Category Archives: .Translation

June 7, 2013 · 12:11 pm

Wandering Son (vol. 4) by Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn

Wandering Son 4First things first: click here to catch up. You’ll be well-rewarded for sure!

This latest volume opens with an intriguing graphic of characters captured in a two-page spread of bubbles and dots, labelled “The Wandering Son Board Game”: “Don’t be so fresh. 1 space back,” a sample bubble intones.

‘Fresh’ is exactly the right word to describe this gentle gender-bender series. The spotlight here belongs to “girly-boy” Shuichi, with whom everyone seems to fall in love – from his older sister Maho’s new model friends to the boy she has a crush on, to the class beauty queen whom other boys can’t help but fight over. Not quite aware of his charm, Shuichi is experiencing his own amorous agony, suddenly awed by his powerful new feelings for Yoshino, his girl-who-wants-to-be-a-boy-best buddy.

Amidst the emotional turbulence that is adolescence, Shuichi and Yoshino have an especially difficult time trying to understand their transforming, burgeoning identities, unprepared for their unpredictable moods and reactions. All rules of ‘shoulda-woulda-coulda’ are off as children morph into young adults, dealing with an onslaught of physical and emotional challenges. ‘It’s complicated,’ as my teens regularly quip.

Creator Shimura Takako is a compassionate, empathetic storyteller without judgment or guile. Her young characters face their inescapable maturity as best as they can in a brave new world of ‘gender-fluid’ (my kids taught me that from their last ‘free to be me’-annual assembly). Adulthood looms … and ready or not, here it comes!

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2012 (United States)

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Filed under ..Middle Grade Readers, ..Young Adult Readers, .Fiction, .Graphic Novel/Manga/Manwha, .Translation, Japanese

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May 24, 2013 · 9:00 am

Limit (vol. 5) by Keiko Suenobu, translated by Mari Morimoto

Limit 5So we’ve arrived at the penultimate volume of one of the most hair-raising manga series I’ve ever read – because a resemblance to reality is always more disturbing that any dystopic sci-fi for sure! Bullying, domestic abuse, high school caste systems, the careless power of popularity – that’s all in here … stripped down, laid bare, in a life-and-death situation of nightmarish proportions (most especially for parents!). Creator Keiko Suenobu’s never-still panels also seem to have picked up in pace, as fatal danger readies for another strike.

The six survivors of the fatal bus crash that opened volume 1 are down to just four: One of the children has turned into a serial killer … initially by accident, but now ready to purposefully carry out a diabolically simple plan. In the name of survival, the three girls have reached an uneasy truce. Hinata, the only boy and newbie of the leftover foursome, is remembered by Konno as the supportive all-around nice-guy at school. His initial encouragement of “Let’s all go home together” is now a tragically impossible dream … especially with the body count threatening to rise yet again. The desperate rescue mission continues, but can help arrive in time?

The final volume (shudder, shudder) debuts this summer: Who will be left standing? Parents, you’ve been duly warned …!!

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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May 10, 2013 · 8:53 am

Thermae Romae II by Mari Yamazaki, translated by Stephen Paul

Thermae Romae 2To get to know our time-traveling bather, start with Volume I. When in Thermae Romae, you need to do as this Roman does and find out how he journeys back and forth between far-spanning centuries and cultures with one thing in common – an obsession with the bath.

If the cover looks familiar, Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize-winning creator Mari Yamazaki explains how she risked marital peace to parody “one of the greatest works of ancient Roman sculpture,” Laocoön and His Sons. In spite of her husband’s angry reaction, she insists that her version of Laocoön “wearing a shampoo hat to keep the shampoo out of his eyes” is not such a far stretch: “I’m sure Laocoön washed his fair from time to time, and if he did massage his scalp, he certainly must have struck poses like the one on the cover.” You’ll find that sort of goofy humor on almost every page, all the while learning quite a bit about ancient Roman history, and modern Japanese bathing culture. Yamazaki will entertainingly convince you how such two seemingly disparate topics are actually quite related.

As Volume II begins, Lucius is a favorite of Emperor Hadrian, renowned as the innovative bath architect. In an act of potentially fatal jealousy, Senate members plot to get Lucius out of Rome with a ruse about a creating a new thermae in an area overrun by violent bandits. What happens instead is a bit of brilliant marketing, inspired by Lucius’ timely visit to a Japanese hot spring town where he wins big at a game booth, discovers kitschy souvenirs, and tastes his first bowl of steaming ramen and juicy gyoza. With further unpredictable forays into the land of the “flat-faces” (the phrase still bugs me, but not quite as much this second time around), Lucius learns to build a wooden barrel single bath shippable to the hinterlands, and how to balance the most gaudiest demands with just enough elegantly-tempered details.

