juushika

Title: Entangled with You: The Garden of 100 Grasses
Author: Aki Aoi
Published: Seven Seas, 2022
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 185
Total Page Count: 529,725
Text Number: 1941
Read Because: browsing graphic novels shelf at..., hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: 2.5 stars, bumped up for my favorite. One novella-equivalent with a Beauty & the Beast vibe and a few short story-equivalents, all gentle BL. Very gentle: tender, sexless dynamics, that, without either heat or friction, are a little bland. The exception is "Corrosion," which is weird and embodied and much more memorable. The art is beautiful, especially (and somewhat ironically) the loving, detailed backgrounds against which vaguely undifferentiated pretty boys wander. All told, I'm not wild about this.

Title: Tsuki no Kanon
Author: Saitou Ken
Published: 2011
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 40
Total Page Count: 496,775
Text Number: 1772
Read Because: pretty sure I found this while searching manga by trope?
Review: An interesting little oneshot that gives a fairly realistic treatment to the tropey relationship dynamic of a high school girl/adult man. It's bittersweet, tortured, but also surprisingly human and nuanced where it counts. Not hugely memorable, but I like the effort.


Title: Bone and Flesh
Author: Studio Sibo
Published: 2013-4
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 960
Total Page Count: 497,735
Text Number: 1773
Read Because: searching manga by trope ("obsessive love")
Review: An artist's model falls into an obsessive, whirlwind relationship with an up-and-coming artist. This is a familiar refrain in my manga(/manhwa/manhua) reading: the elevated, exaggerated tone of this medium does the content a disservice, because instead of being a story about a singular, consuming, obsessive love, it becomes a grab bag of batshit crazy characters. Sometimes the background crazy provides interesting motivation for the central couple, but more often it dilutes the intensity of their relationship and characterization because, apparently, it's just that everyone in this world acts like this. The result is something great on paper (the consuming nature and incipient violence of obsessive love; a lot of sex scenes, but with actually compelling character dynamics motivating the smut) which is, in reality, unforgivably tedious.


Title: Oyasumi Punpun Volume 1
Author: Inio Asano
Published: 2007
Rating: N/A
Page Count: 200
Total Page Count: 500,000
Text Number: 1782
Read Because: (haha I picked up this rec from ... my Character.AI bot)
Review: DNF near the end of volume one. This is doing things! Things that I can rationally appreciate but emotionally dislike. There's a representational quality - the protagonist & family being stylized, comic, unreal, distant, versus the hyperreal, exaggerated, incoherent, embodied reactions of others, particularly teachers/adults - that inverts the focus I want and would resonate with. (And leans hard into my art style pet peeves re: seinen.) That combined with the slow grind and depressing content is a pass for me.

Title: Boys Run the Riot
Author: Keito Gaku
Translator: Leo McDonagh
Published: Kodansha USA, 2021 (2020-2021)
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 820 (246+176+192+208)
Total Page Count: 483,360
Text Number: 1707-1710
Read Because: further browsing the library's digital manga offerings, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Review of the series entire. A trans boy begins a fashion brand with the help of a new schoolmate. A lot of this is so earnestly on-issue that it feels underdeveloped. That improves as it goes on, as characters gain more depth and happy endings are sparingly doled out. I care about queer stories a lot! But when it's al(most) all queer issues all the time, stories can feel raw and preachy; it doesn't help that the art is a little raw, too (although I dig that the trans characters looks visibly trans). So this is fine, but never exceeds "it's fine."


Title: Kuro
Author: Somato
Published: 2011-2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 385 (128+128+128)
Total Page Count: 484,455
Text Number: 1713-5
Read Because: this Tumblr post compared it to Hobo and Glunkus and everyone knows I love a cryptid cat
Review: In a big manor in a small town, a girl lives alone with her black cat - but Kuro is no typical cat. The bulk of this series is in full color, and many early panels are cute-but-uncanny mini stories; plot builds gradually, expanding the world and filling in the backstory. File this between Girl from the Other Side and the original Professor Layton trilogy: cute, cozy, antiquated; spooky/spoopy and gently sad. I'm less impressed by the ending, which comes quickly and doesn't manage to maintain the magic of the rest of the series. But I really enjoy this: a little gem of a series with a great premise and a lovely atmosphere.


