Case Closed Volume 33

It’s always fun dipping back into the various mysteries solved by the six-year-old-who-is-really-a-15-year-old — but I still wish that the books were divided up differently. This volume has two chapters finishing up the case from the last book; a four-part complete story; another three-chapter quandary; and then two chapters beginning a new puzzle. To find out what happens there, with a teacher setting a game for her students, I guess I’ll need to get the next book in March. Once […]

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20th Century Boys Volume 6

Review by Ed Sizemore The Kana storyline from volume 5 continues. Britney, one of the regulars at the restaurant where Kana works, has witnessed a murder and is being sought by the police and hunted down by the killer. Kana makes arrangements for Britney to get out of town and to stay with her grandmother. However, things get complicated fast as it turns out that Britney has stumbled upon something much bigger. Volume 6 also introduces us to Kakuta, a […]

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High School Debut Volume 12

Haruna and Yoh are on their first overnight trip together in High School Debut volume 12. Although Haruna isn’t sure she’s ready for their relationship to go further physically, she’s psyched herself into thinking that she owes it to Yoh. But she doesn’t know what he’s thinking, so she’s jumping to conclusions based on what every boy must want. Plus, she’s freaking out simply seeing him half-naked in a swimsuit. It’s clear that she is not at all ready for […]

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Sgt. Frog Volume 18

I haven’t read a Sgt. Frog book since 2006, when I gave up after volume 12. At that point, I’d grown tired of the series by Mine Yoshizaki, finding its comedy repetitive. Yet I was glad to get a chance to check in with it again, because I remember liking it in the early days, and with so much time passed, I was sure it’d be fresh again. After a pointless flashback about super-rich Momoka comes the kinds of stories […]

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Oishinbo a la Carte 7: Izakaya: Pub Food

I’m very sorry to hear that this is the last volume in the series that Viz will be translating and publishing in the US. Oishinbo was one of my best manga of 2009, and each volume is better than the last. Which would make Izakaya: Pub Food the best yet, or at least the most diverse, and a great note to end on. Izakaya, according to this volume, are bars that serve, along with the alcohol, food that goes well […]

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A Drifting Life

A Drifting Life is impressive just in its size: 850+ pages about Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s life as a manga creator, from post-World War II Japan through 1960. (Some of Tatsumi’s other works, such as The Push Man and Other Stories and Abandon the Old in Tokyo, are also available in English from Drawn & Quarterly. This volume is flipped, so it can be read from left to right.) In fact, it’s intimidating. All the more so when you realize it’s already […]

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Emma Volume 10

I had thought this charming series ended last year, when the title character, a Victorian maid, captured the heart of her beloved, an upper-class gentleman. However, this year saw the release of three more volumes. These additional books collected short stories featuring other characters from the series, providing additional glimpses into the detailed world built by artist Kaoru Mori. Now, with this final volume, the series really is over, and it’s quite a shame. Mori’s portrayal of the Victorian world […]

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A Distant Neighborhood Volume 2

Guest review by Ed Sizemore **Warning: This Review Contains Spoilers** Hiroshi Nakahara is a 48-year-old architect who finds himself mysteriously transported back to when he was 14 with all his knowledge and memories intact. He soon realizes that this is the period just before his father mysteriously abandoned his family, and he has resolved to stop him. Since Hiroshi has already successfully altered portions of his past, he’s confident he can make this change, too, in A Distant Neighborhood volume […]

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