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Bunny Drop, Vols. 1-2

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Fictional bachelor dads come in two flavors. The first is easily flummoxed by diapers, sippy cups, tantrums, and stomach aches, reacting in abject horror to bodily functions and extreme emotions (see Three Men and a Baby), while the second behaves more like a stand-up comedian than an engaged parent, commenting wryly on his charges’ behavior without doing much to guide or correct them (see Yotsuba&!). Daikichi, the singleton hero of Bunny Drop, is a pleasant corrective to these familiar stereotypes: he’s a sensitive, well-meaning thirty-year-old who steps up to the plate when his grandfather dies, leaving behind an illegitimate six-year-old daughter.

What begins as an impulsive decision — Daikichi is offended by his family’s reluctance to accept responsibility for gramps’ kid — quickly evolves into a serious commitment. Daikichi is humble enough to realize his limitations as a father, enlisting help from co-workers, friends, and family members in his efforts to find day care for Rin and impose some structure on her life, even though he isn’t entirely certain what kind of boundaries and routines are appropriate for a six-year-old. Yumi Unita wrings some humor out of Daikichi’s attempt to understand Rin’s unique point of view, but steers clear of easy laughs and easy victories. The early moments of rapport between Daikichi and Rin feel earned, not contrived, while Rin’s quirks reflect the bizarre circumstances of her early upbringing, as well as her deep fear of being abandoned.

Though Unita’s character designs are highly stylized and her panels free of busy detail, the spare, unfussy quality of her artwork is deceptive; her seemingly simple faces and bodies actually speak volumes about each character’s personality and history. The few lines on Daikichi’s face, for example, not only establish his age and his homeliness, they also give readers a window into his relationship with Rin. We see his growing attachment to the girl through the softening of his brow and jawline, and note the tension in his face when trying to negotiate new office hours for himself. (His co-workers are puzzled and angered by Daikichi’s decision to take care of Rin. “Just because it’s a relative’s child,” one underling complains, “why must you be the sacrifice, Kawachi-San?”)

With Rin, Unita focuses as much on the character’s body language as on her facial expressions. In the first volume, Rin appears closed off from everyone: rounded shoulders, downcast eyes, pursed lips, and folded arms. As Rin begins to trust Daikichi, however, her face and posture change: her limbs unfurl and her eyes brighten, and her repertory of faces soon includes pouty defiance and bravado. That same attention to detail extends to supporting cast members as well. Rin’s mother, whom Daikichi meets in volume two, comes across as impossibly young, swimming in an outfit too big for her slight frame, and fidgeting throughout her conversation with Daikichi, twisting her hair and avoiding eye contact in the manner of a sullen teenager.

The introduction of Rin’s mother suggests that future installments of Bunny Drop will continue to focus complex issues — what constitutes a family? who has the right to call himself a parent? what’s in the best interest of a damaged child? — in lieu of sitcom ones. (See sippy cups, bad dreams, and the stomach flu, above.) That Unita can take such potentially overwrought material and fashion a thoughtful, funny, and honest look at child-rearing is testament to her skill as a storyteller and — one suspects — as a parent. Easily one of 2010’s best new titles.

BUNNY DROP, VOLS. 1-2 • BY YUMI UNITA • YEN PRESS • RATING: TEEN (13+)

Some Graphic Novel and Manga Bargains

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One of my favorite places to shop for steeply discounted manga is BookCloseOuts.com. For a long time they have mainly stocked older Tokyopop titles, but they’ve recently beefed up their selection of manhwa and manga.

There are many Yen Press titles stocked. One of my favorites is Goong, but you can often find many other titles. I think they recently started carrying First Second remainders, as there are a ton of graphic novels from that publisher now available. There are often scattered Del Rey Manga titles listed too, but it makes sense to search for those by series title, as they are often listed under the umbrella publisher Random House. Between all the manga and fiction titles, it won’t be too hard to hit the $35 required for free shipping. Just thought I’d pass it along in case you need to be thrifty about your holiday shopping.

Pick of the Week: Rasetsu

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With the December holidays rapidly approaching, I find myself drifting backwards in time, recalling the places I’ve been, the people I’ve loved, and the many variations of myself that have existed over the course of forty-something Decembers.

It’s no small joy, then, that one of this week’s new releases brings me vividly back to my early teens, when I would have loved nothing more than to be a girl with great spiritual powers, a terrifying foe to fight, and two dreamy love interests to distract me from my fate. I’m speaking, of course, of Rasetsu, from mangaka Chika Shiomi, available in English from Viz Media’s Shojo Beat imprint.

Here’s what I said about volume six:

What keeps this series compelling is that it is profoundly unsettled, and this applies to both the hearts of its characters and to their individual circumstances. There’s more to everyone than meets the eye. Furthermore, though each of the story’s characters is deeply conflicted, they still manage to band together into an unexpectedly warm, self-made family unit.

The love triangle between Kuryu, Rasetsu, and Yako may not be anything new to shojo manga, but it is played out in an unusually poignant manner. Each party’s strengths and weaknesses is being brought painfully to the fore, with no obvious resolution in sight.

Though this series gets off to a lukewarm start, over the course of six volumes it has become one of my favorite of Viz’s shojo series currently in release. Recommended.

