Publisher: Yen Press
Release Date: November 28, 2018
Price: $13.00
Creator(s): Arata Kanoh (story); Jyunya Nakamura (artist); based on work by Makoto Shinkai
Format: 176 pgs., B&W, 5"x7.5", Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-9753-2932-7
Age Rating: Teen
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
This is an odd book, well-written, nicely illustrated, but who is it written for? Anyone who has seen the anime film will find it to be an examination of things in between scenes of the film, but the point of the film is that those holes in continuity exist for the characters. So, the book is filling in holes that were a deliberate part of the story. Anyone who has not seen the film will immediately be hit by spoilers for it. In addition, the manga is an adaptation of a light novel, so the pacing is a tiny bit odd.
Still, for readers who have seen the film or read the film’s novel, and must have a manga of the "missing" scenes, this is it. The good part of this version is that it does a better job than the anime did of showing the cultural and thought-process differences between the two main characters. The other characters surrounding the female character notice the differences in her speech patterns and thought processes based on concrete things, rather than just apparent intuition. Also, the artwork of Jyunya Nakamura was very good in portraying the settings and people.
A weakness of this version is that by focusing on the female character, it radically alters the pacing of the revelations to the audience, which may confuse some readers.
Still, there will be an audience for this book, but they should see the film first. For teens and up, partly due to body humor.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California.