Then half-way through the volume, Hadrian’s adopted heir (profligately portrayed by Yamazaki with apologies later – artistic license, right?) dies. With Hadrian’s own health less than robust, Lucius becomes determined to create something soothingly rejuvenating for his Imperator. His search magically sends him to meet “such a beautiful flat-face” as he’s never seen before … who just happens to be an ancient Roman scholar who speaks perfect Latin! Talk about back to the future … in centur-ion leaps!

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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Filed under ..Adult Readers, ..Middle Grade Readers, .Fiction, .Graphic Novel/Manga/Manwha, .Translation, European, Japanese

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May 5, 2013 · 1:13 pm

What a Party! by Ana Maria Machado, illustrated by Hélène Moreau, translated by Elisa Amado

What a Party!In the same delightful, sequential fun of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie – if you do x, then y happens – Brazilian überauthor of more than a hundred books, Ana Maria Machado, puts on a party of epic proportions.

“If a few days before your birthday your mother should say, ‘I think I’m going to bake a cake and buy some juice. Why don’t you ask one of your friends to come over to play?’” You welcome your Mother’s suggestion, but ask for a little more: “‘Well, could Jack bring someone and maybe some food too?” When your distracted mother answers, “‘Of course. Invite anyone you’d like,’” well, then … there’s all the permission you ever needed! And you write the invitation just so: “Come to my party. It’s my BIRTHDAY. Bring along whoever you want and whatever you like to eat.”

Jack and his brother Larry bring cookies. Jack tells Beto and Antonieta who can’t bear to leave their parrot home, and arrives with pineapple, mangos, and passion fruit. Of course, Antonieta had to tell her best friend Fatima, who tells her brother Djamel, so their mother sends tajine with olives and pickled lemons. Tony will want to bring cousin Carlo, with pizzas and gelato to share. Which means Hannah and her little brother will come with their canary to meet Antonieta’s parrot, along with a Black Forest cake and springerle, too. Maria is their neighbor, so she shows up with her macaw, as well as flan and cod cakes. Carmen brings paella, and Tamio brings sushi. Along with so many friends and such festive eats, the backyard fills with salsa dancers and a reggae band … and suddenly, “your birthday party could turn out to be the craziest, wildest, funnest party ever!”

Author Machado, who won the 2000 Hans Christian Andersen Award – the world’s highest international recognition for kiddie book writers and illustrators – knows how to party, bringing together all the different friends, families, cuisines from around the world into one multi-culti celebration. Machado’s artistic comrade-in-colors, Hélène Moreau, gives delicious vibrance to every part of the party preparations, gathering friends, foods, animals, and eventually even the parents who just can’t stay away. Machado shows us just how easy every day could be party day … no excuses necessary to gather, laugh, and dance …!

Readers: Children

Published: 2013 (Canada, United States)

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May 2, 2013 · 9:33 am

Hello in There! A Big Sister’s Book of Waiting by Jo Witek, illustrated by Christine Roussey

Hello In ThereFor anyone with a child who will soon become an older sibling, this book is IT. And if that lucky elder happens to be a sister-in-waiting, this couldn’t be more perfect.

“You’re in there and I’m out here, outside Mama’s belly. I’m waiting for you!” the ineffable little girl announces to the bump that is her mother’s belly. As the pregnancy progresses, the colorful bulge on the left side of each double-page spread continues to grow; a small flap allows a growing peek into the sleeping, pink-cheeked bundle within as the little girl merrily demonstrates what a wonderful older sister she will be!

She offers a light in case the belly is too dark, is ready to share her favorite sweet surprises (as are the ants, ahem), draws bathtime pictures of possible family resemblances, sings songs, and announces her excitement: “You are already part of the family.” With her mother’s belly about to burst, she beckons, “… we’re all waiting for you. Come out and play!” with promises of all the adventures she’s planning to share.

Then, momentarily, the belly disappears (a blank page save for a few words) … until Mommy and Daddy’s legs walk back on the next page … and sure enough, “Hello, Baby! You’re finally here. And I am finally a Big Sister!”

Exuberant and charming, adorable and playful, imaginative and interactive, Hello is … well … literally perfect.

