In the days of old, people feared yokai. The one who stood at the helm and ruled the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, was known as the Supreme Commander of the yokai. They had another name for him… the Lord of Pandemonium… Nurarihyon.
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan or Nurarihyon no Mago ("Grandson of Nurarihyon") as it is called in Japan is a manga series by Hiroshi Shiibashi, about a boy named Rikuo Nura who is one-quarter youkai. Rikuo is constantly pressured into taking over the Nura youkai clan by his grandfather, the Nurarihyon, but he strongly disapproves of what the clan does, so he refuses. At night, Rikuo has to ability to transform into a full youkai, and a very powerful one at that, though he does not retain any memories of when he transforms.
At first, the series is an Monster of the Week series dealing with the boy trying to live a normal life, and keeping the truth about himself and his family from getting out to his normal school friends.
His friends include Kana Ienaga, his Childhood Friend who is afraid of youkai, and Kiyotsugu, the class president who is a wannabe demonologist and major fanboy of Rikuo's youkai side. He often has to handle threats to his friends and school, and deal with occasional assassination attempts by yokai who want to take over his clan. The cast is rounded out by the yokai retainers who live in his family's mansion and his own personal bodyguards. Most of the youkai characters are based on actual mythological youkai.
The manga was serialized from March 10, 2008 to December 28, 2012, with 210 chapters. It spent most of its run in Weekly Shonen Jump, but was moved to Jump Next!! in March 2012 until it ended. A four-chapter sequel manga, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan – Shadow (ぬらりひょんの孫〜陰〜, Nurarihyon no Mago Kage), was serialized in Ultra Jump from April 19th to July 19th 2023.
The 24-episode first season of the anime (covering the Shikoku arc) first aired in 2010 and is available to watch on Hulu under the English title Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan if you live in the US. A second season, covering the Kyoto arc, ran during the Summer 2011 Anime Season. A two episode OVA set a few hundred years before the series has also been made.
This anime provides examples of:
- Absurdly Youthful Mother:
- Rikuo's mother is said in the debut one shot of the series to be 30, which can be assumed to be true in the main series, since nothing has contradicted it, yet she doesn't look like it.
- Hagoromo Gitsune is absurdly youthful even approximately 400 years ago due to her constant switching of hosts.
- Accidental Pervert: Kurotabou accidentally gropes one Rikuo's schoolmates on a train and nearly gets arrested for it, thankfully she believes him.
- Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time Akira Ishida has played a Tanuki.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: The anime seems to be putting great effort into having Gyuuki appear every other minute.
- Age-Gap Romance: Tsurara is confirmed to be at least 16 years older than Rikuo and she has an obvious crush on him. Since she's a youkai, she still looked like a teenager as she watched him grow up.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Rikuo is this in the omakes, or rather, Alcohol Induced Sex Drive. while everyone is pushing Rikuo to have a new heir while the comment on the Second's virility, someone accidentally slips him a drink. Hilarity Ensues as a smashed Rikuo proceeds to prove his heritage by flirting with everything that looks female, including a cross-dressing Mezumaru and his mother.
- Almost Kiss: In an omake of Volume 25, Rikuo falls on top of Tsurara and it looks like they might kiss... only for Aotabo to brush in and interrupt the moment.
- All Your Powers Combined: Rikuo's newest ability, which seems to also have been used by his father Rihan
- It's based on the fact than a yokai can possess a human. Rihan/Rikuo allows his follower to possess his human nature and they allow him to stay in the driver's seat, which is possible because of his yokai nature. So basically it's a beneficial possession. It really does require a HUGE amount of trust on both parts of the equation. It remains to be seen if this is a power available to anybody with sufficient amounts of both human and yokai heritage. The white snake girl from the tales of the school story, for instance.
- Aloof Big Brother: Ryuuji, Yura's older brother, who has slightly more affection for her than Neji did towards Hinata.
- Anti-Climax: As the anime is a straight adaption of the manga, the second season (Kyoto arc) ends with Abe no Seimei pulling a Screw This, I'm Outta Here! rather than bother with continue fighting the Nura clan, as he doesn't feel it's worth his time.
