This manhwa trilogy by Kim Dong Hwa, a coming-of-age story set in rural Korea several generations ago, follows a young girl learning about love. The Color of Earth Ehwa lives with her mother, a widow who runs the local tavern, which means the men think she’s easy. Living in a farm community, the kids are exposed early to the facts of life and how cruel others can be. Although her mother is a lovely, still-young woman, she’s become distrustful of […]

Argent, the Royal Apothecary, has left the princess in order to seek a cure for his condition of being a living toxin. He’s learned a process that may remove the poisons from his body, but leaving the country has branded him a traitor. Meanwhile, the princess has been traveling around her realm to better know how her subjects live. When the two reunite, the princess is working in the fields, and she’s so distracted — and Argent somewhat changed — […]

I think The Name of the Flower by Ken Saito is the moodiest manga series I follow. Between grumpy author Kei, suffering-in-silence Chouko, and co-dependent Shin, everyone here is pouty and morose, each in their own ways. Yet it’s entertaining watching them work through their tragedies to aim at the promise of happiness. Shin, Kei’s editor, has a lovely little monologue about loving the power of books before he meets Iori, a former college friend, which sets into play the […]

The Lizard Prince by Asuka Izumi, a romance in a magical fantasy setting, has enough humor to make it an enjoyable read for the young and young-thinking. As explained in the author’s notes, this book is Asuka Izumi’s first collection, so it follows a typical pattern: The first chapter works as a stand-alone story establishing the premise. That’s so if the concept isn’t popular or picked up, then there’s still a satisfactory ending. But this series was popular enough to […]

The latest translated manga by Jiro Taniguchi follows a plot familiar to most science fiction fans. In A Distant Neighborhood, a middle-aged business man finds himself reliving his life as a teen, with the potential chance of doing things over, better. By mistake, Hiroshi Nakahara gets on the wrong train and finds himself in his home town on the anniversary of his mother’s death. After he visits her grave, he returns to town to discover that he’s become his 14-year-old […]

Like the previous volume, Emma volume 9 contains short stories set in the world and time period of the main story. But you don’t need to be familiar with all the rest of the series to enjoy this one; in fact, it might be a good sample if you’re curious and coming late to this great read. The first story surprised me by being so nature-focused. A young boy and his pet squirrel go on a family picnic in the […]

by Asuka Izumi; story by K-Ske Hasegawa You may know the term “shinigami” from the popular Death Note series, where the death god is black and goth and scary. Ballad of a Shinigami, based on a light novel series (translated in the U.S. by Seven Seas) and later anime, turns that concept on its ear by featuring a young girl, all in white, as the messenger of death. Except few people actually die in this book — instead, they’re affected […]

While the main Emma series concluded with volume 7, this volume continues visiting Kaoru Mori’s Victorian world, telling tales of some of the supporting characters. The first two chapters are a flashback to Kelly and Doug Stowner as young marrieds. (Kelly was, later in her life, Emma’s employer.) They’re debating visiting the Great Exhibition, for which the Crystal Palace was built, but the expense will be difficult for them to manage. She’s harshly practical, but the way the two of […]