Manga Village

Publisher’s description: Complex, powerful, and emotionally wrenching, not simple is a novel told in visual form by one of the most acclaimed creators at work today. R to L (Japanese Style). Ian, a young man with a fractured family history, travels from Australia to England to America in the hope of realizing his dreams and reuniting with his beloved sister. His story unfolds backwards through the framing narrative of Jim, a reporter driven to capture Ian’s experiences in a novel: not simple. A story within a story, a book within a book, a tale about the search for family, for an emotional home. By Natsume Ono Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating:Teen+ Genre: Drama Price: $14.99 I found this book very affecting, yes, but neither as brutally disgusting as Tucker Stone, nor as frank and “phenomenal” as Christopher Butcher seems to have. Instead, I fall somewhere in between. When I first saw the cover image, I fell in love. Seriously, I probably drooled a little. And the look of the book is gorgeous. It’s a great size, with subtle colors and line work on the cover unique among it’s manga brethren. In fact, the interior art, the pacing, the characterization– it has…

I bet no one would believe this story if I told them. A ninja fell from the sky in a sudden downpour of rain and saved me, a girl who wanted to die to spite her arrogant father. Pretty much anyone would say I’m crazy, huh? By Shoko Conami Publisher: Tokyopop Genre: shoujo/action/fantasy/romance Age rating: T/Teen/13+ Price: $9.99 In the grand internet battle between ninjas and pirates, I’ve always favoured ninjas. But although I prefer Naruto to One Piece, I don’t always find the frantic action and profound angst of the world’s most popular ninja manga to be suited to my mood. Sometimes I want something a bit less high-powered, a bit less epic, a bit softer, a bit more… well… girly. Still with the shurikens and ass-kicking, of course, but played in a different key. Enter Shinobi Life, in which teenage romance and ninja action intersect to delightful effect. Kagetora is a ninja charged with protecting the princess Beni; while escorting her from a battle, he falls through a vortex in time and finds himself in the 21st century. By chance or by fate, he happens to have fallen on the roof of a building where a girl who…

Oishinbo is something of a cultural oddity here in the United States. It follows a sultry, gourmet journalist Shiro Yamaoka and his girlfriend/wife Kurita Yuko in their quest to create the Ultimate Menu, which has been commissioned  for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Tozai News.  Shiro is a slacker cynic, but has an incredibly refined palate, and so along the way to the completion of this menu McGuffin, Yamaoka teaches his friends and colleagues the finer points of just about every type of food. Written by Tetsu Kariya; Illustrations by Akira Hanasaki Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Teen Genre: Food Price: $12.99 Shiro isn’t all-knowing – his knowledge and attitude kept in check by his father, a potter virtuoso and elite gastronome. The two constantly fight, and occasionally the old man gets a few past his son. This tension keeps the story engaging, and this tension makes Oishinbo a great comic instead of it being more of a illustrated Japanese food encyclopedia. The artistry of the book comes in two forms – the depictions of the food and background, and the depiction of the characters. The characters have been drawn simply, without much thought to shading and…

This is a collection of five romantic, hot and sexy stories about modern women and the men they love.  All of the stories depict romantic and physical relationships with nothing held back.  The title story is about a relationship between young teacher Mika Tsukahara and Naokazu Kuga, an 18-year-old student at her school.  Some say forbidden fruit is the sweetest! They’re neighbors too, and can’t control their attraction to each other.  Love thy neighbor! From Luv Luv with love! By Kanae Hazuki Publisher: Aurora (LuvLuv) Age Rating: 18+ Genre: Romance Price: $10.95 Voices of Love is a collection of 5 different stories with very different leads but all with a happy ending for the women.  Even though these are ladies comics, not all of the stories are told from their perspective, adding to the variety. The first story is also the title story, “Voices of Love”.  It’s about a young teacher and her next-door neighbor/student.  They seem complete opposites, as she the responsible type, and he is more reckless, especially with is relationships.  They have tentative relationship that is cemented when she is assaulted by a fellow teacher.  The story was told well enough, but I don’t care for the…

