Booklist starred review
Sara's Rating: 10/10 Suitability Level: Grades 10-12 Publisher: Kodansha Publication Date: June 10, 2025 ISBN: 9798888774953 (Paperback) Tags: Rating: 10/10, Suitability: High School, Suitability: Adult, Manga, Historical Fiction, War, Kodansha
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Chihiro begins a fierce battle with Sojo, and the two with their enchanted blades are very evenly matched. They take turns exchanging powerful magical attacks while Sojo goads Chihiro about his father's selfishness to keep the swords hidden for the time he had, even though he admires the craftsmanship it took to make such beautiful weapons. Elsewhere on the battlefield, things are very perilous for the Anti-Cloud Gouger special forces. Later, Char reveals a bit about her time when she was imprisoned with her mother, especially how she was able to escape.
This volume is a two-part collection of short stories centered on the island of Okinawa. The first half focuses on the island’s inhabitants as they experience the harrowing months of the Battle of Okinawa. Some of these stories are based on Higa’s own family history. The second collection mainly focuses on life after the battle and loosely stars a yuta priestess who performs several rites to heal the spiritual soul of the island or the people.
Yuri is, for all outward signs, a normal student who just passed her entrance exams and is looking forward to relaxing and getting closer to her crush, who finally kissed her. But her life takes a terrible turn when a murderous queen kidnaps her from her time and transports her back to the ancient Hittite empire to become a sacrifice in a ritual! Somewhat fortunately, a prince with an eye for beauty rescues her from the ceremony, but Yuri's not sure she's safer with the lecherous Prince Kail. Somehow, she has to find a way back home while surviving in the literal bronze age!
Suzu is a simple girl from the countryside who enjoys illustrating, but she doesn't always get the credit for her work at school. Upon arriving home one day, she discovers she will enter into an arranged marriage with a naval officer from the small town of Kure outside of Hiroshima. It's the early 1940s, so the station and job is a good one and she'll have a stable home, but the wartime post worries Suzu a little. Her new husband works in the same yards that service the large ships like the Yamato. Suzu fills her days taking care of their home and trying not to succumb to some of the nastiness the war has filled others with in her new home.
Gen and his family of four siblings and parents live in Hiroshima, Japan during WWII. Times are very difficult — there is little to eat thanks to most of the food going to the war effort; neighbors report each other for speaking out against the war; and constraint air raids have everyone on edge. Gen’s brother Akira is evacuated with his school into the countryside while his father is hauled in and severely beaten for saying he doesn’t support the war. This causes the entire family to be branded as traitors and encourages the eldest son Koji to volunteer early for the pilot training force. Gen and Shinji constantly get into antics, which are usually pointless until their pregnant mother becomes ill, then the boys decide to use their skills to beg for change to help buy her nutritious food. Their days pass on while, looming in the background, American scientists inch closer to the atomic age.
 Booklist starred review
Sara's Rating: 10/10 Suitability Level: Grades 9-12 Publisher: VIZ Media Publication Date: November 5, 2024 ISBN: 9781974747245 (Paperback) Tags: Rating: 10/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Action Adventure, Magic, Family, War, VIZ Media 
Illustrated by Chris Wildgoose, colored by Msassyk and Diana Sousa, lettered by Simon Bowland
The world is dying - scarce farmland is being fought over by orcs and a desolated human population, but now the two sworn enemy races find themselves in a tentative alliance against a more violent foe - the Vangol. In an effort to ally the races, Tara, a promising young healer and cousin to one of the most powerful orc overlords, is stationed with the human warrior Callum Battlechild and his group known as “The Last Men”. Their mission is to discover how the Vangol are finding their way so far in from the shores where they land, but to also secure the shrinking farmlands from further violence. 
Within a prison city, Chloe and her younger baby brother have been abandoned by their parents and are struggling to survive. The only thing getting them through is their mysterious neighbor who has been leaving them food. But, he's currently in the middle of planning an elaborate escape that will be perfectly covered by an oncoming snowstorm. Because of his ridiculous sense of duty, Chloe's neighbor can't abandon these kids to a life of starvation, so he drags them along on a dangerous and half-hatched escape attempt. Nothing goes according to plan -- but flash forward to ten years later, when Chloe returns to the City to search for what was lost that night, and what she is determined to take back from the city that has taken so much from her.
Vol 1: Kill Columbus, illustrated by Davide Gianfelice, colored by Joana LaFuente
In the year 2112, the Earth has been destroyed by wars, pollution, and more. Portions of the population have already taken to the skies in search of a new planet. But in the desert of Arizona, a group of Native Americans find a cave that sends them back in time. They hatch a plan to save the world and protect their ancestors, but it involves killing Christopher Columbus before he discovers America. The group chooses Tad, who is a linguist and could potentially pass as sailor, to jump back and try to find a way onto Columbus' ship, but this means leaving behind his family in the future and relying on his knowledge of history to help him navigate through the voyage of Columbus. |
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