Manga Monday: Art projects lead to life lessons

It's fall, and there's no better time to go camping in Yotsuba&! Volume 12.

Note: Yotsuba&! Volume 12 is part of an ongoing series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, and Volume 11 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Food is important

Yotsuba finds out how udon is made, and Juralumin gets into trouble in Yotsuba&! Volume 11.

Note: Yotsuba&! Volume 11 is part of an ongoing series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, and Volume 10 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Cute schoolgirls doing cute things

Trends in media tend to go through phases. At first, it's the hot, new, innovative thing. Later, copycat series spring up like mushrooms after a rain, and the quality of the entire genre suffers. Eventually, a writer decides to turn the trope on its head and create a satire.

The delinquent genre was satirized in Cromartie High School. The magical girl genre was absolutely subverted in Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Finally, Keiichi Arawi takes on the cute schoolgirl genre in nichijou Volume 1. 

We certainly have all the expected characters here. There's Yuuko, the energetic girl who's nevertheless too lazy to do her homework and constantly copies off of her friends. There's Mio, who has a secret crush on a male classmate, and is constantly struggling to hide her yaoi art and manuscripts from her friends.  Nano just wants everyone to believe she's a normal girl, although the windup key on her back tends to give away her robot nature, and Professor, the eight-year-old who created her. There's even Mai, who moved here recently, and is quiet with glasses.

With a group of girls like this, there's plenty of room for hijinks to ensue, and they certainly do. Whether Yuuko's daydreaming out the window lets her spy their principal wrestling a deer, or Nano's despair at Professor replacing her limbs with random items like Swiss roll cake, the gags are fast and furious.

There's plenty to love here, and plenty of room for the series to grow. From minor characters getting their time to shine to more explanation of Professor, hopefully Arawi can keep it fresh and interesting for years to come.

Highs: The manga never tries to take itself more seriously than it should, which is exactly the attitude a series like this should have.

Lows: There are hints at storylines that may continue throughout the series, but none of them get quite enough screentime for the reader to care one way or the other.

Verdict: nichijou Volume 1 is a fun, satirical look at the adorable schoolgirl genre.

Further Reading: Cromartie High School, My Neighbor Seki, Azumanga Daioh

Manga Monday: A pretty calico remembers her kittenhood

Now that Chi's Sweet Home has come to an end, there is a distressing absence of cat manga. Thankfully, Konami Kanata has one more surprise up her sleeve with FukuFuku: Kitten Tales.

Here, a doting elderly owner comes across the photos she took of her cat's first year with her, and brings them out to show Fuku Fuku.

What follows is an adorable look into the first year of a kitten's life. From discovering that human food might not be quite as tasty as her kibble to the amazing warmth that is a kotatsu on a cold day, Fuku Fuku has a lot to learn, and a lot to teach her well-meaning owner as well.

Unlike in Chi's Sweet Home, we're not privy to Fuku Fuku's thoughts being translated into English. Luckily, Kanata's clean, simple art style lets her expressions and thoughts come through nearly as well as if they were written out.

As a reader who never wanted Chi's Sweet Home to end (wouldn't Chi in a beret be adorable?), this is a welcome callback to the simple, lovely stories that made Chi so loveable.

Highs: Watching her owner delight in Fuku Fuku learning her name, and promptly learn what it is to be ignored by her cat, is a feeling universal to cat owners.

Lows: The odd 'Alice in Wonderland' dream sequence seems more out of place than it perhaps intended.

Verdict: FukuFuku: Kitten Tales is a must-read for fans of Chi's Sweet Home who have a manga-kitten-sized hole in their reading lives.

Further Reading: Chi's Sweet Home, Yotsuba&!, Milkyway Hitchhiking

Manga Monday: A heartfelt farewell to a longtime friend

As the Yamada family prepares to move to France, the question of Chi's original family needs to be addressed in Chi's Sweet Home Volume 12.

Note: Chi's Sweet Home Volume 12 is the final volume of a series. Check out the review for Volume 1 here, or the review of Volume 11 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: A very special kind of cat

There once was a cat who traveled. Her back was black light the night, with spots scattered across it like the Milky Way Galaxy. She had a bit of magic about her, and she touched lives along the way. This is the tale of Sirial's Milkyway Hitchhiking Volume 1.

In 'The Black Cat's Wish,' Milkyway comes across a black cat named Sarah. He was rescued by his owner, and all he wants to do is thank him somehow. So he asks Milkyway to become human, if only for a day, or a few hours. Just long enough to thank the person who saved his life. If a cat was given the abilities of a human, how would he choose to thank his savior?

