Reviews - The Graphic Library

Lovesick ellie vol 1 by fujimono

8/15/2022

Cover of Lovesick Ellie vol 1. Eriko has her phone in her hands. She's wearing a white shirt and a skirt that has swirls of reds, yellows, purples, and blues. She's looking over her shoulder at Ohmi, who has his arms draped over Eriko's shoulders. He's also in a white shirt.

Eriko Ichimura is a pretty invisible girl at her high school, so she spends most of her time writing out fantasies on Twitter. She pretends to have a super-hot boyfriend who is strangely very similar to Ohmi-san,a boy at her school who is always surrounded by doting females or having his clothing stolen. When Ichimura accidentally drops her phone where Ohmi can get to it, he finds her Twitter page and reads most of her tweets. The two start an unsteady acquaintanceship that mostly involves Ohmi teasing her or leaving her with half-formed ideas that she could interpret as romantic advances. Ichimura also makes a friend over a review she posts for the library, but she’s worried Sara-Chan is using her to get close to Ohmi. Her fears are unfounded, but that doesn’t stop Ohmi from being strangely protective of Ichimura. In a moment of weakness, Ichimura asks Ohmi to go to the summer festival together, and to her shock, he agrees!

The sandman vol 5 by neil gaiman

8/14/2022

Cover of The Sandman volume 5. It seems to be a clay-made city-scape kind of like New York. There are rain drops falling on one part of the city. Underneath the title is listed all of the illustrators and others who worked on the book.

Vol 5: A Game of You, illustrated by Shawn McManus, Colleen Doran, Bryan Talbot, George Pratt, Stan Woch, Dick Giordano, lettered by Todd Klein

Barbie, who we first met in A Doll’s House, is back again - this time as a long absent princess of a small realm within The Dreaming. Joining her on this adventure are Wanda, her neighbor and a trans female, Thessaly, who is apparently centuries old and a witch, and the lesbian couple of Foxglove and Hazel. Barbie is called back to her dream realm when one of her faithful subjects crosses realms and ends up in the Waking World looking for her. The Cuckoo, the villain of Barbie’s dreams, has also stationed an agent in Barbie’s building who tries to manipulate the other occupants into attacking Barbie in her sleep, but Thessaly is stronger, and she forces the agent to give up the Cuckoo’s plan. She then barters passage for herself, Foxglove, and Hazel to enter into Barbie’s dream to save her.

Cardcaptor sakura vol 4 by clamp

8/13/2022

Cover of Cardcaptor Sakura volume 4. Sakura is in the foreground in a purple dress. Her mother is behind her in a white dress with lots of frills. Her purple hair is curly and pulled back with some flowers. Behind them is Sakura's dad in a dark grey vest with a purple ascot on his white button-up shirt. All around the three of them are more pink flowers.

Sakura’s family goes on a weekend vacation to a lake house, and Sakura befriends a nice old man at a much larger lake house next door. He serves her tea and gives her one of his granddaughter’s dresses. It turns out that he’s related to Sakura, but he doesn’t reveal himself to her. Then, it’s time for the annual talent show, and Sakura’s class is going to put on The Sleeping Beauty play. The teachers decide to cast roles by playing the ladder game - Sakura is cast as the prince, and Li-san is cast as Aurora! But the play isn’t without incident as another Clow Card shows up to challenge Sakura. We also learn how her teacher, Mizuki-sensei, is involved with the Clow Cards as she reveals herself to Kero-Chan.

Sakamoto days vol 2 by yuto suzuki

8/12/2022

Cover of Sakamoto Days volume 2. Two of Mr. Sakamoto's employees pose on a track for a roller coaster. One of them has a gun and the other is ready to strike some karate moves. In the background is Sakamoto riding in a roller coaster car.

Mr. Sakamoto, his family, and his two employees enjoy a day at the theme park while dodging assassins who are trying to cash in on the bounty on Sakamoto. The three former assassins try to keep Mrs. Sakamoto and daughter Hana oblivious to the violence going on around them while still trying to keep Sakamoto Family Rule #1: No Killing. An assassin named Boiled and his assistant come after Mr. Sakamoto within a haunted house, and the two taunt Mr. Sakamoto for gaining weight and losing his assassin skills. This prompts Sakamoto into instant weight-loss again, a superpower we first saw in volume 1. Then, another assassin reveals that someone has been killing assassins systematically, and it started about the same time a bounty was put on Sakamoto’s head. Could the two things be related?

The fox and little tanuki vol 2 by mi tagawa

8/11/2022

Cover of The Fox and Little Tanuki volume 2. Senzou has smiling Manpachi on his head. Across from them are the duo of the dog and grey wolf. The dog is smiling and has his paw on his wolf partner, who is grimacing at Senzou and Manpachi.

Manpachi and Momoji the Badger travel to the mountain where Manpachi was born, but Momoji also knowingly takes Manpachi away from Senzou and endangers him. When the two get to the mountain, all the creatures are sleeping and covered in snow. The two are almost immediately attacked by a dormouse in human form, who accused the two of them of disturbing the mountain’s restorative sleep. Before the dormice can fully attack Manpachi and Momoji, the goddess of the mountain reveals herself and explains why she has put everyone in a sleeping state. Manpachi give the goddess a kind of pep talk, and she has restored faith in her abilities. Later, the wolf pack investigates a murder of a cat, and suspects an illegal substance was used to cover rhe murderer’s tracks. They question Momoji and find out a stash of the substance was stolen from him when the wolves first apprehended him.

