Satsuki Yoshino

Nothing of importance ever happens in Barakamon -- for instance this volume features sequences of squid fishing and picking up litter -- but I love the warm fuzzy feeling I get whenever I revisit the rural Japanese island where it is set and its slightly wacky inhabitants. I've grown to depend on this gentle oasis in my graphic novel reading, so my stomach dropped when I saw on the last page that the next volume is the last volume. Noooooooooo!

A weaker entry in an otherwise strong series. The big idea in this volume is to have all the city characters come to visit the rural island, causing Handa some stress as he watches his two worlds collide (and even mesh a little) and a ton of emotional turmoil as he directly compares his calligraphy skills to his father's. The book is full of nice moments, but the sheer size of the cast - each with their own problems, issues and quirks - was just overwhelming. And nothing of importance really show more seemed to occur until the final page. That cliffhanger, though, has me looking forward to the next volume. show less

This is one of the best volumes of the series as the creator deals with the theme fathers. First, a new work of calligraphic art by his father challenges Handa-sensei to try to master some of the same techniques. Also, Handa-sensei finds himself stuck in a cycle of frustrating correspondence with Naru's absent and wandering father. Finally, the village chief, a more traditional and easygoing father, sees his son off to college.

It's gentle humor and mild drama in a rural setting, but very show more addictive all the same. show less

I read through six volumes of this series in three days, and I'm giving it three stars overall, but mostly on the strength of the first and last volumes and the Barakamon series of which it is a spin-off. This series is actually pretty disappointing. The set-up seems humorous at first, with our hero believing himself to be the most hated person at his high school, while he is actually admired as the coolest. But the repetition of all the gags around this single theme stretches the limits of show more my patience by the end. I like the introduction of the side characters in the first few volumes, but then the creator flounders about, filling the latter volumes with high school manga cliches such as a class trip to Kyoto and a school festival. And having introduced the side characters, all the creator can think to do with them is pit them against a set of exact doppelgangers from another school for several volumes? Wasted potential. show less