It’s easy for a slow-burning series like Rasetsu to get lost in a market full of showier shoujo manga, but this would be a terrible shame. I’ve had a peek at volume seven, and things are definitely ramping up! Feed your hungry inner teen. Check out Rasetsu!

The Best Manga of 2010: The Manga Critic’s Picks

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For all the upheaval within the manga industry — the demise of CMX, Del Rey, and Go! Comi, the layoffs at VIZ — 2010 proved an exceptionally good year for storytelling. True, titles like Black Butler, Naruto, and Nabari no Ou dominated sales charts, but publishers made a concerted effort to woo grown-ups with vintage manga — Black Blizzard, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories — edgy sci-fi — Biomega, 7 Billion Needles — underground comix — AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga, The Box Man — and good old-fashioned drama — All My Darling Daughters, Bunny Drop. I had a hard time limiting myself to just ten titles this year, so I’ve borrowed a few categories from my former PCS cohort Erin Finnegan, from Best New Guilty Pleasure to Best Manga You Thought You’d Hate. Please feel free to add your own thoughts: what titles did I unjustly omit? What titles did I like but you didn’t? Inquiring minds want to know!

10. Cross Game
By Mitsuri Adachi • VIZ Media
In this sometimes funny, sometimes melancholy coming-of-age story, a family tragedy brings teenager Ko Kitamura closer to neighbor Aoba Tsukishima, with whom he has a fraught relationship. Though the two bicker with the antagonistic gusto of Beatrice and Benedict, their shared love of baseball helps smooth the course of their budding romance. To be sure, Cross Game can’t escape a certain amount of sports-manga cliche, but Mitsuri Adachi is more interested in showing us how the characters relate to each other than in celebrating their amazing baseball skills. (Not that he skimps on the game play; Adachi clearly knows his way around the diamond.) The result is an agreeable dramedy that has the rhythm of a good situation comedy and the emotional depth of a well-crafted YA novel, with just enough shop-talk to win over baseball enthusiasts, too.

9. AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga
Edited by Sean Michael Wilson • Top Shelf
The next time someone dismisses manga as a “style” characterized by youthful-looking, big-eyed characters with button noses, I’m going to hand them a copy of AX, a rude, gleeful, and sometimes disturbing rebuke to the homogenized artwork and storylines found in mainstream manga publications. No one will confuse AX for Young Jump or even Big Comic Spirits; the stories in AX run the gamut from the grotesquely detailed to the playfully abstract, often flaunting their ugliness with the cheerful insistence of a ten-year-old boy waving a dead animal at squeamish classmates. Nor will anyone confuse Yoshihiro Tatsumi or Einosuke’s outlook with the humanism of Osamu Tezuka or Keiji Nakazawa; the stories in AX revel in the darker side of human nature, the part of us that’s fascinated with pain, death, sex, and bodily functions. Like all anthologies, the collection is somewhat uneven, with a few too many scatological tales for its own good, but the very best stories — “The Hare and the Tortoise,” “Push Pin Woman,” “Six Paths of Wealth,” “Puppy Love,” “Inside the Gourd” — attest to the diversity of talent contributing to this seminal manga magazine. —Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 5/21/10

8. Neko Ramen
By Kenji Sonishi • Tokyopop
If you’ve ever lived with a cat or dog, you know that no meal is complete without a pet hair garnish. Now imagine that your beloved companion actually prepared your meals instead of watching you eat them: what sort of unimaginable horrors might you encounter beyond the stray hair? That’s the starting point for Neko Ramen, a 4-koma manga about a cat whose big dream is to run a noodle shop, but author Kenji Sonishi quickly moves past hair balls and litter box jokes to mine a richer vein of humor, poking fun at his cat cook’s delusions of entrepreneurial grandeur. Taisho is the Don Quixote of ramen vendors, dreaming up ludicrous giveaways and unappetizing dishes in an effort to promote his business, never realizing that he is the store’s real selling point. The loose, sketchy artwork gives the series an improvisational feel, while the script has the pleasant, absurdist zing of an Abbott and Costello routine. —Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 6/2/10

7. Ayako
By Osamu Tezuka; Vertical, Inc.
Combining the psychological realism of Dostoevsky with the social consciousness of Tolstoy and Zola, Osamu Tezuka uses conflicts within the once-powerful Tenge clan to dramatize the social, political, and economic upheaval caused by the American occupation of post-war Japan. No subject is off-limits for Tezuka: the Tenge commit murders, spy for the Americans, join the Communist Party, imprison a family member in an underground cell, and engage in incest. It’s one of Tezuka’s most sober and damning stories, at once tremendously powerful and seriously disturbing, with none of the cartoonish excess of Ode to Kirihito or MW. The ending is perhaps too pat and loaded with symbolism for its own good, but like Tezuka’s best work, Ayako forces the reader to confront the darkest, most corruptible corners of the human soul. As with Apollo’s Song, Black Jack, and Buddha, Vertical has done a superb job of making Tezuka accessible to Western readers with flipped artwork and a fluid translation.

