ASANO Inio

From Kotonoha: Koume Sato and Kosuke Isobe are two teenagers living in a sleepy seaside town. After getting used and dumped by her crush, the emotionally damaged Koume decides to start a sexual relationship with Kosuke, without any emotions involved. However, they both soon discover that sex with no strings attached does lead to unexpected complications, not just for…

From Viz: The Japan Self-Defense Forces are still looking for a way to combat the alien threat, but so far conventional weapons have had no effect. Maybe it’s time to try something unconventional. Meanwhile, Kadode Koyama and her best friend avidly track the aliens’ movements on social media and less enthusiastically study for college entrance exams. When the end of the world…

A DECADE-SPANNING JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS. Even as butterflies ominously proliferate in town, the rumor of a mysterious creature lurking in the tunnel behind the school spreads among the children. When the body of Arié Kimura's mother is found by this tunnel's entrance, next to apparently human traces, the legend seems to be confirmed. Is the end of the world coming? In order to…

This is a compilation of oneshots that includes: Untitled 2)* Before Dawn* Alfalfa 4:30 PM, Sunday//6:30, Afternoon, Sunday Part 1 - Summer Memories Part 2 - A Girl in the Brilliant World of a Boy's Daydream Part 3 - Coming Home The Typical Day and Melancholy of Super-Imaginative A-ko How to Spend a Day Off 17 What a Wonderful World Tokyo The End of the World 11)* Snakeman…

Being his first series, What a Wonderful World remains Asano's most representative and successful work to date. Composed of vignettes from the daily lives of a group of people inhabiting an ordinary neighborhood somewhere in Tokyo, the series is actually a comment about modern life itself and how we can survive in it despite all its rigors. Amusing, melancholic, funny, strange…

From Viz: Meet Punpun Punyama. He’s an average kid in an average town. He wants to win a Nobel Prize and save the world. He wants the girl he has a crush on to like him back. He wants to find some porn. That’s what he wants, but what does he get?

The sun rays enter the city of light, as various stories unfold: Bright, dark and harsh; a story filled with people from whom you’d want to avert your eyes. Yet, it is close to reality; so maybe it’s true to humanity. Like an old bond between a boy and a girl, a friendship is born between girls who rarely speak to each other. A man who dirties his hands for money, and the…