Ryousuke Akiba calls himself ES, a code name taken from a mysterious scientific experiment. He possesses strange mental powers: he can enter people's minds, discover... more>> their darkest secrets, even rearrange their memories. Ryousuke is an enigmatic and dangerous creation, but is he the only one? <<less

Shizuku Kanzaki is the son of a recently deceased, world-renowned wine critic named Yutaka Kanzaki. In order to take ownership of his father's legacy, an extensive wine collection featuring some of the most rare labels of the last 30 years, he must find 13 wines, known as the "Twelve Apostles" plus the heaven-sent "Drops of God" that his father described in his will. ... more>>

But despite being an only child, Shizuku is not alone in this unique wine hunt. He has a competitor. Issei Tomine, a renowned young wine critic, was recently adopted into the Kanzaki family and is also vying for this most rare of prizes.

, the most prestigious wine magazine in France, has awarded this series with the "Special Award of the Year" in 2010. <<less

This is a story about a piano, pitifully abandoned in the woods, and a young boy, Kai, who grew up playing it as his favorite toy. While Kai cannot even read sheet music, one day, he meets Shuhei Amamiya, an aspiring child pianist who transfers schools from Tokyo, and their music teacher, Sosuke Ajino. Ajino was also once a gifted pianist, until a tragic accident stole his promising future from him forever. Each from a different background, the trio's personalities gravitate to one another and rebound. All the while, the piano sits patiently, awaiting a hand to play it.... more>>

Note: Received the Grand Prize for best manga at the 12th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2008. <<less

Ayano-san is a beautiful housewife with a son, Yuusei, who doesn't seem to approve of her carefree ways. Always smiling and well-meaning, Ayano-san still finds... more>> a way to make herself an object of curiosity and appreciation by passing people. <<less

Billy Bat is a comic-in-a-comic and the real protagonist is a Japanese-American artist named Kevin Yamagata who draws Billy Bat for "Marble Comics".... more>>

Shortly after they transition to the artist in his studio with his assistant, two actual detectives, who look like Laurel and Hardy in Dick Tracy era suits and trench coats, knock on the door and appropriate Kevin's room for the purpose of conducting surveillance on a room in an adjacent building. One of the detectives, the skinny “Laurel”, sees Kevin's work and it turns out he's a Billy Bat fan. The other chubby "Hardy" detective picks up a page and says that the characters look familiar and accuses Kevin of translating an old "Jap" comic.

As Hardy remembers the comic he thinks Kevin is ripping off, we make another Urasawaesque time jump to 1949 Tokyo.

Note: Won the Max und Moritz Prize for "Best international Comic" in 2014. <<less

The future, romance… everything is "undecided," yet the remaining days of high school seem as if they'll be over in the blink of an eye. Ichimura Mikako, 17 years old. Midorikawa, the strange guy who now sits next to her after a seating change and oddly prefers red pencils. At first, Mikako didn't think much of it, but after learning that they both love the same band, their relationship begins to change bit by bit… ... more>>

The day-to-day life of a 17-year-old girl woven together in a soft literary style. <<less

Zaizen Takashi passes his entrance exams at the top of the heap, and starts his first year in junior high school at Dojuku Gakuen, a 130-year old, highly advanced institute of higher education. The day after the entrance ceremony, "the secret" of the school is revealed to him, which concerns the existence of an "investment club," consisting only of the top student from each of the 6 grades.... more>>

Its club members have a mission. They must invest from a capital of 300-billion yen and yield a profit of 8%, which is their annual goal. This is why Dojuku Gakuen, boasting the highest standards of education in all of Japan, is tuition free. <<less

A collection of four short stories by Fuyumi Souryou.... more>>

The Rainbow Fish is a story about a painter and her problems dealing with a culture that doesn't leave too much space for artistic inspiration. From a little girl to adulthood, Sari struggles to show how she sees life through her eyes. This story is something of an autobiography.

