Reformed troublemaker Yan is on his way to the employment exam for the Spellbook Library when he casually stops some bullies from shaking down a smaller boy. That boy, Tohru, is also on his way to the employment exam, and now he wants to be friends. When they find themselves paired up to work on the challenging exam, it seems they might actually make a good team. But who exactly is Tohru, and why does he want to work for the Spellbook Library?
As a child, Yan was rescued from a dangerous wild spellbeast by one of the elite Spellbook librarians, heroes who capture magical creatures inside books. That’s why he wants to join the library now. But when he asks what made Tohru apply for the job, the other boy is evasive. He also seems to have a strange magical power, perhaps linked to a mysterious necklace he wears. Tohru is a good friend to Yan, but what is he hiding?
In addition to sealing dangerous creatures into books, Spellbook librarians are responsible for crafting those books, keeping them in good repair, researching spellbeasts . . . and doing PR and education for the public. Yan has no interest in PR – he wants to be out bravely capturing spellbeasts. But the head of the PR department, who also happens to be a princess of the realm, runs the employment exam. Can Yan and Tohru impress her enough to get jobs?
There are lots of fun worldbuilding elements in this volume. Spellbeasts range from cute little critters to enormous dragons. Once sealed into Spellbooks, they can be let out again if desired. The library is full of these sealed-up creatures, some of which can be loaned to members of the public for use as mounts, messengers, and so on. Others are highly dangerous, and the librarians keep them sealed to protect the kingdom. Besides the creatures and the magic, we also get glimpses of a society with distinct upper and lower classes: Yan is a “commoner,” while Tohru seems to be from a wealthy background.
While this isn’t a comedy, there is humor sprinkled through. Yan sometimes struggles to maintain his new upright citizen persona – at one point, he punches a bully in the face while declaring “I’ve promised myself I’ll stop beating people up. Starting tomorrow.” The princess who runs the library’s PR department is comically deadpan most of the time, but does things like assign Yan and Tohru to wrangle a bunch of visiting schoolchildren while dressed, inexplicably, in rabbit costumes.
There is a little on-page violence, mostly in the form of Yan beating up bullies. (There is also a little swearing, mostly from those bullies and Yan, adding to their rough-around-the-edges vibe.) We do see a few dangerous spellbeasts, including a creepy one that can talk and take hostages. However, there is no death or serious injury in this volume, and no sexual content.
The art is detailed and fanciful, with interesting creature designs and intricate architecture. The characters are distinctive, which is helpful given that they spend much of the book all wearing the same uniform. The art is active and dynamic, supported by lots of variation in the panel layouts. I occasionally found it a little hard to know who was speaking, which can sometimes be tricky given that manga speech bubbles often do not have tails pointing to their speakers.
This volume is part of a new English-first manga series (though the panels still read right to left). Its creator is Japanese, but the manga will be released in English in the US before coming out in a Japanese edition. In a friendly note at the end of the book, the author describes being asked to write their first shonen manga (their background is in shojo and seinen) for American audiences, despite never having left rural Japan. There are also some fun character design sketches.
This new title features friendship, puzzling challenges, and interesting worldbuilding. Hand it to fans of fantasy shonen.
The Spellbook Library
By Uta Isaki
Kodansha, 2024
ISBN: 9798888772935
NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Creator Representation: Japanese, Nonbinary ,
