Demon Sacred: Volume 1

by Natsumi Itsuki, 192 pages

For the last fifteen years, the world has been combating Return Syndrome, a rare (though less so all the time), mysterious, frightening illness that causes its victims to physically regress toward childhood until they die. Normally, the disease progresses so quickly that victims don't even know they're sick, leaving behind nothing but a pile of clothing where they once stood. But fourteen-year-old Mona's twin sister Rina is one of the lucky ones. She has been slowly getting younger for years and now has the body of a nine-year-old. Mona can only hope that the slower progression gives their guardian, Shinobu, a scientist at a corporate research lab, enough time to find a cure before it's too late.

Although this first volume is very exposition heavy with characters spouting lots of artificially informative dialogue (why didn't she just make it part of the narration?), the story itself is engaging and different. As the girls' history is revealed and a face from the past resurfaces, the characters and the supernatural aspects of the story prove intriguing enough that the reader starts to think she might be able to overlook the clunky moments. The attractive art is a little old-school in style, with lots of whipping lines and strand-by-strand hair details.

I've read an impressive (and oh so sad) short space drama by the same author, so I'm willing to stick around a little longer and see what she does with this somewhat less-dark supernatural one.