Syaoran, Fai, Kurogane, and Mokona are returning to the Kingdom of Clow–and toward an ultimate showdown with the ruthless Fei-Wang Reed. But entering a world that is cut off from time endangers the very existence of the once-happy villagers, as the final story arc of the Tsubasa epic begins! Review written by Dan Polley By CLAMP Publisher: Del Rey Manga Age Rating: 13+ Genre: Fantasy/Adventure Price: $10.99 The two Syaorans face off while the rest of Princess Sakura’s group until Sakura unexpectedly shows up in the middle of the fight. But one of the Syaorans cannot act how he wants to act. The dream world fight intensifies as both Syaorans vie for the princess’ feather. And then, the unthinkable happens. It’s hard to imagine the outcome of the battle hinging on such a move, yet that is exactly what happens. In flashback form, Fei explains part of his mission and how Princess Sakura and one of the Sayorans factor into the plan. All of this planning and scheming for power that “goes beyond space and time.” In the aftermath of the fight in the dream world, Sakura and Syaoran begin to understand how the events that have unfolded have brought…

I’ve got… nothing to say. Huh. Who knew? Being a manga artist is pretty darn hard…

Welcome to the Happy Café, where romance and happiness are the specials of the day! Meet Uru: She’s a little short, a bit disorganized, often is mistaken for an elementary school kid, and lives by herself after her mother gets remarried. When she decides to pay the bills by working part-time at the Happy Café, she meets Ichiro and Shindo, two of the most unsociable guys she’s ever met! And to make matters worse, it turns out that Uru is not exactly meant for the waitress world, as she’s a HUGE klutz. But as this hilarious shojo tale unfolds, 1 happiness–and even true love–might be lurking just around the corner… By Kou Matsuzuki Publisher: Tokyopop Age Rating: Teen Genre: Romance Price: $9.99 Kou Matsuzuki’s Happy Cafe takes place in Café Bonheur where little, height wise, sixteen year old Uru decides to seek employment after witnessing customers the day before leaving the cafe in such lifted spirits. Little does she realize the two men that work there, Ichiro and Shindo, are not the rays of sunshine she thought the customers sought after. Given the premise I was half expecting it to be loaded with slap stick humor of a ditzy girl…

Ann’s junior high school reunion is coming up, and she hasn’t seen Daigo in two years.  How will their reunion go?  Then finally the story behind Ann’s engagement.  Who is her fiance…? By Hinako Ashihara Publisher: Viz Media Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Romance/Drama Price: $9.99 This volume picks up where the series left off in Shojo Beat.  It covers just two time periods in Ann’s life; at age 20, and 26.  At her junior high school reunion, she and Daigo have a heart to heart that leaves her as cold as the winter weather.  And then when she is proposed to, she finds out she more like her mother than she ever thought. At age 20, Ann and Daigo meet at their junior high school reunion.  Ann is nervous about seeing Daigo again, but he doesn’t seem any different.  They meet after the reunion, and Ann confesses she wrong to break up with him, but Daigo thinks it was right.  Even though it probably wasn’t what he meant, but Daigo’s words live Ann cold and more alone than before.  She makes a promise to herself that sets her on a dark path, though that isn’t apparent yet. The next…

Rumiko Takahashi is a big name in manga – creator of the immensely popular Ranma 1/2 and InuYasha, she knows what it takes to write an enjoyable story. Arguably one of the most influential manga writers still writing today, she is the one manga-ka who could pull off the feat that is Rin-Ne.

One of the most used, and possibly most cliché phrases in the English language is “Hindsight is 20/20,” that is, that everything is clearest when looking back on it. There are parts of a situation where you have missing information, where decisions that seemed like good choices turned out to be catastrophic. Even more frustrating, there are scenes, moments of our lives where we’d like to use our perfect hindsight to change. That fight in elementary school, that comment in high school, that one night stand in college. These moments that changed who we are for better or worse are some of the most vivid in our minds, and are the ones we’d most like to manipulate. By Jiro Taniguchi Publisher: Fanfare/Ponent Mon Age Rating: Older Teen Genre: Drama Price: $23.00 While this idea has been toyed with in film (most notably, in the dreadful Butterfly Effect), nothing brings the concept to life more realistically than Jiro Taniguchi’s A Distant Neighborhood, a two-volume affair that has been co-published by Fanfare and Ponent Mon. In this sweeping childhood tale, we meet Hiroshi Nakahara, a middle-aged man who, under the influence of a nasty hangover, misses his train from Kyoto to Tokyo…