Editor's Sidebar: Where we hear directly from VIZ editors about series they're currently working on.

Hello, this is Pancha Diaz, editor of Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits. One of my favorite genres is fantasy based in folklore, such as my other titles Natsume’s Book of Friends or Kamisama Kiss. So I was really excited to start working on this series about a college student who gets kidnapped to the world of spirits but manages to hold her own against powerful creatures.

It can be frustrating in spirited away stories when the main character is too helpless in their new surroundings, but that’s not the case with Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits. Aoi Tsubaki not only already knows a lot about dealing with spirits, she’s got an indomitable attitude that helps her adjust to the bizarre new situations she finds herself in. And even though the spirits have the upper hand, she’s not going to let them push her around!

Aoi has known about spirits her entire life. She inherited the ability to see the ravenous creatures from her grandfather Shiro, and he did his best to prepare her to deal with them, from the tiny and annoying to the great and terrible.

Luckily for Aoi, her ne’er do well grandfather racked up a lot of experience dealing with spirits during his travels. There are various violent ways to try to deal with them, but it turns out the best defense against an angry spirit is a good recipe! Good food puts spirits in a good mood, and that makes them deal more kindly with any humans in their vicinity. Plus, Aoi can’t stand to see anyone go hungry, human or spirits, so her first instinct in most situations is to start cooking.

Feeding the local spirits and keeping her head down has served Aoi well, but her grandfather passed away a few months before volume 1 picks up, and now she’s alone in the world and without the added security of his protection. All she can do is remember his advice and try not to get into trouble.

So when Aoi runs into an ogre on some temple steps, she gives him her own lunch and a wide berth. But this ogre is after more than just a meal—he’s after Aoi herself! It turns out that Shiro put up Aoi’s hand in marriage as a guarantee against a debt, and since he died without paying, the ogre has come to kidnap the collateral. Now Aoi will have to use all her cunning and culinary skills to survive in the strange spirit world of Kakuriyo!

Check out Aoi’s adventures and menus in Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 1, available now!