Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle (Manga)

CLAMP. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.  Del Rey, 2004. Paperback $10.95, ISBN 978-0345470577.

What’s it about?

Princess Sakura has lost all her memories, and will die if she doesn’t recover them. Enter her childhood friend, Syaoran, who pleads for help from Yuko, the space-time witch, and two men from disparate worlds.

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Princess Sakura is first in line to succeed the throne of the Kingdom of Clow, and is in love with her childhood friend Syaoran, who is unaware of how she feels. She’s no ordinary girl.  She possesses a little-understood power that has the capability to change the world. This same power brings adversity to her life, however, in the form of a strange symbol formed on rock. When she steps on it, she is struck down and robbed of all her memories, never able to articulate how she feels to Syaoran.  Sakura’s memories are scattered. Fragments exist in many different worlds, and Syaoran must collect them to save Sakura’s life.  Syaoran enlists the help of Yuko, the space-time witch and two men from different worlds, the ninja Kurogane and the magician Fai, and begins his desperate search.  

CLAMP is a group of critically acclaimed and prolific Japanese manga artists.  Their artwork is well-known and respected for its detail, creativity, beautiful lines and breath-taking settings and character design. The artwork in this volume looks a bit rougher than usual, and this stylistic difference helps create urgency. Sakura is quickly running out of time, and the Syaoran has to visit many worlds if he wants her to survive. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is serious in tone, but there are moments of humor, particularly with Kurogane and Fai, whose disparate personalities provide some levity. The translation is solid, with sound effects are translated alongside the original Japanese.  Del Rey provides readers with some information about honorifics at the beginning of the book. The plot twists and grows more complex with each new volume, which may potentially confuse some readers, but boggles the mind (in a good way!) of the rest. This is overall a rich, gorgeous manga with likable protagonists and intriguing secondary characters.

 Genre: Fantasy, romance, adventure

Reading level/interest level: Grades 6 through adult

Subjects: Memory loss, other worlds, heroes, quests

Read-alikes:

CLAMP’s Cardcaptor Sakura

CLAMP’s Xxxholic

Inuyasha

Pandora Hearts

Series information:

Complete series spans 28 volumes. It’s also an anime that aired 52 episodes between 2005 and 2006. The first volume of XXXholic crosses over with the first volume of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. 

The Manga Cookbook

The Manga University Culinary Institute. The Manga Cookbook. Recipes by Yoko Ishihara. Illustrated by Chihiro Hattori. Japanime Co. Ltd, 2007. Paperback $14.95 ISBN-13 978-4-921205-07-2

What’s it about?

Manga characters are often pictured eating cute and curious concoctions. The Manga Cookbook shows manga lovers how to recreate the recipes their favorite characters enjoy.

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Fans of manga might wonder about what their favorite characters are eating, and be interested in creating dishes such as naruto rolls, onigiri, bento boxes, and udon. The Manga Cookbook satisfies readers’ curiosity with several simple recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts and notes about the cultural significance of each recipe.  The recipes are presented in a series of black and white cartoon panels, with instructions written as captions or in dialog bubbles.  The full color illustrations toward the front of the book are enticing, depicting adorable bento boxes (boxes lunches shaped into pictures of trains, gardens, cartoon characters and more),  appetizers including tamago tomodachi (hard boiled eggs designed to look like chicks), California rolls, rice balls, miso soup and more!

This book is informative and entertaining, especially for those whose interest in Japanese cooking developed because of their interest in manga. This book is definitely geared toward these manga fans, and the cartoon mascots and dialog bubbles may fall flat for those who are not into manga and Japanese culture.  I doubt the book would fall into the hands of many non-manga readers, though—the book is pretty clearly written for otaku. The recipes are fairly straightforward, but western readers may not be able to find some ingredients (such as the different types of rice flour and adzuki beans) easily.  The full-color illustrations are the highlight of the book, but the readers will want more than the few pages provided.  Information on Japanese terms and customs appears throughout this slim volume, so even manga fans who don’t do anything in the kitchen harder than microwaving a can of soup will find this an entertaining read.

Genre:  Nonfiction

Subjects: Cooking, Japanese cooking, bento boxes

Reading level/interest level: Grades 5-10

Read-alikes:

Salyer’s Face Food

Ogawa’s Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches

Ito’s The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go

Awards: YALSA selected The Manga Cookbook as a “Top 10 Popular Paperback” for 2011

Yotsuba &!: Slice of Life Manga at its Best

Azuma, Kiyohiko. Yotsuba&!. First published in Japan in 2003 by Media Works, Inc. English translation by Hachette Group, Inc. Yen Press, 2009. Paperback $10.99, ISBN 978-0-316-07387-5.

What’s it about?

Yotsuba is a green-haired little girl with an infectious zest for life who has just moved into a new neighborhood. She makes friends with the family next door, and learns about all sorts of things, like swings, cicadas, and air conditioning—which might just be THE ENEMY OF THE EARTH! 0_o

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Yotsuba&! is a manga set in Japan about ordinary events and objects seen through the eyes of a lively little green-haired girl named Yotsuba.  The story opens with Yotsuba and her single adoptive father moving into a new neighborhood. Yotsuba quickly makes friends with the neighbors and their three daughters, Fuuka Ayase, a high school student who first meets Yotsuba climbing up and down an electrical pole, Ena, who is closest to Yotsuba’s age, and Asagi, the oldest—who Yotsuba embarrassingly refers to as “the pretty one.”  This first volume consists of brief episodes in which Yotsuba becomes familiar with her new surroundings, and, in words of her father, “finds enjoyment in everything.”   

This manga is accessible, funny, and has broad appeal. For readers familiar with the manga series Azumanga Daioh, Azuma’s comedic genius, won’t come as a surprise. Azuma has a gift with turning the ordinary into laugh out loud situations with his great sense timing and quirky cast of characters, with their wildly exaggerated expressions. This is slice of life and comedy manga at its best. Tweens, teens and adults will enjoy Yotsuba&! even if they are new to manga. This manga is rated all ages, making this a great choice for parents concerned about the content of many graphic novels and manga titles. Yotsuba is a unique character whose wide-eyed exuberance translates well to manga. Fans clamoring for an anime of this title will be disappointed; the creator Azuma has no plans for adapting Yotsuba&! into an anime.  

Genre: Slice-of-life comedy

Reading level/ Interest level: Ages 9 & up

Subjects/themes: Japan, children, neighbors, humor

Read-alike series:

Azuma’s Azumanga Daioh

Barasui’s Strawberry Marshmallow

Kakifly’s K-ON!

Kobayashi’s School Rumble

Awards/reviews: Starred review in Publisher’s Weekly

Series information: There are currently 9 volumes translated into English, with the 10^th volume on its way