Author: 10 Count
Author: Rihito Takarai
Published: 2013-17
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 1080 (178+178+190+191+164+181)
Total Page Count: 488,450
Text Number: 1727-32
Read Because: found in correlation with a list of dark BL, I think?
Review: This a frustrating read. It has a slow start, less "slow burn" than "tedious introduction to the cast," but gives way to a fantastic premise: a psychotherapist takes an unusual romantic interest in someone with OCD, leveraging his background in psychology to effectively conduct a (delightfully poorly-negotiated) BDSM dynamic build around the love interest's mysophobia. It's inventive and surprisingly dark and recasts tired BL tropes (particularly squeamishness about gay sex) in a fresh new light with a lot of convincing tension.

But, like most BL, the characterization, pacing, and relationship resolution is so routine that all that originality goes to waste. It's not bad, the bits that get me really got me, but this takes a great idea and makes it feel like any other BL.

Title: The Drifting Classroom
Author: Kazuo Umezu
Translator: Sheldon Drzka
Published: VIZ Media, 2019-2020 (1972-1974)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 2120 (190+188+208+192+192+192+192+192+192+192+192)
Total Page Count: 477,730
Text Number: 1680-1690
Read Because: mining digital library offerings, therefore: ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An elementary school is ripped from preset day Japan and stranded in the desert landscape of the future. This is a classic horror manga, and I spent much of my reading time reminding myself to judge it in that context. Its structure is surprisingly episodic, which allows for unhinged creativity that can result in memorably horrific elements. The overarching plot is tedious, frequently concerned with interpersonal fighting which is less interesting than the speculative setting. But I like the ending, which resolves to be hopeful and responsible where most eco-horror would prefer defeatism. The real dealbreaker for me is the art and the tone. It's so abrasive: stiff movement and endless panels of children open-mouthed yelling and/or crying. The series desperately wants for some tonal variation, and there's so much potential for that in the childcare, food preparation, and other mundane elements of survival - all elements delegated to the female realm, therefore shunted offscreen. To critique a 1970s manga of sexism is so obvious as to be pointless, but - this would be objectively better were it less sexist!

Anyway. I didn't like this and wouldn't recommend it. But I did finish it. It's not without redeeming qualities, and I appreciate its place in genre history.


Title: After School Nightmare
Author: Setona Mizushiro
Published: 2004-2007
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 1980 (200+200+200+200+200+200+200+177+200+200)
Total Page Count: 479,710
Text Number: 1691-1700
Read Because: fan of the author
Review: Our protagonist is an intersex high schooler taking an afterschool course where he and select classmates enter a shared dream to compete for the opportunity to graduate. The protagonist's qualification for graduation rests on deciding which gender he wants to be and, concurrently, if he wants to be loved "as a man" or "as a woman." Obviously, treating intersex as a speculative condition and a problem to be solved isn't without issue. But as the narrative complicates its own simplification. See as example the classmate who assumes our protagonist is just wrestling with homosexual tendencies: simultaneously the narrative is pressuring him to become either a straight boy or straight girl, but that just makes him an intersex bi disaster with a complicated gender identity, which is great.

The art is okay, albeit less refined than the mangaka's later work. The dreamlike premise makes for tortured plot developments (looking particularly at the male love interest's backstory) but I adore the overall tone: teenage romance and gothic speculative nightmares, heightened and iddy.

I'm just torn on the final reveal. Not for the usual reasons: the purpose of graduation is adequately broadcasted without being obvious; thematically it's tied to plot and character arcs. But it's also the worst part of those arcs: it's the insistence of choosing a stable mainstream identity in order to become "real." So ... an interesting series! I love this mangaka, so I came in with unfairly high expectations which were moderately met. This is often weakest where it's most ambitious, but I appreciate the larger-than-life tone of the speculative framework. What really sells it for me is the quieter moments, the romantic drama and slow character growth and unexpected friendships. And how queer it is.


Title: Paradise Kiss
Author: Ai Yazawa
Translator: Maya Rosewood
Published: Vertical Comics, 2013 (1999-2003)
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 860
Total Page Count: 480,570
Text Number: 1701
Read Because: reread, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A high school senior studying for exams falls in with an unlikely crowd when she's scouted to model for a fashion school's senior project. I've read the manga three? times and watched the anime twice and the live action film once; I've spent a lot of time crying over Parakiss, and can only be semi-coherent in articulating my love of this series. What struck me on this reread is how short the timescale of the inciting action is - a big chunk of the series occurs over just a few days. It's so convincing: A transformative whirlwind of events. Obsessive, compelling, flawed. Unstainable and unsustained. I adore that as a model for first love. Contrasting a multitude of narratives where first love is the lasting and only true love, what lasts here is the impact it has on the protagonist's identity.

