Hot Manga

Hiruko is a baku, a being that eats nightmares. Each night, clients come to the Silver Star Tea House to find freedom from the dreams that torture them. In volume two, we are introduced to a new recurring character, Hifumi Misumi. He’s the son of a rich textile merchant who fell in love with the owner, Mizuki, at first sight. He’s rented a room on the second floor of the tea house in hopes of winning her affections. We are also introduced to another supernatural establishment. Delirium, a place people go to get lost in their fantasies.

Yumekui Kenbun:
Nightmare Inspector Book 2
Buy this book

This volume gives us some of the back story on Hiruko, Mizuki, and the tea house. It’s hinted that there’s a connection between Hiruko and Delirium. The third volume is solely stories of clients and their nightmares.

The second volume opens with the second half of the “Facing Mirrors” story arc. This tale introduces a new formula to the series: two-part stories of separated lovers. In these tales, each lover separately seeks out Hiruko and tells their version of the events. Of course, the two accounts don’t match. Hiruko has to work through the discrepancies and uncover what really happened. The lovers are reunited when they both drop their illusions and embrace the truth. Unfortunately, none of these stories have a happy ending.

Yumekui Kenbun:
Nightmare Inspector Book 3
Buy this book

The stories in these two volumes are slightly darker in tone than the first volume. The twist at the end is usually tragic. The stories are now morality tales, where a client’s demise is at the hand of their own character flaws. Don’t get me wrong, both books are wonderful reads. Mashiba is a master of the unexpected. Even knowing that things won’t end well for the client doesn’t prepare you for exactly what happens. I love being caught off guard at the end of each story.

Mashiba’s masterful artwork continues in these volumes. I still can’t believe this is his first manga. Everything about the art speaks of an experienced illustrator at the peak of his career. I rarely use this word, but the art is truly flawless. There’s so much to praise in this series: the fabric patterns in the kimonos, male clothing designs, architecture, superb use of high contrast black and white, etc. There are moments when the art is breathtakingly beautiful. In one chapter, we see the true form of a baku, and I literally stopped reading and just stared at this gorgeous, exotic creature. A few times in each volume, I’ve gotten lost in the artwork.

I continue to highly recommend this series. Honestly, every comic fan needs to own at least one volume of this series just for the artwork alone. This series makes a great introduction to manga, since it contains a blend of Japanese and western cultures. Mashiba’s work ranks up there with the best in classical horror comics. It deserves to be placed next to Wrightson, the best of EC, Ploog, Eerie, etc. I fear Nightmare Inspector is going to suffer the fate of Planetes, a great series that only the critics end up reading. (A complimentary copy of volume 3 was provided for this review.)

“Manhwa Novella Collection” is Netcomics’ umbrella title for a series of anthologies containing shorter works, each focused on a notable Korean comic author. Here, I’m looking at Volume Two: 9 Faces of Love by Wann (whose Can’t Lose You has also been published by Netcomics).

9 Faces of Love
Buy this book

Personally, I’m not always fond of this technique. If I only care for certain types of works and/or particular authors, it bugs me to have (for instance) books numbered two and four on my shelf without one and three. And that kind of obsessiveness may be what the publisher is counting on to help encourage readers to more widely sample their authors. The book is slightly larger than the standard manga size, and the price is $2 higher as well.

9 Faces of Love includes nine stories created over a period of seven years. They’re short pieces about the power of love set in a variety of eras, from a medieval fantasy to the modern-day, and genres, from slice-of-life to science fiction.

One in particular has an intriguing metaphor as its core idea — a man who doesn’t care about women can no longer see them, except for his neighbor he’s falling in love with who can’t see him — but it’s almost too much for the space it has. Instead of a nuanced exploration of male/female relations, the author goes for the overly dramatic choices, disappointing after the strong character setup. The art is generic, with nothing that stands out or impresses, and not as much weight as the ideas.

That was the only story I was disappointed by, though. The others ranged widely, but they all made me think. A story about friendship among automatons reminded me of the transforming power of affection, of how being near those you love can make you a different, better person. A thought piece captured what goes through someone’s mind after a breakup.

A shonen-ai-flavored incident explored reincarnated lovers and a witch’s curse. A girl lost her best friend because his girlfriend is jealous of their relationship, and she needed a life-changing moment to move on. Two women redefined their relationship. Last, a princess raised a bird-boy she finds in the forest and has to come to terms with letting a child go. (A great choice to close the volume.)

I was particularly impressed by something that reminded me of Sliding Doors, a piece about how two people meant to be together find each other no matter what. I enjoyed the way succeeding layers were revealed to the reader, and the everyday touches in the art established a strong sense of setting.

Overall, the diverse mix was surprisingly satisfying. Every piece had something about it I found thought-provoking or memorable, a remarkable track record for a collection. The art wasn’t as sparse as some manhwa, and I grew to appreciate the figure work. The book really won me over.

If the publisher is taking suggestions, I’d appreciate it if some biographical material was added to this line of books. What else has this author done? Why were these works selected, and how do they relate to the creator’s overall career? Then it would be a truly great introduction.

Yotsuba&! has an odd title that’s easily explained: each chapter features strange little girl Yotsuba getting excited about something that’s new to her. So we see Yotsuba & shopping! Yotsuba & rain! And so on.

Yotsuba&! Book 1
Buy this book

Her appearance and behavior are so unusual, at times, that I’m tempted to speculate that she’s an alien, especially when I remember her green hair. (Translation notes explain that, in Japanese, “yotsuba” means “four-leaf”, and her hair color and style, four pigtails, make her resemble a clover.) We don’t know very much about her, only that, as the book opens, she and her adoptive father are moving to a new house.

