MJ, Danielle Leigh, and I have completed our penultimate (for now!) edition of the NANA Project over at Comics Should Be Good. You can find that post here. Volumes seventeen and eighteen are full of drama, most notably when a tabloid prints a story about Nana's long-lost mother and when Shin, lost after the end of his relationship with Reira, makes a real mess of things and … [Read more...] about NANA Project #9
Ai Yazawa
Let’s Get Visual: The Verklempt-Makers
MICHELLE: It's time for another installment of Let's Get Visual, the monthly column in which MJ and I attempt to better understand the visual aspects of manga! This month we're looking at scenes that have impacted us emotionally. Personally, I had always assumed that a sympathetic reaction to an emotional scene was due purely to my empathy for the characters and whatever they … [Read more...] about Let’s Get Visual: The Verklempt-Makers
The Return of the NANA Project
I've reached a point with NANA where, instead of wanting to write a review all by my lonesome, I save all my thoughts for the always-enjoyable roundtable discussion with Danielle Leigh and MJ. Their perceptions of the work cause me to look at it in new ways, and it's a testament to the depth of the story that we're on our eighth column and still haven't run out of things to … [Read more...] about The Return of the NANA Project
NANA Project #7!
So very much happens in volumes thirteen and fourteen of NANA that one could easily expend 1000 words on plot synopsis alone. Hachi grows somewhat stronger, Nana sustains some painful blows, several of the fellows aren't on their best behavior, and some peripheral characters grow in importance. In a way, this feels like a new phase in the series, and these two installments … [Read more...] about NANA Project #7!
MMF: Weekend Edition
The Paradise Kiss MMF is winding down, but there are still some new contributions to highlight. Proving once and for all that manga isn't just for kids, Derik Badman shared his academic paper, "Talking, Thinking, and Seeing in Pictures: Narration, Focalization, and Ocularization in Comics Narratives," for which he used Paradise Kiss as an example: Were I able to spend the … [Read more...] about MMF: Weekend Edition