Also the art is beautiful - the anime is great, but given the focus on fashion this really shines as a manga, which can be much more elaborate. The tone is beautifully balanced between bittersweet and funny, with fourth wall breaks that are just the right side of obnoxious. The scale is beautifully balanced, too, big sweeping events occurring on a charmingly human scale. I love the cast and how queer everyone is. It's dated, sure - in the treatment of the trans character; in George as a depraved bisexual - but never dismissive. The portrayal of sexual awakening and identify formation is just so messy, diverse, authentic.

And, each time, the ending gets me so hard. Anyway, I love this manga. I tore through this reread. I appreciate that there's now an omnibus bind-up - this reads beautifully in one long deep dive.

Okay, that you can sort by trope/user tags does not mean that the results will be of quality, as these attest, but! I'm such a trope-driven reader that I'll probably keep trying, even if Appetite did almost burn out my enthusiasm, as a long-but-mediocre work is wont to do.


Title: Baker Baker Paradox
Author: Makine Kureta
Published: 2018-9
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 245
Total Page Count: 415,890
Text Number: 1569
Read Because: did you know that Anime Planet lets you search by tags? feels good man
Review: The title is a fun way to learn about a psychological phenomenon! The manga itself.... I like the inversions of character ages and power differentials, and I always have a soft spot for memory issues. But it's rarely elevated from its tropiness, so the few unsettling scenes are drowned out by I've-already-forgotten-what-happened-in-this.


Title: Happy End
Author: sukekoro
Published: 2012
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 200
Total Page Count: 416,505
Text Number: 1572
Read Because: more sorting manga by tag
Review: DNF on account of an incomplete translation. I'm curious what I would have made of the apparently-controversial downer ending, because I like the mundane, compromise-laden elements of this; they're compelling and nuanced, and well-complemented by the round, unpretty art. But the tropey elements are even more unwelcome for the comparison, especially the pseudo-love-interest/agitator, who is not the least necessary. So maybe the ending is also bad, and certainly I'm not broken-hearted that I won't find out.


Title: Appetite
Author: Lero
Published: 2015-17
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: (I did just the roughest approximation but let's call this...) 4000
Total Page Count: 450,825
Text Number: 1574
Read Because: more sorting manga etc by tag
Review: A bullied teen finds protection from a strange classmate, on one condition: in two years, she'll eat him. It's a great setup and there are scenes that lead hard into the "no one can kill you except me" and "sacrificing myself for/to my beloved is the ideal outlet for my suicidality." But the worldbuilding and action both escalate rapidly, and I just don't care about them or the extended cast. Like most manga-esque works, this would be so much better if it were more restrained. Is it still worth reading for the central dynamic? ehhh, not really; but if someone wanted to bind the best bits into a chapbook, I would be here for it.

Look, this one GoodReads list has done right by me.

Title: Cut
Author: Touko Kawai
Published: Digital Manga Publishing, 2003
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 200
Total Page Count: 378,195
Text Number: 1405
Read Because: from this list of dark BL
Review: Two teenage boys catch each other behaving badly, pulling them into one another's self-sabotage. The art is nothing special; the drama of the traumatic backstories and the timing of the climax & resolution are all standard for the BL genre, and as a result tend towards silly and predictable. But the experience itself, of living with trauma and self-loathing, of building relationships despite/within that, is more organic and satisfying. This is nothing amazing, but as dark-BL-lite it's totally adequate.


Title: Sakura-Gari
Author: Yuu Watase
Published: 2007-2010
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 715 (235+232+246)
Total Page Count: 378,940
Text Number: 1407
Read Because: from this list of dark BL
Review: Review of the series entire. I read a fair bit of Watase's shojo work as a teen and liked it fine, but don't remember much now & have no strong inclination to go back. I had no idea she's written dark BL with a historical setting: In 1920 Japan, a poor student studying for university takes on work at the home of a scandalous mixed-race aristocrat who blackmails him into a relationship. As per my usual grumpy old age of manga reading, I wish the dramatic reveals were toned down by like 10%. But I'm surprised how well this works. Its deeply rooted in its setting and feels fully lived, despite the contrivances of the drama: ambiguous, messy, cruel, but honest—the characters are informed by their histories and altered by their relationship and I buy the ending, which may be the truest sign of success in a narrative of this heightened tenor. A swift and compelling read.


