BookDragon Series Tag

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (vols. 5-9) by Eiji Otsuka, art by Housui Yamazaki, translated by Toshifumi Yoshida (Taylor Engel and Toshifumi Yoshida, vol. 7), edited by Carl Gustav Horn

28 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

It's been almost two years since I first discovered this series (vols. 1-4) and they certainly haven't lost any of their chilling zing! I don't remember that they came with a "Parental Advisory | Explicit Content" warning sticker before, but they certainly do now, so...

20th Century Boys (vol. 05) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

27 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Full disclosure: I pre-ordered all the scheduled next volumes for this series, too. Anything that has "Urasawa" on the cover, I'll be greedily reading ...

Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit (vol. 2) by Motoro Mase, translated by John Werry, English adaptation by Kristina Blachere

27 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

I have volumes 3 and 4 of Ikigami already pre-ordered (although not coming soon enough, I might add) so that ought to tell you I'm clearly hooked on this series. I also wish they were longer, too, but that's a groupie talking ...

Monster (vols. 6-10) by Naoki Urasawa, English adaptation by Agnes Yoshida, translated by Noriko Watanabe (vol. 6), Masataka Kakiya (vol. 7), Juri Nozaki (vol. 8), Satch Watanabe (vol. 9), and Sumiko Katsura (vol. 10)

25 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Just like addictive junk food (not that I would know, ahem!), you can't read just one volume of Monster. You start one, you have to immediately finish all the ones you can get your hands on. Too bad I ordered only five at a time...

Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (vol. 1) by Hiroyuki Asada, English adaptation by Rich Amtower, translated by JN Productions

18 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

In a barren wasteland of "perpetual night" called Amberground where only the capital city has access to light from an artificial sun, 18-year-old Gauche Suede works as a dedicated tegami bachi (literally 'letter bee'), a mail carrier whom people entrust "with their hearts." Living in a...

20th Century Boys (vols. 01-04) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

08 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Once upon a time, Kenji wanted to be a rock star guitarist. But somehow, in 1997, he's ended up managing a convenience store with his cranky mother and his missing sister's baby usually strapped on his back. Then he gets word that Donkey, one of...

Monster (vols. 2-5) by Naoki Urasawa, English adaptation by Agnes Yoshida, translated by Satch Watanabe (vol. 2), Masaru Noma (vol. 3), Hiroki Shirota (vol. 4), and Hirotaka Kakiya (vol. 5)

07 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

I should have ordered all 18 volumes in one batch, because I really can't stand the thought of waiting to see what happens! I gladly admit I couldn't put down the four volumes that arrived last night (I originally got the first Monster from the...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 005 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka

03 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

As this volume is currently the last one available in English, I DID try and save and savor it ...

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka 004 by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka, co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka

03 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Atom's protector, Professor Ochanomizu, is under police protection, but that doesn't stop the dangerously unpredictable Goji, who created the Persian Kingdom's robot army for the Central Asian War, from making his way into the good professor's home and threatening the safety of his daughter and...

Monster (vol. 1) by Naoki Urasawa, English adaptation by Agnes Yoshida, translated by Satch Watanabe

28 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

So I'm jumping on the Monster bandwagon a little late (which debuted in 1995 in Japan to multiple awards but took another 11 years to arrive Stateside in translation) ...

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers (vol. 1) by Fumi Yoshinaga, translated by Akemi Wegmüller

24 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Welcome to an alternative premodern Edo Japan where women do everything – including rule! Girl power all the way! Without a cure, the mysterious Redface Pox has ravaged the country's male population until it finally "stabilized at about one-fourth that of the female." Men have become...

Vermonia 1: Quest for the Silver Tiger by YoYo

14 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers

"At the center of the universe, at the beginning and end of all creation, sits the planet of Vermonia, ruled by Queen Frasinella." Thus begins the first of a 10-volume series that stars none other than a heroic skateboarding foursome of 12-year-old warriors-in-training. But I...

X-Men 1: Misfits by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman, art by Anzu

12 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

The already well-established X-Men franchise of books (and films) gets a somewhat peculiar makeover in the first of a new series designed for the middle grade/13+ crowd. "Don't fix what ain't broke," comes to mind. But that might be an old-age reaction ...

The Color of Heaven by Kim Dong Hwa, translated by Lauren Na

19 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean, Translation

The final installment in the three-volume manwha that began with The Color of Earth and The Color of Water, follows Ewha, now a lovely young woman, and her still-young mother, as both wait for their respective missing lovers. Ewha's Duksam flees the wrath of his...

Delhi Noir edited by Hirsh Sawhney [in San Francisco Chronicle]

11 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Indian, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian

Whenever my kids start singing "Crazy Kiya Re," still one of their favorite songs after multiple trips to India, I find myself having to leave the room. Since reading the 14-story anthology Delhi Noir, I can't disassociate the Bollywood hit from the police officer who...

Children of the Sea (vol. 1) by Daisuke Igarashi, translated by JN Productions

22 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Ruka, a star handball player, gets a little too rough and ends up kicked off the team. Frustrated, she heads to big city Tokyo where she thinks she might find the sea, and instead meets a mysterious young boy named Umi (whose name happens to...

Amulet | Book One: The Stonekeeper and Book Two: The Stonekeeper’s Curse by Kazu Kibuishi

15 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

Two years after her father is killed in a car accident, Emily moves with her mother and younger brother Navin to a faraway family home, once owned by her great-grandfather who disappeared decades ago. On the top floor of the neglected house, she finds a...

San Francisco Noir edited by Peter Maravelis

14 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Short Stories

And since I was reviewing that latest Delhi Noir (see below post for Brooklyn Noir) for a San Francisco paper, I figured I ought to check out the local entry to the series, too. I'm all about procrastinating! So the Fog City version, compared to the...

Brooklyn Noir edited by Tim McLoughlin

11 Jul, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Short Stories

Can't start without a little backstory: I was recently assigned to review Delhi Noir (link forthcoming if and when the review is published – one never makes absolute assumptions when freelancing!). Delhi is the latest in the "Akashic Noir Series" which offers specific city-based collections filled...

Freckleface Strawberry and Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully by Julianne Moore, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

01 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Vietnamese American

Just look at the energy that jumps off even these tiny thumbnail covers. What's not to love? In her debut, our spunky heroine, whom everyone calls Freckleface Strawberry, needs to "get rid of her freckles fast." She tries everything from scrubbing them off, coloring herself with...