- Art Imitates Life: Speciality of a member of the rival Hundred Tales Clan.
- Art Shift: The art changes into Sumi-e style whenever a yokai reveals a power.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: This applies to anyone who is the Master of All Spirits.
- Back from the Dead: Abe no Seimei AKA the Nue; Harogomo Gitsune's current form was Rihan's resurrected first wife, an ayakashi who couldn't bear him children. She's dead now, but her true companions are confident that they'll be able to revive her. She's back as of chapter 200.
- Back-to-Back Badasses:
- Rikuo and Tsurara in chapter 43.
- Kejouro and Kubinashi in chapter 102.
- Yura and Rikuo in chapter 198.
- Bash Brothers: Nura Clan's two Strike Team officers, Aotabou and Kurotabou. The bashing even carries over into their late-night bar hops.
- Battle Couple: Kubinashi and Kejouro and they were like that even before they joined Nura Clan.
- Berserk Button: If you harm one of Rikuo's attendants you're done for. Even if he is in his peace-loving day form he'll go medieval on you.
- Big Bad: Formerly Harogomo Gitsune, and now her child, the Nue AKA her son Abe no Seimei, whose first act after being reborn is dropping her into hell.
- Big Damn Heroes: Kurotabou is, quite literally, made for this trope, having saved not a few human, onmyouji, and youkai asses just when they needed help most.
- Body Horror:
- Anything to do with Sanmoto Gorōzaemon , who is freaking huge and ugly and fat even as a normal human, and when he transform into a yokai, his flesh MELTED AND SPLIT INTO A HUNDRED PARTS, which in turn become grotesque Yokai themselves.
- Minagoroshi Jizou, can possess and control others by going into them and taking the shape of a small eyeball in the back of the body. When Minagoroshi Jizou left Akifusa's body, the small eyeball in the back of Akifusa's body burst out and became Minagoroshi Jizou's head. Now, considering Minagoroshi Jizou is the left eye of Sanmoto...
- Bowdlerise: Inverted, The manga has Awashima's nipples cowered by Censor Steam during her's and the other Tōno yokai's bath scene, the anime hasn't.
- Bridal Carry:
- Rikuo carries Tsurara in his arms after their fight with Gozumaru.
- Nurarihyon carried his soon-to-be wife Yohime like a princess when he took her away from her mansion to hang out on the town with him.
- Bullying a Dragon: In the Hundred Tales Arc, the people are really pushing Rikuo despite knowing the fact that he could easily kill them all (if he was evil, instead of trying to save them).
- Calling Your Attacks: Used straight by just about everyone who does any fighting, but actually subverted by Ryuuji, who uses a different name for his shikigami and his attacks, in order to fool his opponent.
- Canon Welding: A shady exorcist in the seemingly unrelated Yui Kamio Lets Loose, also by Hiroshi Shiibashi, turns out to be Ryūji Keikain.
- Captain Ersatz: Rikuo is attacked by a Kamen Rider, an Army of Two, and a Bullet Witch.
- The Cavalry: The arrival of Nura Clan to Kyoto. Before, the Onmyouji of the Keikain Clan was on the verge of collapse.
- Cheated Angle: In at least the anime, Night Rikuo's hair is visible in full from any angle.
- Cherry Blossoms: The mansion's cherry blossom tree is Night Rikuo's favorite haunt.
- Cool Airship: The Nura clan has a fleet of demonic air ships.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
- Tamazuki has an awful, literal case of this, discarding allies and subordinates without a second thought once he feels he has no more use for them.
- At first it seems like Yosuzume has a ridiculous case of this, switching between every major villain group with the introduction of each new arc, but towards the end it's revealed that she's actually been working for the Gokadoin the whole time.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Both Nura clan Yuki-onna are a mild example of this. The one in the past with Rikuo's Grandpa, Setsura, wasn't exactly thrilled when Nurarihyon decided to marry Rikuo's grandmother, and the one in the present, Tsurara, sees Rikuo's childhood friend Kana as some sort of rival, contemplating freezing her occasionally.