Damned Sun is about a cynical girl who isn't very enthusiastic about most things teenagers like. She meets a man, a funny, interesting gangster. They get along very well from the beginning, understanding each other without too many words... But it only lasts one day, since what shakes Maki from her apathy can't last long...

Strange Trait asks the question: Are human beings are like groceries? Do they really have a certain durability? A writer thinks so, and she bases her novel on the idea.

A Strange Gene is about Ayano Yoshimusa; a superb worker, efficient, accurate, and cold. Saegusa, her colleague, is her opposite: messy, chaotic and warm. He admires his boss, whenever he talks to her he realises what a perfect creature she is… But as always, not everything is what it seems. When a sixteen years old appears and tells him she lives with Ayano, Saegusa seems to perceive that something might be hidden under the perfect appearance of this beautiful woman… <<less

In an ancient kingdom, a vicious warlord is on the hunt for a magical sword. Forced to escape his soldiers, the young girl who guards... more>> the sword is hunted until she receives some unexpected help from a pair of odd strangers. <<less

Detective Akira Yusa sees his brother Shinichi killed before his very eyes. He spots a young girl, Kilico Sakaki, at the scene of the crime... more>> and instinctively knows that she did it. After a bloody fight, Akira arrests her. Trained as a professional assassin by her stepfather, Toshio Sakaki, in everyday life, Kilico acts like an ordinary college student. Her arrest is treated as a mistake when she manages to hide all evidence of Shinichi's murder. Akira's subsequent investigation of Kilico runs into difficulty when he finds that it's too big for a police detective to handle. Her encounter with Akira makes Kilico remember her terrible past and have doubts about being an assassin. Kilico goes to Taiwan to train as a jewel connoisseur, the Sakaki family's legitimate business, behind which they hide all their illegitimate business. Fired for taking his investigation too far, Akira follows Kilico to Taiwan. The two meet again and become very close, as they get involved in the internal conflicts within the Tenrenban gang, Taiwan's biggest Mafia group. <<less

Sakai and Shoji are two idiots. Their band, Moozmuz, is eccentric, flamboyant and silly. Gogh, their classmate, is a quiet but intense clothes designer. Watch... more>> the friendship between these three artists blossom and suffer, rendered in Shinkichi Kato's vibrant, lively art. The two volumes also contain a pair of one-shots each. <<less

4 select chapters, and a new chapter ("A Very, Very Lucky Birth").... more>>

Gon lives with the penguins

Gon goes to mushroom hunting

Gon journeys into the desert

Gon and his posse

A Very, Very Lucky Birth <<less

A collection of short stories:... more>>

• Boketsu

• Taikutsu na Tsuki

• Johnny kara no Dengon

• Round Girl

• Nade-shiko

• Chinpa

• Jinsei Kaya no Soto (Kari) <<less

This serie is based on Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs film. The story follows an orphaned young boy and his beloved dog.

Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife, Yuri finds himself six years later as part of a team of debris cleaners on a vessel called the Toy Box charged with clearing space junk from space flight paths. The team consists of Hachimaki, a hot shot debris-man with a sailor's affinity for the orbital ocean; Fee, a chain-smoking tomboy beauty with an abrasive edge; and Pops, a veteran orbital mechanic whose avuncular presence soothes the stress of the job.... more>>

Note: Won the Seiun Award in 2002. <<less

Compilation of short stories:... more>>

• Hotel: Since 2079 (2006)

It is the year 2272 A.D.

A computer continues to live on in order to complete a mission in a world where all life, including Mankind, has gone extinct. This is a record of those 27 million years of its heroic struggle.

• Present (2006)

Hanako suffers from a terrible disease. After awakening from a deep slumber, Hanako has only three days to live.

• Subete wa Maguro no Tame datta (It Was All for the Tuna) (2008)

Tuna have become extinct and Jun Shiozaki will do everything possible and imaginable to bring them back.