6. Bunny Drop
By Yumi Unita; Yen Press
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a thirty-something bachelor unexpectedly becomes a parent to a cute little girl, leading to hijinks, misunderstandings, and heart-tugging moments. That’s a fair summary of what happens in Bunny Drop, but Yumi Unita wisely avoids the pitfalls of the single-dad genre — the cheap sentiment, the unfunny scenes of dad recoiling in horror at diapers, runny noses, and tears — instead focusing on the unique bond between Daikichi and Rin, the six-year-old whom he impetuously adopts after the rest of the family disavows her. (Rin is the product of a liaison between Daikichi’s grandfather and a much younger woman.) Though Daikichi struggles to find day care, buy clothes for Rin, and make sense of her standoffish behavior, he isn’t a buffoon or a straight man for Rin’s antics; Unita portrays him as a smart, sensitive person blessed with good instincts and common sense. Clean, expressive artwork and true-to-life dialogue further inoculate Bunny Drop against a terminal case of sitcom cuteness, making it one of the most thoughtful, moving, and adult manga of the year.

5. Black Blizzard
By Yoshihiro Tatsumi • Drawn & Quarterly
Written in just twenty days, this feverish pulp thriller plays like a mash-up of The Fugitive, The 39 Steps, and The Defiant Ones as two convicts — one a hardened criminal, the other a down-on-his luck musician — go on the lam during a blinding snowstorm. The heroes are more archetypes than characters, drawn in bold strokes, but the interaction between them crackles with antagonistic energy; they’re as much enemies as partners, roles that they constantly renegotiate during their escape. Evocative artwork — slashing lines, dramatic camera angles, images of speeding trains — infuses Black Blizzard with a raw, nervous energy that nicely mirrors the characters’ internal state. Only in the final, rushed pages does manga-ka Yoshihiro Tatsumi falter, tidily resolving the story through an all-too-convenient plot twist that hinges on coincidence. Still, that’s a minor criticism of a thoroughly entertaining story written during a crucial stage of Tatsumi’s artistic development. —Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 9/9/10

4. House of Five Leaves
By Natsume Ono • VIZ Media
Timid ronin Akitsu Masanosuke can’t hold a steady job, despite his formidable swordsmanship. When a businessman approaches him with work, Masanosuke readily accepts, not realizing that his new employer, Yaichi, runs a crime syndicate that specializes in kidnapping. Masanosuke’s unwitting participation in a blackmailing scheme prevents him from severing his ties to Yaichi; Masanosuke must then decide if he will join the House of Five Leaves or bide his time until he can escape. Though Toshiro Mifune and Hiroyuki Sanada have made entire careers out of playing characters like Masanosuke, Natsume Ono makes a persuasive case that you don’t need a flesh-and-blood actor to tell this kind of story with heartbreaking intensity; she can do the slow-burn on the printed page with the same skill as Masaki Kobayashi (Hara Kiri, Samurai Rebellion) and Yoji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai) did on the big screen. —Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 8/20/10

3. Twin Spica
By Kou Yaginuma • Vertical, Inc.
Asumi Kamogawa is a small girl with a big dream: to be an astronaut on Japan’s first manned space flight. Though she passes the entrance exam for Tokyo Space School, she faces several additional hurdles to realizing her goal, from her child-like stature — she’s thirteen going on eight — to a faculty member who blames her father for causing a fiery rocket crash that claimed hundreds of civilian lives. Yet for all the setbacks she’s experienced, Asumi proves resilient, a gentle girl who perseveres in difficult situations, offers friendship in lieu of judgment, and demonstrates a preternatural awareness of life’s fragility. Twin Spica follows Asumi through every stage of training, from physics lectures to zero-G simulations, showing us how she befriends her fellow cadets and gradually learns to rely on herself, rather than her imaginary friend, Mr. Lion. Though Twin Spica was serialized in a seinen magazine, it works surprisingly well for young adults, too, an all-too-rare example of a direct, heartfelt story that’s neither saccharine nor mawkish.  —Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 5/3/10

2. All My Darling Daughters
By Fumi Yoshinaga • VIZ Media
The five vignettes in All My Darling Daughters depict women negotiating difficult personal relationships: a daughter confronts her mother about mom’s new, much younger husband; a college student seduces her professor, only to dump him when he tries to court her properly; a beautiful young woman contemplates an arranged marriage. Like all of Yoshinaga’s work, the characters in All My Darling Daughters love to talk. That chattiness isn’t always an asset to Yoshinaga’s storytelling (see Gerard and Jacques), but here the dialogue is perfectly calibrated to reveal just how complex and ambivalent these relationships really are. Yoshinaga’s artwork is understated but effective, as she uses small details — how a character stands or carries her shoulders — to offer a more complete and nuanced portrait of each woman. Quite possibly my favorite work by Yoshinaga.

1. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories
By Moto Hagio • Fantagraphics
Not coincidentally, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories was my nomination for Best New Graphic Novel of 2010 as well. Here’s what I had to say about the title over at Flashlight Worthy Books:

Moto Hagio is to shojo manga what Will Eisner is to American comics, a seminal creator whose distinctive style and sensibility profoundly changed the medium. Though Hagio has been actively publishing stories since the late 1960s, very little of her work has been translated into English. A Drunken Dream, published by Fantagraphics, is an excellent corrective — a handsomely produced, meticulously edited collection of Hagio’s short stories that span her career from 1970 to 2007. Readers new to Hagio’s work will appreciate the inclusion of two contextual essays by manga scholar Matt Thorn, one an introduction to Hagio and her peers, the other an interview with Hagio. What emerges is a portrait of a gifted artist who draws inspiration from many sources: Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishimonori, Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, Frances Hodgson Burnett and L.M. Montgomery.

