This week’s letter in the Seinen Alphabet led to mention of a likely excellent josei title that starts with “G.” It’s Kozueko Morimoto’s Gokusen, originally serialized in Shueisha’s You. I’ll turn to Wikipedia for the nuts and bolts:

“The plot involves Kumiko Yamaguchi, the granddaughter of a Yakuza boss, Kuroda of the Kuroda Ikka. Her parents died when she was younger, and her grandfather has no other descendants, so Kumiko is next in line to head the family business with the title of Ojou. However, her lifelong dream has been to become a teacher. While her grandfather approves of her choice, others in the family want her to become the next boss.

“Kumiko (known by her students as ‘Yankumi’) becomes a teacher at an all-boys private high school. Her class is full of delinquents, but she tries her hardest to teach them not just about academics (her subject is Mathematics), but about lessons of life, much like any ‘dedicated teacher’ story. Though she’s forced to keep her family a secret from the public, her Yakuza upbringing gives her the strength and the experience to reach out to her students, while also providing comedic relief.”

Since it will likely be a while before someone picks up the charming My Darling! Miss Bancho, left in a cage at the homeless manga shelter by CMX, this would be nice compensation, don’t you think? A forthright young woman dealing with a horde of delinquents in unexpected ways? I’m game.

And perhaps Viz is game as well, with its recent, stealthy attempts to fold josei into its Shojo Beat line.

(And yes, I know that there are well-liked anime and live-action adaptations of this series. That’s great. This is the Manga Curmudgeon. Not the Adapted Franchise Products Curmudgeon.)

Random pre-swag note: Swag Bag is a semi-weekly article I’d always wanted to do, mostly because I love reading similar posts (be it blog or forum) from others. Too long has the voice and excitement of those who actually buy been left to the shadows while scanlation readers and fansub watchers make up huge amounts of most online locales of discussion. Web stuff breeds web talk after all, I suppose. This isn’t intended to be another repetitive us-versus-them debacle, simply an observation I wanted to act upon – those who buy should be proud to share, recommend, and perhaps most helpfully, inspire. No more shadows, okay?

That said, this article (Daily Video: Fans Launch ‘Sustain the Industry’ Movement) posted on AnimeNewsNetwork made me happy. Great job to them doing it! It’s a fun idea and looks like they have fun doing it. It was a nice bright spot in the day, excluding the expected sigh-factor to see another handful arguing that buying instead of watching for free is more hurt than  help to the industry. Blech. But, onto the swag!

A pretty light week for new manga releases but still some goodies to pick up. Along with a handful of new books, I also treated myself to some bargain bin finds as well.

Despite being a bit underwhelmed by the first, I couldn’t help but pick up the second volume of Chi’s Sweet Home. I’m not a cat person and it’s a story about a cat… just being a cat. But the adorable full colour art and great production values caught my eye again all the same. We’ll see if Chi can win me over in this one.

Speaking of catching my eye, the fourth volume of Karakuri Odette came out this week and I love the cover! Odette looks so silly and the outfits she and the presumably new character are wearing are really snazzy (makes the yuri fan in me squee just a tad, I’ll admit). I’ve no doubt the story inside shall prove just as fun. Super advanced robot tries to fit in at school and be like a real human girl – it’s continually proved itself 5x more charming than it initially sounds.

A new series I’ve been waiting for a while is finally out – NGE: Campus Apocalypse (Vol. 01). I was never huge into Evangelion but I’d consider myself a fan. Previous alternate-universe-esque takes on the original left me wanting anything but another, yet the artwork and plot of this one piqued my interest easy enough. Just flipping through after purchase, I know it was a good buy for the eye-candy alone. Really nice art, and past some similar character designs and names, it looks like a story that those not familiar with the franchise may be able to pick up and enjoy as well. We’ll see how this supernatural take pans out.

Thanks to a couple random items to round out a friend’s free-shipping with RightStuf purchase, I got the first two volumes of the Gravitation manga (old-school boys’ love!) and the one-shot novel. It’s really nostalgic reading them now, one of my first boys’ love stories from many a year ago! Forgot how sort of hideous the art is, though I still find the story charming in its own way – especially when Suiuchi outright proclaims his sexuality and affection for Eri. So refreshingly forthright, even today!

Also in my little RightStuf order, I got The 12 Kingdoms Novel (Vol. 03). I don’t own volumes one and two, but I will! The anime was amazing and I really look forward to reading the original books it was based off of.

And lastly, thanks to my local comic store Strange Adventures (which is where all my new purchases came from as well), I picked up volumes 1-6 of Trinity Blood. Admittedly I read the first volume a while back and wasn’t overly impressed. However, since then I’ve fallen head over heals for the out-there-oddity that is Zone-00 which has the same artist – so I’m giving Trinity Blood another go.

So you want to be a manga artist? Well, there's more to it than just drawing pictures on paper. You've got to come up with a story, spend sleepless nights drawing, please your finicky editor and deal with fickle fans too. Who would know this better than an actual manga artist? In fact, there are several manga about making manga.

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Yes, it's a day late at the comic shop due to the Labor Day holiday. Also, Midtown and Viz one again fail to hook up. I'm basing my list on what Viz says is coming out rather than Midtown, as Diamond tends to follow Viz's more accurately.

In any case, Dark Horse has new volumes from two of their more male-oriented series. Ghost Talker's Daydream has a virgin albino dominatrix who fights crime, which is a USA World Premiere Movie if ever there was one. And Gantz is... it's Gantz. It just is. You know what I mean.

Del Rey continues to prove it exists with a bunch of new stuff. I reviewed Volume 1 of Pink Innocent and found it horribly fascinating, especially its road accident of a heroine. I hope the second volume gives me more to stare at in a sort of dull stupor! There's also a new volume of Negima Neo, for those who like Negima but wish it had poorer writing and bad art. And omnibus volumes of the romantic comedy/drama Suzuka and the sort of insane roller blade epic Air Gear.

Udon is releasing some more of their kid-friendly titles, with Ninja Baseball Kyuma (ending here, I believe), Big Adventures of Kanojo, and two Mega Man titles. It's always nice to see things licensed from the 'Kodomo' genre of Japan, i.e. things actually for little kids.

Vertical has Volume 3 of Twin Spica, a series I'm definitely enjoying. Let's hope that the heroine can snap out of her funk and triumph against the teacher who hates her for undisclosed reasons.

And Viz has a pile of stuff, although it's a much smaller pile than I'm used to from them in a first week. A lot of titles that came out every 2 months are down to quarterly or even less. We get lots of shoujo I like, with volumes of Library Wars and Cactus's Secret, as well as the more adult Butterflies, Flowers. And then, in order to prove I am a MAN!, we also have Volume 2 of the food-loving Toriko.

