Independent Opinions, News, and Reviews of Graphic Novels, Manga, and Comic Books
I’ve waited a month to read this latest installment, because I knew it would be the last for a while. Volume 21 catches us up to the Japanese releases, and due to creator Ai Yazawa’s illness and recovery time, the series is currently on hold. (In the meantime, there’s always rereading the series from the beginning or enjoying her previous manga Paradise Kiss.) This isn’t a bad place to stop for a bit, actually. Events reach a distinctive turning point, […]
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When Suppli volume 1 came out three years ago, I tried it. And even though I am always looking for josei manga (aimed at women, not girls) and although Suppli was well-recommended, it didn’t click for me at the time. I think I was too afraid of the protagonist’s fear, the idea of being alone with nothing but an unrewarding job, to want to read about it for entertainment. Now that Tokyopop has returned to the series with an omnibus […]
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I suspect my expectations for Chi’s Sweet Home by Konami Kanata may have been too high. I’d heard such good things about the “cute cat comic” that I think I wanted it to be more than it is. This small volume, comfortable to hold, is surprisingly in full color, not the usual manga black-and-white. The book contains 20 eight-page chapters, each featuring a minor incident. The kitten Chi has wandered away from her mother and siblings, only to be adopted […]
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I was curious about the upcoming Del Rey Manga omnibuses (omnibi?). Instead of continuing to publish single volumes for certain series, they’re releasing two (Samurai Deeper Kyo volumes 37/38) or three books’ worth of material in one binding. I just got a chance to flip through School Rumble volumes 14/15/16, due out later this month, and here’s some notes and thoughts on the format: If you’re a fan of the series and would be buying all these entries in the […]
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This charming ode to the wonder of reading, specifically the memories that manga can create, will touch the heart of any book lover. Kingyo Used Books carries most every manga series ever. That helps them find just the right book for their customers, one that the visitors may not even realize they’re looking for. The introductory chapter of the series by Seimu Yoshizaki I found very sympathetic. A young man enters the store, not to look for a beloved story, […]
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This energetic adventure with a touch of romance has behind the action an anti-censorship message any manga reader can support. Library Wars is based on a novel series by Hiro Arikawa about a future Japan where the Media Betterment Act allows the national government to seize any books they deem offensive for any reason. They’re opposed by librarians, whose code speaks of freedom to acquire and read any book in privacy. They’re fighting for a citizen’s right to access media […]
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Inspired by the To Terra… Manga Moveable Feast this month, I’m looking at some more modern stories of young people in space. Saturn Apartments has a very similar premise to Terra, in that humans have moved to an artificial structure surrounding the Earth, which is now an uninhabited nature preserve. But the approach is very different — where Terra tackles big philosophical themes, Saturn Apartments makes its points through quiet stories of everyday life for a lower-class worker. The society […]
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Inspired by the To Terra… Manga Moveable Feast this month, I’m looking at some more modern stories of young people in space. Twin Spica, which originally began serialization in 2001, is the story of Asumi, a plucky young girl who wants to make it into space school so she can become an astronaut. She’s got an uphill climb ahead of her — no money, her tiny size, and her lack of family support. Her mother’s dead and her father, a […]
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