solanin

First published in the defunct Weekly Young Sunday magazine, the introspective and shoegazey Solanin by Inio Asano is a slice-of-life seinen (teen/adult male) manga about the role that music can play in a young person's life, and the promises and heartbreak that music can represent.

From its days as unfamiliar black-and-white single comics discovered as if by chance in Western comics shops, manga has become the biggest-selling sector of the comics industry, and an influence on dozens of creators in the North American industry. Much like Western comics, manga is for everyone, so if you know someone who loves comics but has never got into manga, we've put together a gift guide with great ideas for books and movies that you can buy them this holiday season.

I'm a simple man with simple tastes. I'm also a critic, and that means that I obsess over my simple tastes in an attempt to both quantify them and convince myself that they aren't simple. But at the same time... they are simple, and that's a wonderful thing...