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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
a collection of short graphic narrative stories is really hard to pull off because you have such a small amount of panels to tell the story in, but some of these worked really well for me. "hanshin: half-god" and "iguana girl" were my favorites, "a drunken dream," "angel mimic," and "the willow tree" were also pretty enjoyable. most of the others didn't hit for me and i feel like they could have been developed into their own one-shot manga volume instead of 20 page chapters. even the ones i did enjoy could have benefitted from being expanded beyond a single chapter. as usual, moto hagio's art is stunning and dreamlike
Loved it down to the last panel! If not for the story than for the sheer prettiness of Hagio's work. My favourites were "Hanshin: Half-God," "The Willow Tree," and "Iguana Girl." Every time I glimpse this book on my shelf I find myself reading each story again and again and believe me you, they don't ever seem to lose their emotional poignancy or dimension.
In fact, it's one of the few things I've ever read that actually manages to draw me back AND STILL manages to surprise me when I come away from each story with an understanding that has only continued to alter over the years. In short, I recommend it to anyone on the basis that there are stories in this anthology that are barely twenty pages with (at times) minimal dialogue, and yet they always manage to reduce indifferent little me (who barely blinked while watching AND reading about the Red Wedding in ASOIAF) into a blubbery fangirl with more sap than a maple forest in
February.
....Anyway, do your feels a favour and read it and weep, while knowing that somewhere out there in the world, i am probably doing the exact same thing looking like this.
In fact, it's one of the few things I've ever read that actually manages to draw me back AND STILL manages to surprise me when I come away from each story with an understanding that has only continued to alter over the years. In short, I recommend it to anyone on the basis that there are stories in this anthology that are barely twenty pages with (at times) minimal dialogue, and yet they always manage to reduce indifferent little me (who barely blinked while watching AND reading about the Red Wedding in ASOIAF) into a blubbery fangirl with more sap than a maple forest in
February.
....Anyway, do your feels a favour and read it and weep, while knowing that somewhere out there in the world, i am probably doing the exact same thing looking like this.
Loved it. Want to own a copy (helloooo Amazon Christmas wishist). A heart wrenching collection of short stories to be read again and again--not to mention shared with others. <3
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Rated by enjoyment. I didn’t care for this collection at first, but there were better stories toward the end in my opinion.
Bianca (2 stars)
Girl on the Porch with Puppy (2 stars)
An interesting take on how some people, even loved ones, may want you to conform, and when you don’t, they destroy you. Well, that’s what I got from this, anyway.
Autumn Journey (3 stars)
I liked the ending.
Marie, Ten Years Later (2 stars)
A story of shoulda, coulda, wouldas
A Drunken Dream (2 stars)
Ooh, this one had a burst of color. Reincarnated, star-crossed lovers always ending in death… But it’s meh and melancholy.
Hanshin: Half God (3.5/ 4ish stars)
Angel | Mimic (4 stars)
Eh, the professor literally calls this is a “wholesome student-teacher relationship” at a women’s college. Unfortunately, they have really good chemistry, and the male lead is classy. The ending’s almost a tearjerker. I like how many mangas don’t shy away from mature subject matter.
Iguana Girl (4.5 stars)
I liked this a lot, but y’all stay with the bs, talking about pink doesn’t go suit (Riko’s) dark complexions. Anyway, Riko is so adorable! It’s hard to see her get treated like Cinderella the whole time.
The Child Who Came Home (3 stars)
The Willow Tree (3 stars)
I didn’t know where this was going, but I liked it.
I had high hopes for this book and it exceeded them. I was already a shoujo fan, but was amazed with what the stories could do free of genre convention. Highly recommended.
4.5 stars - gorgeous art with emotional stories that have the common theme of grief and particularly the grief young women deal with. Iguana Girl will always be a favorite and reading it in a physical copy was a pleasure.
i had heard other before, but I've left my manga reading days behind me for a very long time. I picked this up on a whim and it was surprisingly great. Although some of the stories cut deep or were twists I would have not expected from shojo manga, they were a refreshing change of pace. Some were brutal and some were plain awesome. It is a good collection for people who would like to explore more of the genre,
I really shouldn't be surprised, Fantagraphics raises the bar once again. Not only is this a collection of excellent stories, but it is also presented in a way to really illustrate the kind of work that Moto Hagio does and the ways in which she relates to Manga and female creators of comics overall. A lot of intelligence and passion went into creating this collected edition and it really shows.
Talking about the stories themselves, the closest comparison I could think of (in my alibi yet limited experience) was actually to Miyazaki. Hagio's stories were similar in that, while they all take place in a contemporary setting, that doesn't stop Hagio from intertwining them with elements of magic, sometimes in big ways and sometimes in small, always in just the sort of speculative (telling the truth through fiction) that I really really love. Her stories are touching and whimsical, and they all center around female characters that feel extremely real.
All coming from the same artist, the visuals of the stories actually varied quite a bit. Overall I would say that her styles all feel a bit more classic, but her style did vary to a certain extent to best serve the tone of the story. And none of it felt particularly dated or super cheesy like some of the older manga I have read.
Talking about the stories themselves, the closest comparison I could think of (in my alibi yet limited experience) was actually to Miyazaki. Hagio's stories were similar in that, while they all take place in a contemporary setting, that doesn't stop Hagio from intertwining them with elements of magic, sometimes in big ways and sometimes in small, always in just the sort of speculative (telling the truth through fiction) that I really really love. Her stories are touching and whimsical, and they all center around female characters that feel extremely real.
All coming from the same artist, the visuals of the stories actually varied quite a bit. Overall I would say that her styles all feel a bit more classic, but her style did vary to a certain extent to best serve the tone of the story. And none of it felt particularly dated or super cheesy like some of the older manga I have read.