Happy holidays, dear readers! ‘Tis the season that no marketing team can ever let us forget, and with it come holiday sales and gift lists and special editions of everyone’s favorite anime and manga! This month, we’re talking about Ai Yazawa’s classic Neighborhood Story’s first English release, as well as the new volumes of some series I’ve covered before.
But first, the news!
VIZ Media’s Holiday Sales of 2023
According to this VIZ blog post, which will be updated with more sales as they’re announced, you can get up to 45% off select manga titles at Crunchyroll until December 10th and up to 64% off select anime home video titles at Amazon until December 12th. Not bad! If a very narrow window. Still, they promise new sales will continue to happen, so there is a chance that when you click that link there will be another active sweet animanga deal ready for you.
VIZ Media’s Top Holiday Picks of 2023
So you want to take advantage of that holiday discount and get something. But what should you get? Not to worry, VIZ Media made a handy-dandy little list for you! Anime, manga, naughty, nice, special limited editions and beautiful boxed sets, anything a VIZ fan could want. Endless gift-giving possibilities.
VIZ Media’s Cute Little Videos To Promote Their Top Holiday Picks of 2023
I was impressed by the earnestness of their social media promotions for Mimi’s Tales of Terror, Neighborhood Story, and the coloring books. The Neighborhood Story-inspired outfits were especially cute and reflective of the late 90s Harajuku street fashion stylings of the manga. (And if you want to see what I thought of Mimi’s Tales of Terror, look no further than our October pubwatch!)
That’s enough marketing talk, let’s talk about…
What I’m Reading
Neighborhood Story, Volume 1
Ai Yazawa
December 5, 2023
I take some issue with the marketing of this comic as “Ai Yazawa’s new comic” when it actually launched before my parents ever met and ended before I was born (1995-1997), but this is the first time it’s being released in English, which is notable and exciting. I am admittedly not a Yazawa scholar (I’ve read the first four volumes of Nana and that’s it) but I did have some familiarity with her general aesthetic style and sensibilities, and I enjoyed this volume. Mostly. I was confused at the recurring joke that the heterosexual main character Mikako and her heterosexual best friend Risa were secretly lesbians because of how openly affectionate they were. The art style is charmingly retro and the clothing design is superb, as expected for a fashion-themed series. The fashions were what kept me reading more than anything else: I wanted to see what wild outfit Mikako would put on next! I guess waiting for Y2K fashion to be trendy again to publish this was a smart choice. Mikako is cute and spunky, and her friends are entertaining. I’m not the biggest fan of the childhood friends to lovers trope personally, but I can see fans of that trope enjoying this series. And of course, readers who are already fans of Yazawa’s work.
Akane-banashi, Volume 3
Story by Yuki Suenaga, Art by Takamasa Moue
December 12, 2023
Akane-banashi is Akane-back! This volume follows the preliminaries and finals of Akane’s participation at the Karaku cup, reading the rakugo story “Jugemu” at both events. “Jugemu,” the story of a child with a humorously long name (which you might remember seeing referenced in Fullmetal Alchemist), is considered a basic story everyone knows, so Akane’s challenge is figuring out a way to tell it that will make it stand out against her flashy rivals in the contest: an up-and-coming voice actress and a college student who adapts old stories to modern audience’s tastes. This volume introduces some new characters and provides interesting depth to existing ones, like Akane’s classmate and her mentors at the rakugo school, and gives us a look at the other heads of the Arakawa school of rakugo we hadn’t met before. The little bonus doodles and short strips are charming additions to the chapters I’ve already read in the digital Weekly Shonen Jump. I like it! I hope this series gets an anime someday.
Cat-Eyed Boy: The Perfect Edition, Volume 2
Kazuo Umezz
December 26. 2023
Cat-Eyed Boy’s adventures continue in Volume 2! The “Night of One Hundred Monsters” story wraps up, followed by the story of the Meatball Monster and several shorter standalone stories. I found “The Meatball Monster” most convincing and effective (even with the silly name), with the character’s own fear and paranoia turning their cancer into monsters. “The Stairs” was a sad story of a child struggling to deal with the grief of losing his mother that takes a predictably dark turn.The Cat-Eyed Boy balances on a tightrope between good and evil, funny and scary, helpful and malicious. When he tries to do a good turn, it backfires, and when he saves people, they hate him for it. But he also pulls random pranks and pees on things for fun, so he’s less of a tragic figure than a complicated one. The reproductions of the original color pages were fascinating, as this comic was serialized in the 70s and color printing was not where it is now. The two-color pages remind me of contemporary risograph comics, and it’s a fun and offbeat look unlike comics we see today. The end of this edition includes an essay by Mizuho Hirayama about Umezz’s childlike approach to combining horror with laughter in his stories, which I agree with. The Cat-Eyed Boy is definitely a child, looking at the world from that perspective, and I think this comic would definitely strike a chord with a younger audience for that reason.
That’s all I have for you this month, folks! Take it easy, and I’ll be back next year with more VIZ news and reviews!