'Cat-Food Burglar' is the story of a strange little girl. Whenever anyone puts food out for the neighborhood cats, she steals it and eats it herself. Milkyway misses a few meals like that, before she begins to investigate. She's hardly starving, she's got a little bit of a tummy on her, so why in the world would this girl be so selfish?

'Mechanical Cat in the Gray City' leads into 'But There Is Only One.' A robot cat named Sandy has wandered out of its home. As Milkyway and Sandy wander the city, the nature of happiness, and of cathood, are explored. All the while, Sandy's young owner cries for her. Is a robot cat just as important, and irreplaceable, as a flesh and blood one?

Sirial has created a gorgeous and pensive manhua. Each page is rich with watercolor-style artwork and broad vistas. While some pages might not be the most detailed, the sheer beauty of the composition simply blows the reader away. This is far and away the most beautiful art I've seen in a comic in years, on par with the great Kaoru Mori, but completely different as well.

Milkyway Hitchhiking is a wonderful, introspective book that takes the time to explore the world, one story at a time.

Highs: The longer, connected chapters bring a welcome sense of fullness amid the one-shots.

Lows: Occasionally, the layering of art, English text bubbles, and Korean sound effects can be hard to read.

Verdict: Milkyway Hitchhiking is a surprising breath of fresh air in the busy, action-packed world of manga.

Further Reading: A Bride's Story, Kino no Tabi, Chi's Sweet Home

Manga Monday: Getting to know a loved one all over again

Mio and Takumi were high school sweethearts...of a sort.They met in high school, but circumstances kept their relationship from developing until after they had graduated. Eventually, though, they finally come together, and a year after they marry their son Yuji comes along.

In most manga, this would be where the story ends. But here, the story is just beginning.

"Archive is a planet of memory. People who have passed away continue to live there as long as someone on Earth remembers them."

So says the picture book that Mio wrote for Yuji before passing away. She promises to come back when when the rainy season starts, and this is where we pick up, in Takuji Ichikawa's Be With You.

It's been a year since Mio has passed away, and her son couldn't be more excited. She promised to come back at the start of the rainy season, and as the weather forecast predicts cloudy skies, Yuji runs outside to find her. His father follows, glad that his son has so much faith in his late wife but not expecting to find anything.

Imagine his surprise when he finds Mio, sitting on the steps of Lab 5. But the discovery is bittersweet, as they realize that she has no memory of her family.

The manga follows the six weeks of the rainy season, as the family slowly  learns about each other again. Yuji turns seven, Takumi has another health scare, and sleeping arraignments have to be renegotiated. Mio might not remember that Yuji is allergic to strawberries, or that her first dates with Takumi were hours of simply talking, but the family was one built on love, and that love can transcend whatever strange magic has brought Mio back to them.

Be with You started out as a novel, and has become a manga, a tv show and a movie. The theme song of the movie was the highest selling single of 2005, which shows some of the love that Japan has for this story. A melancholy, sweet look into the life of a family that is hurting - and healing - Be With You is a lovely one-shot manga to spend an afternoon with.

Highs: In the last chapter, as we see the events from the mother's point of view, is much more of a payoff than I'd expected from a story like this.

Lows: The fact that Yuji calls his father by his first name was extremely confusing at the beginning, but things made more sense as it went.

Verdict: One-shot manga are hard to find, so this is an even better buy than usual.

Further Reading: Be With You (novel), Bunny Drop, The Girl From the Well

Manga Monday: Chi's friends look an awful lot like her

Chi learns more about both of her families, and the Yamadas learn another hard lesson about having a kitten family member, in Chi's Sweet Home Volume 11.

Note: Chi's Sweet Home Volume 11 is part of a series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, or the review of  Volume 10 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Yotsuba's on TV! She must be famous!

Between running a house, going to the park and entertaining Jumbo, it's no wonder Yotsuba's worn out in Yotsuba&! Volume 10.

Note: Yotsuba&! Volume 10 is part of an ongoing series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, and Volume 9 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: How to be a cat

Chi meets some new kittens and gets lessons from Auntie Calico and Blackie in Chi's Sweet Home Volume 10.

Note: Chi's Sweet Home Volume 10 is, of course, part of a series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, or the review of Volume 9 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Complicated families make for complicated emotions

Rin contemplates what it means to be a family in Bunny Drop Volume 8.

Note: Bunny Drop Volume 8 is, of course, part of a series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, or the review of Volume 7 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Clinging to the dreams of childhood while faced with adult problems

A group of 20-somethings come together to find themselves in Inio Asano's Solanin.