The supporting cast consists of family friend Jumbo (a very large man, which everyone comments on immediately) and the new neighbors, a family of three daughters. Dad’s not particularly normal, either. During move-in, Yotsuba gets distracted and wanders off. His reaction is that “she’ll be back when she gets hungry,” as though she was a pet. His playfulness and imagination probably provide a good environment for the kid, though. Everyone accepts Yotsuba’s lack of experience and chips in to educate her as needed, whether it’s introducing her to air conditioners or doorbells or doing laundry or (the longest project) good manners.

Yotsuba&! Book 2
Buy this book

Almost everything is a new experience for her, and her enthusiasm provides the appeal of the stories. Her wide-eyed innocence and seemingly inexhaustible energy makes for charming misunderstandings and comedy. She can be demanding — she can’t figure out a playground swing, for example, but once shown what it is, she gets on and yells, “Push me!” Often she stands, staring, when she doesn’t understand something, until someone takes pity on her and provides more information. Her naivete provides a new perspective on everyday items and events.

Author Kiyohiko Azuma previously created Azumanga Daioh. He beautifully draws everyday life and items, providing a grounding background. The detailed settings, such as the town streets, nicely contrast with the simpler character faces. And his sense of motion makes action sequences feel like a cartoon, they move so smoothly.

In the first book, after climbing to a shrine, Yotsuba and her dad look out at a stunning vista of the entire town, showing Azuma’s skill. The reader shares the characters’ sense of rest and revelation at their new view of their world. Yotsuba then points out their house. After a wordless panel, Dad grabs her head and turns her 90 degrees, saying, “Try again. It’s over there.” Even significant moments have their humor.

Yotsuba&! Book 3
Buy this book

It’s relaxing and refreshing to read sequences in which Yotsuba does such simple things as wake up and have breakfast. Azuma is also very good at the energetic sections, as when Yotsuba mistakes her new neighbor for a dangerous stranger and takes off running, dodging those who get in her way. She’s a creature of instinct, with all the appeal of someone completely true to who she is and who has absolutely no filters. To her, calling one of the sisters next door “the unpretty one” is descriptive, not insulting, although it’s not taken that way.

Book two opens with Yotsuba joining two older children in drawing at the park. She’s been trying to draw a picture of the huge Jumbo, quickly finding that her paper is too small to contain an accurate representation of his size. (I was surprised to see an all ages comic alluding to the question of the relationship between art and the object it’s trying to capture. There’s some deep potential there.) The chapter moves on to a discussion of what makes art good, as Yotsuba has been told her childish scribbles are good, but another child tries to be honest about how bad they are (because she’s using a different basis for comparison). The result is one of the few times Yotsuba is (briefly) crushed. Jumbo shows up, though, to remedy things.

Yotsuba&! Book 4
Buy this book

In this volume, she also goes on a water-gun rampage after watching a movie about killing, learning an important lesson about revenge; sets out to buy cake with the neighbors, where she’s made herself at home; tries to amuse herself while Dad sleeps in; and visits the pool.

In book three, she plays with fireworks, rides a bus, buys and gives out flowers, and attends a festival. Her visit to the zoo is, as expected, adorable, as she feeds goats and sees animals, including an elephant. We also learn a little more about the relationships of the family next door. Several of the chapters turn on elements of Japanese culture that are likely unfamiliar to the reader, but then, they’re unfamiliar to Yotsuba, too, so we’re all in it together. Unfortunately, the minimal translation notes present in the two earlier volumes have been omitted from book three.

Book four focuses on the events of summer, like badminton, fishing, and the sounds of crickets, as well as regular activities like figuring out what to have for dinner. Dad and Yotsuba start by playing a version of rock-paper-scissors that involves the winner bashing the loser over the head with a rolled-up newspaper. (Appropriate, since Yotsuba can be puppy-like in her enthusiasm.) She doesn’t seem to mind, instead concentrating on try to win by telling him what to do, an earnestly realistic response.

Yotsuba&! Book 5
Buy this book

The last book so far, number five, starts with one of the weirder-yet-plausible incidents of the series, as Yotsuba meets Cardbo, the robot made of cardboard boxes. The character design is genius cute. Yotsuba also does laundry, fights with one of her dad’s acquaintances, runs errands in the rain, takes a trip to the beach, and goes star-gazing in a chapter full of both slapstick and nighttime beauty.

Yotsuba is a sponge of a character, with infinite possibility as she learns about life. Watching her do so is both fun and funny, and the way she finds enjoyment in everything is inspirational. It creates an infectious feeling of shared joy in the reader. As her dad describes her, “She can find happiness in anything. Nothing in this world can get her down. Nothing.”

Unfortunately, although more than five books have been released in Japan, there are serious questions about the future of the publisher, ADV Manga, so it’s very uncertain when we might see more volumes translated.

Most people, when they think of manga, think of fantasy adventures starring teenagers. With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child is perhaps the most different kind of story possible… which makes it even more powerful. It focuses on the struggles faced by a mother with a special child.

As indicated by its subtitle, With the Light is a well-researched portrayal of the challenges faced by a family when their baby boy is determined to be autistic. First, there’s the problem of knowing something is wrong with Hikaru (whose name means “light”) without knowing what it is. Diagnosis is complicated because most people are unfamiliar with autism, or worse, are misinformed, thinking it’s a kind of depression or blaming the mother for poor parenting.