For the complete list — including nominations from David “Manga Curmudgeon” Welsh, Brigid “MangaBlog” Alverson, Lorena “i heart manga” Ruggero, and Matthew “Warren Peace Sings the Blues” Brady — click here. To read my full review of A Drunken Dream, click here.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Done because there are too menny… great manga, that is, to confine myself to a traditional top ten list. With apologies to Thomas Hardy, here are some of the other titles that tickled my fancy in 2010:

The Best Manga of 2010: The Manga Critic’s Picks

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For all the upheaval within the manga industry — the demise of CMX, Del Rey, and Go! Comi, the layoffs at VIZ — 2010 proved an exceptionally good year for storytelling. True, titles like Black Butler, Naruto, and Nabari no Ou dominated sales charts, but publishers made a concerted effort to woo grown-ups with vintage manga — Black Blizzard, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories — edgy sci-fi — Biomega, 7 Billion Needles — underground comix — AX: A Collection of Alternative Manga, The Box Man — and good old-fashioned drama — All My Darling Daughters, Bunny Drop. I had a hard time limiting myself to just ten titles this year, so I’ve borrowed a few categories from my former PCS cohort Erin Finnegan, from Best New Guilty Pleasure to Best Manga You Thought You’d Hate. Please feel free to add your own thoughts: what titles did I unjustly omit? What titles did I like but you didn’t? Inquiring minds want to know!

10. CROSS GAME (Mitsuri Adachi; VIZ)

In this sometimes funny, sometimes melancholy coming-of-age story, a family tragedy brings teenager Ko Kitamura closer to neighbor Aoba Tsukishima, with whom he has a fraught relationship. Though the two bicker with the antagonistic gusto of Beatrice and Benedict, their shared love of baseball helps smooth the course of their budding romance. To be sure, Cross Game can’t escape a certain amount of sports-manga cliche, but Mitsuri Adachi is more interested in showing us how the characters relate to each other than in celebrating their amazing baseball skills. (Not that he skimps on the game play; Adachi clearly knows his way around the diamond.) The result is an agreeable dramedy that has the rhythm of a good situation comedy and the emotional depth of a well-crafted YA novel, with just enough shop-talk to win over baseball enthusiasts, too.

9. AX: A COLLECTION OF ALTERNATIVE MANGA (Various Artists; Top Shelf)

The next time someone dismisses manga as a “style” characterized by youthful-looking, big-eyed characters with button noses, I’m going to hand them a copy of AX, a rude, gleeful, and sometimes disturbing rebuke to the homogenized artwork and storylines found in mainstream manga publications. No one will confuse AX for Young Jump or even Big Comic Spirits; the stories in AX run the gamut from the grotesquely detailed to the playfully abstract, often flaunting their ugliness with the cheerful insistence of a ten-year-old boy waving a dead animal at squeamish classmates. Nor will anyone confuse Yoshihiro Tatsumi or Einosuke’s outlook with the humanism of Osamu Tezuka or Keiji Nakazawa; the stories in AX revel in the darker side of human nature, the part of us that’s fascinated with pain, death, sex, and bodily functions. Like all anthologies, the collection is somewhat uneven, with a few too many scatological tales for its own good, but the very best stories — “The Hare and the Tortoise,” “Push Pin Woman,” “Six Paths of Wealth,” “Puppy Love,” “Inside the Gourd” — attest to the diversity of talent contributing to this seminal manga magazine. –Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 5/21/10

8. NEKO RAMEN (Kenji Sonishi; Tokyopop)

If you’ve ever lived with a cat or dog, you know that no meal is complete without a pet hair garnish. Now imagine that your beloved companion actually prepared your meals instead of watching you eat them: what sort of unimaginable horrors might you encounter beyond the stray hair? That’s the starting point for Neko Ramen, a 4-koma manga about a cat whose big dream is to run a noodle shop, but author Kenji Sonishi quickly moves past hair balls and litter box jokes to mine a richer vein of humor, poking fun at his cat cook’s delusions of entrepreneurial grandeur. Taisho is the Don Quixote of ramen vendors, dreaming up ludicrous giveaways and unappetizing dishes in an effort to promote his business, never realizing that he is the store’s real selling point. The loose, sketchy artwork gives the series an improvisational feel, while the script has the pleasant, absurdist zing of an Abbott and Costello routine. –Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 6/2/10

7. AYAKO (Osamu Tezuka; Vertical, Inc.)

Combining the psychological realism of Dostoevsky with the social consciousness of Tolstoy and Zola, Osamu Tezuka uses conflicts within the once-powerful Tenge clan to dramatize the social, political, and economic upheaval caused by the American occupation of post-war Japan. No subject is off-limits for Tezuka: the Tenge commit murders, spy for the Americans, join the Communist Party, imprison a family member in an underground cell, and engage in incest. It’s one of Tezuka’s most sober and damning stories, at once tremendously powerful and seriously disturbing, with none of the cartoonish excess of Ode to Kirihito or MW. The ending is perhaps too pat and loaded with symbolism for its own good, but like Tezuka’s best work, Ayako forces the reader to confront the darkest, most corruptible corners of the human soul. As with Apollo’s Song, Black Jack, and Buddha, Vertical has done a superb job of making Tezuka accessible to Western readers with flipped artwork and a fluid translation.

