I love Yotsuba! It remains one of my all-time favorite feel-good manga series, which makes it rather embarrassing to admit that apparently... the last time I picked up a volume of it was in 2013?? Well anyway, I'm back on it, and my library has bought a good batch more volumes since I last checked, hooray! Quite understandably, I had forgotten some of the secondary characters since I last read this series 9 years ago, but otherwise I was able to pick it right back up again and dive right into Yotsuba's gentle, silly, sweet world. In this volume Yotuba attends a cultural festival and the costumes, settings, and festival scenes were rendered with the high level of gorgeous detail this series always delivers. 

The cliffhanger at the end of vol 6 was so dramatic that I launched right into vol 7! This whole book is taken up by a set of games of Karasuno versus Blue Castle, one of the most exciting rivalries that we've had so far. But the core of the story watching the Karasuno players level up their emotional intelligence and communication skills. Watching Kageyama try to smile stuck icy fear into my heart, but watching him high five and compliment his teammates melted it again. Can't wait to read more! 

It's been a while since I picked up this series but I was able to jump right back in where I left off! Every time I read it, I am reminded why this is one of the most popular sports manga around right now. The action is SO WELL DRAWN, it's dynamic, it's full of motion, I am amazed at how many different angles the author manages to find to draw the same rectangular volleyball court over and over. It also has a helpful amount of explanations of the technical rules of volleyball without every getting over whelming. It's just really good, y'all!! 

A small and gentle story about a young witch, Sophie, who moves in with her great aunt and cousin to practice her magic and prepare to head off to magical boarding school. Sophie's family have always been wind and water workers, able to communicate with the dragons that live under the sea. But Sophie is struggling with the most basic of spells and a negative internal monologue which whispers that she is a failure. In an effort to prove herself, Sophie goes out at night to perform a storm-calming spell; but it goes wrong and she is swept into the ocean. She is rescued by a dragon, but in the process he loses his memory and is trapped in human form. Now Sophie feels obligated to aid the dragon, but she has no idea where to start! Heavily influenced by the films of Hayao Miyazaki, both in art style and tone, this is a short but sweet story of magic and self confidence. Definitely aimed at younger readers. 

In an alternate-universe post-dystopian China, humans live a fragile and threatened existence behind the Great Wall, which is constantly under attack from an alien species. Human pilots in mecha suits called Chrysalises fight to defend the Great Wall, but at horrible cost. Each Chrysalis suit is powered by two pilots, one male and one female, and in nearly every battle the female pilot is drained of spirit energy and killed. The only time the female pilot is sparred is if her qi perfectly matches that of the male pilot and they are able to form a balanced pair. 18-year old Zetian's older sister was sold to the army, then murdered by one of the ace Chrysalis pilots; Zetian vows to avenge her. She enlists in the army with the sole intention of killing the ace pilot, even though she knows it will doom her whole family as well. But then the unbelievable occurs: she lives through her first Chrysalis battle. Suddenly, she is a rare but dangerous asset, and the army scrambles to control and use her talents. Zetian is disabled, and in constant pain, but her utter fearlessness and rage make her an unstoppable force. This book knocked my socks off! I burned through it at a feverish pace, finishing it in just under two days. I was amazed and impressed by the sheer amount of plot packed into less than 400 pages, and the speed with which situations shifted around Zetian. This book has giant robots, aliens, polyamory, love, betrayal, and a ferocious attempt to topple an entire corrupt, unjust government. Pick it up immediately and read it! 

What a long journey this book took me on! I started it the first time in March 2020, got about 30% of the way in, then said, "I have no idea what's going on and I don't feel like reading about so many corpses right now" and gave up on it. Well, a determined friend started a book club and convinced me to give it another shot, so this time I tried listening as an audiobook (I do love the narrator, Moira Quirk!)

It was easier starting over, even just knowing the first 30% of the plot helped me wade through the beginning, which is rough going. I will spoil one thing to tell you this book uses one of my LEAST FAVORITE plot devices, which is a major character getting amnesia and having to re-do an emotional growth arc which I, the reader, have already watched them complete in a previous installment. However, I am extremely glad I did give this book a second try and this time I marched my way through the 19 hour audiobook in about two weeks, finishing it just in time for the cover reveal on book 3. I definitely plan to keep on with the series, but also for anyone who gave up on this book, I feel you. I am not going to say anything else about the plot but that it tops book 1 in the categories of queer, spooky, gory, and bizarre! 

A compelling story of five women living in the same apartment building in Seoul, told in non-chronological slice of life chapters from alternating POVs. Kyuri has achieved an ethereal beauty through many plastic surgeries, and now works in salon rooms, making a lot of money but also constantly accruing debt.  Sujin, who grew up in an orphanage and now works as a manicurist, longs for the surgeries that Kyuri has had and badgers her for information and connections which Kyuri is reluctant to provide. Ara, Sujin's childhood best friend and roommate, works in a hair salon and spends her free time daydreaming about how to met her crush, kpop idol Taein, maknae of his ultrapopular boy group. Miho grew up in the same orphanage as Sujin but escaped via a scholarship to the School of Visual Arts in New York City. There, she fell in with the wealthy sons and daughters of South Korea's elite, who attend various New York universities. A fellowship opportunity brought her back to Seoul, and she splits her time between obsessive work on her painting series and her chaebol boyfriend (whose family refuse to met her). Wonna is the only married woman in the building, with her own hidden sorrows, and a yearning for the close relationships and apparent freedom of the other women. The narrative deals with many heavy topics, including the rampant misogyny and cruelty these characters face at the hands of men, parents, and employers. But the friendship and support the women lend each other proves itself again and again-- maybe enough to balance out the unkindness of the rest of the world.  

I continue to enjoy this beautifully illustrated series, but at this point it has introduced so many characters I am starting to have trouble remembering them all. A character from a previous book showed back up, who I was supposed to have an emotional attachment too, but I had no memory of him... if I was reading them more closely back to back that would be less of a problem but at some point here I'm going to need a dramatis personae list. 

Charles and Kevin are excited about the idea of setting up a network of children to help aid the monsters of Echo City; but will doing so put the monsters into even more risk? Someone has been making posts on message boards directing teenagers where to find monsters, and as more of them are driven from their homes, further clashes with the human world are inevitable. Charles wants to aid Margo on her various missions around the city, but she doesn't trust easily and Charles is frustrated by how often she leaves him behind. This comic is exciting, warmhearted, and beautifully drawn; one of the best ongoing children's comic series out there. I can't wait for the next installment!

Manuel struggles with PTSD after a shooting at his school, but it happened after hours so his classmates don't know that he was the only witness. He uses photography to anchor himself during anxiety attacks. Luckily, he is paired with two friendly, enthusiastic students for a group project who end up pulling him along into their Ag-club. Manuel gets to help Sebastian and Caysha raise a calf, and in this gentle animal's presence he is able to open up about some of fears. This book is gorgeously illustrated in Niki Smith's characteristic thin clean lines, with soft painterly backgrounds filling in the gold, brown, green and grey of Kansas. The fields and skies feel vast, but are the perfect setting for an intimate story of recovery.