With the Light

There are plenty of useful and clear pieces of information included, making the book informative and educational, but the real impact is emotional, due to the struggles the father and especially the mother go through. At one point, they risk being driven apart by the demands of their child. Both have to learn when to ask for help and how to be clear about their situation to others. Nothing is simple with an autistic child, not medical treatment or kindergarten or even keeping him inside their home.

As drawn by Keiko Tobe, Hikaru and his mother both have the large, luminous eyes many associate with manga art. For her, they reinforce her pain and confusion; for him, they make him seem vaguely inhuman. His glassy stare seems to see things the rest of us don’t perceive and shows his inability to cope with the everyday world. Great attention is paid to the details of the ordinary settings that provide challenges to Hikaru, grounding his experiences.

In over 500 pages, we see Hikaru grow from birth to a school-age child. His parents care for him, love him (even when it’s a struggle), and fight for him. It’s inspiring to see challenges overcome, heart-warming even to the point of raising tears. While some people react to him with fear and disgust, others want to learn and help however they can. For some, it takes being shown the hypocrisy of their behavior to understand why Hikaru needs special concessions.

This book is an affecting portrait of how a little consideration for others can make a life-changing difference. Even though his mother struggles with her own fears and petty jealousies — asking herself why her child can’t be like the others — her love keeps her working for the best for her baby. But that doesn’t make things easy, just rewarding. Like this book.

Sumire Iwaya is a highly educated, accomplished, beautiful woman who puts most of herself into her newspaper job. Her fiancé dumped her because he’s uncomfortable with her — she makes more money than he does and is smarter than he is — and she was demoted from breaking foreign news to the lifestyle section after she forcibly rejected her boss’ advances.

Tramps Like Us Book 1

She has no friends at work, only people who gossip about her out of jealousy, while other women play dumb and manipulate coworkers to make their jobs easier. In short, she faces the challenges many independent working women face, with no outlet for her anxieties and no one to keep her company.

Until the night she finds a runaway teenage boy sleeping in a box in front of her condo. She adopts him as a pet, naming him “Momo” after the dog she had when she was younger. He needs a place to stay, and she needs someone she can talk to without worrying what they’ll think of her.

Tramps Like Us Book 2

For all her accomplishments, she’s still insecure, changing her behavior to try and satisfy others. The original Momo was the only being she could honestly share her thoughts with as a teen; now, the new Momo serves the same purpose, someone who won’t use her feelings against her. Sumire’s got a lot stacked against her that she can do little about, so Momo’s unquestioning loyalty is her only source of release. He appreciates other of her skills, like cooking, and he’s the only one who sees the real, undefended her.

His tousled hair and loose-limbed agility suits both his career as a modern dancer and the way he sometimes acts like an animal. His background in dance makes it plausible that he’d enjoy the game of mimicking a dog, as some kind of movement exercise. The two have in common their advanced studies abroad and the way height has affected their lives. Momo was too short to continue in ballet, and Sumire’s too tall for a “proper” woman.

Sumire’s slim face and huge eyes are alternately vulnerable and closed off. Her look reminds me that she’s still relatively young, for all her adult concerns. The faces are distinctive and unusual with a touch of the exotic, representing the individuals within, each unique and in pain because of it.

Tramps Like Us Book 3

In the second book, the two of them have Christmas Eve together. In Japan, the holiday is more romantic than religious, so there are all kinds of expectations and subtext to manage. After that, Sumire has to stop smoking at work, which almost drives her crazy. She’s dealing with the nail-biting questions of when to sleep with her boyfriend, how to say goodbye to her ex-fiancé, and whether to tell people about her pet. She and Momo are learning to depend on each other, and he can be more mature than she suspects. If their relationship works for them, even if it is awfully hard to explain to anyone else, who can say it’s wrong?

Book three introduces competition for her boyfriend, which complicates her ambivalence. She’s still acting, trying to be the person she’s supposed to be instead of who she really is, but her rival knows what she wants and competes without scruples. Sumire senses that a relationship should be relaxing and welcoming, but her boyfriend is another source of pressure for her because of her discomfort with herself. A family dinner and a company beach trip are additional struggles, although they also provide opportunity for reflecting on the difference between lustful attraction and comfortable companionship as bases for relationships.

Tramps Like Us Book 4

Sumire’s stress causes her to hallucinate seeing Momo as a real dog as book four begins. She’s afraid of appearing less than perfect, and when everyone tells her that all that matters to society is whether she has a man, her fear is understandable. It takes a lot of strength to ignore such powerful and widespread voices. Momo is her quiet rebellion.

Then her work sends Sumire to write about being an amusement park mascot. Although there’s an obvious opportunity for humor, there’s also further character development. She has to ask herself how far she’ll go for a job where she’s under-appreciated. Best friend Yuri tries to help, and Yuri’s daughter Ran-chan is an adorable distraction, drawn like a real little kid.

Tramps Like Us Book 5

In book five, Momo is kidnapped, requiring Sumire and her boyfriend to go undercover at a sleazy club in a story that’s marvelously funny when it’s not threatening rape. The next episode introduces the boyfriend’s younger brother, who points out that after a year of dating, the two of them still speak formally to each other instead of calling nicknames.

The need to choose between Momo and her more appropriate boyfriend becomes more prominent in a chapter called “What You Want Vs. What You Need”, and the pressure of hiding her true self becomes more of a struggle. She doesn’t know how to be honest with herself, let alone with someone who wants to marry her, even though he doesn’t know the real her. Then work complications ensue when someone very much like her joins the firm. It’s Single White Female in a job situation, but the story ultimately demonstrates Sumire’s skills and value.