Solanin is a book that will resonate with a lot of people. This group of friends who met at their university's 'Pop Music Club' has graduated college and are now, supposedly, adults. Time for jobs, families, and perhaps putting aside the childhood dreams.

Meiko and Tandea aren't satisfied with this. Meiko looks around the office in which she works, and contemplates the other adults around her. Deciding that a 'who cares?' life isn't what she's destined for, and since this job has let her squirrel away enough funds to get them by for a few months, she walks out of the job that pays the bills but isn't what she loves. Taneda, having worked part-time as an illustrator but never offered a full-time position, decides to devote his time to the music that brought them all together in college.

But following one's dreams is harder than it looks, and it takes a tragedy to give them the final push to get their music out there.

There's a narrow window in which Solanin will really resonate with the reader. If the reader is too young, and still too idealistic, they won't really understand how hard it is to hold onto one's dreams when things like a mortgage and medical bills need to be paid. Too old, and the reader becomes jaded and simply wants to shake the characters by the shoulders and tell them to stop complaining. But if the reader is in the same place in their lives as Meiko and the rest, this story might be the kick in the pants he needs to follow his dreams, wherever they may lead.

Highs: The art takes a bit of getting used to, but Asano does a wonderful job, especially with the backgrounds

Lows: There's a bit of the 'First World Problems' issue that pervades the story

Verdict: For the target audience of this book, it's a punch-in-the-gut look at the realities of adulthood

Further Reading: Bunny Drop

Manga Monday: Yotsuba learns that schedules are hard to keep

The adventures continue in this mid-fall week in the life of Yotsuba Koiwai, with adventures to a restaurant, a shopping mall, and a hot-air balloon festival in Yotsuba&! Volume 9.

Note: Yotsuba&! Volume 9 is, of course, the sequel to Yotsuba&! Volume 8. The review of Yotsuba&! Volume 1 is here, and the review of Yotsuba&! Volume 8 is here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Sometimes when you dig up the past, you're surprised with what you find

Rin starts to get curious about her past, and launches a plan to find out about her origins in Bunny Drop Volume 7.

Note:  Bunny Drop Volume 7 is, of course, the sequel to Bunny Drop Volume 6. The review of Bunny Drop Volume 1 is here, and the review of Bunny Drop Volume 6 is here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: I don't think those pears are good anymore...

It's festival season, and Yotsuba's getting fed a whole lot of sweets in Yotsuba&! Volume 8.

Note: Yotsuba&! Volume 8 is, of course, the sequel to Yotsuba&! Volume 7. The review of Yotsuba&! Volume 1 is here, and the review of Yotsuba&! Volume 7 is here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: The past ten years finally become clear

The cause of the tension between Rin and Kouki finally gets some explanation in Bunny Drop Volume 6.

Note:  Bunny Drop Volume 6 is, of course, the sequel to Bunny Drop Volume 5. The review of Bunny Drop Volume 1 is here, and the review of Bunny Drop Volume 5 is here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Why won't anyone open the door?

Chi is introduced to the life of an indoors-only kitty in Chi's Sweet Home Volume 9.

Note: Chi's Sweet Home Volume 9 is, of course, the sequel to Chi's Sweet Home Volume 8. The review of Chi's Sweet Home Volume 1 is here, and the review of Chi's Sweet Home Volume 8 is here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: It's a good thing I don't always get sick when I stay up too late, too!

Yotsuba learns to bake, takes a trip to the convenience store by herself, and discovers where cows live in Yotsuba&! Volume 7.

Note: Yotsuba&! Volume 7 is, of course, the sequel to Yotsuba&! Volume 6. The review of Yotsuba&! Volume 1 is here, and the review of Yotsuba&! Volume 6 is here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Perhaps Yotsuba shouldn't put up so many notes to herself...

Yotsuba learns about recycling, becomes a milkman, and even gets herself grounded in Yotsuba&! Volume 6.

Note: Yotsuba&! Volume 6 is, of course, the sequel to Yotsuba&! Volume 5. The review of Yotsuba&! Volume 1 is here, and the review of Yotsuba&! Volume 5 is here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Can a 40-year-old Daikichi raise a teen?

Ten years have passed, and Daikichi has a whole new set of problems in Bunny Drop Volume 5.

Note:  Bunny Drop Volume 5 is, of course, the sequel to Bunny Drop Volume 4.  The review of Bunny Drop Volume 1 is here, and the review of Bunny Drop Volume 4 is here.  Otherwise, read on!