Readers: Children

Published: 2013 (United States)

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Filed under ..Children/Picture Books, .Fiction, .Translation, European, Nonethnic-specific

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May 1, 2013 · 8:41 am

The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino, translated by Rebecca Copeland

Goodness ChronicleAward-winning Japanese crime fiction writer Natsuo Kirino (Out; Grotesque) contributes to the latest installment of the “The Myths” series, originally published by Britain’s Canongate, in which contemporary writers retell myths. Previous volumes have included Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus and David Grossman’s Lion’s Honey: The Myth of Sampson.

Kirino here retells the eighth-century creation myth of Izanami and Izanaki – the original female and male gods whose union produced the Japanese islands – in a novel framing two sisters, one fated to become the next Oracle to serve the “realm of light,” the other who will serve the “realm of darkness.” Unwilling to accept her fate, Namima attempts an escape that damns her to Izanami’s Realm of the Dead. Readers will find echoes of Orpheus and Eurydice as well as Persephone and Demeter.

Verdict: Although inventive, the double narrative of sisters and gods – the former freeing, the latter bound to centuries-old history – never quite meshes, often feeling clumsily forced. Still, bestselling Kirino’s many devotees will likely provide a ready audience

Review: “Fiction,” Library Journal, May 1, 2013

Readers: Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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April 23, 2013 · 11:01 am

Nini by François Thisdale

NiniCreated by the illustrator of the mesmerizing, award-winning The Stamp Collector, Nini may be François Thisdale‘s most personal story – it’s directly inspired by his experience about the adoption of his own daughter. “It was a wonderful challenge, having to say intimate things with words and images,” he reveals in an interview for IQ Magazine, available on his website.

‘Intimate’ is exactly the word that describes this exquisite, profound journey of how a family comes together across oceans and cultures. On one side of the globe, a baby hears an unseen voice tell her of “many mysterious things,” of rice patties and lotus flowers, of a little house with a pointed roof, of golden fields and jagged mountains. “Warm and safe, she listened carefully to all [the voice] said.” When she enters the world, “The first face she saw was the sweet face that belonged to the voice. The first hands she felt were the soft hands of love.” But all too soon, the baby finds herself not in the little pointed-roof house, but in a very large building filled with many rooms. In spite of “friendly hands” that feed her, keep her clean, “they were not the soft hands that had first held her.”

Thousands of miles away, a woman “rubbed her womb” and waits for a baby that will never be. But soon she’s sent a “precious gift” – a picture filled with promise: “From the moment the man and woman saw that photo, the baby became part of them. They carried her in their hearts.” As the family comes together, they will carry her in their arms, as she will forever carry the “distant echoes” that join past and present, “like a bridge that connects one place to another.”

Evocative and stirring, almost every spread is filled with sumptuous wonder. [I add that 'almost' because of one somewhat eerie close-up baby image that gave me pause.] Thisdale’s multilayered images that combine watercolors, photos, stamps, Chinese characters, and more, create a resplendent backdrop to a story so filled with longing and love. More than just another adoption tale, Nini is stunning testimony to the power of family.

Readers: Children

Published: 2009, 2011 (Canada, United States)

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April 19, 2013 · 9:54 am

Limit (vol. 4) by Keiko Suenobu, translated by Mari Morimoto

Limit 4First things first: make sure to go backwards to catch up with the opening three volumes; this is definitely a series that needs to be read in order. Parents, be warned: these kids are going to scare you to distraction. Younger readers, take heed: don’t dare try any of this at home – or anywhere else for that matter.

Five became six when another survivor – the lone male – mysteriously emerged from the woods one volume back. But too soon, the six shrink to five again when frightened Usui is found lying face down on the first page of this latest installment.

The wound on her back clearly shows she’s been murdered … and Morishige is the first to be accused. But Morishige – for all her payback bullying – is too easy a target and the other four are forced to question each other as well as their own selves. Blinded by fear and fury, the survivors turn on one another. By volume’s end, another body lies motionless, and scrawled across the final pages is the chilling warning: “Among us … hides a killer.” Volume 5 can’t come soon enough.

This week feels especially off-kilter: Boston Marathon bombings and manhunt, ricin-laced letters sent to Capitol Hill and POTUS, the Senate’s latest decision on the gun debate with Newtown families watching, Thursday’s Waco fertilizer blast one day short of the 20th anniversary of the final hours of the Waco Siege, the Waco-inspired Oklahoma City bombing 18 years ago today. In the midst of all that, our children seem to be the most vulnerable – from just watching the violence from afar and forming unforgettable images, to being targeted in various degrees closer to home.