6. BUNNY DROP (Yumi Unita; Yen Press)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a thirty-something bachelor unexpectedly becomes a parent to a cute little girl, leading to hijinks, misunderstandings, and heart-tugging moments. That’s a fair summary of what happens in Bunny Drop, but Yumi Unita wisely avoids the pitfalls of the single-dad genre — the cheap sentiment, the unfunny scenes of dad recoiling in horror at diapers, runny noses, and tears — instead focusing on the unique bond between Daikichi and Rin, the six-year-old whom he impetuously adopts after the rest of the family disavows her. (Rin is the product of a liaison between Daikichi’s grandfather and a much younger woman.) Though Daikichi struggles to find day care, buy clothes for Rin, and make sense of her standoffish behavior, he isn’t a buffoon or a straight man for Rin’s antics; Unita portrays him as a smart, sensitive person blessed with good instincts and common sense. Clean, expressive artwork and true-to-life dialogue further inoculate Bunny Drop against a terminal case of sitcom cuteness, making it one of the most thoughtful, moving, and adult manga of the year.

5. BLACK BLIZZARD (Yoshihiro Tatsumi; Drawn & Quarterly)

Written in just twenty days, this feverish pulp thriller plays like a mash-up of The Fugitive, The 39 Steps, and The Defiant Ones as two convicts — one a hardened criminal, the other a down-on-his luck musician — go on the lam during a blinding snowstorm. The heroes are more archetypes than characters, drawn in bold strokes, but the interaction between them crackles with antagonistic energy; they’re as much enemies as partners, roles that they constantly renegotiate during their escape. Evocative artwork — slashing lines, dramatic camera angles, images of speeding trains — infuses Black Blizzard with a raw, nervous energy that nicely mirrors the characters’ internal state. Only in the final, rushed pages does manga-ka Yoshihiro Tatsumi falter, tidily resolving the story through an all-too-convenient plot twist that hinges on coincidence. Still, that’s a minor criticism of a thoroughly entertaining story written during a crucial stage of Tatsumi’s artistic development. –Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 9/9/10

4. HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES (Natsume Ono; VIZ)

Timid ronin Akitsu Masanosuke can’t hold a steady job, despite his formidable swordsmanship. When a businessman approaches him with work, Masanosuke readily accepts, not realizing that his new employer, Yaichi, runs a crime syndicate that specializes in kidnapping. Masanosuke’s unwitting participation in a blackmailing scheme prevents him from severing his ties to Yaichi; Masanosuke must then decide if he will join the House of Five Leaves or bide his time until he can escape. Though Toshiro Mifune and Hiroyuki Sanada have made entire careers out of playing characters like Masanosuke, Natsume Ono makes a persuasive case that you don’t need a flesh-and-blood actor to tell this kind of story with heartbreaking intensity; she can do the slow-burn on the printed page with the same skill as Masaki Kobayashi (Hara Kiri, Samurai Rebellion) and Yoji Yamada (The Twilight Samurai) did on the big screen. –Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 8/20/10

3. TWIN SPICA (Kou Yaginuma; Vertical, Inc.)

Asumi Kamogawa is a small girl with a big dream: to be an astronaut on Japan’s first manned space flight. Though she passes the entrance exam for Tokyo Space School, she faces several additional hurdles to realizing her goal, from her child-like stature — she’s thirteen going on eight — to a faculty member who blames her father for causing a fiery rocket crash that claimed hundreds of civilian lives. Yet for all the setbacks she’s experienced, Asumi proves resilient, a gentle girl who perseveres in difficult situations, offers friendship in lieu of judgment, and demonstrates a preternatural awareness of life’s fragility. Twin Spica follows Asumi through every stage of training, from physics lectures to zero-G simulations, showing us how she befriends her fellow cadets and gradually learns to rely on herself, rather than her imaginary friend, Mr. Lion. Though Twin Spica was serialized in a seinen magazine, it works surprisingly well for young adults, too, an all-too-rare example of a direct, heartfelt story that’s neither saccharine nor mawkish.  –Reviewed at The Manga Critic on 5/3/10

2. ALL MY DARLING DAUGHTERS (Fumi Yoshinaga; VIZ)

The five vignettes in All My Darling Daughters depict women negotiating difficult personal relationships: a daughter confronts her mother about mom’s new, much younger husband; a college student seduces her professor, only to dump him when he tries to court her properly; a beautiful young woman contemplates an arranged marriage. Like all of Yoshinaga’s work, the characters in All My Darling Daughters love to talk. That chattiness isn’t always an asset to Yoshinaga’s storytelling (see Gerard and Jacques), but here the dialogue is perfectly calibrated to reveal just how complex and ambivalent these relationships really are. Yoshinaga’s artwork is understated but effective, as she uses small details — how a character stands or carries her shoulders — to offer a more complete and nuanced portrait of each woman. Quite possibly my favorite work by Yoshinaga.