It’s Friday! Time to discover new blogs to follow!   Blog Hop is a meme held every weekend and it is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.  It’s a great way to find book blogs that you might now know about.

Parajunkee is hosting Follow Friday, which is another fun way to meet new bloggers.  Check out Parajunkee’s blog here.

If you are visiting from the Blog Hop, please leave a comment so I can stop by your blog to say hi!

 

Question of the week:

Sarah @ SarahReadsTooMuch

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Oh, no! The sad truth is revealed, yet again, about my shallow book buying habits. Yes, yes, yes! Darn it, yes!  I will judge a book based on the cover! Paranormalcy – beautiful cover!  I pre-ordered it! I hardly ever pre-order main stream books, though I pre-order all of my manga.  Hush Hush?  Yeah, cover sold me on that one, too.  There is just something so appealing about a book with a gorgeous cover that I can’t resist!

 

Title: Genghis Khan

Author: Demi

Publisher:  Marshall Cavendish

ISBN: 978-0761455479

 

May Contain Spoilers

I was not sure what to expect when I checked this out from the library.  I love biographies, especially ones about warriors.  Alexander the Great, Crazy Horse, Hannibal – I’m interested in learning more about of them, and have read many, many pages about their exploits.  I have always been intrigued by Genghis Khan and his horde of Mongols, mainly for one reason; they were consummate equestrians.

I tripped across this book on Amazon, and put in a request at the library.  The combination of full-color artwork and spare, yet compelling text made this an interesting read.  Demi’s illustrations are more whimsical in nature, even during battle scenes.  The visual component of the story was very effective, with one minor quibble.  Gold foil is used without restraint throughout the book, and I thought it obscured the art.  All of that shiny metallic paper got obnoxious after about 3 pages.

Genghis Khan is a very short read, but the stunning visuals give the story an added kick.  Based on both historical fact and folklore, the life of Temujin, the boy who would grow up to become one of the most skilled leaders in history, is rich with action and political intrigue. 

Grade:  B-

Review copy obtained from the library

If you’ve poked around the site this week, you’ve probably noticed that the new layout features a studlier menu and retooled sidebar. The goal of my renovations was to make [...]

Clones, giant robots, and sea monsters await. Afterschool Charisma chapter 14 Bokurano chapter 14 Children of the Sea chapters 31 and 32 leylaaker

I’ve got Shugo Chara! on the brain today, thanks to last night’s discussion for Off the Shelf.

I know Peach-Pit doesn’t get a lot of respect, and I’m not a big fan of their other series, so I can understand that on some level. But I love Shugo Chara! and I honestly don’t understand some of the criticisms of it I’ve read elsewhere. It’s one of those series I often read reviews of on other sites and honestly think to myself, “Could we possibly be reading the same series?” That’s how strongly opinions may differ on this particular title.

Now, arguing with other critics is not only obnoxious, but foolish. An opinion on a subjective topic can’t actually be wrong. But I’ve made what are (in my mind) some pretty compelling arguments in favor of the series over the course of the past year or so, so what I can reasonably do is point readers to those and hope to convince them to give the series a real chance if they haven’t done so already.

So, here’s a chronological listing of my reviews of Shugo Chara!, each of which contains specific, heartfelt praise:

Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8

In addition, you can read things like Why I think Shugo Chara! overpowers Kamichama Karin Chu or (from last night) Why I think Shugo Chara! should be rated for ages 10+.

Alternatively, these posts can all be accessed together via my Shugo Chara! tag.

Without a doubt, Shugo Chara! is a favorite for me amongst pink, sparkly manga for girls. I hope one day it may be for you too. This has been my manga evangelism moment for the day. Enjoy! :)

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez looks at the BookScan’s top-selling manga for the past week and sorts them according to publisher and demographic.

In his latest trip to the grandma’s attic of manga, Jason Thompson unearths another horror classic, Demon City Hunter.

In a more modern vein, ANN has a roundup of new manga on handheld devices. This month, Animate is launching five yaoi titles, including an exclusive by Youka Nitta, on Kindle; a Japanese company, Recruit, has a new iPhone app that displays manga in English; and NTT Solmare has announced several titles, including Appleseed and Cyborg 009, will be released through the Nokia Ovi store this month.

Reviews

Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Akira (I Reads You)
Kate Dacey on vols. 1 and 2 of Apollo’s Song (The Manga Critic)
Christopher Butcher on vol. 1 of Bakuman (About.com)
Bill Sherman on Chibi Vampire: Airmail (Blogcritics)
Briana Lawrence on Finder, vol. 1: Target in the Viewfinder (Mania.com)
Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Karakuri Odette (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 8 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Penny Kenny on vol. 21 of Nana (Manga Life)
Kiki Van De Camp on vol. 8 of Sand Chronicles (Animanga Nation)

Reviewer: Andre

Manga-ka: Izumi Tsubaki
Publisher: Viz Media
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: August 2010

Synopsis: “For a brief moment, Chiaki fears that another girl is giving Yosuke a massage on the sly. As graduation day approaches, she must untangle her feelings for Yosuke and tell him how she really feels. Love, romance and massage…the exciting conclusion to The Magic Touch!”

Having heard both good and bad things about this series, I decided to undertake a review of the final volume for team Kuriousity. Catching up on the series with a previous volume beforehand, reading this last instalment left me pleasantly surprised. Magic Touch takes a fairly odd concept and delivers an entertaining, offbeat shojo series.

The volume starts off by touching upon the standard exams and Christmas stories you see in so many romantic comedy manga. While seemingly formulaic, these are shared moments of everyday life all of Magic Touch’s readership can relate to, and Tsubaki deserves credit for ensuring what could be seen as a repetitive becomes important moments in the cast’s emotional life. Seeing Chiaki make the difficult choice of helping her best friend out over going on a traditional Christmas date was refreshing, as was Yosuke’s reactions to this turn of events. Tsubaki’s use of a study date to spend more time developing Yosuke and Chiaki’s relationship, depicting more casual moments as they’ve grown more comfortable with each other, also made for a fun sequence that set-up the emotional base for the closing chapters.

Chiaki and Yosuke make for a charming odd couple, as Chiaki’s strange obsession with massage initially raises a brow out of it’s quirkiness, but grounds itself well despite the strange visualization of back pain as adorable creatures Chiaki calls Tsuboz. Chiaki manages to slowly endear herself on the reader, as her fairly honest, well-meaning personality help the reader root for her. Meanwhile, Yosuke might be your typical school prince with a tragic past, but Tsubaki managed to make these elements believable thanks to a detailed back story, and a generally flustered characterization as Chiaki misses Yosuke’s cues in the relationship, and Yosuke makes missteps of his own. The relationship is less a one-sided in this form, and allows the reader to sympathize with both characters.

