Kekkaishi review

Kekkaishi manga review
Overall, I would probably give this manga a 7/10.

This is what I wrote as a comment for one of the chapters, 145.
"This is my first time reading this manga. I'm kind of bored at how much of a typical shonen manga the story has become. Like the guy just gets powers. Kimetsu no yaiba came out a century later as a much more engaging shonen manga with great character build up. We saw his training and each steps that lead to his victory. He also was very human, getting hurt and losing at times to strong enemies. Gen had a good character concept, but died too fast. This is like the second major time he just 'happens' to win against a seemingly unbeatable enemy because of unexplained magic. (I'm thinking of kaguro for the other major time) I also hate how there isn't a likeable and engaging side character. Tokine is plain as they can come and... to be honest, she's even more boring than sakura."

The review on the bottom has spoilers.
I think that comment contains a lot of what I feel for this manga already.
The manga had so much potential and it really has a good concept. The world lore is built well and there are a few good mysteries that keeps you reading. We get lured into this mysterious place called karasumori and the main character Yoshimori's search for truth and ambitions to seal it away becomes our search for truth. There are a few interesting character concepts, but unfortunately, most characters are plain shonen style character that just has either no depth, or boring depth.
There are good engaging mysteries and there are really unsatisfying mysteries. Ones that doesn't even make you want to pursue or some that are just plain lame because the truth unfolded was something like 'hey look. It's just magic alright?'. This manga has a few of those. For example, Kaguro.

He's introduced as a super strong enemy. He has an interesting characteristic and has actions that are questionable, like killing Aihi. But his back story is cut short and not much information is given as to why he is like that. I just found out that in the anime series, they actually gave the character some life and gave him a better explained backstory. Great move. But then again, like he had a really lame death. Another example is Byaku.

His backstory this time, is given to us. But... uh... it's lame and doesn't add much to his personality. Basically his backstory was only given to explain why Heisuke and his ayakashi servant named Risa exists. As readers, when his story and arc is over, we still have no clue why he was so nice to the Princess. He lost to her and was his servant, but his attitude towards her was more like love. However, we're not explained anything beyond that. Like did he actually love her? If so why? Why was he so cold to Risa except the fact that she wanted luxurious things? Why did he become an ayakashi? Also when the Princess died... uh... he just... disappeared? Like we never hear of him later. 
Just like the mysteries, there are lots of good ideas that just ends so suddenly or in a lame manner. Gen character was basically that.

I legitimately hoped and thought he was going to be another main side character. He had a interesting backstory and had a good personality and the dynamics between him and yoshimori and tokine was well fitting that with him around, I actually liked Tokine more when he was introduced. But he was killed off early on as well. It wasn't a lame death like Kaguro though, which was nice.

Also I just wanted to rant about Tokine.

As someone who appears on a lot of the cover, right next to the main protagonist, she is as plain as they can get. She started off good and strong with an interesting concept. She was caring and she had her own sort of power. But these characteristics were killed off waaayyy too early and she became just a mere stepping stone for yoshimori to develop. Her caring nature only shined when Gen was around and after his death, she just became this unemotional character going around mosting uncaring about what the main character was doing. I found it funny when she got angry at yoshimori later on, when he basically went into the enemies den, since he even asked her and she just let him go. Then to get angry at him for being reckless?? are you kidding me? Also to cover for her weakness she refined her kekkai making moves to use it more like a weapon. I thought after that, she would shine a bit more, like fighting along yoshimori, or even going on her own battles where she shines. Nope. She went on very small mini battles of her own and got a new ability to travel into other dimensions, but nope... other than that, she quickly went back to being this unimportant side character that just shows up every now and again, and when she did, it was mostly just to make yoshimori act in a certain way. When I say unemotional, I really meant it. It's why the character is so boring. In fact, before and during the Gen arc, she actually had a bit of emotions and worries, like a normal human being. I was looking forward to her development because of that. She even made changes to her kekkai, which was a nice development and was wondering about her feelings towards yoshimori. After then gen arc though, the only time she showed any strong emotion was when yoshimori got into trouble and she scolded him. It became boring and repetitive fast. Maybe if the scolding leaded to her feeling more like towards yoshimori, I'd be happy to see it, but her emotions were purely to show yoshimori feel a bit remorseful.

Oh yeah. Another rant about yoshimori and his brother. Like, his brother is taking a huge load of the burden in fighting and getting power etc to protect the family. Yoshimori is annoyed that the brother is taking the burden alone. You know what annoyed me? Without having adequate power, he just kept either getting in his brothers way and kept repeating something like 'Listen to me! you never listen'... and then all he had to say was 'hey look you don't have to take the burden on your own', but like it's so deflating when he says that, because most of his actions are so thoughtless that he actually doesn't share the burdens of his brother. It happens twice and I just got annoyed at yoshimori rather than thinking, 'Oh, he's pure hearted'. Like he just doesn't get any proper character development to actually follow his words or start thinking straight. When he was at the