Author: Fujimura Takayuki (no website found)
Publisher: Gen Manga
Rating: WARTY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new novel is reward aplenty!
This is the second Gen Manga I've sampled and the second time I've been disappointed! I think I'm done with this publisher. Sorako is the boring story of a boring young girl who does boring things during her long, boring days. The first sample panel below (only on my blog) sums it all up.<.p>
There's nothing going on here that's of any interest or which would merit writing a story about. If this is the kind of manga that manga writers like to read, then I have to say that they're a really undemanding lot with few aspirations and little desire to explore anything new or radical.
This is one of those books taken from the Japanese, and so has to be read backwards - that is both from the back, and from the right to the left, top to the bottom on each page. It’s a sad commentary that before I fully realized this, I read an entire story (there are several in this one book) and didn’t even notice that I was reading it backwards! Oops!
A lot of the panels have zero text, which makes it easy not to notice which way it’s supposed to be read. I do understand that if they take the Japanese artwork and simply add English text to it, then they have no choice but to follow the Japanese convention, but it’s really tiresome to read one of these, especially if the story doesn't draw you in. I think I'm done with this format now, too.
The artwork is good (just line drawings, no color). It’s just the story that's totally uninteresting and pointless. There was, thankfully, an oddity or two to keep my mind from going completely blank. For example, the lettering font changes abruptly and for no apparent reason between page 44 and 45, where the font is too small, and then back again after that page. Other than that it's unremarkable except for how uninteresting it is.
