Manga Before Flowers
Tenma the Saint: Thoughts on Monster vol 1-7 PART 1
- by Danielle Leigh
- Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 10:17 AM EST
In Monster, Naoki Urasawa asks "is killing someone ever justified?" I don't mind the asking of the question, but the qualified answer that is given kind of bothers me. The reason the answer is "qualified" is because the test-case appears to be the saintly Dr. Tenma's quest to end the life of the titular monster. [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Manga Vocab!
- by Danielle Leigh
- Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 5:44 PM EST
This column is an attempt to address the fact that I often use manga vocabulary I don't always explain when I write reviews or talk about manga in this forum. I assume (probably quite incorrectly) that if you are reading my posts you already know the terms I use most frequently. But recent comments from [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- My Year in Manga
- by Danielle Leigh
- Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 9:48 PM EST
End of semester madness and holiday travel kept me from regular updates on the blog but I can't let the whole of 2009 go without some commentary. So you all get a list of manga released in 2009 that meant something to me. It isn't quite a "best of" list, nor it is exactly a [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Best of '09 lists!
- by Danielle Leigh
- Saturday, December 19th, 2009 at 2:31 PM EST
Although I feel I can't do a top ten list of manga from 2009 until I read a few things (GoGo Monster and Red Snow are the titles that spring to my mind instantly), the truth is even if I read those books my top three will probably remain the same -- Ooku: The Inner [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #8
- by Danielle Leigh
- Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 5:06 PM EST
Alex Scales has an interesting challenge for me -- he asked, "What are some manga you would recommend to fans of the Vertigo line of comics?"
When I think of Vertigo I immediately think of titles with excellent plot "hooks" that first catch the reader's attention and dynamic storytelling which keeps it. I think of titles [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- 10 Underrated Shojo Titles
- by Danielle Leigh
- Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 10:24 AM EST
I conferred with Michelle Smith to come up with a list of 10 shojo manga (& manhwa) we felt were currently flying under the radar. Some are my personal favorites, some are Michelle's, and some are simply well regarded by manga bloggers whose opinion we both trust and respect.
Feel free to chime with any shojo [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #7
- by Danielle Leigh
- Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 9:14 AM EST
Rin wrote the following, "I like josei / shojo series that are not too romantic or smutty, my two favourites are Honey and Clover and NANA."
I could not have asked for a request more up my alley. I'm not recommending Ai Yazawa's Paradise Kiss because I assume everyone who reads NANA has also read that. [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #6
- by Danielle Leigh
- Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 6:46 AM EST
Eric Rupe gave me the following three key words: "Sci-Fi. Fantasy. Cyberpunk." He also wrote "My favorite comic writer is Grant Morrison so anything similar to his work is also something I'd be interested in."
I thought I should mention there are really two "go to" titles that everyone would think of first when trying to [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #5
- by Danielle Leigh
- Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 5:06 PM EST
Joe gave me three words, "Giant Robots. Adventure. Optimism." It's actually the word "Optimism" that makes this one a challenge (you can find plenty of depressing stories about giant robots but optimistic ones? Not so easy).
In the end, I went to Jason Thompson's wonderful Manga: The Complete Guide for inspiration -- although I'm familiar with [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #4
- by Danielle Leigh
- Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 9:56 AM EST
Matthew E. (who might hate me just a little) wrote, "Well, my favourite comic book is Legion of Super-Heroes. I like stuff that suggests that some intelligence went into its creation. I like baseball. I like Arthuriana. I like stuff that's funny."
Because Matthew gave no indication that he's read any manga at all I decided [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #3
- by Danielle Leigh
- Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 5:56 PM EST
Today I offer personalized recommendations for Dan Felty who gave me three key words: "Thoughtful. Existential. Humorous."
Am I up to the challenge?
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #2
- by Danielle Leigh
- Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 2:28 PM EST
Today, I get to recommend some of my favorite shojo titles to JimYung, who wrote that "I enjoy Love.Com and High School Debut. I feel like they're just the right mix of romantic comedy but I'm not looking for something like Love Hina."
Step up for your personalized manga recommendations, JimYung!
Manga Before Flowers -- Recommendation Post #1
- by Danielle Leigh
- Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 10:29 AM EST
A few things -- no single manga is going to perfectly fit some of the great requests I've received in the last post, but I'm going to do my best to give people a few options that might work for them! Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts if you think I've missed [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- Danielle Will Tell You What To Read!
- by Danielle Leigh
- Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 8:41 AM EST
One of the things I first did when I joined the blog (after introducing myself, of course) was make a three-part post of manga recommendations for adults (assuming, of course, that would be of greatest interest to this crowd). But that was a while ago and I figured since I'm always telling MarkAndrew what to [...]
Manga Before Flowers -- September Manga Previews
- by Danielle Leigh
- Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 5:48 AM EST
I somehow "missed" August previews. And by "missed" I mean, I was apparently too lazy (perhaps "uninspired" if I'm being kind?) to cover them. Anyway, August Previews was the month of xxxholic. Del Rey offered both volume 14 and as well as the xxxholic: Official Guide.
Moving on to *this* month's offerings....
