Abbreviations #66 | Paradise Kiss, Your Name + The Garden of Words

I get most of my manga recommendations from Kristin of Super Space Chick, and Paradise Kiss was one of them. I've read another series from this manga author (Nana, and yes, I'm still dying over where it cuts off since it's unfinished) and really liked that, so I'm not entirely sure why it's taken me so long to pick this one up. Paradise Kiss is about an ordinary girl who is undecided about what she wants for her future, and finds herself crossing paths with a team of student fashion designers who want her to model for them in a showcase. I liked it even more than I expected! Yes, it's definitely over the top with the fashion, the drama and the characters, but that does lend it a certain unexpected quirky charm that reeled me in. I loved the characters (especially George), found the story super compelling and was constantly wishing I could see all this art (and the fashion) in full color! I found myself really eager to find out what would happen next, and pretty much yelled at myself for not just buying the entire series so I could binge the next two parts. I can't wait to find out what happens next! (And thank goodness this one is already a finished series, or I would have felt so sad about it.)

Paradise Kiss 1 by Ai Yazawa | Series: Paradise Kiss Volume #1 | Publisher: Vertical | Publication Date: September 25, 2012 | Source: Purchased the manga

Let's get the obvious out of the way first: I'm so biased about Your Name. That movie was my anime obsession of 2017 (and still is), and I just know that it's earned a lifelong spot among my favorites. Anyway, even though I know the story so well, I still wanted to read the manga in order to experience it via a different medium! This is the story of Mitsuha and Taki, who find themselves switching bodies for nearly a month until that abruptly ends and it's up to Taki to figure out just what is going on. It sounds farfetched, yes, but I promise you, it is so, so, so brilliant. Just like the film, the art style is gorgeous in manga form. It's fun seeing tiny details and having more time to peruse them while reading the manga! And I still got the same sense of warmth, humor and thoughtfulness with the written form of this story. It was quite lovely experiencing this in a different way, and I definitely would recommend it - both to those who have loved the film and those experiencing the story for the first time. (But do watch the film too if you haven't yet!)

your name, Vol. 1 by Makoto Shinkai | Series: Your Name manga #1 | Publisher: Yen Press | Publication Date: June 20, 2017 | Source: Purchased the manga

I didn't know that this manga existed until a random day when I was browsing at the Strand and the author's name caught my eye as I was perusing their collection of manga. Makoto Shinkai is the person behind Your Name and 5 Centimeters per Second, and that was all I needed to know when I picked this one up. The Garden of Words centers around a high school freshman who meets a woman in a garden who tells him part of a poem, and that's the beginning of their story. There's more to it than that - which I expected but couldn't have predicted the specifics of - and I liked this one a lot, even though it does have a very melancholy vibe to it. There was just something sweet about the themes running through the story, even with all the heartbreak woven in as well. And the art style was lovely! It was ultimately a very likable (and sad) manga read, though it still hasn't beat out Your Name as my favorite.

The Garden of Words by Makoto Shinkai, with art by Midori Motohashi | Publisher: Vertical Comics | Publication Date: October 28, 2014 | Source: Purchased the manga