By Ai Morinaga
184 pages, black and white
Published by ADV Manga
Like so many books on the market today, Your and My Secret relies on an initial gimmick to get the reader’s attention; in this case, it’s the old chestnut of “body swapping”. In the case of Your and My Secret, though, it’s not so much the basic idea that’s noteworthy, but what creator Ai Morinaga does with it.
Written by Yumi Hotta
Art by Takeshi Obata
192 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
Oh me of little faith. I admit it, when I first heard about Hikaru no Go I laughed, a lot. I’d heard of the game of Go, even played a dumbed-down variant of it as a child called Pente. But a comic about a kid playing Go being exciting and able to kick start a Go renaissance among the younger population of Japan? This just seemed too strange to be true. Well, Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata proved just how wrong I was. Let’s put it this way: I’ve got a new favorite comic appearing in the pages of SHONEN JUMP and this is it.
By Ken Akamatsu
208 pages, black and white
Published by Del Rey
Now I’ll admit it—I’ve never read Love Hina. Both Negima! and Love Hina are by Ken Akamatsu, and perhaps if I’ve read Love Hina I might’ve had a better idea of just what was in store for me with his brand-new series Negima! (or Magister Negi Magi as it’s known in Japan). Since I hadn’t, though… let’s just say I was really surprised.
By CLAMP
216 pages, black and white
Published by Del Rey
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—I never have the slightest idea what I’m getting into with a new book from CLAMP. The four-woman creator collective’s books range in style and story wildly, and with four different possible creators that could be taking the lead role, there’s a number of possible outcomes. With one of their three series currently running in Japan, xxxHOLiC, I knew the contents would be a surprise. The only real question was, a good surprise or a bad one?
By Takeshi Konomi
192 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
As the number of comics brought over from Japan and other parts of Asia increases, it’s fun to see genre staples of those countries begin their infiltration into the English language publishing world. Take sports comics, for example. With books like Slam Dunk, Harlem Beat, and Girl Got Game, we’re slowly getting more options of sports comics to read. One of Viz’s new releases, The Prince of Tennis, is an entry into that genre—but in many ways, it actually reminds me more of a certain comic about cooking…
Adapted by Wing Shing Ma
128 pages, color
Published by ComicsOne
I have a confession to make. About a year or so ago, a copy of the movie Hero fell into my hands. I’m not going to say how it got there, but let’s just say that it did. By the time I was done watching it, all I could think is, “Why the heck hasn’t Miramax released this in the United States, instead of just sitting on the rights for quite some time now?” Well, it seems that Quentin Tarantino has resurrected it from movie limbo and people who saw Kill Bill Vol. 2 may have even seen the trailer for the movie. But if you haven’t, let me tell you right now that it’s utterly gorgeous… and that comic creator Wing Shing Ma has replicated that look and feel in his adaptation of Hero.
By Mayu Shinjo
192 pages, black and white
Published by Viz
Maybe it’s just me, but a lot of shôjo books imported from Japan seem to be awfully similar. It’s the trappings of romance-influenced stories, I guess, always rising to the surface. A couple meets each other, there’s a strong connection, but there’s always something keeping them apart. What initially impressed me so much about Sensual Phrase, I think, is the fact that creator Mayu Shinjo was not only able to make the typical barriers preventing an immediate happy ending (and very short story) logical, but that this had one of the most realistic depictions of attraction I’d read in comics for a while.
By CLAMP
192 pages, black and white
Published by TokyoPop
One of the problems of being a collective of writers and artist who all use the same name is that as a reader you never really know what you’re going to get. That’s how I feel about CLAMP, a four-woman creative team in Japan. For every CLAMP book I’ve loved like Cardcaptor Sakura or Wish, there are ones like Clover which just don’t seem to work quite as well. I’m not sure just what made me decide to give CLAMP’s Suki: A Like Story a try, but I’m really happy that I did. This is definitely one of the CLAMP books that fall into the “good” category for me.
By Hideshi Hino
208 pages, black and white
Published by DH Publishing
What happens when you mix Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis with a children’s book and a comic creator known for his horrific stories? In most cases, you’d end up with a mess. That’s thankfully not entirely the case with Hideshi Hino’s The Bug Boy, but it’s definitely one of the odder books I’ve read this year. In a good way, mostly.
By Kentaro Miura
224 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse
There are books out there that you sometimes know you shouldn’t enjoy, but can’t put down. A guilty pleasure, if you will, or a sick fascination. For whatever reason, there’s something about the material that just enthralls you for wanting to see more. And for whatever reason, that’s what Kentaro Miura’s Berserk is to me. I’ve read two volumes now, and I can’t wait to see the third installment hitting stores later this week. Even though, y’know, it’s not something I should be enjoying.