- Creepy Child:
- Hagoromo Gitsune current incarnation apparently killed Rikuo's father, when she was around six years old, Rikuo stumbled across her covered in his blood.
- And one of her subordinates is another one of these.
- Does it count if the "child" was a grown man who decided to go back into his mother's womb to become immortal? 'Cause that's what the nue is.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Nue, AKA Abe no Seimei, delivers one to Tsuchigumo. This was foreshadowed by Tsuchigumo, who couldn't wait to battle the first thing in ages that could possibly beat him.
- Cut Short: The manga wasn't doing too hot in the ratings and ended up getting canceled shortly after chapter 207 was released. However, the mangeka was given the ability to write three final monthly chapters, 208, 209 and 210, to at least give the final battle against Seimei, and the rest of the Gokadoin household, some form of a conclusion.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Yaso branch Demonic Possession Technique that Akifusa Keikain uses against Hagoromo Gitsune.
- Dangerous Thirteenth Birthday: It's not only the age of adulthood in the youkai world, but Kana was cursed by the Purple Mirror to die at that age.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Gyuuki is this, twice. Rikuo's grandfather beat him and made him his friend centuries earlier, then Rikuo does the same when he and Gyuuki end up fighting.
- Kurotabou. At first tasked to assassinate Rihan, Kurotabou learns he has been brainwashed by Sanmoto Gorozaemon and joins the Nura Clan after helping Rihan dispose of Sanmoto and his former group, the Hyakku Monogatari.
- Delinquents: Aotabou falls ass backwards into becoming the leader of a Japanese delinquent biker gang.
- Ditch the Bodyguards: Rihan apparently does this a lot. Enough that it drives Kubinashi to swear.
- Does This Remind You of Anything??: After Rikuo uses his new Matoi ability with Tsurara, allowing them to combine their attacks, other characters talk about using it with him, and the conversation makes it seem like they all want to sleep with him. This comes complete with Tsurara becoming angry that Rikuo has already used Matoi with other people and refusing to do it with him again when he asks.
- Also, after he uses the Matoi ability, when he asks Itaku to use the Matoi ability with him, the dialogue sounds like he wants him to sleep with him.
Rikuo: Itaku, you're amazing. I want you, Itaku.
Itaku: ....huh? Rikuo: * clarifies*
- In chapter 158, Rihan explains how the Matoi works and makes an...interesting observation on Kurotabou.
Rihan: Ho...So in addition to your habit of swinging them around when you think the person is an enemy, your weapons actually shrink when you feel pressurized!
Kuro: Will you stop it! And you're drinking already?!
- Dragon with an Agenda: Minagoroshi Jizou to Hagoromo Kitsune and the Kyoto youkai, assisting their efforts to successfully reincarnate the Nue/Abe No Seimei in order to give him Maou's Hammer in accordance with Sanmoto Gorouzaemon's deal with him, for the purpose of furthering the plans of the Hundred Tales clan.
- Driven to Suicide: Implied with Rihan first wife, Yamabuki Otome who couldn't bear his children due to Gitsune's curse. When her memory returns after the Kyoto battle, she tells Rikuo that he's the son they should've had.
- Dungeon Bypass: Chapter 170 Torii and Maki display Genre Savvy by hiding with a group of girls in a place where Mook Youkai can't enter without permission. So, the one making the Youkai simply turns the walls and windows into Youkai, bypassing the permission thing.
- Evil Weapon: Maou's Hammer. It absorbs the spirits of those it kills and transforms them into power for its wielder. The more it kills, the more it looks like a living thing. It was originally Sanmoto's heart.
- Filler: The anime is extending the Shikoku arc using more encounters with the enemy.
- Fetus Terrible: The Nue, AKA Abe no Seimei seems to be one of these, he makes his mother, the Big Bad of the arc, seem harmless.