While the massage-element makes for oddball window dressing initially, Tsubaki chooses to fold it into the conclusion as Chiaki begins questioning her massage-based reasons for being in a relationship with Yosuke. Misunderstandings build-up, and Yosuke also begins to be confused as to Chiaki’s feelings towards him. As Tsubaki sorts out the reasons the couple connected with each other outside the series strange concept, we’re presented with a natural, endearing chain of events that even manages to incorporate the Tsuboz, and complete the main character arc.

I also appreciated that Tsubaki opted to both go with her preferred ending, and the ending suggested by her editor, which worked alongside each other to provide a fairly satisfying finale. Depicting their schoolmates graduation and relationships provided an overall sense of closure, ensuring the reader that everyone is moving forward in to a bright future, yet still remain friends. Although my exposure to the cast was limited, Tsubaki seems to have balanced a fairly large range of characters well, something difficult to maintain in a long running shojo series, where supporting characters often get shoved to the sidelines.

Tsubaki’s artwork is a little more angular then some shojo manga, reminding me a little of Korean shojo manwha with her thicker inks and sharp angles. Her designs are slightly rounded off to make them a bit softer, giving her a look that wouldn’t look out of place in a shonen manga anthology. Also, the outright bizarre visual of the Tsuboz makes for a strangely cute anthropomorphic depiction of back pain. One might be initially confuddled by the bulbous, perpetually relaxed creatures, but will eventually succumb to their charming manipulation of their hosts.

Tsubaki closes the volume with a collection of 4-Koma, and a selection of fanart from assistants in their personal style, a nice way to send off the series from the entire team. Amid the often tumultuous world of shojo manga, it’s nice to have a series end on such a positive, outward looking note, reflected in the warm send-off of the assistants post-script. I’d recommend this series to most shojo manga fans, though some might be a bit put off by Chiaki’s odd fixation on massage. VIZ has announced her subsequent series Ore-Sama Teacher for an English release, so if you enjoyed Magic Touch, be sure to check that out as well.

Review written August 27, 2010 by Andre
Book provided by Viz Media for review purposes

We opened this blog in June with a video featuring Love Hina and Negima!’s Ken Akamatsu while drawing one of Negima!’s characters. What better way to open this “second season” of Masters of Manga than sharing a video featuring this same manga artist? Here, Akamatsu-sensei talks about his schedule, which seems kind of hard. After all, [...] Related posts:

1. Ken Akamatsu in Action While I’m still trying to recover from jet-lag and...

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Title: The Education of Bet

Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

ISBN: 978-0547223087

 

May Contain Spoilers

From Amazon:

When Will and Bet were four, tragic circumstances brought them to the same house, to be raised by a wealthy gentleman as brother and sister. Now sixteen, they’ve both enjoyed a privileged upbringing thus far. But not all is well in their household. Because she’s a girl, Bet’s world is contained within the walls of their grand home, her education limited to the rudiments of reading, writing, arithmetic, and sewing. Will’s world is much larger. He is allowed—forced, in his case—to go to school. Neither is happy.

So Bet comes up with a plan and persuades Will to give it a try: They’ll switch places. She’ll go to school as Will. Will can live as he chooses. But once Bet gets to school, she soon realizes living as a boy is going to be much more difficult than she imagined.

After finishing The Education of Bet, I found myself so thankful that I didn’t grow up in nineteenth-century England.  Ugh! What torture that would have been!  Like Bet, I would have longed for more out of life than waiting on the men hand and foot.  Bet proves herself to be a very clever young woman, who will risk anything to have the one thing denied her; an education.

Though I found parts of the plot highly improbable, I donned my rose-colored blinkers and chose to just roll with story developments without questioning most of them.  While I still have a problem with Bet sharing a dorm room with a testosterone riddled teenaged guy, I will just compare this to similar rooming arrangements in several manga series I have enjoyed, including Hana Kimi.  What is fiction without the suspension of disbelief, anyway?

Bet is beside herself with frustration.  She wants to go to school, but she can’t because she’s a girl.  Her close friend, Will, wants to be a soldier, but he can’t.  Why?  He has to go to school.  Their elderly guardian is aghast that Will is constantly tossed out of the finest boarding schools in England, and he is determined that the lad will be educated.  Or he’s going to die trying!  Sounds like the perfect setup for a little gender bending, huh?

Bet is such a cool character.  She is overcome by a furious desire to learn.  To read.  To understand the world around her.  She gnashes her teeth in frustration when she is confined to the house and denied the knowledge she seeks.  Bet leads very complicated life, and that’s before the idea of swapping places with Will ever entered her mind.  The orphaned child of a servant, she doesn’t know who her father is, and only her guardian’s charity has kept a roof over her head.  There is a very confusing place for her in the household; she’s not quite a servant, but she’s not part of the family, either.  Class distinctions are blurred, but they still exist.  Bet will never belong in either world.

Once she gets to school, she is in for a shock.  The learning environment is nothing like she expected, and trying to fit in with a bunch of rough and tumble young men is much more challenging than she thought.  There’s the bullying, and the taunting, and the fear of never being able to fit in here, either.  Even when she thinks she’s made a friend, they turn around and betray her.  I don’t think she wanted an education in interpersonal relationships, but this is first and foremost what Bet receives.

Her daily struggle to follow her dreams, no matter the cost, kept me glued to the book.  It did start a bit slowly, but once she arrives at school, it was difficult to put down.  Bet finds help in unexpected places,  which helps to fuel her unfaltering drive to achieve her goals.  She even finds herself falling in love with a classmate, and fights to keep her growing attraction to him her deepest, darkest secret.

With its fun characters and determined heroine, The Education of Bet is a satisfying, though unlikely, read. It was refreshing reading about a boarding school that wasn’t filled to the rafters with a bunch of vampires, witches, and werewolves.  Non-magical kids can be interesting, too!

Grade: B+

Review copy purchased from Amazon

 

Title: Honey Hunt Vol 5

Author: Miki Aihara

Publisher:  Viz

ISBN: 978-1421535074

 

May Contain Spoilers

From Amazon:

Find the courage to become a star!

As Yura’s friends gather to celebrate the premiere of the first episode of her TV show, she’s nowhere to be seen. Having taken up Q-ta’s offer of a hot springs vacation, Yura finds herself alone with him in a luxurious hotel room. Is she prepared to go all the way with Q-ta, or will her manager Mizorogi spoil the fun once again…?