Tramps Like Us Book 6

Book six opens with a reversal. Momo’s under pressure due to working with a famous, demanding choreographer. Sumire finds out about his struggles thirdhand and then has to determine how best to support him. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to leave alone someone you care about. Then Sumire and Momo visit an inn located by a lake with an underwater village, submerged in a flood. They find themselves investigating folktales of mermaids, symbols of grief, spurred on by two strange kids.

That’s just an interlude from Sumire’s real concern — her boyfriend is about to get promoted to Hong Kong, creating a long-distance relationship and an emotional gulf. Sumire, meanwhile, has been transferred to the English-language department, where one of her co-workers fancies himself a ladies’ man and begins hitting on her. Together, they go to report on one of Momo’s performances, where the leading lady has been receiving disturbing notes.

Tramps Like Us Book 7

In book seven, Sumire discovers that absence makes the heart grow fonder. She’s missing her boyfriend, and her emotions make her more attractive to those around her. That includes her co-worker, who takes the opportunity to hit on her. He’s always found women easy to get, so her refusals only make him more interested. Later, Yuri moves in temporarily. She’s going on an exercise program to make herself more attractive to her husband, but there’s more behind her mid-life makeover than nostalgia.

The boyfriend is able to make a trip back to see Sumire, and the chapter that focuses on him is full of touching devotion underneath a layer of unfortunate coincidences that keep them apart temporarily. Knowing how much he cares for her makes later events, when she visits him, even more uncomfortable. There’s a surprising event in his past that’s a secret to both of them, and in book eight, it starts causing trouble.

Tramps Like Us Book 8

While Sumire’s been in Hong Kong, Momo’s developed a new dedication to his dance career and made a new friend, an older woman with a similar history to Sumire’s. Her story, parallel to Sumire and Momo’s in some ways, is a thoughtful reflection on the benefits of caring for others. That’s one of the plusses of a long-running series such as this: familiarity with the existing characters means they can be used as a frame to illustrate the stories of others, different in mood and tone. It’s a temporary change of pace that sheds new light on Momo and Sumire.

In book nine, Momo’s gone to the US for a week on a performance tour, and although Sumire tells herself she appreciates the free time, she finds herself at loose ends. Her loneliness leads to her pondering just what she and Momo are to each other. Meanwhile, her boyfriend finds himself in the clutches of a predatory woman who’s not above cruel schemes to create a relationship with him.

Tramps Like Us Book 9

Sumire’s also facing issues at work. The department she’s supposed to manage has a lack of teamwork, and everything she tries to improve the situation backfires. With more thought and determination, at least that problem has a happy ending. Everything else, though … this volume ends with lots of cliffhangers, as just about everyone reaches a significant decision point.

Book ten shows the choices made, complicated by Momo falling ill. He needs Sumire in order to get better, but she’s accepted her boyfriend’s proposal, so Momo has to face the idea that their relationship will be ending. He’s forced to contemplate growing up, a situation other characters find themselves in as well.

Tramps Like Us Book 10

Sumire’s dealing with her own challenges, practicing motherhood with a friend’s child and trying to explain her feelings to her forbidding older sister. She’s willing to stand by her decision, but she’s still unsure about it, trying to make the most of her time left with her pet. She’s also torn between her career and her potential marriage. How will one affect the other?

Momo’s on a dance tour in book eleven, where he discovers Sumire’s fiance’s secret — a “pet” of his own. Sumire’s uncertainty continues to make her uncomfortable, a concern she attempts to deal with by rushing things in contrast to the warnings her friends are trying to sound.

Momo’s trying to figure out how to protect her without annoying her or making her think the wrong things about his motivations. At the same time, much as he dislikes the idea, he’s preparing to return to a life of his own. He has his own decisions to make about his career.

Tramps Like Us Book 11

Book twelve continues the focus on Momo. He’s realizing, whether he likes it or not, that adult life is a set of connections with relatives, co-workers, and others. They’ve been there for him, so he needs to be willing to have the strength to support them when they need him.

Material so emotional runs the risk of seeming clichéd or maudlin, but here, his realization, accompanied by pictures of memories and those whom he loves, is inspiring. Sumire has a similar revelation, spurred by a blackout while she’s visiting a foreign country.

The two have reached turning points in their lives where they can no longer rely on the comfort they receive from each other. That relationship may be preventing them from moving on — if they want to maintain it, it has to be an active choice, with all the attendant consequences, instead of something they fell into. As a result, this volume is a major turning point for the characters and the series.

Tramps Like Us Book 12

While they decide, the author uses a new geek character to provide an amusing alternate viewpoint on the situation. He views himself as a lead character, destined to get the girl, but he’s wrong. He’s just a supporting role who will disappear once his function, to spark Sumire into moving forward, is satisfied.

He’s a co-worker infatuated with Sumire, and his vision of her paints her as more of a traditional manga girl: baby face, bigger chest, and gravity-defying hair. As a reader, I found the contrast shocking in its sudden reminder of how distinctively different this series is from the stereotypical manga style with its thin lines and elegant figures.

Fans have been waiting a long time for a volume as satisfying as book thirteen. Sumire’s made an important decision, although she’s still stumbling through the implications of her choice. And just because she’s resolved, that doesn’t mean that all the people around her are ready to make changes in their lives. Ramifications cascade, and there are still romantic rivals.

