Barasui

This is a graphic novel in the tradiitional Japanese manga style. The story is about four contemporary school girls who are friends and go about their daily lives together. The drawings are very cute. The girls look like they are 9 or 10, but they are actually 12-16 years old. The pictures on the cover look very sweet and innocent, but the inside is very disappointing.

I was not pleased with the content of this book. One of the characters is shown with a cigarette every time. Another one of the girls drinks beer and even gives some to the 12-year old with some unexplained powder mixed in. They all think it is funny when that child falls asleep almost instantly and they experiment with her hair while she is passed out. There is also some language, pictures of the girls taking baths together, and a beach scene where one of the girls loses her bikini top.

I found the subject matter of this book inappropriate to use in a classroom setting of any kind. Some of the pictures are very cute and could possibly be used in an art class to study manga techniques, but the pictures would have to be presented in excerpts only. I think there are many other books that could serve the same purpose much better than this book.… (altro)