Ah, Miki Aihara, why do I find your stories so irresistible?  Your characters don’t have noses, and your heroines have the mental fortitude of small sponges.  Somehow, though, almost against my will, I get sucked into your books and I can’t put them down.  I may get irritated (read: I do get irritated) at how Yura lets everyone push her around, but I can’t help but feel sorry for her.  She is so unsure of herself, and in this volume we get a glimpse into why she is so shy.  It’s made her even more sympathetic for me, but I wonder how she is going to survive the backstabbing world of show biz when she has yet to develop critical life skills to help her deal with other people and their abrasive personalities.

Yura’s mother is a complete and utter wench.  She has always been a selfish witch, and it is obvious that she will always be incapable of loving anyone other than herself.  She made Yura’s childhood a barren wasteland of loveless rejection.  How pathetic Yukari is, that she was so insanely jealous of her own daughter.  Yura has been nothing but a pawn to manipulate Onozuka from the day she was born.  Ugh! I can’t stand the woman!  Cutting her panels from the book and burning them wouldn’t clean the taint of her selfishness.  Ick!  I am looking forward to when Yura’s star does shine brighter than Yukari’s!

Though I often find the lead irritatingly passive, and the men in her life controlling buttheads, I just can’t stop reading Honey Hunt!  

Grade:  B

Review copy provided by publisher

By Julietta Suzuki. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

First off, I have to say how much I love Julietta Suzuki's cover for this volume. Not just because of the Utena/Rose of Versailles parody, but because of Odette's expression as she grips the rose between her teeth. Instead of a rakish grin, which is what one might expect from a cover like this, it's more like a 'wtf?'. It's awesome.

So we've been following the adventures of Odette and her friends, and while she does have a number of them, the only one that knows that she's a robot remains Asao. This is problematic, as he's the only one she can turn to in emergencies. (We see that here when she falls into the pool, and he has to take her shorted out body back to the professor. As an aside, his hurling Odette at the professor screaming "Make her waterproof!" is a comic highlight.) She really needs to meet someone else who can be in on the masquerade.

Enter Shiroyuki, a cloistered rich girl who lives in a mansion with her dolls and a stream of constantly changing maids. They're changing as Shiroyuki can read minds if she touches someone, and thus can tell when a maid is thinking nasty thoughts at her. Naturally, she's fascinated by Odette, whose mind she can't read. There's a number of misunderstandings and setbacks, but as the volume goes on these two get closer and closer, and we once again see from another person's eyes how far Odette as come as a person since the first volume.

In fact, most of this volume is about seeing Shiroyuki go through what Odette already has, dealing with the basic social interaction she's lacked all her life. This could be anything from learning that your friends do sometimes have OTHER friends they hang out with as well, or trying to scale a mountain just to show that you can. In the last chapter Shiroyuki goes with Odette and the others to see Yoko's family, and the loneliness and longing she feels from seeing their happy daily interaction is palpable.

Speaking of Odette, she's still the main character, and goes through a lot here. At times she seems more human than ever, even when doing things humans normally wouldn't. (Check out her expression with the wildlife animals surrounding her.) But she still tends to freeze up when she runs into an emotional experience she hasn't had herself. Of course, the balance to that is that once she gets the basic concept of what others are feeling, she's lightning quick to adapt. Coming home to a dark and empty home in the last chapter, she has a revelation about Shiroyuki's loneliness that she was completely oblivious to just an hour before. She's really pretty incredible.

The author also continues to throw in little things into the title, things that are just a bit weird but help to add character. At one point when Shiroyuki is getting ready to attend school for the first time, her butler offers her a bunch of fake classmates to be her fake friends. Despite being rich, Shiroyuki isn't stupid, and rejects them immediately. However, I found it very amusing that one of the girls, a princess-curled little moppet, hangs around anyway for the remainder of the volume, as her sort of de facto guardian and irritating clinging girl. I like the idea of taking a basic 1-panel gag and wondering what happens after.

This continues to be a terrific shoujo series, and at 6 volumes total it's not even that much of an investment. Also, since everyone's been talking about good manga for kids lately, I do think this series would be perfect for 12-13 year old girls looking for someone to identify with as they struggle with their own teenage daydreams.

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, the Fantagraphics collection of short stories from across Moto Hagio’s career, is one of those books that spoils you. It’s so lovingly conceived and beautifully produced, and the material it contains is so strong that it’s hard not to envision who might be next to receive this generous treatment. Hagio, one of the founders of modern shôjo manga and great contemporary manga in general, certainly deserves as much of a gracious spotlight as publishers are able to provide.

We all knew this already based on work like They Were 11 and A, A Prime and the loving profile and the interview by Matt Thorn in that great issue of The Comics Journal. Thorn is back to select and translate the stories here, and really, every great manga-ka should have as devoted and talented an admirer. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories is obviously a labor of love.

It’s also vibrant reading. When you consider vintage material, there’s always the awkward question of whether this material is being republished for archival completion or because it’s as good today as it was when it was first published. Prevailing market conditions may not be especially friendly to a virtue-based publishing strategy, but Fantagraphics is just the type to at least partially ignore those conditions for the sake of the canon. Fortunately, Hagio’s work passes both tests, historical significance and timeless excellence.

The oldest work here, “Bianca,” is potent and alive. It’s about a brief, intense relationship between two young girls, and Hagio hits all the right notes. Visually, it tracks closest with what might come to mind when one thinks of “classic shôjo,” and it has a fascinating psychological directness that balances the glowing sweetness of the illustrations.

From there, it’s fascinating to watch Hagio set aside visual delicacy for a style that matches her unflinching commitment to emotional detail. Take “Hanshin: Half-God,” a tale of conjoined twins. One is beautiful but virtually unable to function, with her bright, starved, ugly sister literally doing all of the heavy lifting. The amount of punch Hagio derives from the scenario is just staggering. Her grasp of an emotional triangle in “Marié, Ten Years Later” is almost as assured. She captures the wistful sadness of a trio of friends forced apart by jealousy and individual need.

All of these stories aren’t created equal, obviously, though they all make sense in curatorial context. Having now read Hagio’s more grounded stories, I find (maybe blasphemously) that I have a little less patience for her tales that are tinged to some degree with science fiction. The centerpiece, “A Drunken Dream,” is lovely and accomplished, but the fantasy elements feel like a distraction in light of how much she can do without the extra trappings. It’s not that she’s clumsy in their execution, but the more naturalistic stories are just so piercing. Who needs jumpsuits and telepathy when you’ve got such a complex emotional core?

