Kiniro Mosaic, Vol. 1

In the vein of Yotsuba&!, this sugary-sweet slice-of-life manga is an episodic comedy featuring a trio of Japanese high school girls and a British exchange student, Alice. Drawing on anime character stereotypes, wordplay, and common Japanese social issues, the story follows Alice and her host sister, Shinobu, through daily occurrences, almost like a “my year in Japan”–style travelogue. The book is arranged as a series of four-panel-per-page comics, with a highly polished mix of chibi and shojo style. It’s lovely to look at, but because of the layout, the book reads more like a Rex Morgan newspaper comic than a graphic novel. Unfortunately, that makes the pages a little overloaded for the average manga reader. The price is also very high for a book so thin. The book has a strong translation and extensive notes, and it’s the basis of a popular anime, but it still might be a hard sell to the average manga reader. (Dec.)