- Foil: Arguably, Kubinashi and Itaku, especially with regards to how they look at and treat Rikuo. Kubinashi also appears gentle but he has a dangerously murderous side, while Itaku is brusque and rough, and the gentleness is buried very deep.
- Fusion Dance: Matoi, Rihan's and Rikuo's ability as a half-youkai, which allows him to clothe himself with the "fear" of his subordinates to increase his power, also gaining some of their techniques.
- Gashadokuro: One of Hagoromo-Gitsune's followers is a Gashadokuro who serves as Dumb Muscle.
- Godzilla Threshold: With the Gokadoin House and the reborn Abe no Seimei threatening to wipe out all yokai in Japan, Nurarihyon decides to resurrect Hagoromo-Gitsune, the previous Big Bad of the series. It works.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Rikuo has excellent eyesight and wears his glasses to better establish his diligent human persona, not because he needs them.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Held in the majority of cases (i.e. Rikuo and Yura, Rikuo and any girl he teams up with), especially if "girls" excludes Awashima. Somehow even maintained in teams of two ranged fighters, as with Kubinashi and Kejouro.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Rihan (half-youkai, half-human) and Rikuo (1/4th youkai).
- Hammerspace: A dramatic variant, where does Rikuo keep that sake bowl?
- And where the hell does Kurotabou store all that weapons?
- Happily Married: Nurarihyon and Youhime, especially evident in omake chapters and novels.
- Heel–Face Turn: Kurotabou was once a leader of the Hundred Tales Clan.
- Heterosexual Life-Partner: Gozumaru and Mezumaru, who is always seen together
- Identical Grandson: Demon Rikuo looks almost exactly like his grandfather the Nurarihyon did when he was young. Likewise, Tsurara is the spitting image of her ancestor, Setsura.
- Idiot Hero: Averted with Rikuo. He uses his cunning as his main weapon while in human form. The conference to determine the Nura clan successor, where Rikuo manipulates his main opponent into embarrassing himself, is a particularly good example.
- I Was Quite a Looker: The last 400 years weren't very kind on Nurarihyon.
- Kamaitachi: Itaku is a kamaitachi that can appear as a ninja or as a weasel-faced demon.
- Knight Templar : Some of the Onmyouji.
- The humans who attack Rikuo thinking that killing him will save the world.
- Little Miss Badass: The Hagoromo Gitsune was one. See Creepy Child entry above.
- Market-Based Title: The series is known in the West as Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan.
- Marshmallow Hell: Encountered by Shima-kun while searching in the dark for a youkai.
- And while peeking at Tsurara sleeping. Though he seems much more interested in Tsurara than the boobs he is squished against at that moment.
- Maybe Ever After: An omake in the final volume hints that Rikuo might reciprocate Tsurara's feelings after all, leaving her hope that they'll be a couple in the future.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Nurarihyon who is a youkai married Youhime, a human (albeit one who possessed healing powers). 400 years later, Nurarihyon is still alive while Youhime has died.
- Mr. Fanservice: Nurarihyon, Rihan, Night Rikuo and Zen. Oh boy... All four are good looking and have been shown shirtless at one point
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Rikuo's current ultimate power is to invert his normal invisibility and activate the Made of Air variant of this, opting for being totally visible, but untouchable. HE can cut or burn his enemies though.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Tsuchigumo is implied to deliver one during chapter 96. In a later chapter, he is likened to earthquakes, typhoons and plagues, saying that "you have no choice but to wait until he passes by".
- No Romantic Resolution: While Rikuo receives Ship Tease with several characters, namely Kana, Yura, and Tsurara, the series itself ends with no definitive couple. The second of several epilogue omakes even jokes about this when Karasu Tengu asks if Rikuo is planning on having a child, and all three are offered as options by the other Yokai. The closest thing to an answer comes from the last omake, where Rikuo and Tsurara nearly kiss only to be interrupted by Aotabo, and Rikuo is hinted to recipricate Tsurara's feelings for him.
- Official Couple:
- Nurarihyon and Youhime
- Rihan and Wakana and with Yamabuki-Otome before her.
