Genre: Supernatural
Rating: Teen
Price: $9.99
Dreams on the menu in this volume: a telephone operator who may be the girl of another patron's dreams, a blind girl whose hearing is driving her mad, a missing fiance who may be trapped in his own painting, and a mysterious lodger intent on discovering Hiruko's private past.
The concept of a demon that eats nightmares in a 1920's Teahouse sounded good. Unfortunately, the execution hasn't met expectations. The dreams in this volume were about as satisfying as a Denny's menu; it gets the job done, but it's not something you're really excited about.
Hiruko is a Baku, a nightmare eating demon. We see several nightmares, but not a lot of eating. The nightmares suffer from the M. Night Shyamalan "What a twist!" syndrome, and are carried off just as well. None of the "twists" are really surprising, leaving a reaction of "Oh..." rather than "OMG!" Hardly any of the nightmares seem frightening either. The only one that comes close is the chapter "Kagome", but the impact suffers from the "what twist" syndrome.
The whole tone of the volume is very low key. Even the people who are suffering from the nightmares don't seem particularly upset or stressed by them. That Hiruko isn't disturbed can be expected, since he isn't human, but at the same time he doesn't act much like a demon either. Throughout this volume, he doesn't eat a single dream, taking clients that either don't dream or solves their problems instead of eating the nightmares. Hiruko doesn't come off as smug or superior, like Count D or Shadow from Nightmares For Sale. He's more standoff-ish. Perhaps it's just the nature of the Baku.
The volume reveals the origins of Hikuro and how he came to be at the Silver Star Tea House. This was the most interesting part of the volume. The Baku in his natural form is very cool looking. He seeks escape from the emptiness of eternal life and finds it in Mizuki's brother Asuza, who wants to disappear. It's a gradual transformation, that ends with Asuza disappearing, but Hikuro returning to the Tea House.
A bit of comedy relief is added with Hifumi Misumi, a young rich man who falls in love with Mizuki at first sight. He rents a room at the Tea House, and feels an instant jealousy toward Hikuro, who has been living with Mizuki already. He's very lively and outgoing, the opposite of Hikuro and Mizuki, and may liven up the story in later volumes. The first nightmare that is related to him (though not his own), is also the best of this volume.
Nightmare Inspector brings nothing new to the "cummuppence" horror genre. The art is passable, but nothing special. But with this volume I'm starting to see some potential that could make it into something more interesting later. This is a series to keep an eye on.
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