She read Yukiko’s Spinach for the hundredth time. Was that really her looking so young? In the four years since then she had been the mangaka’s only model and love. This trip to the beautiful island of Enoshima was typical. They would find the best shooting locations, of course, but also enjoy each other. It’s the rainy season and the hydrangeas are in full bloom. He knew she would leave soon... A poignant, often droll tale from two of the most exciting creators in the medium today. (Source: Ponent Mon)

The story begins in Tokyo, in 1926. Ishin, a writer for an erotic magazine, meets Aki, a young woman who works as an art model. Despite the circumstances of their meeting, their love is pure and innocent. However, the shadow of the war is threatening their idyll...

"Sorry—I know you must've been lonely. Don't worry. I won't keep you waiting long..." Maruyama, Nagasaki's pleasure district—where the music of shamisens mingles with the language of foreign lands. From artist Kan Takahama comes a tale of love and death: a beautiful courtesan, a man on his deathbed, and their secret past... (Source: comiXology) *Notes: Nominated to the 20th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.*

A collaboration between acclaimed mangaka Kan Takahama, french writer Emmanuelle Maisonneuve and Kodansha's Morning Magazine. Emma has a gift, that of taste. Thanks to the finesse of her taste buds, she manages to become an inspector for the prestigious Michelin Guide and realize her dream: discovering the secrets of chefs. Her path is littered with obstacles. She is sent to travel the length and breadth of the streets of France to visit hotels and restaurants. She happens to eat too much, sometimes badly, and clashes with the machismo of the environment. However, guided by her passion for cooking and her unstoppable independence, she will experience an extraordinary sensorial and human adventure that will take her all the way to Japan.

A troubled young woman collapses drunk in a pool outside an old folks’ home, prompting a moment of lucidity from a senile old man inside, and forming a bond between the woman and the old man’s former mistress.

From Ponent Mon: Seventeen authors (nine from France or French-speaking countries, eight from Japan) brought together in the same book, a succession of freely created short stories about the same universe: Japan. The French, of course, journeyed to Japan for the occasion. Each cartoonist was sent for two weeks to a different city in the archipelago (Joann Sfar in Tôkyô, Emmanuel Guibert in Kyôto, Nicolas de Crécy in Nagoya, etc.) to bring back an original creation. The Japanese tell us about their district, the city where they live or where they originally come from (Kazuichi Hanawa's story being about the northern island of Hokkaido, Jiro Taniguchi's about the town of Tottori, etc.) The result is often inspired, always surprising: Japan through new eyes. "Japan" will appear simultaneously in French, Japanese, Spanish, Italian and English. Along with "A Patch Of Dreams" by Hideji Oda, it is the first step in a series of international creations with left-to-right reading direction, created for us by some of the best European and Japanese comic book artists. List of included short stories: At the Seaside - [TAKAHAMA Kan](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=4331) The Gateway - David Prudhomme Summer Sky - [TANIGUCHI Jiro](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=714) Now I Can Die! - Aurélia Aurita Osaka 2034 - François Schuiten & Benoît Peeters Shin.Ichi. - Emmanual Guibert The New Gods - Nicolas de Crécy *Kankichi* - [MATSUMOTO Taiyou](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=361) The Tokyo of Qualtérou - Joann Sfar The Sunflower - [Little Fish](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=19995) The Song of the Crickets - [ANNO Moyoco](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=152) In Love Alley - [Frédéric Boilet](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=6069) The City of Trees - Fabrice Neaud The Festival of the Bell-Horses - [IGARASHI Daisuke](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=2216) In the Deep Forest - [HANAWA Kazuichi](https://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=2080) Sapporo Fiction - Étienne Davodeau

In 1878, as the wave of Western culture spreads through Japan, in Nagasaki, Miyo, a girl orphaned in the Satsuma Rebellion works at a curio shop called Vingt. The dresses, sewing machines, binoculars, boots, and other items acquired at the Paris Exhibition by the proprietor KOURA Momotoshi have aroused her curiosity. Miyo accumulates experience in her job while using clairvoyant ability which she has possessed since she was very young. The story vibrantly depicts a new age that visits a Nagasaki thriving with merchants and prostitutes, centering on Miyo's changes as she begins to experience feelings for Momotoshi akin to the awakening of love, and Momotoshi's past, which gradually comes to light. Based on a thorough investigation of the history, things are depicted along with the colorful historical background of the period, and interesting facts about antiques that appear in the work are included as mini-columns. In these ways, the author's knowledge is well utilized, enhancing the manga's feeling of reality. *Notes: \- Winner of the 21st Japan Media Arts Excellence Award (2018). \- Winner of the Grand Prize category of the 24th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (2020).*

Very clever, very subtle - even when her words are very direct, Kan Takahama tackles subjects as diverse as suicide pacts, mermaids, making a porno film and bar room chat with a robust yet delicate grace. Probably the most talented mangaka to have recently emerged from Japan, Kan Takahama's art and story telling will surprise when least expected... (Source: Ponent Mon)

42 mangaka write short stories about the food they eat.

A full-color manga adaptation of Muriel Barbery's novel *A Single Rose* (*Une rose seule*).

A man and a woman come to a hot spring inn deep in the mountains. The woman is curious about the man living in the next room... A masterpiece collection of short stories by a rising star who has attracted attention from all over the world, depicting the limits of a woman and a man who can't go anywhere, in a poignant and erotic way. (Source: Kawade Shobo Shinsha, translated)

Benjamin, 42, author of comics, goes in search of an unknown Asian woman with whom he shared, seventeen years ago, a love of a night that marked many. His quest leads him to meet Michihiko, café boss very little talent for coffee but very nice, with whom he soon enters into a friendly relationship. The two men, crossing one and au be a difficult passage in their love life, confide their difficulties. After a series of misunderstandings tasty, Benjamin eventually, against all odds, find the one he is looking for, while Michihiko succeed, through his new friend, reconnect the son of his relationship with his wife Miho. He will succeed even significantly improve coffee production technique.