Hiroaki Samura's Emerald and Other Stories
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 3/8/2017
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 3/8/2017 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this manga from The Comic Store in Nashua, intrigued by the Wild West cover-art. It's by the creator of Blade of the Immortal, and is an anthology with a variety of tales.
The cover story, "Emerald", is indeed set in the Old West, and features greedy and corrupt townsfolk, violent gunslingers, a desperate young girl, and a mysterious woman, with their paths intersecting in highly dramatic fashion. Some improbably-great shooting highlights the story - in the best Old-West fashion.
"The Kusein Family's Grandest Show" starts out as a story about a high school girl whose widowed father has hidden nearly all photos of her late mother, and who she suspects is having an affair with the housekeeper. But as the story unfolds the truth gets more and more twisted... Lush artwork only makes the revelations more startling and creepy.
On the lighter side, the book features several chapters of "The Uniforms Stay On," with a couple of high school girls chatting about this and that - occasionally breaking the fourth wall, and - as per the title - avoiding fan-service {wry grin}.
"Brigitte's Dinner" is... very strange indeed. It opens with a scene that reminded me of "Grave of the Fireflies" in reverse, a young girl sitting next to her dying brother and sharing their last crumb of food. Then the girl is... rescued?... only to be fattened up and then put up for auction, under circumstances that seem obviously part of a sex-slave ring. But her new home is a castle, and her job is to dine with a horribly injured and scarred man who can barely communicate... Things get stranger and more poignant from there, with a twist that made it surreal. Odd and memorable!
"Shizuru Cinema" is "the tale of the love-filled life of a young, aspiring manga artist and the high-school student he lives with" - or is it? Looks like a kinky-relationship story, with some amusing notes about trying to make it in the manga business, but this story turns into something quite different by the end.
There are a couple more short-short stories, enjoyable but not as impactful as the ones I've described. I also enjoyed the afterword, in which the author talks about each tale and its inspirations, drawing challenges, and more. Oh, and don't miss the bonus strip, a delightfully grisly rendition of "Rock Paper Scissors"!
[There's a TV Tropes page on the author and his work.]
The cover story, "Emerald", is indeed set in the Old West, and features greedy and corrupt townsfolk, violent gunslingers, a desperate young girl, and a mysterious woman, with their paths intersecting in highly dramatic fashion. Some improbably-great shooting highlights the story - in the best Old-West fashion.
"The Kusein Family's Grandest Show" starts out as a story about a high school girl whose widowed father has hidden nearly all photos of her late mother, and who she suspects is having an affair with the housekeeper. But as the story unfolds the truth gets more and more twisted... Lush artwork only makes the revelations more startling and creepy.
On the lighter side, the book features several chapters of "The Uniforms Stay On," with a couple of high school girls chatting about this and that - occasionally breaking the fourth wall, and - as per the title - avoiding fan-service {wry grin}.
"Brigitte's Dinner" is... very strange indeed. It opens with a scene that reminded me of "Grave of the Fireflies" in reverse, a young girl sitting next to her dying brother and sharing their last crumb of food. Then the girl is... rescued?... only to be fattened up and then put up for auction, under circumstances that seem obviously part of a sex-slave ring. But her new home is a castle, and her job is to dine with a horribly injured and scarred man who can barely communicate... Things get stranger and more poignant from there, with a twist that made it surreal. Odd and memorable!
"Shizuru Cinema" is "the tale of the love-filled life of a young, aspiring manga artist and the high-school student he lives with" - or is it? Looks like a kinky-relationship story, with some amusing notes about trying to make it in the manga business, but this story turns into something quite different by the end.
There are a couple more short-short stories, enjoyable but not as impactful as the ones I've described. I also enjoyed the afterword, in which the author talks about each tale and its inspirations, drawing challenges, and more. Oh, and don't miss the bonus strip, a delightfully grisly rendition of "Rock Paper Scissors"!
[There's a TV Tropes page on the author and his work.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at HI Boston Youth Hostel, Stuart St. in Boston, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, March 9, 2017
GoryDetails at HI Boston Youth Hostel, Stuart St. in Boston, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, March 9, 2017
Released 7 yrs ago (3/9/2017 UTC) at HI Boston Youth Hostel, Stuart St. in Boston, Massachusetts USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
I left this book on the book-swap shelf inside the youth hostel at around 4; hope the finder enjoys it![See other recent releases in MA here.]
*** Released for the 2017 4 Elements release challenge. ***
