News and reviews for the discerning manga fan
Is it possible for the artwork in a kid-friendly comic to be… well, too good? I found myself wrestling with this question while reading Kitty & Dino, a playful, visually sophisticated graphic novel for young readers. The story is standard kid-lit fare, using animals to dramatize the dynamic between older and younger siblings. In this [...]
Critic proof: that’s my two-word assessment of Fluffy, Fluffy Cinnamoroll, a new all-ages manga starring one of Sanrio’s lesser-known characters. The story is a mixture of sincere sentiment and calculated product placement that’s been carefully designed to appeal to the under-ten crowd; an adult can practically hear the cha-ching of the cash register every time [...]
Do you remember Wonder Woman? From an adult perspective, the show was dreadful, marred by ham-fisted scripts, low-budget special effects, campy plotlines, and wooden performances. From a child’s perspective, however, Wonder Woman was magical: the heroine had a secret identity, wore a cool crime-fighting outfit complete with nifty, crime-fighting accessories, and fought bad buys. Better [...]
Shonen manga in drag — that’s my quick-and-dirty assessment of CLAMP’s Magic Knight Rayearth, a fantasy-adventure that adheres so closely to the friendship-effort-victory template that it’s easy to forget it ran in the pages of Nakayoshi. A closer examination reveals that Rayearth is, in fact, a complex, unique fusion of shojo and shonen storytelling practices. [...]
If you spend any time surfing the mangasphere, you don’t need me to tell you that Twin Spica is about a group of teenagers who are training to become Japan’s first astronauts. You probably know — or have heard from other readers — that it’s poignant. And you may have heard pundits declare it one [...]
Visit the kids’ section at any Barnes & Noble and you’ll see: the fractured fairy tale is one of the most ubiquitous genres in children’s book publishing today. And while many of these Mother Goose mash-ups have undeniable entertainment value — especially for the parents who’ve read and re-read the originals on a nightly basis [...]
It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted a Short Takes column — chalk it up to travel, conventions, and other commitments — so I’m going to do penance by reviewing the latest volumes of three series that I previously recommended. First up is Chi’s Sweet Home (Vertical, Inc.), a heartwarming comic about a [...]
Come for the cat, stay for the cartooning — that’s how I’d summarize the appeal of Chi’s Sweet Home, a deceptively simple story about a family that adopts a wayward kitten. Chi certainly works as an all-ages comic, as the clean, simple layouts do a good job of telling the story, even without the addition [...]
Continuing the theme of my previous Short Takes column, I’m taking a second look at three Yen Press series that got off to a strong start. First up is Black Butler, a supernatural thriller about a manservant who’s frighteningly good at his job; next is Kobato, a comedy about a clueless girl on a mission [...]
Asumi Kamogawa is a small girl with a big dream: to be an astronaut on Japan’s first manned space flight. Though she passes the entrance exam for Tokyo Space School, she faces several additional hurdles to realizing her goal, from her child-like stature — she’s thirteen going on eight — to her family’s precarious financial [...]
I’m not a big fan of squirm-inducing comedies like The Office; it’s hard to root for a loser who … [Read More...]
Are you an adult reader new to manga? Or a librarian who's looking to add more graphic novels to … [Read More...]
Back in the 1990s, Matt Thorn labored hard to make Keiko Nishi a household name among American manga … [Read More...]
Between the Manga Movable Feast and end-of-the-semester duties, I've fallen hopelessly behind in my … [Read More...]
Below is a list of helpful English-language web resources about manga and manhwa. I update this page on a regular basis, so … [Read More...]
Since joining the Good Comics for Kids team in 2008, I've reviewed a variety of comics, graphic novels, and manga for younger … [Read More...]
Though Vertical has published two series by Keiko Takemiya, the Magnificent 49ers' work remains largely unavailable in … [Read More...]
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