The Yuukos

[meganbmoore]

Lately there seem to be a lot of the "mysterious shop owner/deal maker with ties to the supernatural" manga coming out.  Even though Pet Shop of Horrors predates it by quite a bit, I kind of think xxxHolic's popularity contributes a lot to how many are being licensed.  It also tends to naturally cause people to gravitate towards thinking the other books are ripoffs.  I think it's a natural assumption, btw, even if it's an incorrect one, not only because Petshop of Horrors was never-as far as I know-as big as xxxHolic, but also because the licensing filters awareness of other books in the genre(s), and can skew our perception of when things came out.  For example, Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector is on (I think) vol 2 in the US, and has both visual and thematic elements in common with xxxHolic, which just had vol 12 come out in the US.  In original publication, however, xxxHolic came out a year or two later.  (I looked it up earlier this week, but am too lazy to go check the exact period of time between publication now.)

Anyway, I'm curious.  What all books have come out in the genre in the US?  (And i mean as the prominent theme.  Urahara in Bleach and-I understand-Kou in Wild Adaptor are of the character and thematic type, though Urahara is eventually more of a cog in the megaplot, but they and their shops aren't the focus of their individual series.)

Off the top of my head, there's:

Antique Gift Shop
Fairy Cube*
Hell Girl**
Legal Drug***
Nightmares for Sale
Petshop of Horrors
Petshop of Horrors: Tokyo
Tarot Cafe
xxxHolic
Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector

*I'm on the fence regarding this one, actually.  On the one hand, Kaito's shop and his plotty stuff is pretty central to the plot, but on the other, it isn't the focus.  Hm...Probably shouldn't count it, but it could still end up revolving around that later on.  Probationary status, maybe?
**I'm counting the website, as people specifically go there to acquire her services.  Pretty much applying the idea as a whole to modern tech, instead of the "small shop" nostalgia.
***At least, as I understand it-this one I haven't read yet.

Anyone have any others?  (I swear I'm forgetting at least one I read/have read.)

Or, for that matter, thoughts on the genre in general?  I tend to automatically grab the books when I see them, but I can't quite pin down why I love the genre so much.

And if you know of others, can you mention licensed/unlicensed?  Purely for purposes of acquisition.

Comments

[the_rck]

Yume Kira Dream Shoppe fits the genre.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

What's that one about?

[the_rck]

It's a shop that grants wishes for a price. The proprietor is a girl, at least in appearance (she doesn't get backstory). Her assistant is a stuffed animal (and gets backstory). The stories pretty much all end well which surprised me. There are indications of a much larger mystical world that the shop is a part of, including a ship that sails on a sea of dreams.

The volume didn't have numbering on it, so I think it might be a standalone. Of course, Amazon sticks a 'vol.1' on the title, so it might be a first volume. Who knows?

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

The Yume Kira protag is a girl? I thought it was a guy! D: Oops...

[the_rck]

I had the impression the character was female. I'm not sure it was stated. If the character was male, the flirting/hitting on from the dream sea sailors reads very differently.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I thought the Yumekuin Kenbun guy was a girl, so we're even!

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

Too tired for thoughts on the genre at the moment, but Tarot Cafe, perhaps?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Listed, actually. I actually read the first few volumes as they came out, but then there was a forever wait and I thought it had been cancelled, and I recently reacquired it (well, the first 4 vols) and will be reading it soon.

[amewarashi.livejournal.com]

Personally, I adore the Mystery Shop genre. I might've become obsessed at the moment CLAMP started doing it, since I was already in the CLAMP fandom when the serialization began in Japan (and man, were raw scans hard to find in the old days! there were whole arcs of XXXHOLiC I had to "read" in Chinese scanlations and didn't know what they were about until they were published in Spain months/years later). So I see your point of them making it more mainstream in the West, although funny enough it wasn't MY first bite on the genre. I started liking it when I watched the PSoH OVAs when I was what, 19-20? And I always felt PSoH had to be somehow inspired on the Gremlins movies back in the 80's.