- Older Than They Look: Youkai generally don't look their age, since their lifespan is much longer than a human's, anyway, so they age differently from humans. In the case of Rikuo's grandfather, it's more like there is no way to show that he is way over 400 years old (and if we assume he was a fully grown-up youkai by the time he met Rikuo's grandmother, this trope applies to him back then already). Rikuo's father didn't look like a four hundred years old half-youkai, either. Rikuo's mother is a human example, looking younger than her 30 years.
- Ordinary High-School Student: Kana and all of the members of the school occult society save for Yura.
- Out of Focus: Averted with natural offenders the Kiyo Cross Squad. While it seems the watchword for new readers should be "don't get attached to those guys" as the series drifts away from school shenanigans—and they do get progressively less screentime over the first more shōnen-esque arcs—they actually maintain a presence throughout the series, playing an important role in the final arc.
- Playing with Fire: One of Rikuo's techniques is to ignite a bowl of sacred sake, and breathe lightly into it, causing fire to go everywhere. As long there are ripples in the bowl the fire will keep burning.
- Post Humous Character: Rihan. He is dead by the time the series start, yet he is an important point in the plot.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Sort of with Rikuo's youkai form, definitely with Yura's "shikigami fusion" upgrade. Seimei's revived form also has inexplicably long hair, although why that is... Maybe it just runs in the family.
- Prehensile Hair:This seems to be Kejouro's main power.
- Kagibari-Onna too.
- Really 700 Years Old: Hagoromo Gitsune and most Youkai who isn't Rikuo.
- Reincarnation: Hagoromo Gitsune reincarnates many times in order to make her son immortal.
- Sacred Hospitality: The capacity in which sworn enemies visit your home is important to the Yakuza-esque yokai clans.
"Wait. This time... they are guests."
- School Uniforms are the New Black: Hagoromo Gitsune takes it literally and beyond:
I will fill this world with something pure. Pure black, like these black eyes, this black hair, and black clothes...
- Sealed Evil in a Can: When Hagoromo Gitsune the seals in Kyoto, she manages to uncover many yokai that were imprisoned by them, who then join her army. She's a can herself, considering she contains a nue. Also somewhat inverted with Karasu-tengu in Chapter 154.
- Sex Shifter: Awashima is a woman at night and a man by day, seeing himself mainly as a man.
- Ship Tease: Rikuo and Tsurara has a few of them, but chapter 136 in particular is really strong, Rikuo appears to pick her up while it was snowing and share an umbrella together, and there are romantic other moments.
- Shirtless Scene: Young Nurarihyon is naked from the torso up while fighting against Hagoromo Gitsune. Rikuo also does this in his fight against Tsuchigumo
- Stalker with a Crush: Sort of. Rikuo's grandfather did watch Rikuo's grandmother for a while from the shadows, eventually falling for her and deciding to marry her despite her being human and him being a youkai. And theoretically Tsurara, but she follows him because she is Rikuo's bodyguard, so it's more a case of Subordinate Excuse.
- Snakes Are Sexy: Averted with Hebidayu's human-like form.
- Storming the Castle: Rikuo and the Nura clan marches on Nijou Castle in chapter 117.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Subverted. Demon Rikuo is simply a bit more Hot-Blooded and more mature than Human Rikuo.
- Take Me Instead: Torii offers herself to save her friend Saori from being turned into a youkai. However, her plan backfires when the bad guy tells her that she will be the one who will devour Saori.
- Talking Is a Free Action: What works in the manga becomes very obvious in the anime as characters talk right through battles with formidable opponents.
- Theme Naming: Rihan and Rikuo are half and one quarter youkai respectively.note
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Kurotabou unleashes the full 200 weapons of Anki Kuroenbu on tiny Sodemogi-sama during his rescue of Kokehime to the point you can hardly find him in the mass of spears, swords, chains, and other projectiles.
- Too Dumb to Live: Humans. Even when heads start flying, they still have no sense of self preservation. The ones in chapter 162 also have no qualms about video taping and mocking what they think (and are correct in thinking) is a youkai, but that's more a case of this trope. Not to mention the Kikyo Cross Squad. After seeing all the death and destruction youkai can cause and nearly dying more than once, they're still chasing after youkai.
