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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

May 2, 2011 by Michelle Smith, MJ, David Welsh and Katherine Dacey 8 Comments

PotW: Hikaru no go, Lychee Light Club, Kekkaishi

It’s a banner week for manga arrivals at Midtown Comics. See below for recommendations from the Manga Bookshelf bloggers and special guest Michelle Smith!


MICHELLE: There’s a lot of good stuff hitting Midtown Comics this week, including new volumes of several of my Shojo Beat favorites. But I simply must award my pick of the week to the 23rd and final volume of Hikaru no Go. I have loved this series for a long time—I read the first volume in June 2004, and that was after I’d seen the anime—and the fact that it’s finally ending is pretty bittersweet. I’ll miss following much-beloved characters as they, in the grand tradition of sports manga, try their best to get stronger, but at the same time, it’s hard to feel too bummed out knowing that I’ll now have the luxury of binging on the entire series at once. Not only is Hikaru no Go a keeper, it’s a treasure.

MJ: Well, wow, it’s incredibly tempting to second Michelle’s choice. I have a deep, deep love for Hikaru no Go, something you’ll all be hearing more about as the week goes on. In the interest of diversity, however, I’ll take up the torch for Usamaru Furuya’s Lychee Light Club, a highly-anticipated new title from Vertical, featuring a secret society of middle-school boys who are developing a lychee-fueled “thinking machine.” Billed by Vertical as “Lord of the Flies for our new century,” the book is reportedly dark and pretty graphic in terms of sexuality and gore. It’s also reportedly awesome. Given Vertical’s recent track record with me, I say, “sign me up!”

DAVID: It’s certainly an embarrassment of riches this week, and I certainly second both Michelle and MJ’s choices, and there are new volumes of some utterly winning shôjo series (Kimi ni Todoke and The Story of Saiunkoku leap to mind), but I’m going to cast my vote for the Kekkaishi 3-in-1 Edition by Yellow Tanabe. I’ve read some of this series and enjoyed it a great deal, and I’ve always meant to go start it from the beginning at some point, so I’m very pleased to have an easy and inexpensive entry point. Any book that Kate describes as “The Best Manga You’re Not Reading” is worth some serious attention, I think.

KATE: I’ve always been puzzled that Kekkaishi wasn’t a bigger hit here in the US, as it has so many things going for it: great characters, cool-looking monsters, and artfully choreographed fight scenes that are exciting and unpredictable. With the series coming to an end in Japan, VIZ seems to be re-doubling its efforts to make Kekkaishi a success, promoting the anime through its website and re-issuing the series in a wallet-friendly omnibus edition. I’d strongly encourage InuYasha fans to give it a try, as I think they’ll find a lot of positive similarities between the two series, from the authors’ imaginative use of folklore to the authors’ penchant for feisty, smart female characters who pull their own weight in battles.



Readers, what are your Picks this week?

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Filed Under: PICK OF THE WEEK Tagged With: hikaru no go, kekkaishi, lychee light club

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. CJ says

    May 2, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    All great picks! I can only hope that Viz’s efforts to promote Kekkaishi succeed or I’m afraid we won’t see the manga out to the end here in the states :( And that would be a crying shame for sure. I won’t be getting the 3 in 1 due to already having the singles though :P I’ve been collecting Kekkaishi since around the time volume 5 came out. And there’s only, what 9 or 10 more volumes to print? I’m really holding my breath that they won’t cancel this series, but having the show on [adult swim] really outta help out (even if everyone complained about not Soul Eater getting on [as])

    Hikaru no Go is my must for this week though, I’ll be heading to Borders in the near future for that one! I haven’t actually read 22, I wanted to get 23 and read them both at once. It’s kinda sad that it’s ending, but I’m happy that Viz didn’t axe this one part way through either, so at least I got to experience one of the best manga I’ve ever read in full.

    And when I get my $10 in Borders rewards bucks towards the end of the month, I’m hoping to spend it on Lychee Light Club! If one near me has it, if not, free shipping on everything is nice too!

    Reply
    • Katherine Dacey says

      May 2, 2011 at 2:38 pm

      CJ, would you like my copy of Lychee Light Club? David and I are in the process of doing a joint review right now, but I could mail it to you later this week if you’re interested. It’s not really my cup o’ tea, and I’d love to see it go to someone who wants it for their permanent library. Let me know!

      Reply
      • CJ says

        May 2, 2011 at 3:55 pm

        Seriously?! Of course, I’d love to have it! I don’t mind waiting, since I’d have to wait for the coupon anyway (and my semester is almost over, no distractions!) Just email me! Thank you so much!

        Reply
        • Katherine Dacey says

          May 2, 2011 at 4:05 pm

          Yes, seriously! I will send you an email shortly to confirm your snail mail address.

          Reply
  2. Cathy Yan says

    May 6, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    The Lychee Light Club is definitely, without a doubt, one of the most disturbing looks at the naivete and desires of youth that I’ve read in manga. The gore got a little much for me at the end, but the story kept twisting and turning until you end with up with a climax that’s vaguely Frankenstein meets Hamlet in an adaptation of Battle Royale by Marquis du Sade. By which I mean, I am very excited to hear your thoughts, Kate and David! :D

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Disappearing Blu; Viz app expands to iPhone and iPod « MangaBlog says:
    May 2, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    […] Help David Welsh decide which yaoi manga to buy this month at The Manga Curmudgeon. David also shares his picks from the May Previews., and he teams up with Melinda Beasi, Kate Dacey, and Michelle Smith to discuss the Manga Bookshelf Pick of the Week. […]

    Reply
  2. Upcoming 5/4/2011 says:
    May 3, 2011 at 6:17 am

    […] ComicList time! First, go take a look at the Manga Bookshelf crew’s Picks of the Week, then peruse the latest installment of Bookshelf Briefs, in which I gush about an arriving shôjo […]

    Reply
  3. Manga Bookshelf | Roundtable: Hikaru no Go says:
    May 5, 2011 at 7:08 am

    […] definitely enjoyed reading the material that was not part of the anime and, as I mentioned in our Pick of the Week column, now I’ll have the luxury of indulging in a series-long marathon reread whenever the […]

    Reply


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