Tramps Like Us Book 13

She wouldn’t be Sumire if she didn’t sometimes obsess over the wrong things. Her self-esteem isn’t magically fixed by her decision, although she’s growing to trust herself and her feelings more. The biggest change in her over the run of the series deals with decision-making. She’s come to terms with making choices for herself based on what she wants instead of accepting whatever comes her way or relying on others to make decisions for her.

Book fourteen, in contrast, is something of an epilogue. Sumire’s visiting Momo in Brussels, and he’s anxious about her meeting his family (all sisters). Since it’s the last book in the series, it checks in with the cast before concluding. Instead of focusing on the main two, it’s a wide-ranging overview.

Each of the major characters gets some focus: Sumire’s ex-boyfriend thinks back to their days together in college. Momo’s ex-girlfriend Rumi copes with homesickness as she studies abroad. There’s a flashback to Sumire and her best friend as kids together in school, establishing how they became confidantes and lifelong friends, and a flash-forward. There’s even a ridiculous action movie sequence reframing Momo meeting Sumire’s family as a kind of video game.

Tramps Like Us Book 14

With the foreign setting and all the mixed emotions of saying goodbye to these characters, it’s a pleasure to see how much detail is included in the art. It grounds the location and brings home the feelings. The last story, a time travel dream, serves as a series summary, covering all the main parts in a lovely wrapup.

Throughout the series, Momo truly serves the purpose of a pet, accepting Sumire unconditionally. He’s teaching her how to care for someone else, even in a non-traditional way, and not to take others for granted. Being responsible for another living being is often a first step in growing up and preparing for a adult relationship. Pets are practice for sharing one’s life with someone else, practice that comes in handy when Momo finds another runaway who needs help.

It appears as though the first chapter of the first book could have been a stand-alone story, a kind of pilot for the series. The focus later moves from a woman’s struggles in the workplace to a more traditional exploration of the search for a romantic partner. It’s a classic structure revolving around people not recognizing the potential in someone who’s right in front of them.

The theme is that of understanding what is really important about relationships. It’s not whether other people think you’re well-suited or whether you look good together or whether you’re supposed to choose someone like that. The best ones are internal, based around being with someone who loves you unconditionally. Their support makes you a better person to everyone around you.

Although manga, The Walking Man is published in a form more typical to collections of art comics, with jacket flaps and thick, crisply white paper. That suits its subject matter well, positioning it to an audience who can appreciate a series of reflective encounters beautifully illustrated. (Also suited to that audience, it’s been flipped, so that it reads left-to-right.)

The Walking Man

Each chapter covers one of the man’s walks, showing us what he sees. In the first, he’s just moved into a new house, and he introduces himself to the neighborhood, meeting a birdwatcher and adopting a dog who becomes his companion on his journeys. Others take him to the town post office or the library or skinny-dipping or home just as it begins to snow.

It’s an appreciation of the everyday that’s still somewhat unusual in comics, made fresh through the setting of the Japanese suburb, realistic yet foreign. The art style is almost European in its fine line and copious detail. (The man looks to me, a reader of too many superhero comics, rather like Clark Kent with his horn-rimmed glasses and one lock of hair on his forehead. It gave the stories an odd little frisson of contrast, especially when he helps an old lady or interacts with children.)

The full-page image of the man in the crook of a tree, looking out over housetops after rescuing a child’s toy, is the very picture of relaxation. Silent contemplation is the mood of both the protagonist and the reader, leading to a new perception of surroundings. I recommend savoring the chapters over a period of time to better let the moods take full effect. Overall, the book provides a welcome feeling of peace to a world where few take the time to enjoy themselves the way the walking man does

Makato Shinkai’s The Voices of a Distant Star is one of the most unusual manga I’ve read. First, it was originally a short anime. (Many manga go the opposite way, appearing in print first before being adapted to film. This story was adapted into comic format by Mizu Sahara.) Second, it’s complete in one volume. Mostly, it takes some standard elements and uses them to tell a completely unusual story.

The Voices of a Distant Star

It’s about unrealized young love that can never be, and the hope that shines in the face of impossibility. In the future, the world has joined together to fight the alien Tarsians. Mikako is a student selected to pilot a fighter robot. (I said it used standard elements.) Noboru, her classmate and good friend, is the one left behind to face boring normal life. The two were starting to include each other in their plans, trying to get into the same high school, and now, due to faster-than-light travel, they aren’t even aging at the same rate.

Like many girls of her generation, Mikako is used to communicating with anyone instantly via cellphone text message. She keeps sending her messages, but as she travels further into space, they take longer and longer to arrive. The boy she left behind has little to tell her, as they forcibly grow apart due to circumstance and the laws of physics. There’s a lot left unsaid, conveyed by mood and image as one reads between the lines.

The contrast of an immediate communication method, normally used for the most sudden and surface of thoughts, being asked to carry what might always be her last message… it’s disconcerting. At first, she keeps chattering. “How’s the weather? Good luck on exams!” As they lose the ability to interact, due to the lag, their messages change from talking to someone else to revealing their innermost thoughts. As receipt becomes delayed by years, their only audience is themselves, and they become more truthful in their messages.

The art is denser than in many manga, with toned backgrounds anchoring the drawn world. Faces are often in shadow, suggesting separation and loss. Wordless flashbacks capture everyday moments, such as kids taking shelter from a sudden shower. There’s nothing particularly special about those incidents; their significance is only in their absence, something never to be shared again and remembered more powerfully for that.

