fiction, manga series translated into English (vol. 1) - a reknowned manga editor decides to retire from the business but has trouble letting go of the artform that has consumed his whole life.

Ok, I picked this up without paying much attention to the description because of the bird on the cover, and because I thought there'd be lovely pictures of Tokyo in it. The bird does figure into the story (the main character talks to his pet bird, and at least in his imagination, the bird talks back), and there are some great cityscape illustrations, though the main story actually has a lot to do with the behind-the-scenes of making manga--trying to get moody (and frequently not very nice) artists to work with editors, etc. Could be really interesting to serious manga fans (with lots of manga titles featured in the artwork) but totally not what I was expecting. It does provide an interesting portrait of "the rhythm of life" after Shiozawa's retirement and all that - a more contemplative, more serious book.

Three stars because it was a quality read despite all the characters being not very likeable; it is a very male-centric story (characteristic of the old manga business), though we are introduced to former artist Kiso's life in the last episode of the volume. I'm kind of interested to read more, but likely won't get around to it. ( )