As we wrap up ten days of animated discussion of our June MMF (Manga Moveable Feast) selection, The Color Trilogy, the time has come to announce the series that will be our focus for July. And the winner is... Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa! This josei series, published by TOKYOPOP, is complete in five volumes and tells the story of a schoolgirl whose world changes drastically when … [Read more...] about Watch This Space: July MMF!
MMF
The Color of Heaven by Kim Dong Hwa: C+
From the front flap: Ehwa, now a confident young woman, finds herself in the same maddening situation as her mother: waiting for a man. Her mother hopes for the return of her roaming lover, and Ehwa, in turn, gazes up at the same moon as her fiancé Duksam, a farmer who has gone to sea to seek his fortune so that he can marry her. Review: I do honestly want to like The Color … [Read more...] about The Color of Heaven by Kim Dong Hwa: C+
To Terra… 1 by Keiko Takemiya: A
From the back cover: The future. Having driven Terra to the brink of environmental collapse, humanity decides to reform itself by ushering in the age of Superior Domination (S.D.), a system of social control in which children are no longer the offspring of parents but the progeny of a universal computer. The new social order, however, results in an unexpected byproduct: the Mu, … [Read more...] about To Terra… 1 by Keiko Takemiya: A
Mushishi 1 by Yuki Urushibara: A-
From the back cover: Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some simply drive men mad. Shortly after life emerged from the primordial ooze, these deadly creatures, mushi, came into terrifying being. And they still exist and wreak havoc in the world today. Ginko, a young man with a sardonic smile, has the knowledge and … [Read more...] about Mushishi 1 by Yuki Urushibara: A-
Emma 1-2 by Kaoru Mori: A
More than any other non-shojo series, Emma is the one I most frequently see being mistaken for shojo. It's easy to see why: it's a low-key love story between a lovely and graceful maid and the liberally minded son of a wealthy merchant family. When we first meet Emma and William, she is working in the home of his former governess, Mrs. Kelly Stownar, whom he's been very remiss … [Read more...] about Emma 1-2 by Kaoru Mori: A