Tactics (タクティクス Takutikusu, also printed as "tactics") is a manga series collaborated between Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama. It is serialized and currently running in Comic Blade Masamune. Sakura Kinoshita supplied the character "Kantarou," and Kazuko Higashiyama supplied the character "Haruka." The manga was released in North America by ADV Manga in 2004. ADV manga will not be releasing any more Tactics manga. Tokyopop has obtained the license for Tactics, and thus far has released 3 volumes, the latest one released on December 1st.

The animation studio Studio Deen adapted the Tactics manga into a 25-episode anime series, which ran on Japanese television from October 5, 2004 to March 29, 2005.

Starting January 7th,the SCI-FI channel will be airing the Tactics series at 11:00 PM in it's ani-MONDAY block.

Kantarou Ichinomiya is a young man with the ability to see youkai, or goblins, and other mythical beasts. He's made a full-time hobby out of it, writing books and articles on Japanese folklore while doing some freelance goblin hunting on the side. Rather than hunting them out of malice, though, Kantarou tracks down youkai because he wants to befriend them. When an assignment leads him to a rural shrine up in a mountain, Kantarou's life takes a momentous turn. The legendary demon-eating tengu, a type of youkai, is sealed in that shrine, and when Kantaro breaks the seal, he finds himself partnered up with the mighty creature he's been seeking since childhood. With his new, impeccably dressed goblin friend Haruka, Kantarou is surely prepared to take on all sorts of mystical tasks.

As Haruka's past slowly comes back to him, his relationship with his master starts to crack. Haruka struggles with his past and yearns to learn of everything he had forgotten, especially the identity of the person who had sealed him within the huge rock boulders. This is the point where Minamoto Raiko and his group of soldiers come in. Together with another formidable demon, Raiko and his attendants plot many plans to try and force Kantarou to cancel the name contract or make Haruka awaken his real powers, so that they would be able to capture Haruka and present him to "that person" whose identity is unknown. If the name contract is not cancelled or if the master dies, Haruka's power would forever be restrained and he would not be able to be used by the antagonists.

- From Wikipedia