YMMV / Kekkaishi

• Awesome Music:
  • The soundtrack is done by Taku Iwasaki
  • The most notable being "Get Away From Here", "Hit the Monsters" and "Take Over Destiny"
• Complete Monster: Of the villains the Kekkaishi organization has encountered, here are the most monstrous:
  • Kaguro is the most sadistic and depraved member of the Kokuburou. Prior to joining the Kokuburou, he was known as Genichiro Kuroda, and massacred several swordsmen in order to become stronger. After joining, Kaguro and his men attempt to negotiate with the powerful exorcists who protect Karasumori, known as Kekkaishi, by intimidating the children and injuring some of the school staff in order to make them surrender territory to Kokuburou. When the Kekkaishi refuse to surrender, Kaguro then brutally wounds one of the Kekkaishi, Gen Shishio, and then kills some of his subordinates who took one of the Kekkaishi as a hostage during the fight against the Kekkaishi because their "lack of aesthetic", falsifying their death reports after the battle is done. During the second fight, he then taunts and brutally kills Gen Shishio after Gen rejects his offers, and after returning to the Kokuburou's lair, he then massacres the the minions of the scientist, Aihi, and then proceeds to taunt her about her relationship with humans before impaling her and leaving her to die. In the end, Kaguro is an irredeemable beast of a man who loves to torture and kill his enemies in order to gain more power.
  • Mudou is the former member of the Urukai who initially appears as a benevolent mentor of one of the Urukai members, Masamori Sumimura. However, he reveals himself to be something worse after leaving his position. Seeking an ultimate power in order to achieve perfection, he slaughters some of the young recruits in the Urukai by stealing their souls with his balls and then proceeds to do the same in the present in one of the God's Realm. After he went into said realm, he then proceeded to massacre the God's servant and then tries to find the master of the land, Tan'yuu, while destroying everything in his path. After Tan'yuu is captured by Mudou, Mudou then began to mentally torture him under the pretense of judging him for his sins, while revealing that he wants to consume Tan'yuu's soul and admitting himself that he had been killing countless innocent humans. Seemingly entertained when Masamori and his younger brother, Yoshimori, argued with each other, Mudou then gives Masamori a Sadistic Choice regarding if he or Yoshimori will live. Due to Mudou's horrible actions, Tan'yuu forces himself to reset his world in order to restore the damages that Mudou has done to his world.
  • Ichirou Ougi, one of the twelve higher-ups from the Urukai, comes from a prestigious family who controls wind techniques. Prior to the main story, he and his younger brothers were envious of their youngest brother's inheritance, which resulted on Ichirou uses a body-combining spell towards his younger brothers. After joining the Urukai, Ichirou then devises a scheme behind the scenes, such as conspiring with the Kokuburou by giving them some information, and when one of the Urukai members, Masamori Sumimura, gets promoted, Ichirou kidnaps some children by giving them some boxes, resulting in them them getting replaced by Ayakashi that attack the Night Troops. In addition, he is also responsible for the revival of a huge and destructive Ayakashi known as the Kurokabuto. After being found out by one of the members of the Urukai, Ichirou then tries to decapitate said member, and changes his strategy to attack the Holyland across Japan, known as Shinyuuchi, in order to incriminate Masamori and his family by using a picture of his mother. It was revealed that he was horribly abusive towards one of his younger brothers, Rokurou, and when Ichirou got wounded during the fight against Masamori, he then transfers his wounds towards Rokurou, causing the latter physical pain.
  • Yumeji Hisaomi, better known as Tsukihisa Oumi, is one of the members of the twelve higher-ups of the Urukai and is the fake younger brother of Urukai's leader, Nichinaga Oumi. During his meeting with Nichinaga and his wife in the past, Yumeji then brainwashed Nichinaga by turning him into his loyal older brother and turns his wife into his personal log-keeper. After the two brothers founded the Urukai together, he then pioneered a brutal brainwashing program, and it was also revealed that he and his brother body-jacked other people's bodies for centuries in order to survive. After Nichinaga recovers from Yumeji's mind control and rebels against Yumeji, the two go to war against each other. In order to win the war, Yumeji destroyed several Shinyuuchi across Japan and orders his subordinates to take an entire town as a hostage during the assault on Karasumori. When Masamori becomes suspicious towards Yumeji, the latter then tries to brainwash Masamori, and after he was killed by one of Nichinaga's subordinates, he then body-jacked said subordinate and then impaled Nichinaga. He then taunts Nichinaga about nothing will change after Masamori reforms the Urukai and then tries to bring Nichinaga's body as a proof of the rebellion. Despite his polite facade towards other people, Yumeji is a person who tries to satiate his pride and ego to win a petty rivalry against his younger brother.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Madarao's popularity despite his decreasing appearances as the series, is due to the fact he had one of the coolest fights in the series.
  • Kouya and Mudo are so popular that both were brought back to life as recurring characters.
• Evil Is Cool: Kaguro, Byaku and most of the Kokoboru in general
• Growing the Beard: The Kokuburou arc is where the story drops its Monster of the Week gimmick and becomes a much more detailed story
• Moral Event Horizon: Kaguro killing Gen by stabbing him from behind, leading to his death. The fact that he skimps out on fighting Gen head-on after he goes into his Super Mode shows what a low-down coward he is underneath his Blood Knight personality.
• Replacement Scrappy: After Gen dies, Sen and Souji as his replacements, the former is a sissy Dude Looks Like a Lady and the latter isn't as emotionally engaging (makes sense his emotions are even more low key than Gen's) and a great deal of the last part of the plot is focused on him rather than the more pressing matters of the Shadow Organization.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Of the "Will They or Won't They?" genre, a lot of the later plot focused on the clumsy one sided romance from Yoshimori.
• Too Cool to Live: Gen Shisho, Most of Kokuborou, especially Gagin and Kaguro, Mudou and Koya And most of the higher ups of the Shadow Organization.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The opening song sounds rather similar to the first Slayers opening.
• Viewer Gender Confusion:
  • The gender confusion over Madarao because he used Japanese feminine pronouns was bad enough that the creator had to step in and set things straight for the readers. The translators of the official English publication of the manga were the biggest victims. He uses Japanese feminine pronouns in the original manga. In translations and the anime it's clear he's a guy.
  • There was some confusion over Okuni, a member of the Urukai council who was clothed head to toe and switched gender pronouns at least three times over the course of the fan translations she was eventually confirmed to be female in the official one.
  • In Sen's first background appearance, before it was revealed he was a male, a number of readers assumed that he was female because the Dude Looks Like a Lady.

---