When confronted with the disturbing, I find the questions don’t stop: so when all the carefully maintained social contracts – rigid high school structures (for better or for worse), parental and other adult guidance, even the legal system – are suddenly cast aside in the name of survival, how will our children respond? And what can and should and must we do to adequately equip and enable them?

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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April 12, 2013 · 9:00 pm

Sorako by Fujimura Takayuki, translated by GEN Manga

SorakoHaving discovered manga/manwha on the verge of being old, I often have these delicious moments of ‘gaaaah’-wonder at coming across something original in the graphic industry. So here’s a not-quite-three-years-old publishing niche I recently learned about – I know! What took me so long?!

Meet GEN Manga, purveyors of Indie Manga from the Tokyo Underground, which promises that “GEN stories are published nowhere else in the world. They come straight from the artists in Japan to you. We translate the stories and put them out as they are created.”

While most of GEN’s output thus far – available digitally, or in limited print editions – is via serialized issues of manga and (more recently added) manwha (manga with Korean origins), they’ve also begun offering standalone books. GEN’s latest is a loose collection of slice-of-life episodes that vary in quality and length about an intermittently job-searching young woman named Sorako. The opening sequence is one of the longest, and certainly the most developed, as it introduces Sorako who is waiting for the missing family dog Toma to return. Sorako named Toma after noticing the kanji character for ‘stop’ (止) marking the road on her way home the day the puppy joined the family. Sorako, too, is currently at a stopping point, caught in a limbo of inaction, a sharp contrast to her own name which means ‘a child of the sky.’

Of the shorter, less memorable pieces is a two-page interlude in which Sorako decides that she might swim off a few pounds, but the lack of a swimming cap easily dissuades her from her plans. Again, for now, she’s more comfortable stopping (止) than soaring. In other episodes, a young woman working in a coffee shop dreams of going to England as she practices English with an unseen television voice alone at night, Sorako’s less-than-earnest job search gets a reprieve when she breaks her leg, and in the final story, a young married woman tries to decide if she’s going to study abroad or not (and we see that same ‘stop’ (止) character four pages from the end, this time positioned (cleverly) in the opposite direction.

Sorako is comprised of “indie stories (doujinshi, or independent) so the author creates them as she likes,” explains GEN’s Editor-in-Chief Robert McGuire. “There is no conformity to conventional standards or directional content editing as usually is the case with manga. In other words, she is free, as all artists are at GEN Manga, to experiment. However, because of this a certain amount of avant-garde or unconventionality is common. Readers should enjoy and expect a more artistic approach when reading them. GEN Manga strives to represent otherwise unseen indie manga as it is made in ‘doujinshi circles’ in Japan.”

So there you have it. Unique and uncensored, to expect the unexpected. That’s quite a return for the mere $2.99 digital investment.

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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March 26, 2013 · 9:27 am

21st Century Boys (vol. 2) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

21st Century Boys 2So why is it that all good things are supposed to come to an end? I’d be perfectly happy with another 20 more volumes. Really, is that too much to ask?

With an enormously huffy sigh of resignation, I moaningly offer a final post for Naoki Urasawa’s 20th-into-21st Century Boys. Yup, this is it. Really. The series stops here.

The Friend might be dead, but total annihilation still looms. Kenji’s gone virtual, searching for desperate answers by confronting his own 20th-century-boy past in order to find the anti-proton bomb detonator and prevent the latest threat to world destruction. Meanwhile, Kanna is out in the real world trying to find the same remote control, even as less-than-cooperative representatives of the supposed-to-be-peacekeeping UN Forces think she’s the “devil’s daughter” and impede her any way they can. While everyone is on high-octane search mode, the Giant Robot suddenly starts moving … ready to initiate Armageddon one last time. Be warned: “All kinds of stuff up the road for you, kid …”

I only wish that meant more Urasawa ‘stuff’ for me, sniff-sniff. First Monster, then Pluto, and now 20th-21st Century Boys. All finished! Withdrawal starts now. I guess I can always line up all 18 + 8 + 24 volumes, respectively, and have my own in-denial-mangafest … maybe facing the endings get easier the 16th time around or so?

Oh, Naoki Urasawa – wherefore art thou my next series?

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)
21 SEIKI SHONEN © Naoki Urasawa/Studio Nuts
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc.

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