Review by Ian Keogh

There’s no messing about on creator Nebukuro’s part as she introduces the basic premise over the opening pages. Kaoru Shinonome has saved enough money to buy an apartment block in need of repair, intending to carry out the work while she rents out flats. Unfortunately for her, the first time the estate agent shows prospective renters around they see a ghost, and word spreads. However, Kaoru isn’t one to be put off by much, and she instead comes up with the idea of renting exclusively to ghosts. Of course, they have to pay their rent, and she puts them to work in jobs suited to their talents.

It’s a whimsical idea, yet not always played for comedic purposes. Nebukuro feeds in tragedy and horror alongside the funny moments, and while there are connecting threads, the stories are only split into two connected chapters if they’re not standalone episodes. It supplies the potential for incorporating many creative ideas. Among the ghosts Kaoru has contact with is a painter who’s developed a painting that kills anyone who looks at it, while she herself is revealed as having a special talent when it comes to ghosts.

Because the mood can switch so suddenly, so can the art, and Nebukuro employs various styles. The main stories are the standard manga of attractive cartooning on the people with minimal backgrounds, but there’s creative design when it comes to the assorted ghosts, which can be gruesome creatures. When they appear Nebukuro switches to heavily inked figures shrouded in black. While the drawing is technically good, the storytelling isn’t as accomplished, and there’s little clarity to the action scenes.

Chapter by chapter Kaoru learns more about the world she’s now mixing with, including the categorisation of the danger level a ghost poses, the exorcists whose job it is to keep the city safe, and the dangers of wandering into a different world. That’s all in the two-chapter ‘Crossroads’, actually, which also introduces Tsuzumi Kusakabe, the novice exorcist who’s part of the story going forward.

This opening volume ends on a cliffhanger, having displayed considerable potential with more than enough momentum to carry the series forward into Welcome to Ghost Mansion 2.