, tearing through the whole volume in one go... And then immediately buying the next one! Although marketed towards young boys, it's one of those works that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of age or gender.

Although this is a historical fantasy, the language isn't particularly difficult or specialised, so it's ideal for learners. However there are a handful of words that use 한자 to clarify meaning; most of these you won't find in a dictionary, so here are the translations for those that need them:

• 신사(神社), Shinto shrine
• 신목(神木), sacred tree
• 반요(半妖), half demon
• 산혼철조(散魂鐵爪), soul-scattering iron claw
• 파마(破魔), shattering magic
• 역발(逆髮), reverse hair

I am a bit disappointed that the digital version hasn't corrected some of the issues that the print edition had: a 요괴 in the first chapter has their speech in a "scary" font which is difficult to read, not only due to the letters being distorted for effect (which adds difficulty for learners), but also the font size is too small for the speech bubbles, making letters bleed together. The latter point is a problem throughout the volume to varying degrees, but especially with any words containing ㅃ (such as 뼈 or 빨리), as the syllable block becomes a blob. It doesn't make the text unreadable, but it is a little bit annoying.

I'm definitely going to be continuing the series, and would highly recommend it to other learners - it's entertaining, relatively easy language-wise, and with more than 50 volumes, there's plenty of material to enjoy.

Out of interest, I looked up what the Korean reading of 이누야샤's name (犬夜叉) would be: 견야차. Doesn't really have the same ring to it, does it? ㅎㅎ