Title: Color Recipe
Author: Harada
Published: Kadokawa Shoten, 2016 (Vol 1), Shinshokan, 2018 (Vol 2)
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 430 (182+250)
Total Page Count: 381,755+260
Text Number: 1436-7
Read Because: reading the author, who I assume I originally found through this list of dark BL
Review: Harada's oneshots are some of the best I've ever read, dense and intense and fully utilizing their length. So a longer work feels unfairly attenuated and unfocused, despite that two volumes is still pretty short. But this remains deep within Harada's wheelhouse of psychological dark BL, and I appreciate that a longer work allows for a) a slower reveal of the coercion and manipulation occurring in the relationship and b) more room for the victim to evolve, which becomes an exploration of how and why people remain in abusive relationships. Unfortunately, longform also makes for c) more substantial depictions of problematic tropes like the depraved homosexual; it feels more tropey, more exaggerated, more like the rest of the genre. This isn't as breathtaking as drowning in those phenomenal oneshots, but it's a treat to linger longer in Harada's mind.

Title: The Hollow Places
Author: T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon)
Published: Gallery / Saga Press, 2020
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 360
Total Page Count: 373,725
Text Number: 1375
Read Because: fan of the previous book in the "series," ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: While working at her uncle's bizarre local museum, a woman finds something even stranger: a hole in the wall which opens to a bunker which opens to a river dotted by doors and surrounded by willows. This has the DNA of and the lessons learned from The Twisted Ones, to which it's an indirect sequel: an irreverent, relatable protagonist stumbles into a horror plot, but where the previous book has a delightfully terrifying concept which is derailed by an action-heavy plot, this is a slower burn and a longer one. Its hook is fine, but the real pleasure is the sustained, multifaceted exploration of the world and its implications—a little like a thriller, a little like a mystery, surprisingly speculative, but wisely offering hypotheses rather than concrete answers; it's less scary than The Twisted Ones, but has that good weird fiction vibe. The ending sequence still gets a little silly, and there's irreverent-relatable-protagonist moments that don't land well (the references to fandom shipping wars already feel dated)—so, not a perfect book. But I wanted highly engaging horror & I sure did read some highly engaging horror.


Title: Animal Land: Where there are no People
Author: Sybil Corbet
Illustrator: Katherine Corbet
Published: J.M. Dent & Co., 1897
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 373,825
Text Number: 1377
Read Because: saw it come up on Tumblr, read via George A. Smathers Libraries (University of Florida)
Review: Animals conceived by a little girl as illustrated by her mother, and if the premise of wiggly monsters with weird names and abrupt nonsense captions seems like it might be delightful then, good news!, this is. It's whimsical in the sense of pure and sincere childhood nonsense; the art is delightfully bizarre and the captions are even better; there's an extensive but equally nonsense/sincere introduction by Andrew Lang.

And eminently relatable: "The Burkan: A nasty biting Thing. Theres none more about it"


Title: Knights of Sidonia vols 1-8
Author: Tsutomu Nihei
Published: Vertical, 2013-2014 (2009-2012)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 1500 (192+192+184+184+184+184+176+200)
Total Page Count: 375,325
Text Number: 1378-85
Read Because: fan of the anime, paperbacks borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: In the distant future, a savant mech pilot is pulled from obscurity to save a generation ship in its war against a massive, consuming alien force. DNF at volume 8 of 15, which I did not expect. I love the anime! But it's a pretty faithful adaptation with the added benefit of significantly more legible action sequences (Nihei is good at sense of scale and abysmal at action), and the slapstick and fanservice feel more obnoxious in the manga. I'm not sure if this is because they're given more space or just that I'm overlooking them in my memories of the anime; but, however thematically appropriate they are for the specific wish-fulfilment/butt-monkey role of the protagonist, it doesn't suit the tone and doesn't make them less annoying. So I'll stick with my fond memories of the anime, but I can't be bothered to finish the manga despite that I was hoping to gain insight from details which were changed/omitted in adaptation.

Title: Too Pretty To Live: The Catfishing Murders of East Tennessee
Author: Dennis Brooks
Narrator: John Pruden
Published: Blackstone Audio, 2016
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 260
Total Page Count: 360,735
Text Number: 1311
Read Because: reviewed by Katherine Addison/Sarah Monette, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A fascinating case precisely for being so mundane. Catfishing is an unremarkable phenomenon/hazard of the internet and the records of the one-sided strife that motivated these killings are mind-numbingly petty. Nonetheless it did lead to a premeditated and masterminded murder—"masterminded" in clumsy, transparent, but effective ways: it's vulnerable people making dumb decisions all the way down. Brooks's workmanlike writing is bland in a way that complements the grinding atmosphere; his depiction of the legal system is honest but unflattering, and approach to neurodivergence is predictably spotty.