Tokyo Mew Mew vol 1 by reiko yoshida

8/10/2022

Cover of Tokyo Mew Mew volume 1. Ichigo is surrounded by alternating red and yellow stars in a circle. She's in her Mew Mew transformation with her cat tail and cat ears sticking out of her pink hair. She has a pink corset and pink skirt with red gloves and a red bow with a bell on her tail. The rest of the cover is pink with darker pink strawberries all over it.

Illustrated by Mia Ikumi

Earth is under attack from aliens who are disgusted by the way humans are destroying the planet. They infect animals with chimera properties to make monsters. Ryô Shirigane, a rich high schooler, and Keiichirô Akasaka, a “café owner” and researcher, want to protect the world from these aliens. They infuse five girls with “red data” animal DNA - DNA from endangered animals - to become warriors against the chimera animals. When they’re not fighting, the girls work at Café Mew Mew as a way to gather information from customers. Ichigo is the first warrior to awaken to her transformation powers and found by the two guys, and she must find the other four teammates while fending off attacks from Kish, one of the aliens who has keyed in on Ichigo. Ichigo also has to juggle her time with her crush, Masaya, who is also interested in endangered animals and saving the planet.

Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai vol 1 by Riku Sanjo

8/9/2022

Cover of Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai volume 1. Dai stands at the ready in his blue outfit with his sword drawn. His friend, Gomechan the Golden Metal Slime, is flying above his head.

Vol 1: Disciples of Avan 1, illustrated by Koji Inada

Dai is the lone human inhabitant of Dermline Island, which has become a haven for monsters after the events of the original Dragon Quest series (which is summarized succinctly for any reader who may have missed out). Dai has befriended many of the monsters, who are mostly well-behaved wild creatures now. A few quests of adventurers find the island and try to make names for themselves or cash in on fortunes in monster bounties, but Dai thwarts them at every turn. Everything changes when a dark power reawakens and bends the creatures back into the murderous monsters they once were. A powerful hero saves Dai and the island, but even his substantial power may be no match for a reawakened Dark Lord.

Deadpool samurai vol 2 by sanshiro Kasama

8/8/2022

Cover of Deadpool Samurai volume 2. The cover is a compilation of Deadpool in different poses colored in to make the mask of Deadpool. His eyes are little red slits like he's glaring at us.

Deadpool is in the middle of the fight of his life with Thanos! But he’s got some great supporting superheroes with the Samurai Squad - Sakura Spider, Neiro & Kage the symbiote, Hulk, and… All Might? Loki isn’t finished though, and he summons villains from a bunch of different multiverses and assembled them at Mt. Fuji - including a villain Deadpool is going to have a particularly hard time killing! There are also plenty of fourth wall breaks and jokes at the expense of Japanese and manga culture.

I’m in love with the villainess vol 1 by inori

8/6/2022

Cover of I'm in Love with the Villainess volume 1. Claire and Ray are in each other's arms like they are dancing. Both are wearing their school uniform, which is a red coat and gray skirt. Ray has short brown hair, and is smiling at Claire. Claire is blond with ringlet curls and is surprised as she looks back at Ray.

Adapted and illustrated by Aonoshimo

Rei is a corporate drone who finds happiness after hours playing her favorite dating sim. As the main character, she’s supposed to choose from between three handsome princes, but the person she’s most interested in is the rival, Miss Claire. One night, while playing, Rei is transported into the game as the main character, Rae Taylor, a commoner at an elite academy, who can now pursue Miss Claire without the pesky game getting in the way! But, as her rival and a noble, Miss Claire thinks lowly of Rae and constantly teases her. Rae loves the attention, which drives Miss Claire even crazier. After some time, Rae becomes employed as Miss Claire's maid. Now, she can be around Miss Claire at school and at home!

beauty and the beast of paradise lost vol 1 by Kaori Yuki

8/5/2022

Cover of Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost volume 1. Belle is in the foreground wearing a red cape and a dress with a green skirt. She's holding a basket of apples. Her purple hair shines below the red hood. Behind her is the ghastly Beast. He's outlined with grays and whites, smirking evilly with one eye visible between his flowing locks of hair.

Belle is a young girl with purple hair who is convinced a red rose from deep in the forest will help her strange purple locks be more appealing. Her mother follows and begs her not to go into the forest because of the terrible beast who lives there. As if she summons him, Belle's mother is abducted, and the Beast steals her beautiful face. The town burns the body in the hopes it will stop the Beast from coming back. Belle’s father can’t take the loss of his wife, so he shuts Belle up in their house and refuses to let anyone see her, while he spends the day drinking away the pennies she makes with her seamstress work. One day, Belle escapes and is determined to find her mother, who she believes is still alive in the Beast's castle. She finds the Beast, but he isn’t exactly how she remembers him. He’s rude, uncaring, but not murderous, and doesn’t steal her face. His magical floating castle brings her back to her village, but evil forces have been at work while Belle was away.