Review by Ian Keogh

Japanese legends of the supernatural are many, wide-ranging and feature a considerable variety of characters and spirits. In one way, then, certainly ripe for the picking in creating a graphic novel for young readers.

Just as in the story, Anzu and the Realm of Darkness straddles a border. It’s ostensibly an all-ages graphic novel with a young leading character and the threat of the supernatural set for most of the book at Disney animation level. However, the assorted complications might just push into a level above, and more sensitive young readers should be warned that when the witch shows her true form toward the end it’s a really gruesome sight.

Anzu is second generation Japanese American, and has moved house on the festival of Oban when families remember their ancestors and invite their spirits back into the house. In her previous school Anzu was bullied, leading to a lack of self-confidence, and in her new area she decides to refer to herself as Anne. Wandering around the fields and forest near her new home her necklace is stolen by a dog. Following it, Anzu finds she’s crossed into the supernatural underworld, known as Yomi, and warned if she remains too long she’ll not be able to return home.

With so much Japanese supernatural strangeness to choose from, author Mai K. Nguyen just piles it in, creating a rapid learning curve for readers, never mind Anzu, while leaving her uncertain who can be trusted. Good spirits behave badly while bad spirits can hide their true intentions. Publicity compares Anzu and the Realm of Darkness with Spirited Away, but the connections are strained beyond including a young girl and spirits. Spirited Away limits the supernatural intrusion, but Nguyen can’t stop introducing new elements, and ultimately too few are needed.

For all the misgivings about the number of spirits, Nguyen certainly draws them attractively, allowing for some having bad intentions, and Anzu is convincing as a child lost and groping her way around. Areas of Yomi are differentiated, some being smoky and cavernous, and others looking like a regular market place, except the stallholders resemble assorted creatures. For all the effort made with the art, the typeset lettering is unnatractive.

It’s halfway before Nguyen settles into greater coherency with a clearly defined purpose, and the story is far stronger for it. The emotional moments increase for the introduction of someone Anzu knows, but in a different form, and the story themes of summoning your courage and sticking by your friends come more clearly into focus.

Ultimately Anzu and the Realm of Darkness is a stirring story, but there are too many distractions at the start.