What is your pick for May's Hidden Gem?
Children of the Sea
20.0%
4
A Distant Neighborhood
15.0%
3
Nickelodeon
5.0%
1
No Longer Human
15.0%
3
Oyaji
0.0%
0
Sunny
10.0%
2
With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child
5.0%
1
Voynich Hotel
30.0%
6
20 votes
| Here is the list of titles to pick from: Children of the Sea One summer vacation, Ruka meets two boys, "Umi" and "Sora," whose upbringing contains strange and wonderful secrets. Drawn to their beautiful swimming, almost more like flying, Ruka and the adults who know them are intertwined in a complex mesh... Meanwhile, an unexplained anomaly is occurring all over the world: fish are disappearing. Thus begins a marine adventure of boys and girls to captivate all the senses! A Distant Neighborhood On his way back from a business trip, the protagonist decides on a whim to take a train back to his old hometown. The moment he pays respects to his mother's grave in the transformed town, he is transported back to a summer when he was still in junior high school, only with all his middle-age consciousness, knowledge and abilities intact. On this journey across time, he understands for the first time the burdens born by his father, and his mother's tears. This is the kind of fantasy manga were made for, executed by an artist of great talent. This is a serious, delicate, and ultimately moving time travel variation. Nickelodeon This is a collection of one-shots from Dowman Sayman. It contains short stories about serial killers finding love, historical figures brought back from the dead, a clever take on the the September 11th attack, yaoi fan-girl ghosts making suggestions to the men she watches, and everything in between. No Longer Human (Usamaru Furuya) Ooba Youzou is 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 forces him to uphold a facade of hollow jocularity since high school. Adaptation of the original work of Dazai Osamu. Oyaji Living in poor neighborhoods of Osaka, Kumada watch over his wife and two young children. He is huge and riddled with scars and he works hard, smokes and drinks of sake as if it were mere water, gruff and scary, he talks little. But Kumada deeply loves his family and will protect it at the peril of his life when members of a yakuza clan set on fire to his house to facilitate a real estate transaction. Jailed for the murder of those who failed to burn his people alive, Kumada was released fifteen years later and found his family. He will have to face the distrust of his children who know nothing of their father except that he had abandoned them. But he is determined to regain control of their education, starting with his son, a urchin abused by the tough guys of the district. Sunny At the Star Kids Home, a combination group home/orphanage, a disparate group of children struggle with both the everyday issues of growing up and those specific to abandoned or orphaned children. Their one avenue of escape is the Sunny, a junked car that sits a little ways from the home. In the Sunny they can travel the world, go into space, or just find a refuge from the troubles of their world. With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child Born during the sunrise—an auspicious beginning—the Azumas' newborn son is named Hikaru, which means "light." But during one play date, his mother notices that her son is slightly different from the other children. In this alternately heartwarming and bittersweet tale, a young mother tries to cope with both the overwhelming discovery of her child's autism and the trials of raising him while keeping her family together. This is a story that resonates not only for those whose families have been affected by autism, but also for all past, present, and future parents. Voynich Hotel Welcome to The Voynich Hotel, where at first glance it would seem like a normal run down resort. But linger long enough and you'll notice it's not quite as normal, with it's mystery histories and active residents with their own stories. Working there are two maids, a small energetic girl and a calmer and taller girl. The chef, who is a depressed woman and a large man who is the manager. The guests have a variation from a simple manga artists to drug dealers and assassins, and a few ghosts as well. The locals have a group of children called the Sleuth Brigade, who are investigating a untraceable murder. And the police with their very own android robot(?). The story is told from the perspective of several people. The guests, the workers and the locals. All with their own path crossing stories within this southern island. As the story progress, all will be revealed in due time... If you don't see your pick on the list, it was excluded for having to many members. |
BrandMay 1, 2016 6:51 AM
| So many good things to pick from. I'll have to go with Children of the Sea since I'm biased for Igarashi Daisuke's take on the nature and, of course, his art. Nickleodeon and Voynich Hotel would also be sweet picks. Dowman Sayman manages to woven such interesting worlds inhabited with quirky characters. Distant Neighbourhood is a classic - one of Taniguchi's best and my personal favourite among his works. With the Light has been on my radar for some time, but nope, I wouldn't want vote for something that has no scans. |
metamorphiusApr 12, 2016 8:37 PM
 |
| These are all great choices, but I'm gonna have to go with Children of the Sea since it's the only one I've finished so far. It's an outstanding manga with a wonderful sense of atmosphere. A shame not many people have read it, because it's worthy of appreciation. |
Nei-sanApr 13, 2016 7:31 PM
| A distant Neighborhood for me. Taniguchi is one of my all time favorite mangaka and he managed to do the whole travel back in time with your memories intact thing a lot better than most of the copycats. |
 "The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." -Friedrich Nietzsche |
| Between Sunny and A Distant Neighborhood for me. I chose the latter so I have an excuse to re-read it. Taniguchi tells a very nice and poignant story in those 2 volumes. I noticed my signature which has an outdated favorites list in it has it on there (Harukana Machi-E). It was up there in my top 5 at one point. Side note: Viz's editions of Sunny are lavish and a joy to hold. |
| Children of the Sea |
| Going with Children of the Sea as well. It thought it was rather like Mushishi if we didn't actually know the cause of the phenomenon, introducing a mystery elements whilst keeping the tone and imagery. |
| Pretty good picks here which makes it hard to choose one. Between A Distant Neighborhood, No Longer Human, Oyaji and Sunny I think I would have to go with Sunny which I think is Taiyou Matsumoto's best work. I want to check out With the Light but I can't seem to find it online anywhere and I don't really want to start collecting a new series at the moment. If only they would release that final volume already. |
nitrohawkApr 17, 2016 4:36 PM
| Bring back down votes on reviews |
| So many great choices, gotta go with Voynich tho. A fun read and a set of enjoyable characters. |
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