Voices of a Distant Star

I found it pleasantly unusual that Mikako is a natural high achiever, praised for her skills but not defined by them. She’s part of something much bigger than herself, sacrificing her individuality to attempt to save the world. (It’s not at all clear that these efforts are actually helping, but they’re the best anyone can think to do.) Their lives are part of such a big effort that the smallest symbols becomes immensely important.

I also don’t usually see a male portrayed as the one left behind to wonder and wait and put his life on hold. While others forget her as soon as she’s out of sight, he errs too far in the other direction and can’t focus in her absence. He spends his time waiting, until one day he can’t any more. It’s like dealing with the grief of a death, only worse, because she’s alive but completely unreachable. She left her world behind, but as they age and she doesn’t, she feels that she’s the one left behind. The grass is always greener.

The comic medium is perfect for this story, as the reader can pause as the significance of events overwhelms, or to remember similar incidents or feelings in their lives. The world is shown in broad-stroke detail; the settings and happenings are quickly recognizable, but the selection of small events provides a realistic feel. The goal of the work is to create a contemplative, elegiac mood, and it works well. The story envelopes the reader, not to be easily shaken off or forgotten.

The Undying Butterflies is the latest volume, the seventeenth, in the recommended Kindaichi Case Files mystery manga series. It opens with a day at the beach for Kindaichi, Miyuki, and Reika, a young singer who’s previously appeared in the volumes Death TV and Playing the Fool. The sleuth finds himself juggling time alone with the two young women in a sequence that could have appeared in an Archie comic, in which the authors do a good job combining tenderness and comedy.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 17
The Undying Butterflies

That’s just a prologue for the main story, though. And Reika’s not the only returning character: the mystery starts when a magazine photo reveals someone who resembles the suspect from The Legend of Lake Hiren, previously thought dead. He’s associated with a butterfly collector, a family patriarch who’s rediscovered an extinct, luminescent species. The father has three lovely daughters who resent him for unknown reasons and a wife with striking mismatched eyes.

The story starts slowly, with much emphasis on sketching the characters in quick yet understandable ways. The air of subtle creepiness, that something terrible is going to happen but we don’t yet know what, builds masterfully. The art captures the symbolism of change and transformation, but also of the soul and the fragility of life, in the butterfly flights shown.

This volume is less of a mystery and more of a thriller than others in the series. There isn’t so much a puzzle to solve as a slow wait for the killer to either reveal itself or make enough mistakes that Kindaichi can identify the person behind the murders. It’s a substantial read that builds an inexorable feeling of menace. As with most volumes in this series, the eventual motive winds up being an example of how past actions, thought long forgotten, will cause trouble in the present day.

Love is often confused with possession and revenge in these books, providing festering motives for murder. I was pleased to see the other side of love, of its potential for a fresh start, portrayed as well.

I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed a good mystery read until I tried this series. Each book is a stand-alone “fair play” case in which the reader can match wits with the detectives. The series is reminiscent of a grown-up Encyclopedia Brown with an older cast, more serious crimes, greater emotional motivation, and spooky overtones.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 1
The Opera House Murders
Buy this book

Hajime Kindaichi is an under-achieving troublemaker with a gift for deduction and a grandfather who’s a famous detective. His best friend, Miyuki Nanase, is the only one who defends him, even when people directly ask her “why are you wasting time with that loser?”

A model student, Miyuki is also involved with the school drama club, a connection that creates the setting for the first book’s mystery, The Opera House Murders. The club members are going to a camp to prepare for a national drama competition, and Kindaichi tags along to help with sound effects. Some nice character bits on the way there introduce all the participants and their temperaments. The group’s on edge because of an earlier death, the mysterious suicide of one of the student actresses.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 2
The Mummy’s Curse
Buy this book

The club is staging The Phantom of the Opera, and the camp location, a resort hotel on an isolated island, doesn’t help settle their emotions. One of the other guests turns out to be a police detective, a helpful coincidence when someone starts murdering the drama club members. Of course, a growing storm prevents outside contact or help.

The book’s chapter breaks start with recaps of the story so far and the characters involved. Even if the reader doesn’t get caught up in trying to figure out who’s behind the killings, the characterization propels them through the story. There’s a good range of student types, and the slow revelation of the circumstances behind the original death is gripping, illustrating the horrible consequences of unthinking teenage pranks.

As the story progresses, the chapters get shorter, building the reader’s anticipation. The book includes the traditional map of the location (for those playing along) and the scene where the cast is gathered together so Kindaichi can reveal his deductive logic and thus the murderer. A crossword puzzle provides an additional clue to solving the mystery.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 3
Death TV
Buy this book

There’s a strong undercurrent of the possibility of the supernatural. When confronted with a locked-room murder, some of the characters seem to seriously consider whether a ghost is involved. That coordinates nicely with the other cultural contrasts. Since Japanese readers may not be familiar with the story of the Phantom, the events of the play are recapped for the reader. It’s fascinating to see how elements from a foreign (to the original manga reader) culture are turned into mystery themes.

A similar imported element drives the second book, The Mummy’s Curse. Miyuki’s schoolmate Wakaba has been sent back to her village to an arranged marriage. Strangely, the village is anchored by six mansions arranged in the shape of a Star of David around a burned-out church. While horsing around, Kindaichi and Miyuki find a hidden chamber containing a headless mummy. The mansion owners have been hiding the village’s terrible secret, and now they’re paying the price, as someone begins killing them one by one.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 4
Smoke and Mirrors
Buy this book

A belief in a curse, marked by mummies as symbols of the crime, has shaped these families for decades. That impedes the investigation, as fatalism takes over. The family members are convinced that they’re deserving of whatever happens, since history shapes their lives more than the possibility of the future. That’s set up almost from the beginning, with Wakaba quietly submitting to a marriage her parents determined for her years ago.

