Review: GIANT SPIDER & ME: A POST-APOCALYPTIC TALE

 Never has a post-apocalyptic story been so fluffy.

GIANT SPIDER & ME: A POST-APOCALYPTIC TALE (Owari Nochi, Asanagi Kurashi), by Kikori Morino.  First published in 2016 and first published in North America in 2018.

PLOT:

Not far from the ruins of a city lives 12-year-old Nagi.  For the last few years, she's been waiting for her wandering father to return.  She passes her days by gathering food and cooking, but she longs for company.  She just so happens to discover a giant spider in the woods one day with a gentle (if skittish) nature and a taste for home-cooked food.  She takes it in, names it Asa, and enjoy happy times until a strange visitor shows up at Nagi's door.

Review: SHORT SUNZEN

The Tokyopop library is riddled with manga like this - no-name titles with a few interesting ideas that were unceremoniously dropped because no one bought them.

SHORT SUNZEN! (Shoto Sunzen!), by Susugi Sakurai.  First published in 1999 and first published in North America in 2008.

PLOT:

Tama High is notorious as one of the roughest high schools in the area, and few of its students are as rough-and-tumble as Satsuki.  Even though she's only a first year, she's more than ready to take on any challenge and find fun wherever she can.  At her side is her best friend Sendou, who is absolutely smitten with Satsuki.  How can he find the nerve to tell her how he feels when Satsuki won't stop getting into trouble and is seemingly oblivious to every romantic overture?

Review: AWKWARD SILENCE

No mangaka, however great they may be, can churn out hits forever.  Sometimes they're going to miss, or in the case make something that is decidedly mediocre.

AWKWARD SILENCE (Bukiyou na Silent), by Hinako Takanaga.  First published in 2006 and first published in North America in 2012.

PLOT:

Satoru is not just you usual introverted teen.  He's so shy and stone-faced that he's all but incapable of physically demonstrating his emotions.  That makes it terribly hard for him to communicate just how badly he's crushing on the class baseball star Keigo.  Amazingly, Keigo is able to see through Satoru's extreme shyness and confesses his own affections for Satoru.  Everything seems to be hunky-dory for them...if not for the bouts of jealousy they feel when a bubbly new girl and one of Satoru's old friends join their class.

Review: RUMIC THEATER

Finally, a Rumiko Takahashi manga with all the quality of her best-known works but doesn't require committing an entire shelf to it!

RUMIC THEATER (Takahashi Rumiko Gekijo), by Rumiko Takahashi.  First published in 1987 and first published in North America in 1996.

PLOT:

This collection of short stories covers everything from a struggling wedding chapel to an old woman coming back from the dead to right some wrongs.  Along the way, there are women dealing with suspicious neighbors, troublesome penguins, and unwanted household gremlins.

Review: ARIA

 Oh god, I'm totally going to get cancelled for not liking this iyashikei classic.

ARIA, by Kozue Amano.  First published in 2002 and first published in North America in 2004.

PLOT:

It is the 24th century and Mars has been transformed into a watery paradise.  Its prime attraction is Neo-Venezia, where the undines guide their gondolas through the canals to ferry people across the city.  We follow the newest trainee, Akari Mizunashi, as she meets new people, enjoys the everyday pleasures of life, and grows ever closer to becoming a full-fledged undine.