Weekend Doujinshi Review, 2014/11/9

Another weekend, another self-published manga review. Make sure to check the doujinshi tag for previous installments!

This time around, I am introducing one book from Comitia 109, plus one that I got at Comic Zin. I thought you might enjoy some relaxing reads to recover from last week's Halloween special...

1. That is not love by Juzo Kirisawa* (Circle: Kinokotou)

After a brief break,this is another one of the doujinshi I got at Comitia 109. (Only two weeks til 110!!)
Comitia 109 circle thumbnail:

That is not love (interesting, the thumbnail calls it "This is not love")  is part of a series about a geek from the country making his way through art school in Tokyo, his unrequited love for his cousin, and the gap between otaku and regular people (?).

Art student Kiichi is back home in Hiroshima over the holidays. The book opens with Kiichi being quizzed about his life in Tokyo (love life in particular) by his uncle at a family gathering. His cousin Mokko (this is probably a nickname but the only reference to her in the book) interrupts the interrogation, but quickly gets her own share when the uncle starts plotting to find her a husband in turn.

That is not love continues to depict Kiichi's time in Hiroshima at a leisurely pace, including a skype call to a friend's and a phone call with possible love interest Nakayama back in Tokyo, leading to the deduction that there's not really much to do in the small town, except for the upcoming fireworks festival... Which gets canceled due to a rainstorm.

The book closes with Mokko coming to meet Kiichi at the train station, just as he is about to head back to Tokyo, and the romantic tension just keeps on coming...

That is not love is a 26 page A5 book with a glossy color cover. As the color illustration suggests, it is a very laid-back, slice-of-life story without any huge events or resolution, but does a good job of conveying the characters' emotional states.
The art is just gorgeous and left in pencil uninked, giving it a raw quality that I felt really added to the slowlife atmosphere of the book.

The artist:  on Twitter, pixiv
Juzo Kirisawa's works on Comic Zin*note: I am using names in their native (family->given) order, unless the artist is specifically using a different one. In this case, the artist's name is alphabetized in the given->family order on the book.

2 Tirol and the Dragon on Scary Mountain by Kurusu Tatsuya (circle: Ponz)

In a village where humans and spirits live together harmoniously, little elf girl Tirol is leading a simple life with her grandfather. One day, he tasks her with finding and slaying a dreadful dragon that has been posting on elves and animals in the region.

As she proceeds on the path toward the mountain, Tirol meets several animals, all quivering in fear as soon as they year that she's heading for the mountain, but she assures them she'll be fine, as she has learned some magic from her grandfather.

At long last, Tirol reaches the dragon's lair, and finds that, while huge and fearsome, the beast is quite reasonable. Why is eating elves and animals such a horrible thing, he asks, after all you eat pigs and cattle, don't you?
Tirol ends up learning a lesson about the circle of life, and returns home with a better understanding of the food on her table, and its value.

Tirol and the Dragon is laid out like a children's storybook, with a single image on each page, accompanied by a block of text with very little Kanji. It reads very much like a fairytale, especially when Tirol meets the talking animals and learns a little more about the dragon from each of them. The story's resolution is also very reminiscent of any number of fairytales, and the whole package is not only suitable, but downright geared towards children - this would make a fantastic book to read with a small child.

That's not to say it's not an attractive book for grownups - after all I purchased it immediately when I saw it at Comic Zin. The art, with very precise and purposeful pen strokes, it's absolutely gorgeous, and the cover is printed on fantastic textured canvas stock. I would've loved to see the cover in color, but I get the feeling the artist left it in black & white on purpose, almost like a coloring book for children.
Tirol and the Dragon is B5 sized, and 24 pages. It's 300 Yen at Toranoana or Zin, and that's an absolute steal for such a gorgeous package.

The artist: Kurusu Tatsuya on Twitter, the web.
Tirol and the Dragon from Scary Mountain on Toranoana and Comic Zin

That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed the read.
In for more? Make sure to check the doujinshi tag for books I have previously reviewed.

As always, I welcome feedback and interaction, so I’d be happy if you liked/reblogged, or even commented. Questions and suggestions are welcome!