Of course, a little weirdness can be tremendously advantageous, as in the gorgeous, lengthy “Iguana Girl.” In it, a smart, sensitive girl builds a satisfying adult life in spite of her mother’s neurotic cruelty. The mother sees the girl as a repulsive lizard, and the girl’s self-image agrees with the mother’s. Hagio’s rendering of the iguana girl is kind of cruelly accurate, but she finds ways to tinge the reptilian expression with sadness and regret. Even with the scaly flourishes, Hagio gets to the heart of ways a parent’s opinion can shape a child.

I could find something to say about every story here, but I’d rather you just read them. You could even read the introduction by Trina Robbins if you absolutely must, but it doesn’t tell you anything Hagio doesn’t show in her stories. (“Make sure to have tissues on hand!” Sigh.) And after you’ve read them, I wonder if you’d agree with me that there should be more collections of this nature – short, representative works that introduce a creator over time. (And I’d love to see a companion volume of Hagio’s boys’ love stories. I have to suspect that one is in the works, as it seems bizarre for it to have so little presence here when that’s one of the reasons Hagio is a living legend.) I know that they probably aren’t easy to assemble, what with rival publishers and shifting creative fates, but I think it’s an amazingly persuasive way to sell a talent and perhaps open up demand for their longer works.

And since I’ve ended up with a clean, extra copy of the book, I’d like to give it away. So I’ll do one of my slapdash contests. Email me at DavidPWelsh at Yahoo dot Com and name a creator who you’d like to see get the “Drunken Dream” treatment with a brief argument in their favor, and I’ll pick a winner to receive my spare copy. Deadline will be Sunday, Sept. 5, at midnight.

Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy is the talk of the town.  Take a look at that gorgeous cover, and you’ll know why.  The book hit stores on Tuesday, so it will only be a few more days before my copy arrives from Amazon (I hope!).  I am dying to see if the book lives up to all of the hype, so I am really, really antsy to my hands on it.  To help keep my patience in check, Kiersten White graciously agreed to drop by the virtual offices to answer a few questions.

Describe yourself in 140 characters or less.

I give the most awkward hugs in the world. I also write books. You should probably opt for one of my books over one of my hugs.

Can you tell us a little about your book, Paranormalcy?

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?

I wondered what one would do if the goal was to neutralize vampires without killing them, which led me to the idea for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Evie, the main character, started talking to me and then I thought, why on earth would a sixteen-year-old work for a covert, international government organization? The rest of the plot just sort of fell into place!

What have you learned about yourself through your characters?

Apparently I have issues with emotional isolation. Who knew? Thank heavens writing is cheaper than therapy.

Why do you think paranormal books are so popular?  What do you find most appealing about them?

I think that they function as a metaphor for our challenges in connecting with and understanding other people. Plus there’s the whole OHMYGOSHVAMPIRESAREHAWT aspect that comes into play. (For the record, I don’t think vampires are hawt. I prefer yetis, myself. Or werepugs.)

What appeals most to me is how much fun you can have with paranormal stories. You aren’t limited by the real world, so you can have these fantastic, ridiculous plots with normal, relatable characters. It’s the best of both worlds.

What’s the most gratifying aspect of having your book published?

Last night I showed the finished book to my mom and she cried. I’ve always secretly been a bully, so pretty much my goal in life is to make people cry and this seemed easier than mocking or punching them.

Okay, seriously, it’s just amazing that people are interested in the stories I have to tell. And seeing my kids (who are quite young) talk about Evie and my books makes me so happy. Now I won’t be lying when I tell them they can make their dreams come true!

I’m gonna keep lying to them about the tooth fairy, though.

Who was your biggest supporter while you were working on the book?

My friend and critique partner, Natalie Whipple. She’s always been my greatest cheerleader, egging me on to write more, more, more. I don’t know that I would have written it without her. So what I’m saying is, if you hate it, please send all complaints to her. My husband has also been unfailingly supportive, which is a good thing, because he has to share me with Word a lot.

If you had to pick one book that turned you on to reading, what would it be?

I always, always loved reading. I can’t remember a time when it hasn’t been a part of my life!

What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

I waste a lot of time online (as is evident if you follow me on twitter or my blog), I love reading, and I like playing with my kids and hanging out with my husband. I have a super cool family—they are ridiculous and hilarious and wonderful. Yes, I’m probably the luckiest girl in the world.

Thanks!

You can learn more about Kiersten by visiting her website here, or if you are into cyber stalking, click follow on her Twitter account.  If you haven’t already purchased Paranormalcy, run out to your favorite bookseller right now and pick up a copy!  Or just click the handy widget below and have it delivered to your doorstep.

Chi’s Sweet Home is the tale of a lost kitten finding a home with a young family. Despite not being able to keep pets in their apartment, they take the lost kitten in and try to find a home for her. Like most people who take in cats “temporarily” the kitten, who names herself Chi, wiggles her way into the house and hearts of the Yamada family.

by Konami Kanata
Publisher: Veritcal, Inc.
Age Rating: All Ages
Genre: Pet
Price: $13.99
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Buy These Books

I’ll say this upfront; I love cats. So this title already had a head start before I even cracked it open. Fortunately, I was not disappointed once I did started reading it. Chi, the main character, draws you in immediately. She is cute, but not the sugary-sweet, Hello Kitty kind of cute. She is cute the same way that a baby is. She is a baby cat after all, and acts like one. She is easily distracted (which is what gets her separated from her mother and siblings in the first place), trying new things, making mistakes, and learning from them. She and Yohei, the little boy who finds Chi, are very much a like in that way. Both being young children, they end up learning things together. Both Chi and Yohei learn to use the potty correctly.

Over the two volumes, Chi and the Yamadas learn to get along and live with each other. Chi slowly accepts the Yamadas as his new family, and she and Yohei get along very much like siblings. They play together and even compete for toys and food. It’s not all fun and games though, especially with Mom and Dad. Mom tortures Chi with a bath, and scolds her when Chi tries out her claws on the couch. Dad is worse, taking Chi to the vet, which earns him her scorn for several days after. It is sweet to see how the parents come to accept Chi as well. Dad is saddened by Chi avoiding him after the vet visit, and Mom takes Yohei to search for Chi when she gets out and can’t find her way home.

There is a lot of humor in this title, and much of it comes from Chi being a kitten and doing kitten-y things. From her liking the plastic bag more than the toys that came in it to chasing super bouncy balls, to playing with crumbled paper, Chi’s sheer joy is infectious and hard not to smile at. Of course, the not so nice things that happen to her can be funny as well. Her reaction to her introduction to dogs, cars and the hair dryer made me laugh out loud. A lot of this has to do with Kanata-sensei’s art. She puts so much expression into Chi, that even without the translation, one could figure out whether she was happy, sad, scared or angry.

