I've been doing a lot of extrablogular writing this month! First, there was the third installment of Breaking Down Banana Fish at Manga Bookshelf, in which we discuss volumes five and six of that series. Next, MJ, Danielle Leigh and I talked NANA—the eleventh and twelfth volumes, specifically—in our latest NANA Project at Comics Should Be Good. Lastly, as part of Fumi Yoshinaga … [Read more...] about Absolutely Elsewhere
Solfege by Fumi Yoshinaga: B+
I reviewed this one-shot BL story for the new BL Bookrack feature at Manga Bookshelf. It's less of a romance than it is a character study of a really crappy person, and I liked it all the better for that! You can find that review here. … [Read more...] about Solfege by Fumi Yoshinaga: B+
Don’t Say Any More, Darling by Fumi Yoshinaga: B
I reviewed this collection of short stories, some BL and some not, for the inaugural edition of a new feature at Manga Bookshelf called BL Bookrack. A couple of the stories are really quite weird, but I truly loved the final story, "The Pianist," about an aging musician who has convinced himself he's a "debauched fallen genius" rather than someone who simply didn't have the … [Read more...] about Don’t Say Any More, Darling by Fumi Yoshinaga: B
One Piece 22-24 by Eiichiro Oda: B+
In some ways, I don’t really need to write another review of One Piece. Its virtues remain the same—a likeable core cast of characters who show how far friends will go to help friends and Oda’s sure hand guiding what might otherwise devolve into scenes of chaos—as does its one chief flaw: a tendency for fights to go on and on. And yet, I enjoyed this trio of volumes so much … [Read more...] about One Piece 22-24 by Eiichiro Oda: B+
Afterschool Charisma 1 by Kumiko Suekane: B-
Sigmund Freud. Florence Nightingale. Napoleon Bonaparte. These are not merely the names of eminent historical figures. They are also the names of students at a certain high school. These children are the fruit of leading-edge genetic engineering technology. In other words… they are clones. It’s the year 2XXX A.D. and St. Kleio Academy is home to many students, all clones of … [Read more...] about Afterschool Charisma 1 by Kumiko Suekane: B-