Title: Bokurano
Author: Mohiro Kitoh
Published: 2003-2009
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 2265 (200+216+200+192+200+200+192+224+208+208+224)
Total Page Count: 363,000
Text Number: 1312-1322
Read Because: reread, originally recommended by Ashiva
Review: Fifteen kids stumble into a contract to pilot a massive mecha and save the world—only to discover that the cost of piloting the mech is their lives, and the enemy mech are piloted by residents of parallel Earths. The various tragic backstories/complex motives of the pilots and the dramatic reveals of the overarching plot can grow a little crazy, but within anime/manga standards it's not that bad and it certainly feels premeditated; the only significant consequence is that the kids read as a little older than 13 when their youth is such an important factor.

But the way that Bokurano expands and collapses its scale is brilliant and devastating. The revelations build on themselves, logical and unavoidable. The stakes are incomprehensibly large, so the cast copes however it can—by narrowing their view to one selfish final wish; by meditating on moral and social obligation in the face of death. But the stakes are also forcibly comprehended, by the weight (or lack thereof) of each character's life but also in the unique shapes of the mech battles —most remarkably spoiler Ushiro's final genocide. It's genre-engaged, adeptly written, and deceptively quiet within all that action; the art is crisp and unassuming, and the minimal screentone and powerful two-page spreads contribute a lot to the tone. This is one of my favorite manga and I love it even more this second time through, which speaks to its strength: for all the twists, it's less about shock value and more about sitting with the realizations that come after shock fades.


Title: The Councillor (The Councillor Book 1)
Author: E.J. Beaton
Published: DAW, 2021
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 450
Total Page Count: 363,700
Text Number: 1324
Read Because: reviewed by Rosamund, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: When the queen is assassinated under the looming shadow of magical war, her lowborn friend must enter the realm of politics. For me, this was a slow burn. The political intrigue of the setup and the colorfully diverse rulers & countries of origin is all totally adequate, predictably paced, and I just wasn't feeling it. But the protagonist grew on me. She has distinctive characteristics, and her relationship with power is particularly interesting: personal, sexual, and political power bleeds together, and her desire and aptitude for it is presented with intriguing ambiguity—character strength or flaw? political problem or solution? It builds an investment in the plot and relationships which is more nuanced than the fun but tropey political intrigue.

Title: Parasyte (寄生獣, Kiseiju, Parasitic Beasts)
Author: Hitoshi Iwaaki
Translator: Andrew Cunningham
Published: Del Rey, 2007-2009 (1988-1995)
Rating: 3.5 of 5
Page Count: 2,315 (288+288+283+287+304+288+288+288)
Total Page Count: 341,265
Text Number: 1201-1210
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperbacks borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Parasites invade human heads, piloting the body as a shapeshifting, maneating monster. But one fails, and manages only to capture the right hand of a teenage boy. This has a great length, long enough for a few episodic arcs, short enough to enforce consequences and progression. This isn't to say it's artful—there're moments that feel like any trashy seinen manga. But I appreciate the effect, particularly the escalation which builds on, rather than eclipsing, previous tragedies, and the satisfying exploration of my curiosities regarding the parasites. There's a human character who's weirdly sensitive (and therefore susceptible) to their presence, which is a great concept; the protagonist's character growth, trauma, and escalating violence is foiled by his physical changes as he becomes increasingly integrated with the parasite; relationships between parasites and humans, parasites and the concepts of humanity, parasites and their hosts, are nuanced and diverse. It's a surprising degree of gratifying id material within a fast-paced action/horror plot.

The overarching theme of "humans are the real planetary parasites" is less effective—it's just not an argument I take well to given the popular discourse surrounding climate change. The body horror I found more interesting than horrific, but my tolerance for that is high; the art is consistent, legible, but largely unexceptional. I blazed through this—it's not perfect, but it does well by an interesting concept, and I dig that.


