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Posts Tagged Usamaru Furuya

Year In Review: Lissa’s Favourites of 2011

Lissa’s Favourites of 2011

There are no shortage of ‘Best Of’ lists this time of year. While I like popping around to different peoples’ sites and seeing what they thought, it’s a bit of a frustration that I can’t seem to write one myself. How people choose a solid list containing five or ten favourites, from across different genres and subject matters, is just something I can’t seem to muster the brain power for. Not enough conviction I suppose? There’s just so much to love!

But I can’t overlook the perfect chance to look back at all the great titles a year had to offer and 2011 had some really fantastic ones. So then where is this going, oh rambling one, you ask? My semi-traditional equivalent to the yearly best of – the random Lissa’s favourites and best-ofs list! Which really just means you get a lot more titles broken into a lot more categories so I can remain a lot more loving to a lot more series. And in some cases not so loving… From the Best Release Quality to the Favourite Fan Service and even to the most Gag Worthy – here are a bunch of my favourite titles from 2011!

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Otaku USA: On The Shelf – November 2, 2011

On The Shelf - November 2, 2011

Happy Halloween! Albeit a day belated. I hope everyone’s enjoying some tasty candy, be it from the day itself or via the wonders of discount candy shelves here in November. Hard to argue the joy of sitting down with a stack of new books and a box of little chocolate bars to rummage through.

There are some exciting books out this week and I found myself almost as eager to let others know about them as I was to get them myself. Vertical’s the hard-hitter with No Longer Human (Vol.01) and Princess Knight (Vol. 01). I reviewed No Longer Human earlier this week.

You can read my thoughts, summaries and the full list of books out this week over at my On The Shelf article at Otaku USA.


Review: No Longer Human (Vol. 01)

No Longer Human (Vol.01)

Author: Osamu Dazai
Manga-ka: Usamaru Furuya
Publisher: Vertical Inc.
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Release Date: October 2011

Synopsis: “In honor of the 100th birthday of Osamu Dazai, Usamaru Furuya retells Dazai’s most important work, No Longer Human, in modern-day Tokyo, where modern vices can bring ruin to the self-loathing. Yozo Oba is a young man originally from a well-off family from Japan’s far north and a troubled soul incapable of revealing his true self to others. A weak constitution and the lingering trauma from some abuse administered by a relative has forced him to uphold a facade of hollow jocularity since high school.”

No Longer Human was a breath of fresh air after my recent completion of Drops of God (Vol.01). While the latter wasn’t bad, it definitely lacked the oomph that I’ve come to expect and anticipate of Vertical titles. There was no shortage of that here. As far as Usamaru Furuya’s work goes, No Longer Human nestles nicely between Genkaku Picasso and Lychee Light Club. It’s a compelling look into the most private and hidden elements of a person’s psyche, all told through symbolism, cynicism and unapologetic depictions of sex and despair.

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TCAF 2011: Spotlight on Usamaru Furuya

Usamaru Furuya

Sunday at Toronto Comics Art Fest had a spotlight panel for special guest and manga artist, Usamaru Furuya. I was present for the interview which was conducted by TCAF’s director, Christopher Butcher. Like my Natsume Ono post, I wasn’t able to record the interview (though in this instance it was lack of means instead of lack of permission) so the write-up below is done in paragraph format with just a few direct quotes. I hope it still proves even half as interesting to readers here as it was for those of us there!

Warning: Some images in article are intended for older audiences only.
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