Emiko Jean’s Tokyo Ever After is listed for grades 6-8 on Amazon, and it will be fine for that intended audience, especially in a library that is working to diversify. I do not, however, see it having what it takes to reach audiences beyond that maturity level, or to become a classic when a better…
Every thousand years, the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers can be used to summon the great dragon, who will grant a single wish. To keep the scroll safe from evil doing, it was split into three parts and scattered across the land. Now, as the deadline looms, multiple forces are in play for the scroll…
As a fan of Japanese literature and history, Saikaku Ihara is an author I quite enjoy. That being said, these stories are very much 17th Century Japanese literature – a combination of morality tales, daily life, and the benefits (and consequences) of bucking against tradition to go after what, and who, you want. I’d definitely…
Across the Nightingale Floor starts with classic fantasy tropes: a young man thrust from a sheltered existence discovering new powers; a young woman made a drudge who falls in love with the prince. What makes it fresh is the Japanese spin: not only is the setting inspired by feudal Japan, but the characters and their…
Library Wars: Love & War is, quite simply, about fighting against censorship and the banning of books. In this fictional near-future Japan, the Media Betterment Committee was formed about 30 years prior to protect the population from unsavory materials. Unfortunately, the MBC took things to a whole new level, where it is a common occurrence…
Happy Marriage?! (Hapi Mari in the original Japanese) is the Japanese Manga version of a Harlequin Presents novel. Executive Hokuto Mamiya must marry humble “office lady” Chiwa Takanashi to please his nepotistic corporate chairman grandfather, who loved Chiwa’s grandmother. Chiwa accepts so she can settle her father’s debts, thereby drawing herself not only into professional…
Brilliant in piano and violin, Chiaki Shinichi aspires to be a conductor, but his career will be limited as long as his fear of travel traps him in Japan. After he breaks with his professor and his girlfriend on the same night, he gets drunk and wakes up in the squalid apartment of his next-door…
Kaya Satozuka becomes the secretary for Kyouhei Tohma, a director at Tohma Corp and a secret vampire. Kaya’s competence wins her the secretary gig, but it’s her strangely delicious blood that makes Kyouhei fixate on her. Since blood becomes more delicious when a woman is aroused (convenient!), she’s soon his lover as well as his…
The plot premise of Tramps Like Us – a career woman adopts a homeless younger man as a pet – is farfetched. But just make your peace with it and read on, because this manga is captivating. It will shatter your stereotypes of graphic novels as only for YA or male audiences. Tramps Like Us…
Lighthearted and cheerful, Kimi Ni Todoke: From Me To You stars an awkward high schooler named Sawako Kuronuma whose resemblance to a creepy horror movie character has derailed her social career. (It’s hard to make friends when rumor states that eye contact with you can curse a person with diarrhea). But golden boy Shota Kazehaya’s…