After the revelation of the murderer, three succeeding chapters explore the ramifications of the discovery, wrapping up not just the mystery but the emotions surrounding it. A continuing theme in the stories is the redemptive power of pure love and the need for atonement. That’s not surprising, since the mysteries deal with emotion strong enough to inspire murder.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 5
Treasure Isle
Buy this book

Death TV is the third book, in which Kindaichi is working for a reality show that tries to shock celebrities. The show is filming at the villa of a reclusive painter in an area with legends of a snow demon. Due to strange geographical quirks, a snowstorm, and the desire to prank a know-it-all actress, the crew winds up watching her get murdered on video.

The TV element is really just set-dressing for the real themes. Once again, history can’t be forgotten, with effects of a ten-year-old plane crash providing a motive, and there’s another example of parents shaping their children in ways they could never predict.

Miyuki doesn’t come along on this trip; in her place, Detective Kenmochi (the police officer from the first book) plays second fiddle. The detective’s young, show-off boss gets on everyone’s nerves with his constant refrain of “when I worked in Los Angeles” and his refusal to believe a kid could solve a mystery, providing another example of generational conflict.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 6
The Legend of Lake Hiren
Buy this book

The fourth book, Smoke and Mirrors, foregrounds the relationship between Kindaichi and Miyuki after an attractive upperclassmen hits on him to join her mystery club. It seems that their school has seven mysteries associated with it, and rumor says that anyone who knows them all will be killed. The two must solve those past crimes as well as determine who’s using them to scare others in the present.

Kindaichi sets out to win a treasure-hunting contest in Treasure Isle, the fifth book. When he and the other contestants arrive at the island, they discover that their host has been murdered and there’s one more person in the group than was invited. Plus, there are legends of a mythical monster protecting the island’s treasure. In a variation on a well-known mystery structure, the hunters have to find and stop the killer before the next boat returns for them a week later.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 7
The Santa Slayings
Buy this book

The Legend of Lake Hiren, the sixth book, sends Kindaichi and Miyuki to a camping resort where the lake turns red. Things are complicated by an axe murderer on the loose who calls himself “Jason”. Miyuki has a crush on one of the other guests, making Kindaichi jealous. Two of the other attendees are a bloodthirsty writer and a mentally disturbed, corpse-obsessed artist, in a possible joking allusion to the book’s creators. The story wraps up by raising the question of a perplexing moral dilemma.

The seventh book, The Santa Slayings, returns to a theatrical setting, similar to the first book. Only this time, it’s during Christmas (a popular but mostly secular holiday in Japan), and a “Mystery Night” game is being held at an old hotel. A theater group acts out a mystery so that the attendees can try to figure out who the killer is.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 8
No Noose Is Good Noose
Buy this book

Detective Kenmochi has invited Kindaichi and Miyuki along because threats have been received by the event organizers. The situation is complicated by the presence of Kenmochi’s boss, a female supervisor who has little patience for amateurs, an aging actress diva, and another student who fancies himself a videographer. Someone calling himself “The Red-Bearded Santa Claus” is trashing rooms and leaving unpleasant gifts for the cast members.

It’s impressive how efficiently the characters, setting, and situation are introduced, allowing the story to quickly proceed into the mystery. We know enough about the victims to consider possible motives, but we don’t get so involved with them as people that we lose track of the puzzle through overwhelming emotional impact. The art, especially character expression, is clear and direct as always.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 9
The Headless Samurai
Buy this book

No Noose Is Good Noose, the eighth book, follows Kindaichi and Miyuki to a prep school as they attempt to improve their grades. The administrator has been the target of a prank involving blood-spattered test papers, and she’s heard of Kindaichi’s reputation for solving problems.

The school has a history of its inhabitants attempting to hang themselves, due to stress. One student succeeded in committing suicide last year after being bullied, and rumors have spread of a ghost driving others to attempt the same thing. The two students must discover what’s really going on.

The ninth book, The Headless Samurai, begins with Detective Kenmochi receiving a letter from an old friend whose husband has passed away. She’s been receiving threatening letters, so the detective takes Kindaichi and Miyuki with him to her village to investigate. She was the husband’s second wife, and his first family became very jealous when his estate was left to her, so there are plenty of motives for foul play.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 10
Kindaichi the Killer (Part 1)

Their village has a legend of a headless samurai, and when a guest is beheaded inside a vault-like closet, Kindaichi has to solve a classic “locked room” murder. Like many of the other mysteries, long-hidden secrets set the bloody events in motion. No one ever kills anyone for as simple a reason as greed. Motives are mixtures of fear and twisted love, often complicated by secret vows.

The writer Itsuki, previously seen in book six, brings Kindaichi a new mystery in the tenth book, Kindaichi the Killer (Part 1). A famous author has declared that the first company to break his code will get his new book, bound to be a best seller. Kindaichi is asked by Itsuki’s publisher to solve the puzzle, so he and Miyuki head out to the author’s country house, along with a number of other publishers and celebrity chasers.

