I came across Ga-Rei wanting to know how the manga panned out after events to the anime adaptation Ga-Rei Zero(prequel to this manga which aired in 2008).

Unfortunately, like an over-hyped Hollywood blockbuster, Ga-Rei had potential to go places in regards to being a manga-worthy favorite, but did not live up to its anime counterpart due to what I thought was a 'rushed' ending.

For those who have not seen the anime, although not a necessary watch as the manga does cover background to some of the characters, I do recommend viewing anyways if you would like to get the emotional feelings that is lacking in the manga.

Story: 8
Ga-Rei is a tale about an 'agency' that takes care of the supernatural in Tokyo. Story-wise, we look at it through the eyes of the protagonist Kensuke Nimura. Although I say protagonist, this is more an outlook to his relationship with the heroine Kagura and how she inducts Kensuke to that agency due to Kensuke being able to see ghosts. Whilst we do have insight to Kensuke, it really is more about Kensuke learning about Kagura's life/past and the agency she works in. Whilst Kensuke has a minor role at the beginning of the story, it's his intake to learn about Kagura and his decisions from there, that pushes him to be the protagonist at the end.

Ga-Rei can be considered as 3 arcs which span through 52 chapters; Yomi arc, Juugondō arc and Naraku arc with each arc providing plot development to an overall ending for the main heroine Kagura. Although I have no complaints on how each arc is portrayed, I do believe that the mangaka could have improved on the concluding ending compared to what we fans received by chapter 52. By the time we were at the last few chapters of Ga-Rei, too many openings were left 'unfinished' and too many side characters which people had read and liked from beginning of the tale were left with no story-ending for themselves for the fans to feel satisfied with.

Art: 9
I've given Ga-Rei a 9 for artwork as I must admit it is spectacularly done well. From beginning to end we are given breath-taking backgrounds and choreographed action scenes which is very pleasing to the eye without wanting to question "what happened there?"

Character: 7
This is where I believe the manga fell short of. While the character's are epic in their own way, I felt the mangaka left too many 'holes' for us to fully comprehend how good this manga could have been. For example, whilst we get a full background of Kensuke and his weaknesses, we are then led to believe due to his "love" he can do a mind-blowing sword-technique with out further explanation. Also, by the 2nd and 3rd arc, we are than exploited to too many characters which left no background or formal introduction which, for people like myself makes me feel somewhat unsatisfied with the over-all story(especially once I got attached to a certain character).

Enjoyment and Over-All: 7
Overall, it could be in my part that I had high expectations due to watching the anime and following it from there, that my review has given this manga a biased rating. Whether you follow my footsteps and take the manga up after watching Ga-Rei Zero, or by just reading it as a stand alone, my only advice is to not come in with too high an expectation or like me, you may feel a little disappointed due to comparing the adaptations.

Like any famous recipe, the secret to a real good story for me(especially manga) is the balance. Ga-Rei came out sweet making you want to 'eat' more from anime to volume 1 but unfortunately due to the unbalance of the overall story and lack of side character conclusions, it left a bittersweet ending.