Zoe, a fledgling witch from a secluded island, was told from a young age that people on the mainland would persecute her and burn her at the stake. One day, she and her friend, Shishka, sneak away and discover the mainland is unlike what it was reported to be. Instead, Zoe meets and falls in love with Clive, a kindhearted young man who takes them in. Clive tragically dies soon after their wedding, leaving Zoe lost and in a sea of anguish. Zoe also meets a scarab beetle named Eliza in the same predicament. The two take comfort in each other’s grief, discover that Shishka is also a widow, and all three decide to study magic in earnest to find a way to bring their partners back to life.
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At a young age, Allen Walker was constricted into the fight against the Millennium Earl and his deadly cruel Akuma, machines built upon the grief and sin of humans longing for the souls of a dearly departed loved one. With a powerful weapon embedded into his left hand and a cursed eye that can see Akuma trapped inside their human hosts, Allen is on a mission to find Innocence, a material that can be manufactured into new weapons to take on the Earl. This will help build up the power of the Black Order, the group of exorcists sworn to protect humanity and fight the Millennium Earl's Akuma weapons.
Adapted by Dan Jolley, illustrated by James L. Barry
School Library Journal review - part of Spring 2025 Fiction Made Simple, "8 Manga Fiction Series with Emotion, Drama, and All the Feels" Sara's Rating: 8/10 Suitability Level: Grades 4-6 Publisher: Spotlight/ABDO (reprint & separation of TOKYOPOP 3-volume series) Publication Date: December 15, 2024 ISBNs: (Library reinforced hardcovers) 9781098255411, 9781098255428, 9781098255435, 9781098255442, 9781098255459, 9781098255466, 9781098255473, 9781098255480, 9781098255497 Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Manga, Animals, Action Adventure, Family, Survival, Grief  School Library Journal review
Sara's Rating: 8/10 Suitability Level: Grades 9-12 Publisher: Yen Press Publication Date: December 17, 2024 ISBN: 9781975380120 (Paperback) Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Family, Grief, Romance, Yen Press 
Hiroto is a pretty carefree 29-year-old, except he finds it difficult to talk to attractive women around his own age. He has no problem befriending older ladies, including an 81-year-old former lunch lady he affectionately calls Granny. He has dinner at her house twice a week until she suddenly dies of a heart attack and leaves her two-bedroom house to him. When Hiroto’s cousin Nat comes to live with him as she attends art school, the two learn to live together and figure out what it means to be adults in their various stages of life - Nat as a struggling college student with social anxiety, and Hiroto trying to figure out his purpose in life.
Akira is mostly an average high school student who, on an outing looking for an out of stock manga, gets caught up in a skirmish that changes his life. He boards a subway and finds himself in a confrontation between an actual extra-terrestrial and the Alien Management Organization, the group tasked with making sure aliens follow the rule of law while they’re on Planet Earth. One of those officers is none other than Akita’s handsome and physically fit classmate, Sho Tenkubashi! Instead of wiping his memory and sending him on his way, The AMO decides to enlist Akira despite having no training and no physical prowess to match Sho. What could he possibly bring to the table?
One summer, Hikaru went up into the mountain, but what returned might not be Hikaru. Yoshiki doesn’t want to believe his best friend is dead, but he has a suspicion that whatever this thing is, isn’t his friend Hikaru. This creature might have all of Hikaru’s mannerisms and memories, but it’s not his best friend. However, is being around this thing better than not having Hikaru at all? Yoshiki receives several warnings from the townsfolk that what he’s with is evil, that he shouldn’t get too close, but the conflict in him only grows.
John is an outcast who hasn’t had many friends, so when the dazzling Stevenson twins took a liking to him, he became mesmerized. Twins Jekyll and Hyde were always charismatic and well loved, but John seems to be the only one who could accurately tell them apart. When the untimely death of one twin leaves a devastating hole for the other, John diligently works to uncover secrets the twins kept from each other and the world.
Reiji is trapped in his small town life. His brother is a shut-in who constantly berates their mother; his grandmother is suffering from dementia and is the main reason his mother is so tired; and his mom sets him up with a construction job for after high school, effectively killing any aspirations he had of leaving. One night, while out buying food, Reiji realizes that the shop clerk is actually Nagi Aoe, a famous idol singer from a band he enjoys escaping to. She asks him for a tour around town, which he gives her on the back of his bike. At one point, while stopped in a bridge overlooking the town's river, she asks Reiji if he’ll enter a suicide pact with her, similarly to the heroes in a tragic story based on the town. They wind up back at her house where she takes his virginity. Afterwards, Reiji can’t stop thinking about her, her wish to die, and whether he would be better off dead as well.
One year for his birthday, Yuta's mother gives him a smartphone and requests that he record her often, as she is dying and won't know which moment will be her last. Yuta complies and tries to capture as many memories as he can, but he can't bring himself to go into the hospital to see her last breath. Then, he runs from the building just in time for it to explode. Then, we realize we are in a theater and have been watching a movie Yuta put together of all the footage of his mother, and he's debuting it in front of his classmates. Most of them are horrified, and Yuta takes their criticism very harshly. He runs to the roof with the intention of killing himself, but instead meets Eri, a girl who loved his film but believes he can make a better one. The two of them spend many days in Eri's secret hideout, watching movies together, until Yuta gets the inspiration to make his second film. This film also has a surprise twist, as Yuta can't help himself.
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About MeI've been reading manga and comicbooks for years. Now, I write reviews and other helpful things for School Librarians, teachers, parents, and students. Search this site
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