1. A DRUNKEN DREAM AND OTHER STORIES (Moto Hagio; Fantagraphics)

Not coincidentally, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories was my nomination for Best New Graphic Novel of 2010 as well. Here’s what I had to say about the title over at Flashlight Worthy Books:

Moto Hagio is to shojo manga what Will Eisner is to American comics, a seminal creator whose distinctive style and sensibility profoundly changed the medium. Though Hagio has been actively publishing stories since the late 1960s, very little of her work has been translated into English. A Drunken Dream, published by Fantagraphics, is an excellent corrective — a handsomely produced, meticulously edited collection of Hagio’s short stories that span her career from 1970 to 2007. Readers new to Hagio’s work will appreciate the inclusion of two contextual essays by manga scholar Matt Thorn, one an introduction to Hagio and her peers, the other an interview with Hagio. What emerges is a portrait of a gifted artist who draws inspiration from many sources: Osamu Tezuka and Shotaro Ishimonori, Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, Frances Hodgson Burnett and L.M. Montgomery.

For the complete list — including nominations from David “Manga Curmudgeon” Welsh, Brigid “MangaBlog” Alverson, Lorena “i heart manga” Ruggero, and Matthew “Warren Peace Sings the Blues” Brady — click here. To read my full review of A Drunken Dream, click here.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Done because there are too menny… great manga, that is, to confine myself to a traditional top ten list. With apologies to Thomas Hardy, here are some of the other titles that tickled my fancy in 2010:

Manhwa Monday: December Preview

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Welcome to another Manhwa Monday! First off, we’ll take a look at some upcoming manhwa releases.

Only Yen Press has new manhwa slated for this month, and just three volumes at that. Fortunately, this includes the latest omnibus release of Park SoHee’s Goong, a beautifully drawn cinderella story with a modern-day sensibility. Though this double-sized volume is number ten for Yen Press, thanks to the series’ new omnibus format, it actually contains Korean volumes 11-12.

Other releases this month include the 13th (and final) volume of Angel Diary and volume four of horror manhwa Jack Frost.

In other news this month, The Korean of Ask a Korean is asking for manhwa recommendations for one of his readers. Kate Dacey makes some suggestions in comments. Why not follow her lead?

Metanorn’s Manga Digest column takes a break from the usual to focus on some manhwa.

Over at LiveJournal, walkwithheroes asks, “What manga, manhua, and manhwa do you want to see on TV?”

And at the iSeeToon blog, we’re introduced to Jeong-Woo Seon (aka “mirugi”), who will be leading up their new informational manhwa feature. He starts off with an explanation of what makes manhwa different. Though the translation is a little rough at this time, it’s definitely readable, and very informative for manga fans especially, who may not realize how little the South Korean comics business resembles Japan’s.

This week in reviews, Kate Dacey lists Goong among her current reads at the latest Reading Pile at Good Comics for Kids. And at Kuriousity, Lissa Pattillo checks out two recent releases from Yen Press, volume ten of Legend and volume 11 of Black God.

That’s all for this week!

Is there something I’ve missed? Leave your manhwa-related links in comments!

Manga on Deck for December

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Here’s the stack of manga that has made its way into my house recently, a combination of my usual monthly DCBS order, early holiday presents and some review copies:

I’m always excited to see a volume of Vagabond I haven’t read yet. I had no idea that the 4th volume of 12 Kingdoms was so big! I’m glad that Tokyopop continues to translate this title so people who were fans of the anime can get an idea of what the non-truncated story is like. I’m looking forward to trashy shoujo in Papillon and talking bears in Biomega. I’m finally getting around to reading Batman and the Mad Monk, because I do enjoy Matt Wagner’s superhero work sometimes. I was so excited when I saw a copy of Julietta Suzuki’s Kamisama Kiss. I am probably going to read that and Papillon first, because I am suddenly in the mood for some shoujo.

Announcing the next Manga Moveable Feast: Karakuri Odette

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I’m pleased to announce the next Manga Moveable Feast will be hosted here from January 16th-22nd. We’ll focus on Karakuri Odette, a great shoujo series about an android girl who wants to become more human.

I wanted to make this title the focus of my first time hosting the manga moveable feast because Julietta Suzuki elevates the android-girl genre, turning it into a series that is at times both sweet and philosophical. Suzuki’s a gifted cartoonist too, and the ways she subtly differentiates android Odette’s body language from her human friends is always a treat to see. Since it is well over a month away, you have plenty of time to add a volume or two of this series to your wishlists, or maybe pick it up with your holiday money. One of the nice things about this series is that it is fairly episodic, so even if you were to pick up one of the later volumes I think it would still be easy to enjoy the manga.

Here’s a sample first chapter on the Tokyopop site.
Here’s a sampling of reviews of the first volume from:
Comics Worth Reading
My old blog TangognaT
A Case Suitable for Treatment
About.com manga guide
And a bunch of review links on Manga Views.

2010 Manga Bookshelf Gift Guide

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Once again, it’s the time of year when manga bloggers throw in their suggestions for the Great Manga Gift Guide. Daniella Orihuela-Gruber is keeping this year’s archive at All About Manga. (Check out David Welsh’s Manga Curmudgeon for links to last year’s guides.)

Since Manga Bookshelf’s guide last year drew from manga and manhwa in general published up to that point, this year’s guide acts as an appendix, focusing on comics that debuted in 2010 only.

Shall we begin?

Short and Sweet
For something easy on the pocketbook (and easy to wrap), take a look at these manga, complete in one volume.

