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The Shipping News, 7/22/09

19 July 2009 6 Comments

If you buy one book this week, make it Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea (VIZ), a beautiful, haunting fable about three children racing against time to figure out why fish are vanishing from all the world’s oceans. The artwork is flat-out gorgeous; the characters are vivid and real; and the story’s themes are both timeless and timely, given the sheer number of aquatic species teetering on the brink of extinction. You can read first nine chapters of the series online, free of charge, but the experience is even better on paper.

If you decide to buy two titles this week, add volume five of Real (VIZ) to your basket as well. Takehiko Inoue’s gritty, gripping basketball drama gets better with each new installment, avoiding the twin pitfalls of predictability and mawkishness. His characters never behave like saints; they cuss, they pick fights, they quit too easily, they worry about getting laid. Yet Real is never a downer; Inoue’s story is funny, wise, and, yes, very real.

And if you’re in the market for three or four books? The full list is below…

NEW SERIES/ONE-SHOTS

  • BioGraphical Novel: Mother Theresa (Emotional Content)
  • Children of the Sea, Vol. 1 (VIZ)

CONTINUING SERIES

  • Berserk, Vol. 30 (Dark Horse)
  • Case Closed, Vol. 30 (VIZ)
  • Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Vol. 4 (Bandai Entertainment)
  • Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 19 (VIZ)
  • Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs, Vol. 13 (VIZ)
  • Oishinbo A La Carte, Vol. 4: Fish, Sushi, and Sashimi (VIZ)
  • Orfina, Vol. 6 (CMX)
  • Real, Vol. 5 (VIZ)
  • Vagabond VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 4 (VIZ)

6 Comments »

  • John Jakala said:

    …and if you buy three books this week, make the third Oishinbo: This incredible series manages to make food reviewing exciting and intense. (Hell, I’m starting to believe a manga series about watching paint dry would be a pulse-pounding thriller.)

    What, no Pluto vol. 4 this week? Ah, crap. I was really hoping for another installment of the absolutely delightful Uran. Oh well, at least there’s another thick book of Inoue’s samurai manga hitting the shelves.

    # 19 July 2009 at 10:56 PM
  • David Welsh said:

    Curse that sneaky Inoue for giving his book an easy-target title and then having the nerve to see to it that the series actually lives up to it. If Real weren’t so brilliant, I’d be annoyed.

    And John, I so agree about Uran. She’s right up there with Jeff Smith’s Mary Marvel, but she’s a little bit scary, so I like her even more.

    # 20 July 2009 at 5:50 AM
  • Katherine Dacey (author) said:

    Volume 4 of Pluto arrived at my LCS last week, but wasn’t showing up on other lists I consulted. (No sign of it on the venerable Midtown Comics list, for example.) Oh, the vagaries of the comics distribution system…

    I confess I’m a little less bullish about Oishinbo: I’ve enjoyed the culinary bits a lot more than the father-son schtick. That said, all that shop-talk inspired me to order seabream (something I don’t think I’ve ever tried in all my years of eating sushi) and be more adventurous in my sake drinking, so clearly it’s made a lasting impression.

    # 20 July 2009 at 6:10 AM
  • The road to San Diego « MangaBlog said:

    [...] Dacey looks forward to this week’s new releases at The Manga [...]

    # 20 July 2009 at 7:12 AM
  • John Jakala said:

    David – Exactly! And Astro’s appearance and demeanor remind me a lot of Billy Batson as well, but I’d much rather read about the robotic pair if I had to chose one set of superpowered kids to follow.

    Kate – Personally, I love the over-the-top father/son rivalry/conflict. I mean, Shiro’s dad KILLED HIS MOM WITH HIS GRUELING GOURMET DEMANDS!!! How could it possibly get any more awesome than that? But, yes, the food sections do make me awfully hungry for Japanese cuisine.

    # 20 July 2009 at 9:50 AM
  • Cartoon and Manga articles news. » Archive » The Manga Critic » Blog Archive » The Shipping News, 7/22/09 said:

    [...] Continued here: The Manga Critic » Blog Archive » The Shipping News, 7/22/09 [...]

    # 20 July 2009 at 11:20 AM

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