I can’t speak for the accuracy of Vertical’s translations, but I think the localization is done very well. Chi’s speaking is portrayed with a little bit of baby speak, often making her sound like Tweety Bird, as she says things like “Fwuffy” and “gowing”. Fortunately, it’s used sparingly, so it doesn’t distract the reader as much as it could. I also like how Chi’s cat speech is also varied. She doesn’t just say “meow”. Her cat vocabulary also includes “miya”, “mew”, and “meowr” among others, giving the impression of different inflections, depending on her mood.

The art for this title is rather toonish, with the characters being drawn simply and without a lot of detail. Chi’s cuteness can not be denied whether it’s her usual wide-eyed expression as she goes exploring or it’s her narrowed-eyed, fluffed out fur when she’s upset. The simplicity of the art makes it easier to appeal to a non-manga audience, much like it’s subject matter should. Vertical’s editions are in color, done in a watercolor style, giving the books a gentle feel.

While Chi’s Sweet Home was originally serialized in a men’s magazine in Japan, it really feels like an all ages title. Chi is just so cute, it’s hard to imagine a child, male or female being able to resister her charms. The chapters are simple and short, but also fun and sweet. Cat lovers will melt for this title too, as Chi reminds them how much fun kittens are, even if they do eventually grow up to be cats. Even non-cat people can get something out of this series. They can see why cat lovers love their cats so much, even if they don’t get it.

Funny, and heart-warming, Chi’s Sweet Home is a title the whole family can enjoy,and is easily one of the best titles to come out this year.

Art by Soumei Hoshino and Story by Quinrose
Published in the US by TokyoPop




Slugline:  Where being in love and wanting to kill the person makes perfect sense.

Alice is resting in her garden with her sister when she is taken by a man with rabbit ears to Wonderland.  She arrives at the clock tower which is at the center of Wonderland’s three feuding territories.  They are the Mad Hatter’s mafia based out of his mansion, the Queen’s castle surrounded a garden maze and the amusement park run by Mary Gowland.  The conflict seems to be mostly between the Queen and the Mad Hatter but none of them really like each other or the clock tower’s master who is traditionally neutral.  Alice is forced into this world, with her unique status of an outsider that making her interact with others to return home.  She learns that a difference between her and Wonderland’s is that she had a heart while everyone else has a clock.  This difference and what it means along with everyone loving her continually surprises Alice as she gradually forgets about escaping Wonderland.

In many manga it seems that every male character that sticks around for more than a couple of panels falls in love with the female lead character.  Here, they take that and make it a plot point!  Everyone in Wonderland is supposed to love Alice, it is part of being an outsider.  But because the Wonderland natives are already fighting this just gives them one more reason to it to continue and get even worse.  The characters reflect their roots from the source material which means they can be very odd making into them both charming and disturbing at turns.  Alice’s shuttling between factions can feel a bit repetitive but every time Alice visits someone the question is whether or not this will be the time the character will stop being charming and become deranged.
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Alice in the Country of Hearts, vol. 1, vol. 2 and vol. 3 are all available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Welcome to another edition of Off the Shelf with Melinda & Michelle! I’m joined, once again, by Soliloquy in Blue‘s Michelle Smith.

With the latest Manga Moveable Feast well underway (hosted this month by the crew at the School Library Journal’s Good Comics for Kids), Michelle and I take a look at books from Yen Press, Viz Media, Del Rey Manga, and CMX. Enjoy!

MELINDA: So, it’s another Manga Moveable Feast week here at Off the Shelf! The object of the Feast is a bit different this time around. Though the primary title chosen for discussion is Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsuba&! (Yen Press), we’re also offered the opportunity to talk about some other titles that are being marketed for kids, either here or in Japan (and perhaps both).

What I’m most interested in is probably the question of why Yotsuba&! is recommended for kids here, though it’s published for adults in Japan, while some other titles are rated much higher here than they are over there. But I suspect you might have your own agenda too. Am I right?

MICHELLE: Well, no, actually. I’m still happy from my seven-volume binge and hung up on how awesome Yotsuba&! is. I haven’t really gotten beyond that yet. So, what I’m saying is I’ll happily be swept along by your agenda. :)

MELINDA: Well, okay! Let’s start with Yotsuba, then. For those who don’t know, Yotsuba&! is a slice-of-life series that chronicles the daily adventures of Yotsuba, a green-haired five-year-old who lives with Koiwai, her youngish adoptive dad, and who approaches everything in life with a sense of true wonder and (frequently) an earnest lack of understanding. Over the course of the series, she is introduced to everyday concepts like air-conditioning and cake, each more wonderful than the next.

I love this manga. I find it completely charming and adorable. Yet, I admit I’m genuinely perplexed by the fact that it’s being recommended here for children. Even if you completely ignore its origins in Japan, where it is published in Dengeki Daioh, a magazine for 20-something males that is not particularly subtle about its lolicon sensibility, and even if you completely ignore some of the (actually subtle) personal dynamics between Yotsuba&!‘s adult male characters and its school-aged girls, it still reads to me like a comic for adults. Even from the most innocent perspective, Yotsuba&! strikes me as more grown-up nostalgia than anything kids would be interested in. I know that’s the perspective I’m reading it from, and though I’ve heard people talk about how well it’s been received by kids in the states (I think you actually chimed in with an anecdote on the MMF mailing list, right?) it’s not something that ever would have interested me as a kid.

If I was reading about kids (as a kid), I wanted to read about kids older than I was, and I wanted a pretty strong older-kid POV in the narrative, too. In fact, my favorite kinds of stories with kids in them were ones in which they had little-to-no adult supervision, like the Maida’s Little… books which I read rabidly as a kid, The Secret Garden, or the Chronicles of Narnia. If I was going to read about kids, I wanted the kids to be in charge of their world and their adventure, even if it was terrifying. Even stories where kids led lives as comparatively uneventful as, say, Laura Ingalls’ in Little House on the Prairie were deeply immersed in the inner worlds of those kids and their personal stake in what was going on around them.

By contrast, Yotsuba&! feels very adult-oriented. Even with Yotsuba at the center of every adventure, we’re not really experiencing things from her point of view. We’re grown-up observers, looking in on her little world of wonder, and marveling at the charm of it all. When she’s angry or frustrated, we’re not there with her in her mind, sharing her feelings. We’re smiling at how cute she is. It’s simply not the same thing as you’d find in most children’s literature, and I’m honestly surprised that something like this would appeal to an actual kid. Yet that seems to be the case.