Can't rec any because you've already listed the manga/manhwa I already know :)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes, PoSH was one of my first. I started reading manga just when it started coming out stateside. Actually, come to think of it, it may have been the first series I followed completely from beginning to end as it was coming out in the US.

ETA: *stupid overeager "enter"* I adore the genre myself (kinda obviously). Part of it is the mythology and atmosphere and imagery and mystery that are pretty much automatically connected to it, but Ithink there's more,

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

Is CMX's Time Guardian part of this genre? I'm not sure.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

What's it about?

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

Now I'm home and can look it up. :) Here's what CMX's page says about it:
A girl named Miu stumbles upon a mysterious pawnshop where the only item for trade is time itself! Everyone always searches for extra time, but are they willing to exchange something that is more valuable and irreplaceable — their most precious memories? These memories could be wiped out forever if the borrowed time is not returned. Tokiya, the shop owner, recruits Miu to work part time as a "Time Go-Between." Her new boss is sweet, but he has his own motives regarding the time he trades. And Miu must always remember the most important rule: Never speak of the shop to anyone.

ETA: There are only 2 volumes of this shoujo series and both have already been released.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it probably counts.

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

Yep!

[valkyriesailor.livejournal.com]

Get Backers and Monochrome Factor. The owner are not the main character, but have some connection with supernatural. Maybe I define the genre wrong.
And I just remembered... wouldn't be Fairy Tail in this too?

I think the good in this genre is that you know where to go if you want to reach something, that you wouldn't the normal way.
If someone would say 'over the rainbow you can find your luck' that's something nobody belives to achieve. But if someone says just go to this bar and look for XY~... guess it makes it more real. ^.^

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Monochrome Factor I don't really know anything about. In GB(the anime, at least) it's more a place where the main characters hang out, but it wasn't a focus of the plot. Fairy Tail is pretty much "shounen does D&D".

[valkyriesailor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right. After thinking about it a little I realised it too.
Monochrome Factor is about a guy who looses his shadow, and another who becomes his shadow, and they fight demons. There is a bar they are going every time with a blind master, who can feel their power... or something like that. Re-reading what genre you mean this isn't it eather.
Then I only have one, that can go under this, but that's a drama and no manga/anime. Have you heard about Pawnshop08? It's a taiwanese drama about a shop owner who can give you anything if you have something equal to pawn for it. For example 10 years of studying for the ability to understand english; all beautiful memories for money, etc. I really like it, it's a cool drama. ^^

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

No, but it sounds interesting. Usually, I only hear about the JE boy vehicles and the angstfests. (Which, of course, are rarely the ones I'm interested in.)

[artillie.livejournal.com]

Wait, there's something in Legal Drug other than teh ghey? News to me.

Um, I mean, no, I don't have anything useful to contribute to this discussion. Don't mind me.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Legal Drug sounds like xxxHolic. only without Yuuko, Himawari, the stylized art, and an ending.

[artillie.livejournal.com]

Um, but it has a giant weed leaf as its symbol. And there's crossdressing.

That is, Kakei is a cross between Urahara's tee-hee schemer, only more malicious (he deliberately cheats Kazahaya out of his earnings in a game of mahjong in a scene that was recycled, and done better, in xxxHOLiC), and Yuuko's awesome. Kudo is a proto-Watanuki, only with far more blatant slashy overtones with his Doumeki, Rikuo. In fact, the whole thing feels like a rough draft for xxxHOLiC.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd put Legal Drug in this genre, exactly. 'cause while the shop owner definitely runs that sort of business, the story is not at all focused on the "mystery shop" business, the way it is in PSoH, xxxHolic, etc. The principal characters (and the readers) never see the customers or know why the customers want what they want. The shop business is just a macguffin.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It pretty much sounds like a rough draft for xxxHolic, from the way everyone describes it to me. Which is kind of an unfair comparison for me to make, probably, but...

I think it's also the only Clamp work where I've never heard anyone mention a central female character.