Kekkaishi makes a turn for the better

I think Kekkaishi has finally hit it's stride around episode 17.  It's finally at the point where I want to know what's going to happen next.  They've built up the world and have started to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding it.

Kekkaishi

After hearing Narutaki and Hisui say only good things about the show, I decided to give Kekkaishi a try.  Hisiu has definitely bordered on whining about why people love Bleach and not Kekkaishi.

I've made it past the 7th episode and I can probably speak to that a little.  Most shonen or anime mainly about combat/fighting are all formulaic, Kekkaishi has a fairly unique spin.  The main male character is so far in a lower position than the female lead.  He's younger, less experienced, and not as skilled.  Also, he has an unhealthy fascination with cake.  Not so much eating it as baking it.  He even wants to live in a cake castle.  I'm giving away a little joke here when Yumikura Tokine calls him a "cake otaku", which I even identified in the Japanese audio track as "cakey otaku".  Shonen shows usually have some silly aspects but stuff like Sumimura Yoshimori constantly being emasculated by Tokine and the caketaku are different.  Following that trend is his stay at home dad who cooks, cleans, and wears an apron.

So I think the feminine side of Kekkaishi makes the show on either a conscious or subconscious level unappealing to the mass audiences in America.  The show is awesome though so far, and I don't care about that stuff.  It's definitely refreshing to see a show like this that hasn't so far consisted of constipated men training to get stronger.