MICHELLE: I have managed, so far, to pretty much ignore any kind of “personal dynamics” going on and enjoy the series almost entirely for its nostalgia factor. I also love how Azuma is able to portray the logic a five-year-old uses to process the world, as well. So yes, I think this is chiefly a manga for adults. But still, it is true that some kids really are fans. One anecdote shared with me by a middle school teacher (who awesomely maintains a manga lending library for his students) was how popular the series was with his class. I suspect the silly humor is appealing to them, no matter what the age of the protagonist.

I’m not sure whether I would’ve liked this as a kid. Possibly, since I liked slice-of-life kinds of stories where heroines make lots of mistakes like Anne of Green Gables, but it’s hard to say. I was rabid for kitties, though, so something like Chi’s Sweet Home definitely would’ve been a hit and that’s technically seinen, too.

MELINDA: I’ll admit I wasn’t big on humor as a kid. Is that a really weird thing to say? It’s true, though. I loved drama and adventure and genuine suspense, but I didn’t care much for jokes and I outright hated anything that made me feel like I was being talked down to. I wouldn’t put Yotsuba&! in that category because, really, it’s not talking to kids at all. But I might have felt that way about it if I’d had it presented to me as something for kids when I was one myself. It’s hard to say. Maybe this is my problem, though. Maybe I was just too serious as a kid to enjoy something like this. I didn’t become silly until much, much later. :)

I loved Anne of Green Gables, too, though I cringed painfully at her mistakes, to the point of actually experiencing personal embarrassment over them myself. I enjoyed it more when she got older and became a bit more, ohhhh, elegant about her blunders. Heh.

MICHELLE: I liked some funny stuff, I guess, though now I can’t seem to remember what it was. I’m with you regarding cringing over Anne’s mistakes, though! And they were awfully repetitive, too; many involve grabbing the wrong thing from the pantry. At least Yotsuba never makes the same mistake twice and, really, sometimes her mistakes aren’t really wrong so much as they are a different way of seeing things. This is what I was talking about regarding my enjoyment of the way she thinks. In volume four, for example, she accompanies her father to the grocery store and is told that the smaller cart is for kids. Later, she applies this same logic to quail eggs, which are smaller than chicken eggs. I love it!

MELINDA: Oh, I completely agree. There’s hardly a character in manga I find more delightful than Yotsuba. I think she’s extremely well-written, and I’d give this manga to nearly anyone I know. It’s humor is well-suited to almost anyone. I just don’t think it would ever have occurred to me to give it to kids.

MICHELLE: I’m not sure I’d give it to little kids but I’d give it to my coworker’s kid-loving tween in a heartbeat.

MELINDA: Speaking of delightful characters, there’s another series I think we both wanted to talk about here, which stars another of my most favorite fictional kids ever. That would be Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata’s Hikaru no Go. Would you like to start?

MICHELLE: Regarding Hikaru no Go, I think what makes it a great manga for kids is that it conveys lessons without being preachy. Hikaru achieves his goals through years of hard work and intensive study. He loses someone important, grieves, rallies, and demonstrates that it’s possible to recover from such a loss with your head held high but while simultaneously honoring what that person meant to you. And, in volumes 19 and 20 particularly, the story shows that actions have consequences, as Hikaru’s many absences has resulted in him having a lower rank than he ordinarily might. Rather than rail against this as an injustice, Hikaru accepts this and merely becomes more focused in rectifying his mistake.

MELINDA: I think you’re right on the money here, and I think what helps, too, is that because the action takes place mainly around a board game (Go, for those who haven’t read this), all this stuff happens in an environment where achievements are attained entirely with the mind. The characters can be serious and even ruthless about going after their goals without the writer having to maneuver around tricky moral issues like violence or death, as you might see in a shonen battle manga. And without the heavy team-oriented play central to most shonen sports manga, there’s also no sense of “us and them.” There’s no good or evil in Hikaru no Go.

Even in the matches between players, the focus is on improving self more than it is on defeating the opponent, and it feels very genuine. I think the setting lends itself to very realistic characterization, without the insertion of a lot of over-the-top action (though I do love the super-dramatic stone placement in most of the matches), so what we get as readers is just this really touching portrayal of a boy growing into a young man. Most of the story’s moral ambiguity is centered around Sai and what his rightful place is in Hikaru’s life, and it’s subtle and thought-provoking rather than melodramatic.

MICHELLE: And you, in turn, make a great observation when you mention the lack of an “us and them” mentality. A major part of volume 20, for example, concerns the qualifying preliminaries for the Hokuto Cup, a team tournament where three pros under the age of 18 will represent Japan in matches against their Chinese and Korean peers. With Akira already guaranteed a spot on the team, everyone else is competing for the two remaining spots, which means that, barring an outcome in which both Hikaru and his good friend Waya manage to qualify, Hikaru will have to defeat one of his best friends in order to make it onto the team.

MELINDA: One of the things I love most about the Hokuto Cup storyline is the view it offers of Waya, in particular. He’s aware that Hikaru is a flashier player than he is, and that despite his string of forfeits, he’s viewed as a more intimidating opponent, even among older pros. He’s Hikaru’s close friend, but he has no choice but to recognize this gap between them, so he’s genuinely relieved that he’s not set up to play against him directly in the qualifying matches. Waya’s a great character throughout the series, but I found him particularly relatable and poignant here.

And really, all the characters are just fantastic in this series. There’s definitely no talking down to kids happening here. Despite the fact that these young go pros are kids with extraordinary minds, they are portrayed as real kids. I also enjoy the fact that the series repeatedly revisits the kids in Hikaru’s junior high Go Club, reminding us that there is a point to playing the game whether or not you’re trying to achieve The Divine Move. Not only is that a great lesson for kids, it’s a great excuse to check in on a group of pretty awesome characters.

MICHELLE: Yeah, there’s a really nice chapter here where Akari passes by Hikaru’s house on her way back from a grueling session at cram school, hears from his mom that he’s hard at work practicing, and receives a sort of accidental inspiration from his example. That was nifty! Randomly, I also love how the characters subtly age throughout the story. Both Hikaru and Akira stun me with how adult they can look on occasion, though both (but more so Hikaru) can promptly shed those years in happier, more excited moments.

MELINDA: Yeah, I think their aging is handled really well, especially since so much of the story takes place during those terrifying adolescent years where the line between child and adult is muddled for everyone. It happens so naturally here, that you hardly even realize what’s happening until one of those grown-up moments you mentioned turns up. As adult readers, I expect what we’re experiencing is much like watching the aging of one’s own child.

To my mind, Hikaru no Go is one of those rare all-ages manga (or at least rare in translation) that genuinely reads well for all ages. It was you who quoted C.S. Lewis recently, wasn’t it? “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” This is how I feel about Hikaru no Go. I think it’s that worthwhile. And I’d definitely recommend it for kids.

