Reviews - The Graphic Library

The fiancee chosen by the ring vol 1 by yue matSuyuki

1/31/2023

Cover of The Fiancee Chosen by the Ring volume 1. Lady Aurora Porta is lying down with her embroidery supples around her - two spools of thread and a loom with embroidery cloth. She's in her signature pink dress with white lace down the middle on her front. At the top of her bodice is a pink bow. Her blonde hair frames her face. She's looking at us with two green eyes and smiling slightly.

Adapted and illustrated by Jyun Hayase

Lady Aurora Porta is the daughter of a minor count and doesn’t get invited to high society functions all that much. But when she does, she takes the opportunity to indulge in one of her favorite pastimes - studying embroidery. At parties, she’s specifically looking at patterns on the ladies’ dresses and trying to learn more for her own embroidery patterns. At the latest affair, she is hit in the forehead with a ring, a ring that was chucked by Sir Felix, who is so tired of his constant barrage of suitors that he chucked his ring randomly and declared who it hit to be his bride-to-be. Between Sir Felix' duties as a guard for the Crowned Prince and Lady Aurora's special embroidering, the new couple has a lot on their plate in this slightly humorous romantic fantasy.

Canto vol 2.5 and 3.5 by david m. Booher

1/24/2023

Cover of Canto volume 2.5 and 3.5. Canto is standing in the center reading from a book, and there are stacks of books around him. Behind him is The Bard, a magical being with patchwork clothes, a green cape, and a red hat. He glares evilly at Canto.

Vol 2.5: City of Giants, and 3.5: Tales of the Unnamed World, illustrated by Drew Zucker, colored by Vittorio Astone

This volume collects two short adventures of Canto and his friends, which come between some of the other volumes. The first is City of Giants, which happens in between volumes two and three, where Canto travels to the titular city to try and gain the support of the giants in the fight against the Shrouded man. In order to gain their trust, Canto must first solve a labyrinth outside the city, which includes fighting some fierce monsters. In the second side story, Tales of the Unnamed World, Canto and his friends find their way barred by a Bard, who requires, as toll, a story he has never heard before. Canto and his group each take turns telling their best stories, but they're all ones the Bard has heard before! This story takes place after volume three of the published stories.

Wonder cat KYUU-CHAN vol 1 by sasami nitori

1/23/2023

Cover of Wonder Cat Kyuu-Chan volume 1. The top half of Hinata's face is seen, and his eyes look like he's not very amused. He has brown hair that's a little messy. Sitting on top of his head is Kyuu-chan, who is white with tan paws and ears. Kyuu-chan is wearing a pink bow tie.

One day, as Hinata walks by a free kitty in a box, he decides to adopt it and names it Kyuu-chan. Kyuu-chan turns out to be adorable and makes Hinata's life more interesting! Kyuu-chan loves playing with toys, but more than that, Kyuu-chan loves spending time with Hinata, including curling up inside his scarf. Like most cats owners can attest, Kyuu-chan also loves the box more than the toys that come in it. Kyuu-chan also loves snacks and getting his fur on the bottom of Hinata's pant legs. The two are always doing things for each other, including Kyuu-chan traversing half the city and the subway to bring Hinata his forgotten lunch!

Wynd vol 3 by james tynion iv

1/11/2023

Cover of Wynd volume 3. Wynd is in full transformed mode - he has large black wings, black fur covering his body, blue glowing eyes, sharp teeth, and sharp claws on his hands. He's flying over a snowy landscape that has spears sticking out of the snow. There are also a few spears in the air flying at him.

Vol 3: The Throne in the Sky, illustrated by Michael Dialynas

Our heroic band of kids is on the run, including from Duke Yadriel, who was supposed to be their savior! So now, humans, faeries, and those pesky vampires are wanting to overtake the group for a variety of reasons. The most terrifying presently is General Eks, a ruthless faery who believes the children are responsible for the destruction of an entire city. A suggestion is thrown out that they take the mountain pass to avoid being tracked, but this terrifies Merien. Faeries aren't built to withstand such extreme temperatures, which might be good for evading Eks, but not for their friend. While refreshing themselves at a mountain hot springs, the kids are picked up by Strawberry, a seemingly-friendly giant, who takes them to the ruins of an ancient city. Merien and Wynd discuss using his likeness to the Winged Ones to win allies, but Wynd still rejects the notion that he's descended from the original creators of the world.

Your forma vol 1 by Marcho Kikuishi

1/10/2023

Cover of Your Forma volume 1. Echika is standing in the foreground wearing a short black dress. Her arm is outstretched, and in between her torso and arm looks like another world. Behind her is Lucraft, who is looking at us over his shoulder, but facing away from us. He has a grey jacket on, and his scarf has a red and black plaid pattern to it.