Earlier, Kindaichi had dreamed of a video-crazy murdered student from earlier books, so he starts off feeling haunted. As the title suggests, bigger problems soon appear. The author is found dead with a dazed Kindaichi standing over him holding the murder weapon. He has to solve the case to prevent an innocent — himself — from being blamed.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 11
Kindaichi the Killer (Part 2)

The book then becomes a kind of scavenger hunt based on the departed author’s clues. Kindaichi chases from suspect to suspect, continually pursued by the police and one step behind the real killer. While the mystery isn’t as intellectually challenging as in some of the other books, the stakes are higher and the emotional impact more important to the story.

The story’s conclusion in book eleven feels even more like a TV thriller, with plenty of action. There’s a betrayal, secret meetings, dramatic tricks to fool onlookers, a showdown with a mysterious masked figure, surprise revelations, and life-saving action to protect a cute kid. Supporting characters are impressed by Kindaichi’s heroism even while he’s being hunted, and Miyuki provides the emotional notes of worry and relief.

After a slight delay, the series resumes with book twelve, Playing the Fool, and it was worth the wait. It’s about twice as thick as previous volumes, returning to the pattern of each book standing alone.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 12
Playing the Fool

We’re reminded at the beginning that, for all his skills and insight, Kindaichi is still a teenage boy, dreaming of making out with an attractive young woman. Reika, a singer who met him during Death TV, has invited him to join her at her father’s ski resort. She needs his help, but she won’t say why.

Kindaichi and Miyuki arrive to find her father trying to send everyone, including two entertainment reporters, away. Also visiting are Reika’s manager, the president of her studio, and an obsessed fan. The group misses the last gondola down the mountain, necessitating them staying the night at the Tarot Lodge, named after a set of rare antique tarot cards.

One of the reporters, a real sleazebag, riles things up by telling stories of gruesome past cases. The next morning, the reporter is found murdered in a way connected to one of the cards, and the gondola system has been wrecked. Meanwhile, Reika and Miyuki are jealously fighting over Kindaichi. With the group trapped with a killer, Kindaichi works to solve the various mysteries.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 13
House of Wax

House of Wax, the thirteenth book, is another tale of revenge. Kindaichi and Miyuki are attending a weekend murder mystery contest at a German-style castle peopled with wax figures. Their invitation is a kind of rematch, courtesy of a detective Kindaichi previously outsmarted, and the winner gets the castle, all that’s left of a defunct theme park.

Other guests include a mystery novelist, a book critic, head of a detective agency, and an American teen named Edward Columbo. The creators have nicely captured some of the original’s Columbo’s tics, including his habit of stories that reveal secrets. That method of crime-solving contrasts well with Kindaichi’s observations, the writer’s imagination, and the detective’s reliance on codes and laws.

The creepy, Frankenstein-monster-looking butler locks them all in and a “murder” quickly occurs. The characters keeping one-upping each other with deductions until the game turns deadly. Typical for the series, it all turns on the events of a twenty-year-old crime whose results stretch to the present day.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 14
The Gentleman Thief

The Gentleman Thief steals famous works of art in book fourteen. He’s so arrogant that he even warns his targets ahead of time; this time it’s a famous painter whose recently discovered daughter is a former classmate of Kindaichi’s. Kindaichi and the thief face off in a classic mystery-styled battle of wits, with intermittent jabs at the police getting help from a teenager.

The thief not only takes paintings, he also alters their subjects so they can’t be recreated. That leads to fear of something happening to the daughter, the subject of the artist’s award-winning portrait. Her presence is already disruptive, since there are some questions about her identity and a jealous former heir. She’s not the only one with a secret background, of course; everyone’s got some sort of hidden history and motives to kill, including the artist, charged with plagiarism.

Book fifteen takes place on The Graveyard Isle, a vacation getaway billed as a restful campsite. Kindaichi and Miyuki, along with several of their classmates, hope for a peaceful, flirtatious trip, but they wind up discovering WWII wreckage and skeletons. Once they encounter a group of college kids playing war games, things turn deadly.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 15
The Graveyard Isle

Not only are the participants freaked once they discover that they’re trapped on an island with danger on every side, there’s conflict between the freer, more emotional kids and the students playing at army discipline. One in particular is a gun nut, a particularly scary type for the Japanese, where many weapons are illegal to own.

The next book, number sixteen, involves a different kind of travel: a train trip. First, the teen detective is invited to police headquarters to receive an official thank-you, a visit he cuts short by embarrassing himself in public. But that doesn’t stop a detective for asking for his help in opening a magic box, a package that turns out to contain a disturbing puppet and a threat to a scheduled train.

The kids and detective board the train for a trip to a famous magic festival. Turns out that there is also a troupe of professional illusionists traveling with them, entertaining the passengers. The misdirection complicates the situation when a mysterious voice, the “puppetmaster”, calls in a bomb threat.

The Kindaichi Case Files Book 16
The Magical Express

A body is found, it disappears, then returns in gruesome fashion. The troupe of magicians are torn apart by business disputes and personality conflicts. The whole time, the puppetmaster is taunting Kindaichi with cellphone calls about how he remains one step ahead. Like many of the books in this series, the themes of family inheritance and murderous revenge for a past sin are prominent. The magical trappings are highly entertaining, and the different tricks and magic gimmicks allow for attractive designs and images.

Throughout the series, classically cartoony art plays up emotion expressively but doesn’t over-exaggerate it, with distinct faces that add to the character development. It’s clear and professional, with plenty of detail so the reader gets a needed sense of setting. Lots of dialogue deepens both plot and characterization.

Since almost every book is a complete mystery, they can be read in any order. There aren’t enough mystery comics out there, let alone good ones — this series fills that niche admirably, especially since the characters and their motivations are as important as the plot.