The Japan Foundation, Toronto Library Book Club
Books discussed during The JFT Library Book Club Online – Manga (June 15, 2022)

Title

A Silent VoiceAuthor

GenreOima, Yoshitoki

Shonen, Romance, School Life

Shoya is a bully. When Shoko, a girl who can't hear, enters his elementary school class, she becomes theirfavourite target, and Shoya and his friends goad each other into devising new tortures for her. But thechildren's cruelty goes too far. Shoko is forced to leave the school, and Shoya ends up shouldering all theblame. Six years later, the two meet again. Can Shoya make up for his past mistakes, or is it too late?
*Borrow ebook from JF OverDrive or search the Library’s Online Catalogue for physical book.

Ayako

Tezuka, Osamu

Seinen, Mystery, Suspense

Overflowing with imagery of the cold war seen through Japan’s eyes, Ayako is firmly set in realism taking
inspiration from a number of historical events that occurred over the American occupation and thecultural-revolution which soon followed. Believed to be Tezuka’s answer to the gekiga (dramatic comics)
movement of the 60’s, Ayako should be considered one of the better early examples of a seinen (youngadult) narrative to be published.
*Borrow ebook from JF OverDrive or search the Library’s Online Catalogue for physical book.

Blue Period

Yamaguchi, Tsubasa

Seinen, Art, School Life

Yatora is the perfect high school student, with good grades and lots of friends. It's an effortless
performance, and, ultimately...a dull one. But he wanders into the art room one day, and a lone painting
captures his eye, awakening him to a kind of beauty he never knew. Compelled and consumed, he dives inheadfirst — and he's about to learn how savage and unforgiving art can be!
*Borrow ebook from JF OverDrive or search the Library’s Online Catalogue for physical book.

Cells at Work！

Shimizu, Akane

Shonen, Science, Adventure

Strep throat! Hay fever! Influenza! The world is a dangerous place for a red blood cell just trying to get herdeliveries finished. Fortunately, she's not alone... she's got a whole human body's worth of cells ready tohelp out! The mysterious white blood cell, the buff and brash killer T cell, the nerdy neuron, even the cutelittle platelets -- everyone's got to come together if they want to keep you healthy!
*Borrow ebook from JF OverDrive.

Fire ForceOhkubo, Atsushi

Shonen, Dark Fantasy, SFThe city of Tokyo is plagued by a deadly phenomenon: spontaneous human combustion! Luckily, a special
team is there to quench the inferno: The Fire Force! The fire soldiers at Special Fire Cathedral 8 are about
to get a unique addition. Enter Shinra, a boy who possesses the power to run at the speed of a rocket,
leaving behind the famous "devil's footprints" (and destroying his shoes in the process). Can Shinra and hiscolleagues discover the source of this strange epidemic before the city burns to ashes?

1TitleKarneval

AuthorGenreMikanagi, Touya

Josei, Action, SFNai–a young man who travels in search of another by the name of Karoku, a lone bracelet his only lead.
Gareki–a willful young man who earns his daily bread by thieving and picking pockets. Thrown together atan eerie mansion, where they are entrapped and framed, Nai and Gareki are soon hunted down ascriminals by national security forces. As they are driven into a corner, before them appears the mostpowerful defense agency in the country, “Circus”–!!

Ode to Kirihito

Tezuka, Osamu

Seinen, Horror, MedicalA promising young doctor, Kirihito Osanai visits a remote Japanese mountain village to investigate thesource of the latest medical mystery. While he ends up traveling the world to discover what it takes to be
cured of such a disease, a conspiracy back home attempts to explain away his absence. Hinging upon hisfate are those of his loved ones: an unstable childhood friend and colleague trapped between factions of
the medical establishment that nurtured him; a fiancée emotionally transformed by Kirihito’s mysterious
disappearance; and a stranger who becomes his guardian angel, a sensual circus-act performer withvolatile psychological secrets.
*Borrow ebook from JF OverDrive or search the Library’s Online Catalogue for physical book.

Sensei's Pious Lie

Torikai, Akane

Seinen, Romance, Mature Drama

Misuzu Hara is a quiet, reserved 24-year-old high school teacher whose world is turned upside down after
her friend’s fiancé rapes her. Her attempt to connect with one of her students, himself a victim of sexual
trauma, results in an unlikely romance, and the repercussions of these events affect everyone around themin often unpredictable ways.
*Borrow ebook from JF OverDrive or search the Library’s Online Catalogue for physical book.

7 Billion Needles

Tadano, Nobuaki

Seinen, Horror, SF

On a clear calm night, while on a class trip to the beach, Hikaru Takabe decides to go for a walk to escapethe shackles of school and peer pressure. While observing the stars above a calm dark sea in an instant she
is disintegrated when struck by a meteor. Flash forward one page, and Hikaru awakes, from what seems
like a horrible daydream of sorts, sitting amongst classmates in school without a scratch on her. Themeteor dream seemed so real she cannot believe she's alive, but given her relative aloof nature, she soon
shrugs off the events and moves on with life. However, one thing she cannot shake off is the strange
buzzing she hears coming from her new pair of headphones...
*Search the Library’s Online Catalogue for physical book.

Tokyo Revengers

Wakui, KenShonen, Action, SF

Watching the news, Takemichi Hanagaki learns that his girlfriend from way back in middle school, Hinata
Tachibana, has died. The only girlfriend he ever had was just killed by a villainous group known as theTokyo Manji Gang. He lives in a crappy apartment with thin walls, and his six-years-younger boss treats him
like an idiot. Plus, he's a complete and total virgin... At the height of his rock-bottom life, he suddenly timeleaps 12 years back to his middle school days!! To save Hinata, and change the life he spent running away,
hopeless part-timer Takemichi must aim for the top of Kanto's most sinister delinquent gang!!
*Borrow ebook from JF OverDrive.

*Book descriptions from OverDrive and Amazon.ca2