- In the case of the Kikyo Paranormal Patrol, it seems to be mostly the club president that suffers from this with the others more or less following for either for the fun stuff that goes on when they're just humoring him, or when they're trying to keep him from getting killed.
- Transhuman Treachery: Akifusa of the Onmyouji seems to be on the side of the youkai, but it turns out a yokai was controlling his mind.
- Trickster Archetype: Rikuo, his grandpa and many youkai fit this. Naturally.
- True Companions: The Kiyo Cross Squad and Rikuo's bodyguards make up Rikuo's. Some of the Tanuki's underling thought they were this to the Tanuki, they were wrong.
- Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo: Both Tsuchigumo and Jorogumo appear. The first one is a Blood Knight that defeats Rikuo once, and the other one is a board member of the Nura Clan.
- Undying Loyalty: A common trait of several characters, both heroes and villains. Just take a look at the character page.
- Ungrateful Bastard: The first thing Abe no Seimei does after being reborn is toss his mother, who has endured countless reincarnations, into hell. Apparently becoming leader of all the Youkai in Japan requires you to be just that evil.
- The humans that Rikuo saves in chapter 162.
- The Unmasqued World: Barring someone with mass amnesia powers or a really, really good cover story this is what's happened after an oracle-creature predicts that Rikuo will destroy the world.
- Urban Legend: The Hundred Tales Clan, who increases their number by reviving or creating urban legends with the help of a guy who can make living paintings.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Rikuo is the obvious example, shifting back and forth between his human and demon forms (though he can only maintain his demon from for one quarter of the day and only outside of sunlight). But the other demons are able to assume human form to go out in society. We mainly see Rikuo's bodyguards, with Yuki Onna being a girl in his class, Aotabou being a local delinquent, Kurotabou being a business man and Kappa being another student.
- We ARE Struggling Together: It becomes very difficult for Rikuo to unite the yokai clans against their common enemy, Abe no Seimei and the Gokadoin House. Once the danger is over, they go their separate ways.
- Weirdness Censor: The Nurarihyon's main power. He has this as a constant power around himself, allowing him to walk around in his demonic form and have everyone simply assume he's a normal old man. Even exorcists. He and Demon Rikuo can ramp it up to create functional invisibility, for use in combat, stealing, and dine and dashes.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Nurarihyon is described as "A yokai that sits in someones house and drinks their tea," which sounds pretty lame when you first think about it. Essentially this is the ability to enter and leave without being noticed. But since it ends up being a kind of invisibility, it turns out that Heart Is an Awesome Power. lampshaded in the manga, where everyone pretty much reacts by going "Wut?"
- Who You Gonna Call?: The Onmyouji, exorcists who protect Japan from youkai.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Rikuo's mother unexpectedly shoots Tamasaburo, to the surprise of the other Nura clan members. When they ask why she even has a gun, she responds that she's a yakuza's wife, after all.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Rikuo and his True Companions arrive too late to prevent Nue's birth.
- Rikuo failed to stop the Hundred Tales plan for revenge's first part by being outed as one and now will be hunted by crazy humans.
- You Killed My Father: Hagoromo Gitsune killed Rikuo's father. Now Rikuo is in town. This isn't going to end well for her.
- Yakuza: Most of the youkai clans are basically yakuza, complete with symbols.
- The Nura clan tends to lean more heavily toward a samurai clan at times, but that's probably because they're the heroes.
- Rikuo's Mother even lampshades this when she pulls out a gun and shoots a youkai trying to assassinate her she says she pulled it out of her bosom because shes' a Yakuza wife and shes' always wanted to do that.
- Youkai: Quite a number of the cast are youkai of all kinds; the series is about them and generally a universe where youkai are more or less well hidden from the humans.
- Yuki-onna: Three yuki-onna appear in the series, with one being Rikuo's aide with a Bodyguard Crush on him.