• Stephanos (2007 Mandala Vol. 1)

Set in modern-day Japan, our main character Noriko finds out that she is pregnant with her lover Matsumura’s baby. He, however, is an important doctor with a family and everything already. Noriko wants to have the baby, but Matsumura says that it’s actually a rapidly growing cancer and that they have to remove it immediately. It might also be neither of these things…

• Diadem (2008 Mandala Vol. 2)

A "Diadem" is a word for 'crown' that has its root in Greek. "Stephanos", which appeared in "Mandala" 01, was also a 'crown'. It seems that we could consider this the second work in a continuing series of shorts that should perhaps be called a "Crown series". <<less

Chi is a mischievous newborn kitten who, while on a leisurely stroll with her family, finds herself lost. Separated from the warmth and protection of... more>> her mother, feels distraught. Overcome with loneliness she breaks into tears in a large urban park meadow, when she is suddenly rescued by a young boy named Yohei and his mother. The kitty is then quickly and quietly whisked away into the warm and inviting Yamada family apartment... where pets are strictly not permitted. <<less

Long before the dawn of man, savage dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Now, only one remains — the smallest, wildest of them all! GON marches across the wilderness defending the friendly and furry from the mean and hungry. Told entirely without words, these stories highlight the amazingly detailed art and visual storytelling genius of creator Masashi Tanaka.... more>>

Got an additional chapter in Afternoon 2013-11 (to promote the CGI show), and a spin-off in 2006 called "Gon-chan" in Comic BonBon that lasted until 2007.

Note: Received an Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 1998. Won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material and Best Humor Publication at the Eisner Awards in 1998. <<less

Torn to pieces by a pack of dogs, young samurai Jintetsu's ravaged body has been found by Genkichi, outcast and master inventor. Genkichi gives the... more>> dead boy a new, indestructible steel body and a talking sword - just what he'll need to exact his vengeance. But what about Otsuki, the beautiful girl he left behind? Steel armor is defense against any sword, but it can't save Jintetsu from the pain in his heart. <<less

Although a 19th-century philosopher once said that "God is dead" (It was Nietzsche) the Rakia story has God descending to Earth in the 21st century... more>> and assuming the form of a girl. ("Rakia" is the Hebrew word for the skies or the firmament.) <<less

The year is 1949. Japan had been defeated in World War II and was occupied by Allied Forces consisting of American, Australian, British, Indian and New Zealander troops.... more>>

A young woman meets a young man. Both have lost everything because of the war. Tome Kano, a barmaid, and Katsuya Ranzaki, a wealthy investor. The two are fed up with their lives and want to live "real lives" for once. Katsuya's starting up an all-girls baseball team with Tome on it allows them to do this. In this dramatic story, the dreams of a nation come alive. Through the determination and strength of Katsuya and Tome, girls baseball becomes a sensation, and Tome a superstar. <<less

Saitou is a young doctor who just graduated. Starting his career as a doctor he finds there is a lot more to this profession than one would think. An intense drama about the dark side of the medical world.... more>>

In 2012, Shuho Sato

Note: Won the Excellence Prize for Manga at the Japan Media Arts Festival in 2002 and the Grand Award at the Japan Cartoonist Association Awards in 2004. <<less

At the beginning of the 20th century, an American doctor named Duncan MacDonald engaged in a series of unethical experiments. Those experiments concluded that should one suffer a death not ordained by fate the human body would lighten by an average of 30 grams, which is the weight of a person's "soul stone."... more>>

Sakurai and Amano are on a hunt to find people who are about to die before their time and either prevent their unnatural deaths or recover these stones, dubbed "livingstones." <<less

Mariel Imari is a private eye trying to become a first-rate detective to be able inherit her late father's estate. For some strange reason, the... more>> mysterious thief Vecchio is taking an interest in her. As if that wasn't enough, her old friends at Interpol and her siblings make life more troubling for her. <<less

An autobiographical manga that tells the story of the author's trip to Thailand in order to undergo sex reassignment surgery, describing the process of transitioning... more>> from male to female. But the path to womanhood is a lot more painful than imagined... <<less