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Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

August 31, 2010 by MJ 5 Comments

Pick of the Week: Twin Spica

Buy this book – Considering how much I’ve raved about this series (volumes one | two) it should be no surprise to anyone that my pick of this week’s new arrivals is the third volume of Twin Spica by Kou Yaginuma, published by Vertical, Inc.

Here’s what I had to say about the first two volumes:

Though this series finished its run in seinen magazine Comic Flapper just last year, its simple artwork and wistful tone make its first volume read like an instant classic … Yagimuna’s artwork is utterly charming. Simple, clean, and full of heartfelt emotion, it flows easily from panel to panel. Again here, there is a persistent air of nostalgia to the series, enhanced even by Vertical’s choice of font … Hopeful, charming, and tinged with sadness, Twin Spica leaves us wanting more. Highly recommended.

What started out as a wistful, nostalgic story about nurturing dreams in an environment tainted by years-old pain is now introducing us to school politics, adult grudges, and a lot of real-world ugliness that puts Asumi’s dreams in depressing perspective.

While this might cripple a weaker series, it really strengthens this one. Asumi’s still the same girl, but her warm, dreamy nature isn’t going to hold up easily in the face of real intimidation. While it’s certainly painful to watch this play out, it’s also really compelling, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next volume.

My volume just arrived yesterday, and I can’t wait to read it! If anything drives you to the comic shop this week, it should be Twin Spica!

For a full list of this week’s new releases, visit Comicopia.com!

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Filed Under: PICK OF THE WEEK Tagged With: pick of the week, twin spica

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Oliver says

    September 2, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    Are you notified of comments on earlier posts? If not, I left one here:

    http://mangabookshelf.com/blog/2009/08/31/nodame-cantabile-vol-16/comment-page-1/#comment-29457

    Are there any similarities between Twin Spica and Nodame?

    Reply
    • Melinda Beasi says

      September 2, 2010 at 1:45 pm

      Yeah, I got that comment, I just honestly wasn’t sure how to respond, so I haven’t yet. I have no plans currently to review more volumes of Nodame & I’m not sure where I’d fit it in to my schedule, but I need to think about it a bit.

      I would say no, there are no real similarities between Twin Spica and Nodame, other than having a female protagonist who is in school. And that I like both very much. :) Otherwise, though, they are very different manga.

      Reply
  2. Aaron says

    September 2, 2010 at 11:04 pm

    Great I’ll have to look out for volume three next week when I go to buy volume two I can always get volume five of Lucky Star another time. the big ? is if my local Barnes and noble carries it and I shudder to pre-order something because shipping dates get pushed back something fierce sometimes. (my Chobits omnibus was supposed to arrive originally in July now I wont be getting it untill the end of September and my copy of Clamp in America isn’t due out untill February 2011 now.)

    Reply
    • Melinda Beasi says

      September 7, 2010 at 10:17 pm

      I hope you were able to get your books, including this! I’ve noticed that Comicopia (my source for these picks) always seems to get Vertical titles in a week before everyone else.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Pick of the Week: The Story of Saiunkoku says:
    November 2, 2010 at 7:21 am

    […] goes on. It’s even bigger if you consider what’s expected at Comicopia, where they have previous Pick Twin Spica on the […]

    Reply


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