est em

A selection of short stories. I'm not as wild about Est Em as some manga enthusiasts are, but I appreciate her work. The title story was probably my least favorite.
En el Parque was lovely. An old Man sits in the park every day waiting for his love to return. A very sweet and sad story.
I really like the simple story of "Just not Like a Merry-Go-Round" which features a merry-go-round operator in love with his best friend.
The stories primarily follow artists and dancers, which is very Est Em. I enjoyed this collection.… (més)

This is the second Est Em manga I've read, and I'm a little disinclined to write much about it since pretty much everything I said about the first can just be said again. Well written, good characters, engaging, but more stories about romantic relationships between men than actual “romances,” and thus just a shade unsatisfying since I can never help but hope for a little of the latter.

One thing I will say is this book contains a couple stories with slightly more rambunctious/up-beat characters, and I would invariably get into those ones more. The other characters populating the stories aren't excessively or unrealistically listless or angsty, nor are they completely lacking in humor. But they do appear to spend more of their time solemn and thoughtful than I find most people usually do. (Though it may just be that it is the solemn, thoughtful times the manga choses to show them during rather than that being how they are all the time. Still.) So it was nice to see some more bright, energetic feelings in this volume.

If there was a little more of that, I almost wonder if I wouldn't mind the lack of Romance-romance as much. Either way, I'll continue to read and enjoy Est Em's works, even if my personal tastes stop me from the complete dedication and enthusiasm some show towards them.… (més)