Not Love But Delicious Foods (Make Me So Happy!) | Yen Press – This single-volume manga from creator Fumi Yoshinaga is a joy for foodies and manga fans alike. From my review, “There isn’t a real story to this manga, just a series of episodes moving from restaurant to restaurant, but what makes each chapter come together is a strong feeling of intimacy with the characters and the author’s characteristic banter. Humorous dialogue is Yoshinaga’s specialty, and she uses it to great advantage in this book, stringing together descriptions of complicated dishes in the most natural way possible.”
Ristorante Paradiso | Viz Media – From Natsume Ono, this single volume manga has spawned a currently-running sequel series, Gente, but the original stands beautifully on its own. From my review, “The story begins with conflict–a young woman, Nicoletta, seeks out her mother (who abandoned her for love) with the intention of outing her as a divorcée to her current husband. But things immediately become more complicated as she finds herself torn between resentment over her mom’s happiness and a desire to be a part of the life her mom has built for herself … It’s a fairly quiet story about a bunch of people just being people, for better or worse.”

I Enjoy Being a Girl
If you’re looking for a series aimed at teen girls, here are a couple of strong choices, each with a very different feel.

The Story of Saiunkoku | Viz Media – This historical manga features beautiful costumes and scenery, a smart female lead, and plenty of royal intrigue to make its period setting come alive for teen readers. From my review, “…the series’ execution is thoughtful and unexpectedly nuanced. And though the story first seems to be crafted out of the same, tired tropes … each of these standard elements–the happy-go-lucky heroine, the over-the-top humor, the contrived matchmaking–becomes fresh and even insightful in Sai Yukino’s hands … Nobody is perfect, and since flawed characters are generally the most compelling in any story, this makes for a very rich experience overall.”
Seiho Boys’ High School! | Viz Media – This humorous tale of teenaged boys in a secluded all-boys high school leaves behind the romantic ideals of most shoujo manga in favor of comedy and an unexpectedly frank look at the minds and lives of its subjects. From my review, “… reading the second volume actually sold me on the series to an extent I could not possibly have expected. The crude humor is still there, but what turns the series around is that it *finally* focuses on its lead, Maki, giving him a rich, poignant backstory that really takes the story to the next level … one of the most realistic depictions of teenaged boys I’ve seen in shoujo manga.”

Ladies’ Choice
For a racier and/or more sophisticated read, here are some options certainly not exclusive to the ladies.

Bunny Drop | Yen Press – For female readers, it’s often entertaining to explore what men experience when thrust into roles generally allotted to women. Bunny Drop does this better than most, even portraying its male lead in a genuinely warm light. From my review, “Daikichi, is a 30-something bachelor whose recently deceased grandfather has left behind a 6-year-old love child, Rin, previously unknown to the rest of the family … In an impetuous fit of frustration, he declares that he’ll take care of Rin himself … This might sound dull, but it’s really, really not. It’s moving and funny and honestly compelling.”
There’s Something About Sunyool | NETCOMICS – One of the few recent NETCOMICS’ series for adult women to actually make it to print, Sunyool brings together melodrama, smart humor, and a strong female lead. From David Welsh’s review, “The title of Youngran Lee’s There’s Something About Sunyool is accurate, though it takes a while to figure out what that something is and if you’d like to see more of it. By the time I’d finished the first volume, she had gone from blandly quirky to confidently madcap, and I was very much in her corner … I’m looking forward to seeing her refuse to suffer new fools and roll with life’s nastier punches as the series progresses.”

Uncommon Beauty
These stories are from artists who weave tales of great beauty–mysterious, melancholy, and each stunning in its own way.

House of Five Leaves | Viz Media – Though it might seem strange to describe a story about a misplaced samurai and a group of criminals with terms like “uncommon beauty,” the quiet melancholy of this series brings to mind words just like that. From my review, “Akitsu is drawn to Yaichi’s personal qualities–the same ones he most painfully lacks–but his illusions are shattered when he discovers that Yaichi’s line of business is a sort of twisted vigilante kidnapping racket …The story moves quite slowly, but that’s really not the point. It’s all about this strange, vulnerable man, and whether he can truly discover family in a bunch of morally ambiguous outlaws.”
A Drunken Dream and Other Stories | Fantagraphics – This collection of short stories spanning the career of shoujo pioneer Moto Hagio offers a poignant look into the author’s mind, both as a young artist and an established creator, focusing especially on themes of family and personal identity. From Erica Friedman’s review, “Moto Hagio is a woman, who draws stories for girls. She is a Master of her Craft. She is a groundbreaker in her field. A Drunken Dream is a must-read for any serious student of manga. While you’re getting a copy, buy one for a niece or friend – and don’t tell them it’s ‘important.’ This way they’ll be free to just enjoy it, tropes and all.”

Supernatural Smorgasbord
Spirits, superstitions, and a herd of deadly unicorns? Here are two series both weird and wonderful.

Demon Sacred | TOKYOPOP – For fans of cracktastic shoujo fantasy, TOKYOPOP’s got your number this year with this tale of demons, deadly unicorns, and hot young men. From my review, “Itsuki is a deft storyteller with the soul of a dreamy-eyed teen, and despite the story’s complicated plot and abundance of characters, the narrative is so strong, it’s not confusing in the least. Everything about this manga is perfectly crafted to appeal to its core demographic of teen girls, but sophisticated enough to grab the attention of those of us who are only teens at heart. I honestly can’t wait to read more.”
Natsume’s Book of Friends | Viz Media – Debuting in January, this quiet series took the manga blogging world by storm as one of the biggest surprises of this year. From my review of volume one, “This story is a pleasant surprise on all counts–art, characterization, storytelling … It possesses a sort of xxxHolic meets Mushishi vibe … which is not to suggest that it lacks its own unique charms. This volume is charming from start to finish, thanks to Takashi (whose good heart shines even as he faces rejection from family and peers) and the spirits he meets along the way, ranging from downright adorable to genuinely frightening.”

