I think I should stress that it is only my personal impression though. If you read the story yourself, you may have other first-hand impressions that is just the opposite. There are more than one way to look at a story like that.

On a personal level, it is a theme that I feel more profoundly than anything else. (I often feel like that cat when I meet with people from the past.)

I’m identifying here.

Either I’m having serious deja vu or I recall some of these scans. It is a really interesting style. :) Cheerios.

Re Ubume. No problem, take your time. ^-^

Thanks a lot for the link. It seems that the kaidan collection is handled by people who know what they are talking about. And the names involved!

I thought that too, so I didn’t take the review too seriously. But then, when the winners at the Festival were announced, I began a search and what I found impressed me.

Regarding Ubume, eh, complicated stuff, but I like it because of it even more. I will speak of it when I finish the book and find time to put my thoughts into some semblance of order. The cover clearly shows that the publisher has wanted to ride on the popularity of Ringu, but is absolutily misleading. Besides, Kyougoku’s covers are beautiful enough, and it’s shame that his own designs have not been used.

Loups-Garous has been announced for the next year (in America), with a changed (and far uglier) cover, too.

But for me, the biggest news of the last two months is that Kurodahan Press has published an anthology of kaidan tales in English, first in a planned series of three volumes.

http://www.kurodahan.com/mt/e/catalog/jp0007cate.html

Look at the names involved! Fantastic!

I have read some reviews by that reviewer of Asahi Shinbum before, and thought her reviews a little bland… But then blandness seems to be a common trait among reviewers in Japan. If they criticize too much, their paper may lose ad revenue from those publishers.

BTW, how is the Ubume book going?

http://wordweary.wordpress.com/2007/10/08/imuri-by-miyake-ranjou-translation-of-an-asahi-shinbun-review-by-minami-nobunaga/

And then, when Japan Media Arts Festival announced their winners on December 3rd, in the manga category Imuri won the Excellence Prize.

Thanks for pointing that out. You sure know a lot more about the fantasy/SF genre than I do. ^-^ “Imuri” sounds very interesting indeed. How did you come across this manga series?