Sakuran: Blossoms Wild

Anno’s unique style, with its huge eyes (even for manga) and fashion-influenced design, and her off-kilter female personalities are put into a Japanese period piece. Although perhaps best known here for the children’s series Sugar Sugar Rune, her josei work, Happy Mania, is closer in tone to this stand-alone volume. Kiyoha is sold to a brothel as a child maid, but eventually becomes a powerful courtesan. Although described as her story, this book is more a collection of incidents that reveal Kiyoha’s prickly personality (understandable, given her history). A handful of color pages scattered through the book show off the elaborate costumes. However, given the historical setting in the Edo period and foreign culture, the book would have been greatly improved with substantial end notes instead of the six word translations we get. Readers who might be intrigued by the concept and setting risk finding themselves lost by the dense styling, crowded pages, and unfamiliar society, particularly since the characters go by different names/titles as they change hierarchical position. The demanding book rewards attention and is not for new manga readers; best for those experienced with the format seeking something a bit out of the ordinary for adults. (July)