After the ridiculousness that was May, I was able to rein in my purchases somewhat for June. Somewhat. There were a few releases that I was particularly looking forward to, like Fragments of Horror, a new collection of short horror manga by Junji Ito, Taiyo Fujii’s debut novel Gene Mapper, which I recently reviewed, and Ping Pong: The Animation. And I’m happy to see Netcomics continue to release new series, such as Hyekyung Baek’s Chiro: The Star Project and Seyoung Kim’s Sweet Blood. But what I was really excited about in June was the fact that I was able to find a complete set of Akimi Yoshida’s Banana Fish for less than some of the individual volumes are going for these days. I’ve been wanting to reread the series, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to track down. Another out-of-print find was Shiho Inada’s Ghost Hunt, a manga based on a light novel series Fuyumi Ono who, among other things, is the creator of The Twelve Kingdoms, which I love.
Manga!
Ajin: Demi-Human, Volume 5 by Gamon Sakurai
Banana Fish, Volumes 1-19 by Akimi Yoshida
Duck Prince, Volumes 1-3 by Ai Morinaga
Eden, Volume 1 by Bash
Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito
Ghost Hunt, Volumes 1-11 by Shiho Inada
Master Keaton, Volume 3 written by Hokusei Katsushika, Takashi Nagasaki, illustrated by Naoki Urasawa
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Volume 10: Solomon by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
New Lone Wolf and Cub, Volume 5 written by Kazuo Koike, illustrated by Hideki Mori
Nyotai-ka!, Volume 4 by Ru-en Rouga
Passion, Volumes 2-3 written by Shinobu Goto, illustrated by Shoko Takaku
Servamp, Volume 2 by Strike Tanaka
Tokyo Ghoul, Volume 1 by Sui Ishida
Twittering Birds Never Fly, Volume 2 by Kou Yoneda
La Vie en Rose by Sakurako Yamada
Ze, Volume 10 by Yuki Shimizu
Zipang, Volumes 1-2 by Kaiji Kawaguchi
Manhwa!
Chiro: The Star Project, Volume 1 by Hyekyung Baek
Sweet Blood, Volume 1 by Seyoung Kim
Comics!
Bessatsu Rose Tear by Nozmo and Saicoink
Curvy, Volume 1 by M. Magdalene
Demon, Issues 1-14 by Jason Shiga
The Hues, Volume 1: Spectrum by Alex Heberling
In These Words, Chpater 13 by Guilt|Pleasure
Last Man, Volume 2: The Royal Cup by Bastien Vivès, Michael Sanlaville, and Balak
Shirtlifter #5 edited by Steve MacIsaac
The Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Omnibus 3 by Stan Sakai
Light Novels!
Attack on Titan: Kuklo Unbound by Ryo Suzukaze
The Doll by Guilt|Pleasure
Passion: Forbidden Lovers by Shinobu Gotoh
Novels!
Gene Mapper by Taiyo Fujii
The Sign of the Chrysanthemum by Katherine Paterson
Anthologies!
Drawn & Quarterly: Twenty-Five Years of Contemporary Cartooning, Comics, and Graphic Novels edited by Tom Devlin
A String of Flowers, Untied… : Love Poems from the Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
The Voice and Other Stories by Seicho Matsumoto
Nonfiction!
Tales from the Western Generation: Untold Stories and Firsthand History from Karate’s Golden Age by Matthew Apsokardu
A Year in Japan by Kate T. Williamson
Anime!
Ping Pong: The Animation directed by Masaaki Yuasa
Film!
The Mystery of Rampo directed by Rintaro Mayuzumi and Kazuyoshi Okuyama
Rampo Noir directed by Akio Jissoji, Atsushi Kaneko, Hisayasu Satō, Suguru Takeuchi
Sweetness! Banana Fish is my favorite ever! I really need to re-read it, it’s been like 4 years or so since my last read? But I’ve still read it like 4 times. But I keep getting new and shiny things and I keep not re-reading or re-watching things. I may have a problem. I love the selection, but now it’s like when you have too much food in the fridge and cabinets and you go “there’s nothing to eat” while a less spoiled person stands nearby, wanting to hit you. That’s why it’s like with my manga and anime collection these days.
Hahaha! That’s such an apt description. I’m afraid I’m in a very similar situation. ^_^
As for Banana Fish, I think it’s been about four years since I’ve read it as well. (I’ve only read it in its entirety once before, though.) I originally borrowed the series from my public library, but volumes have been slowly going missing. So, I’m very glad to have a set to call my own.