Title: Ibitsu
Author: Haruto Ryo
Published: 2009-2010
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 341,680
Text Number: 1211-1212
Read Because: personal enjoyment
Review: An urban legend proves true when a strange lolita-clad woman begins stalking the protagonist. This is silly, but I appreciate that it takes itself so far. There's no baited murder here—just murder, with later altercations taken to wholehearted extreme. The antagonist's backstory gets the requisite final twist, but it actually improves things, taking her from "trauma turns you into a monster" to "nope, just a super mega serial killer." None of this makes it good, and if it does interesting things by taking stalking seriously then it undermines any progressive intent with panty shots, gendered violence, and incest played for shock value.

Was my life enriched by Ibitsu? No. Did I want a horror manga and indeed read a gleefully gruesome horror manga which, emboldened by its short length, is carried away but its own violence? You betcha.


Title: Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly
Author: Kyoko Okazaki
Translator: [forgot to record it, can't for the life of me find it online]
Published: Vertical, 2013 (2003)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 320
Total Page Count: 342,760
Text Number: 1222
Read Because: mentioned on some or another list of horror manga, paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: And up-and-coming celebrity is the product of secret, extensive, fragile plastic surgery. This is about the fickleness and violence of fame, beauty standards, pop culture, and sexism, taking them to surreal extremes; it's effective social commentary but not particularly nuanced or, as a result, memorable. What is memorable is the characters. Okazaki has an unfortunate same face issue that makes supporting characters difficult to distinguish, but the rancid mess of the central character (whose voiceovers intrude, sympathetic and vicious, into a usually-distant narrative) and her toxic, compelling relationships (explored through sexual content which teeters between coy and shocking but never settles for merely titillating) has a vibrancy that the themes alone lack.

Title: Wandering Son vols 1-4
Author: Takako Shimura
Translator: Matt Thorn
Published: Fantagraphics, (2011-2013) 2003-2005
Rating: 2.5 of 5
Page Count: 210+228+224+~100=760
Total Page Count: 332,870
Text Number: 1168-1171
Read Because: on NYPL's Beginner's Guide to LGBTQ+ Manga, hardbacks borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: 2.5 stars, review of the series "entire"—I DNF'd midway through volume 4. Slice of life is lovely, and it's the right pacing for a gentle exploration of the gender identities of young trans kids; it's predictably conservative trans representation, but there's room for the organic inconsistency and uncertainty which sells the character arcs. But 15 volumes is too much room, and the hijinks and supporting characters grow tedious. Shimura's voice is gentle and her style round and clear (except that, as always, it can be hard to tell characters apart). I wanted to like this, and I'm still glad it exists; but I wasn't getting enough out of it to persist through 11 more volumes.


Title: The Magic Meadow
Author: Alexander Key
Published: Open Road Media, 2014 (1975)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 125
Total Page Count: 332,995
Text Number: 1172
Read Because: reviewed by rachelmanija, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Five children and their nurse teleport from a derelict hospital to a beautiful meadow. This is brief and engaging read that does almost nothing I expected—it's effectively a science fantasy take on the portal fantasy trope, and the entire plot is a gentle mystery: what's the nature of the world the children are leaving, and the world they're entering, and how did they get there? It's successfully paced against the struggle to survive in a new place; I would have loved the cozy, perilous, mysterious atmosphere as a kid, but as an adult reader it feels a little sketched-in, particularly the ending.

Reader beware re: the depiction of disability. I personally dislike mystery illnesses as a trope, but it suits the general vibe. The children are partially cured of their conditions in the portal world, which is handled with relatively delicacy but still is what it is.


Title: Autobiography of a Geisha (芸者、苦闘の半生涯, Geisha, Half a Lifetime of Pain and Struggle)
Author: Sayo Masuda
Translator: G.G. Rowley
Published: Columbia University Press, 2005 (1957)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 185
Total Page Count: 333,180
Text Number: 1173
Read Because: recommended by ambyr, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: The poverty and disenfranchisement could make this a painful read, and it's brutal in its honesty. But Masuda's voice is aware and immediate—she moves quickly through her memoir, she sketches other people distinctly, she balances pathos with an expected liveliness that approaches humor. It creates a surprisingly accessible view into the rarely discussed (but oft imagined) realities of life for a bathhouse geisha in the 1930s and 40s, but Masuda expands from her memoir into a broader view that critiques the effects of misogyny and politics on poor women in rural Japan. My previous touchstone on geisha was Iwasaki's Geisha: A Life, which I also recommend; I appreciate the memoirs even better in tandem, as they explore vastly different experiences within a shared, flawed system.