I read them both during airline adventures while traveling for the holidays and found them both delightful. Inio Asano’s* artistic sense is incredible. There will be a string of well-drafted, but mundane panels and pages and then the reader will be walloped with just a fantastic large-panel or two-page spread that just knocks socks off. I was especially struck by the bicycle race with the crow in WaWW and the tire marks in the street in Solanin.

And both books had me completely interested. I was *very* annoyed at the lady on my flight to Minneapolis who wouldn’t stop talking so I could finish the last three pages of Solanin. (I ended up standing in a bathroom stall to finish the book in peace before heading on to baggage claim…).
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*note: I’m curious about naming conventions. I realize that in Japan, the family name comes first (in reverse of the Western trend), but with my lack of familiarity with which names are family names and which are given names, different publisher trends can be quite baffling. You list the author as Inio Asano but the Viz cover lists Asano Inio—so are you Westernizing or is Viz? And also, as I’m unfamiliar with Japanese names and their sexing, I haven’t the foggiest idea whether Inio Asano is male or female. It’d be nice to know simply so I could say “he” or “she” in conversation rather than use “the author”—as I have been doing.

Negima doesn’t begin picking up until maybe volume 4 or 5 and doesn’t start becoming really interesting until around volume 10. And even then, it might not appeal to you. (I’m not even sure how we got persuaded to give it a try beyond the first three volumes, but we did and are enjoying it.) It helps that as the series moves on, Akamatsu seems less interested in fan service (though it does also seem like he’ll occasionally remember and do one of those lame Huge Public Bath Where Everyone Compares Boob Sizes chapters while my wife and I shake our heads and sigh, and our embarrassment for reading the thing is given new life).

So yeah, don’t feel you have to recommend anything remotely like Negima to me. Heck, just reading all your recommendations to these other people, my want list is already growing more than my paycheck can justify

…when he’s not drawing juniour highers to look like swimsuit models.

Yes. There it is.

Also, I’d ask why you don’t like Negima, but there are too many possible, obvious reasons. I actually like it in spite of all the reasons I don’t like it (and it totally had to grow on me). I essentially read it wholly for the relationship between Negi and Asuna and the gradually uncovering mystery of their two family’s pasts. Along the way, I’m happy that his other characters have gradually evolved from cardboard stereotypes into at least more well-rounded two-dimensional characters. And, as I said, I love the crispness of the art and the confidence of his line (when he’s not drawing juniour highers to look like swimsuit models).

I’m also glad you showed up so I could tell you Solanin is a “done in one” and Astral Project is also completely released!

I think “grounded” and “existential” are part and parcel. It’s “how” I live my life and “why” I live my life.

Children of the Sea — amazing, amazing art. Cover doesn’t do the title justice although that kind of awkwardness is part of the art style as well. Astral Project — covers a little more ethereal than the art inside. Solanin in a very down to earth style.

hope that helps!

Solanin sounds like a real winner–a very grounded concept in contrast to the other two.

I checked out your Children of the Sea review, which was very helpful–you should definitely be sure to include a link when you recommend a title you review

Is the art on these covers representative of the work within the books?

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/06/30/danielle-leighs-reading-diary-children-of-the-sea-vol-1/

It really is a lovely title and it offers beauty and a real sense of mystery and that combination is rather rare in manga.

I remember seeing the ads for Children of the Sea and I like that its a part of their Signature line. That’s usually a sign of their better (or at least more mature) titles. Can you give some more of your feelings about this title? What about it do you like?

Your description of Astral Project kind of hints that it might have kind of a Haruki Murakami-esque feeling to it…