cerusee: a white redheaded girl in a classroom sitting by the window chewing on a pencil and looking bored (Default)
[personal profile] cerusee
Graphic novels:

Slade, Christian: Korgi v. 2
(Sadly, not as compelling as volume 1, although I don't think it's precisely a crafting issue. And it's still about fire-breathing giant corgis and their human pals, which is wonderful.

Sprout, for the record, looks exactly like my parents' red-and-white Pembroke Welsh Corgi, whom I raised from a pup and helped to train).



Manga:

Yoshinaga Fumi: Flower of Life v. 4
(I recall hearing, prior to reading this myself, comments from people that this seemed like an odd left turn in the series, or a strange way to end it. I suppose I can see why people might feel that way, but it neither surprised me, nor seemed strange or inappropriate to me. The series kicked off with a shockingly upbeat introduction to a kid whose life had been derailed by a life-threatening illness; it occasionally revisited some of the consequences of the illness--light-heartedly, but sincerely. Thematically, it makes perfect sense to go back to that, and touch at some of the things we were happy to ignore at the beginning; that's also pretty standard for Yoshinaga, who loves to make you rethink your assumptions. I dig that kind of thing in storytelling, which is part of why I love her, and come to think of it, may be an aspect of what I like in mystery.

Incidentally, I'm still the only person I know who actually liked the ending of the Planetes manga just as it was, and thought it was perfectly appropriate for the material, although I won't claim I liked it better than the ending of the Planetes anime, which I adore without reserve).


Kawakami Junko: Galaxy Girl, Panda Boy
(josei manga from Tokyopop's defunct Passion Fruit line, under which they published also Mari Okazaki's Sweat and Honey, which I liked much better than this. The whole time I was reading this, I was absolutely convinced I must have read other work by Kawakami--her linework, particularly in the lines of her mouths, feels incredibly familiar to me--but I have subsequently been unable to find the name of any title by her, licensed or scanlated, that I know I've read. I went and flipped through all of my josei manga to see if maybe I was just confusing another artist's work for hers, but nothing. It's a mystery).

on 2009-07-14 04:22 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] retsuko.livejournal.com
I really enjoyed Slade's works, but agree with you that the second volume was lacking something. I'm not sure what--there wasn't a big reveal, exactly, like the ending of the first one. OTOH, the delightful illustrations entirely made up for it. :)

(Slightly brag-tastic fact: I commissioned a small sketch from Slade at Comic Con last year and it was worth every penny!)

on 2009-07-16 03:04 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] cerusee.livejournal.com
Yeah, no moment of SHIT THAT DOG CAN BREATHE FIRE! AND HEY THAT GIRL, SHE CAN FLY WOO!

But cute drawings of corgi puppies and flying girl companions. Who am I to nitpick?

on 2009-07-14 05:51 am (UTC)
octopedingenue: (Default)
Posted by [personal profile] octopedingenue
Last week I met an adorable puppy who was half-husky and half-dachshund, and she looked exactly like a corgi. Genetics are weird!

So behind on Yoshinaga agh. I am so excited about Ooku!!!

Kawakami's Japanese wiki indicates that she was affiliated with Takaguchi Satosumi and that she's living in France. Maybe she's done some BD you've seen?

I got a little unnerved by Real Love's striking evocation for me of the art of Ai Yazawa, without being anywhere close to as good. From one of Yazawa's assistants? An imitator? All in my head? No idea.

on 2009-07-16 03:08 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] cerusee.livejournal.com
I dunno about Real Love, but that does make me want to read it.

And hey, maybe! Or maybe she contributed a story to some anthology I read but don't own, although there's not very many multiple-author anthologies with manga artist contributors in English.

I am also excited about Ooku! I'll be even more excited if I have a job by then and can better afford to put some dollars to buying books again! I'm happy to use my local library for like 80% of my reading, but some stuff I seriously want to buy, and Yoshinaga is included. I only got Flower of Life vol. 4 because a friend bought it to read after I lent him vols. 1-3, and then he gave it to me as thanks.

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