your name., Vol. 3 - Makoto Shinkai

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

On the whole, this was a good manga series. The final book basically just resolves everything, which wasn't as exciting as the second book in the series. Book 2 was definitely my favorite. That's where the bulk of the action is, making the first one a kind of confusing set up and the last one a bit of an anticlimactic ending. The book was good and followed the movie, but it just didn't have the same magic as the film.

As with the other books, the artwork was good in this one, but having a black and white manga based on a movie that has such splendid use of color and scenery leads to a less than exciting display in the book. The comet sequence and the scenery surrounding Mitsuha's town feels lackluster in comparison to those gorgeous colors in the film. 

Still a good book and a great series on the whole. This is honestly one of my all-time favorite movies. It is beautiful and so well done. 

君の名は (漫画) p.2 - Makoto Shinkai

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

It is nearly impossible not to read this book quickly. The pacing is so fast and so much happens and you just naturally want to figure it all out and see what happens next. I tried hard not to read it in one night, but here we are.

The pacing is much quicker in this one as Taki figures out why he is not longer switching bodies with Mitsuha and the implications of that. While the first book had a lot of set up to get out of the way, this one is all action. 

Having loved the movie, the only downside for me with the book is the lack of color. The movie is just so gorgeous, partly because of the coloring, and while the artwork is wonderful in the book, I can't help but long for those beautiful colors from the film. As with the first book, you get a taste of that coloring in the full-color pages at the start of the book, but the rest is in black and white. Still a very beautiful book and I cannot wait to read the third one.

your name., Vol. 1 - Makoto Shinkai,Ranm...

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

I just recently stumbled across the film, Your Name, and oh my goodness it is a complete masterpieces and everyone should watch it immediately it will change your life and it is amazing.

Phew. Now that I got that out of my system. After falling in love with the movie, I was excited to see that there was a manga adaptation as well. I've been trying to read more manga so I thought this would be a good point to start.

Overall, the manga was a good adaptation. It follows the movie pretty closely. I can definitely see this book being confusing for those who haven't seen the movie or don't know the story. Honestly, for most of the movie you have no idea what's going on until it finally hits you and you are left with all the feels. The story is worth the wait and confusion, I promise. 

Anyway, this was a good book. The one downside to adapting Your Name into a black and white manga is that there is so much beautiful color in the film (the sparkle of Tokyo, the lushness of the Hida region, and of course that darn comet). You get a little peek at that gorgeous color in the full color bit at the beginning of the book, but miss out on it in the rest of the book. The artwork was still very well done with great detail. 

I also found the translation notes very interesting. They added more depth to some of the issues brought up in the book (what pronouns to use). Plus, it was fun to see "Yuki-chan sensei"/Yukari Yukino pop up as the Classics teacher. Garden of Words is also a beautiful movie. 

A nice read for Shinkai fans. Can't wait to read the next volume.

Trigger Warning: Animal death, though no photos of a dead animal, just my last photo of her alive. Long blog, but I promise there is book related content as well.

My hamster Mogget was put on death watch a few days ago. We had to move her to a smaller enclousure, because old age was making it hard for her to get around. Well on the 4th, in the morning, she became unable to move and fell into a deep sleep, her breaths slowed down and right before the end, she opened her eyes one last time and I feel like she looked at me to say goodbye. I'm not sure if she was aware of anything, but it is comforting to believe she realized she wasn't alone and was able to go without being scared.

[In a deep sleep and I hope she felt comfortable]

[Photo was taken a while ago. Might be hard to tell, but the tree in the middle that has vines. She is now in front of that, behind the rock.]

As you can imagine, I was really upset all day (still am) and just wanted to distract myself, play with our other furry butts, clean...etc. In the photo, we're trying to go through DVDs and our cat Apollo just wants to play in the tote.

[I think she wants to have a Buffy or Farscape marathon!]

My husband is really sweet; he took me to Barnes & Noble as more disctraction so I could get 2 books I really wanted. They were having another buy 2 get 1 free sale, but that man was there again and I had a panic/anxiety episode and refused to check out with him. (See previous blog about the man who was rude to me there last time.)

Patrick offered to do it alone, but I did not want to deal with the buy 2 get 1 fiasco all over again with the same rude cashier. (They didn’t have signs up again!) Right in the store, I went online and bought 3 books for my Kindle, through Amazon (of course) and paid less than what I would have with the buy 2 get 1 sale. (Actually spent only 3$ more what 1 book would have cost.)

Ugh! I love those books I wanted so much (despite not reading them yet lol) and I love Kindle books, but I really wanted the physical books to add to my physical collection of the books I already had by the same author. All is well. I will look out for the physical copies one day online (used & lower priced than what B&N was charging.)

B&N pretty much lost a customer while that guy is working the register.

****

The books I got is from the Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) series by Makoto Shinkai. 2 light novels, 1 manga. Japan calls books based on anime or manga “Light novels.”

There is a full length animated movie, 3 manga based on the movie, 1 light novel based on the anime/movie, 1 light novel that is side stories, 1 manga that is based on the side stories. Phew. It sounds confusing.

The movie is so beautiful and I loved it so much. The manga based on the movie wasn't as impactful as the movie was, but I really enjoyed it, too. It really was a touching story for me. The artwork is stunning. The movie made me cry at the end. I just had to have the novels, and the manga based on the side story.

It is the 2nd largest grossing domestic film in Japan (That is all movies, not just anime!) and the fourth-largest ever, behind Titanic and Frozen. 11th grossing non-English film in the USA. (At the time of writing this.) Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 97% & 4.6/5 rating. IMDB.com is at 8.4/10.

That should tell you how much this movie & books impacted people. Listen up, folks! Anime, cartoons, and animated films, comics, graphic novels, manga and all that are not just for children! I’m playing this up because I want you to watch the movie and then read the manga, then the novels! Go do it!

My collection so far:
Physical:
Vol 1-3 Your Name manga. (Follows the anime pretty closely!)

Digital:
The Your Name Movie (On Vudu.com. But I want the Limited Edition Bluray that comes packaged in a holographic art box, comes with a hardcover art book, 2 soundtracks (English & Japanese ver.) and is just stunning, but it is so pricey!!)

[This is what you get in the limited edition! I know I can buy the soundtracks alone probably, but I really want that art book!]

Your Name light novel on Kindle (It is supposed to follow the anime/manga pretty closely, but with added background info...etc.

Your Name: Another Side: Earthbound light novel on Kindle (Based on characters from the anime/manga and some of their side stories...etc.)

Your Name: Another Side: Earthbound manga on Kindle (The manga of the above.)

Yes, I'm a nerd.

(Do me a favor, give your animals (if you have any) a great big cuddle if they will let you.)