Adapted and illustrated by Yoshinori Kisaragi

Sometime in the near future, humans willingly submitted to the installation of “Your Forma” devices - thin, string-like machines implanted in the brain that record everything the user interacts with. This was initially used to combat an outbreak of encephaitis, but it became a normal part of everyday life very quickly. Inspector Echika is with the Electronic Crimes Division of Interpol, and she’s a diver - someone who connects to another human's "your forma" and dives through the Mnemosynes of their brain to look for clues in solving crimes. She’s so gifted at this that she often burns out her Belayers - the aides who help a diver from going too deep into another person’s memories. Echika has newly been paired with Harold Lucraft, who is actually an Amicus - an advanced android, whose particular processing speeds can match hers. The main problem now? Echika hates Amici. But the two have been forced together on one of the biggest cases of Echika’s career: they must find the source of a machine-viral outbreak that causes its victims to hallucinate and believe they are in a blizzard.

Embrace your size by hara

1/8/2023

Cover of Embrace Your Size. Hara is wearing a plaid skirt with a brown sweater vest and white long-sleeve shirt. She's holding flowers in one hand and her other arm is outstretched behind her in a celebratory way. She's sort of skipping - one leg is up in the air. In her bag to her side is more flowers. She's smiling widely with her mouth open, and her blue eyes are bright and happy.

This manga is a collection of graphic essays about Hara’s life, where she battled weight as a junior high student, developed an eating disorder, and found body positivity in her young adult years. Hara shares a lot about her struggles with trendy clothing, and how she came to terms with being plus sized and still able to wear clothing she considered to be fashionable and cute. Clothes were an initial trigger for Hara, so it is one of the main foci of her essays. She also shares her development of anorexia that turned into bulimia nervosa in college. She continues to struggle with eating enough food, but through therapy and hard work, she is able to keep her eating disorders in check.

The evil secret society of cats vol 1 by pandania

12/21/2022

The Evil Secret Society of Cats volume 1. The Feline Commander stands in front of a large group of cats. He's standing on his hind legs and has a purple cape draped around him. Behind him, regular looking cats are staring at us.

The evil secret societ of cats has one mission: to make humans fear the feline race! To that end, a motley cast of cats is here to take over the lives of unsuspecting folk and all media they consume. Under the leadership of the Feline Commander is Dr. Meow, with his fiercer creations, including Robocat, Queen, and Destroyer. Fighting to save humanity is Doggoman and his little sister who have trained under the wise Master Yorkshire. To round it all out is Hariyama, the owner of a cafe and one of the only neutral sights between the Society and Doggoman. Presented in yonkoma form (four-panel comic strips).

Spider-gwen vol 0 by jason latour

12/15/2022

Cover of Spider Gwen volume 0. Gwen is in her spider outfit, crouched down ready to jump. She has a very dark pink body suit. The upper part of her suit is white, and she has pink webbing under her arms and under the hood of her cowl. Her eye slots are outlined in pink. Behind her are multi-color blocks that looks like a city-scape.

Vol 0: Most Wanted? illustrated by Robbi Rodriguez, colored by Rico Renzi

In this alternate universe, Gwen Stacy was bitten by the radioactive spider, not Peter Parker. Presently, she’s dealing with the guilt and aftermath of Peter’s death. Peter tried to emulate Gwen's Spider-Woman, his hero, but was met with a tragic end, for which Gwen feels responsible. Meanwhile, Spider-Woman the prime suspect for Peter's death, and the lead detective is George Stacy, a.k.a. her dad! After Spider-Woman saves Detective Stacy from a would-be assassin, the police force fears collusion and replaces him with Frank Castle (a.k.a. The Punisher!). To top all of this off, Gwen is supposed to be the drummer for a break-out band, The Mary Janes, but her double life keeps her from showing up to gigs on time.

Shonen note: boy soprano vol 1 by yuhki kamatani

12/6/2022

Aoi is starting middle school, and he is supremely sensitive to sound. He's just moved to town and will start middle school with the new term. While exploring his new city, he is drawn to the sound of the choir for his new school during their practice, and he knows he has to join them. Some of the other students, however, resent Aoi’s beautiful soprano voice and his innocent faith. Aoi is also approached by the band's sponsor to join the local Opera association. Her thought is that Aoi needs to show off his beautiful gift before his voice changes and its lost forever, but members of the choir see it as a betrayal, especially because the competition falls on the same weekend as the Opera's performances.

Fullmetal edition vol 18 by hiromu arakawa

12/2/2022

Fullmetal Edition volume 18. Edward, who looks a little older, is staring at us with his golden eyes. His blonde bangs still frame his face, while the length is in a ponytail instead of his signature braid. He's in a tan suit with a white button-down shirt. He's smiling slightly, like he's satisfied.

The major evil plans the Homunculi have been crafting for centuries finally come to fruition, but Ed, Al, and their motley crew of friends are there to stop the Father of the Homunculi. In the last volume, Father used his Human Sacrifices he's been gathering all series long, and performed a major feat of alchemy to try to achieve the power of a god. The fate is largely in the hands of all the Elrichs - including their father, Hohenheim, who unleashes his unnatural power as well. In the end, Mai and her Alkahestry from Xing, as well as Scar's tattooed arms that blend Alchemy and Alkahestry, that provide an edge for Ed, Al, and all of their friends against a godlike evil with immeasurable power.