Sci-Fi on the Side
If sci-fi is the way to go, Vertical’s got you covered this year.

Twin Spica | Vertical, Inc. – Easily earning my vote for best new series this year, Twin Spica follows the adolescence of Asumi, an aspiring young astronaut in a time of recovery for Japan’s space program. From my review of volume one, “Though this series finished its run … just last year, its simple artwork and wistful tone make its first volume read like an instant classic. Even the volume’s cover art … evokes feelings of nostalgia. Also, though the story’s foundation is set firmly in hard sci-fi, it is its heroine’s poignant and occasionally whimsical inner life that really defines its voice. Asumi provides the heart of this story, and it is a strange and wonderful heart indeed.”
7 Billion Needles | Vertical, Inc. – This story, about an isolated young girl whose body becomes host to an alien entity, is psychologically-driven sci-fi of the very best kind. From my Pick of the Week, “Inspired by Hal Clement’s 1950s sci-fi novel, Needle, but set firmly in the present, this volume feels nostalgic and contemporary all at once … And though the premise is perhaps not quite original, as with most manga, the plot here is somewhat beside the point. The real story driving this volume is Hikaru’s own personal journey and the beginnings of her tenuous connection to the other seven billion people with whom she shares the planet.”

For the Young & Young at Heart
Here are some great choices that easily appeal to young and old alike.

Chi’s Sweet Home | Vertical, Inc. – Cute and simple enough for younger readers, but written originally for adults, Chi’s Sweet Home is the ultimate holiday gift this year, guaranteed to please nearly anyone. From my review of the early volumes, “Chi’s Sweet Home is the family-friendly manga we’ve all be waiting for. Its tiny feline protagonist is uniquely poised to appeal to readers of all ages, and even very young readers will find its image-heavy narrative easy to follow. Kanata’s simple, expressive art tells her story so clearly, it’s a series most of us could probably follow even if Vertical had printed it in the original Japanese.”
One Fine Day | Yen Press One of the few new manhwa series to debut this year, One Fine Day is filled with glorious whimsy, charming artwork, magic, and sweet scenes of home life between protagonist No-Ah and his furry “children.” From my review, “Perhaps the series’ most consistently delightful aspect, however, is its artwork. Alternating between crude sketches and elaborate fancies, Sirial’s drawings overflow with warmth and whimsy, matching the story’s tone perfectly. From No-Ah’s comically unmanageable hair to Rang’s footie pajamas, everything that could be labeled as “cute” is also an essential tool for expression, contradicting the series’ haphazard feel.”

Bang For Your Buck
For a whole lot of manga in just one or two volumes, here are gifts that come complete without breaking the bank!

Tenken | One Peace Books – This surreal fantasy, complete in one oversized volume, has an atypical look that may appeal to non-manga fans. Though it can be challenging to follow, the rewards are clear. From Julie Opipari, “I loved the brooding atmosphere of this post-apocalyptic tale … maybe it’s meant to be like a dream, one that fades and blurs after waking. One aspect of this story is crystal clear, and that is the compelling elegance of the visually arresting art. I am looking forward to more by Yumiko Shirai. Like Saki,her artwork shines with brilliance that can’t be ignored.”
Chobits Omnibus | Dark Horse Manga – This bulky, two-volume reissue of the entire series is a treat for CLAMP fans old and new. With a spiffy new translation and gorgeous color pages, these oversized volumes reflect the quality manga fans have come to expect from Dark Horse. From astronerdboy, “Considering the Japanese love of androids and 2-D characters, CLAMP’s work here lays out the groundwork that questions the very notions of love and whether or not a person having a relationship with a machine in human form is acceptable … Along the way, CLAMP picks up a lot of fun, sweetness, interesting characters, and a genuine mystery over Chi.”

Boys Who Love Boys
If your loved one’s a fan of boy on boy action, perhaps one of these?

Calling | BLU – Strong BL one-shots are difficult to find. Most try to accomplish to much (or too little), and few are able to create a believable relationship in just a few chapters. Fortunately, Calling strikes the balance. From my review, “Calling is a surprisingly sweet story about two lonely young men discovering love for the first time. Even the story’s obvious cliches are handled with nuance and care … If Calling is more warm than it is profound, that’s really not something to complain about. It’s the story’s focus on small moments that make it work so well in just a single volume. In a sea of disappointing BL one-shots, Calling is a welcome oasis indeed.”
Seven Days | Juné – Though the premise of this (yet incomplete) short series appears cringe-worthy, its execution is anything but. From my review, “There are a lot of layers to this odd little story, and though it’s unclear at this point how anything might be resolved … writer Venio Tachibana provides more than enough reason for us to want to find out. And though that reason includes school club drama, at least two love triangles, one wonderfully tough female character, and, of course, attractive archery uniforms, it’s still the story’s idiosyncratic leads who steal the show with a mountain of mixed signals, persistent defensiveness, and awkward moments of affection.”

For more ideas, try last year’s guide. Happy Shopping!