MICHELLE: Yes, that was me. It’s one of my favorite quotes. Not only do I recommend Hikaru no Go to kids, I have personally given it to kids—well, okay, one kid—that ended up loving it a lot.

MELINDA: So, I’d like to make an argument now for a favorite series of mine that I think is actually rated inappropriately high, age-wise, by it’s English-language publisher. That series is Peach-Pit’s Shugo Chara!, published in English by Del Rey.

Though it runs in Nakayoshi in Japan–the same magazine that was home to a number of series that have been rated for younger readers here, such as Cardcaptor Sakura and Sugar Sugar Rune–Del Rey rates Shugo Chara! as 13+, which, for a story with a 12-year-old protagonist, I think is frankly ridiculous.

Now, I’m not trying to make an argument that this should be rated all-ages. I can’t imagine it holding much interest for kids under the age of nine or ten. It’s got too much romance and general navel-gazing for readers younger than that. But I do see its ideal demographic as tweens, and I’d be willing to bet that one of the main reasons I’d hold up for that is also the reason Del Rey decided to rate it thirteen and over. In one word: Ikuto.

MICHELLE: I’ve never read the series (even though I buy every volume!) so, for the benefit of me and the other uninitiated, I think you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.

MELINDA: I expected this. So. The story is about Amu, right? She’s a twelve-year-old at a fancy elementary school, who is known for being kind of a badass (in an elementary school kind of way). Trouble is, she feels like the personality she displays on the outside doesn’t match the girl she is inside, though she’s not even sure who that girl really is. Her confusion soon manifests itself as a group of decorated eggs, each of which eventually hatches into a shugo chara (guardian character), representing her various potential selves.

There’s a whole bunch of corporate intrigue (no really) that comes into play here with adults trying to manipulate children’s heart’s eggs and so on, and one kid they’ve forced into working for them is a high school boy named Ikuto. He’s a violinist and badass too (in a more high school kind of way) and for a number of reasons he and Amu hit it off pretty well. Amu’s totally got a crush on Ikuto (though she’s got one on a boy in her class as well), and he likes to tease her, but after a while it becomes obvious that there’s some genuine feeling behind the teasing, and he even says to her in exasperation at one point, “Hurry up and grow up.”

Though there are no actual sexual situations introduced here (really, really there aren’t, despite what I just read on suvudu.com), there is no doubt what any of this is about. Their relationship is fueled by real attraction. It’s not coy at all, and I’m sure there are plenty of adults who are uncomfortable with the situation, especially during one section of the manga in which Ikuto is hiding out in Amu’s bedroom. The keyword here, however, is adults. It may make adults uncomfortable, but this is a tween girl’s ULTIMATE FANTASY. I know. I was one. Sure, I had crushes on boys in my class at that age, but none of those boys could begin to compare with my reeeeaal crushes, all of whom were high school boys (students of my parents) who of course just saw me as a little kid.

If there are parents out there who want to fool themselves into thinking that their tween daughters aren’t experiencing feelings and fantasies like this… well, I guess that probably saves them from a few premature gray hairs. But I’m telling you, they really are fooling themselves. I’m not saying their daughters want to actually have sexual interaction with high school boys (or anyone for that matter–THE TERROR). But they are definitely fantasizing about those concepts in a vague kind of way. A series like this illustrates that fantasy to pretty much exactly the extent a tween girl is prepared to think about, which is to say, lots of heart-poundy giddiness, some vague innuendo, and no actual action.

Tweet girls are interested in unattainable guys. They are enticing, but safe. Shugo Chara! gives girls exactly what they want in that respect, a fantasy made perfect by its distance from reality. If that makes sense.

MICHELLE: Not only does that make sense and sound tween-appropriate, It actually sounds kind of fabulous. Shugo Chara!, you have been moved nearer to the top of my enormous to-read pile!

MELINDA: I’ve made no secret my love for this series, which of course is for many, many reasons besides what I’ve mentioned here. But this is my argument for why it should be rated, say, 10+ instead of 13+. I think it’s missing out on its best potential readership as it is now.

So, you have a tween-appropriate series to discuss as well, no?

MICHELLE: I do indeed! The late, lamented CMX published a lot of tween-friendly shojo and one of my favorites is The Palette of 12 Secret Colors by Nari Kusakawa. It’s complete in six volumes and tells the story of Cello, who lives on an island where magicians called “palettes” can use the colors contained in the feathers of the island’s indigenous birds to create colorful magic. Cello is neither ditzy nor clumsy, but she has trouble performing magic in the traditional way. This gets her sent to the infirmary a lot, where she befriends somewhat curmudgeonly (but, of course, young and hot) Dr. Guell.

Eventually, and probably inevitably, the two of them fall in love. Like what you say about Shugo Chara!, it’s that older-guy fantasy handled in a very tween-appropriate kind of way. Guell seems to be content to wait for Cello to grow up and, happily, is very conscious of the impropriety of pursuing a relationship with a student.

I also love the mix of stories Kusakawa works into the series—there’s magic and there’s romance, but there’s also lots of cute birds and entire chapters told from their point of view. Even now, old and creaky as I am, my favorite character is Cello’s assigned partner, Yoyo, and I am quite confident that with its mix of hot guys and adorable critters, I would’ve totally loved this as a tween.

MELINDA: Oh, that sounds completely charming! Now I regret never having paid attention to it. Also, the hot and curmudgeonly love interest is pretty much unbeatable.

Can you tell I’m still pathetically in touch with my inner 11-year-old? I really, really am.

MICHELLE: “Charming” is just the word for it. I also neglected to mention that when Cello realizes that she has feelings for Dr. Guell she doesn’t spaz out but rather awesomely takes the logical approach of getting to know him better by meeting people who have known him longer than she has. I appreciated that.

MELINDA: She sounds… remarkably mature in a way I would have envied like whoa at that age. Which I think makes it even better.

MICHELLE: Oh, definitely. I have many a cringe-worthy memory, believe me.

Two more of Kusakawa’s series are available from CMX—The Recipe for Gertrude, which is complete in five volumes, and Two Flowers for the Dragon, which saw six of its seven volumes released. The latter is rated teen, which I think is appropriate, but the former is rated E for Everyone. I haven’t read it yet, but coming from this mangaka, it couldn’t fail to be good.

MELINDA: I’ll have to give these series a closer look!

So, for kids or not for kids? We’ve had our say, so feel free to chime in with yours!

Be sure to check out the ongoing archive for this month’s Manga Moveable Feast at Good Comics for Kids. And join us again next week for an all new Off the Shelf!