One project ends, another one begins. At first sight, Osen is not a “typical” Kotonoha project. Not only is it the longest series we’ve ever picked up (11 volumes; over 100 chapters and still going strong), its topic (culinary arts) is not exactly a dime a dozen within the scanlating world either. Truth be told, I wasn’t considering this title until I asked boke what manga he’d like to translate, to which he answered “Osen.” And here we are.

Don’t let what I said above fool you, though. Osen is much more than a manga about cooking. Shôta Kikuchi has created what I’d like to describe as a fascinating love declaration to the traditional Japan and its mesmerizing beauties. Now, we know that any artist who seeks to capture the essence of a whole country has a hard row to hoe, but in my eyes Kikuchi has succeeded where many have failed before. With his refreshingly unique artwork, his extensive knowledge about cooking and fine arts paired with the insane love for detail, his classic sense of humor, this author presents us Japan as the rich and inspiring culture we fans have always imagined it would be.

The biggest attraction of this manga, however, is the main character, Osen, herself. Inspired by a legendary beauty of the Edo period, Osen Kasamori (i.e. a real-life personality), our heroine is the personification of all the beautiful things Kikuchi wants us to see (and feel). More than just a bijin, Osen surprises the readers again and again with her manifold talents. One of the biggest funs in reading this series is to see how she deals with all the problems thrown at her and the staff of Isho-an. In the end, it becomes clear that what makes Osen so irresistible isn’t so much her female charm but rather her razor-sharp wits.

Osen: a unique character and a unique manga.

P.S. We have a new poll. This time, we’d like to know how you discovered Kotonoha. I hope I have covered almost all possibilities. If you have a suggestion for another vote option, leave a note in this posting’s comment section. Thank you.

So it seems I’m a bit late with this introduction. As some of you might have noticed, we have started a new fun project: Binbou Shimai Monogatari (lit. “Story of Poor Sisters”), a series that could easily rival Chokotto Sister in terms of cuteness and moé power. Seriously, everything about this manga cries out kawaii: it has cute covers, cute artwork, uber-cute characters, a cute story; hell, I even tried to choose lettering fonts that look cute.

The Japanese have another funny-sounding word to describe this kind of manga: honobono (heartwarming). And that’s exactly what I feel while reading BSM. Sure, the story comes across as very episodic at first, which I suppose is due to the fact that the author, Izumi Kazuto, used to draw 4-panel comics before she debuted with this series in Shôgakukan’s Sunday GX in 2004 (which quickly gained popularity). As she starts to get a better feel for the new format, the chapters gradually grow longer and the story becomes more consistent while still retaining the calm pace that characterizes almost all slice-of-life manga.

What BSM lacks in tempo and consequences (though I haven’t heard anyone complain about Yotsubato! being slow ^^;), it makes up for it in mood and charm. The strong affection between the two Yamada sisters even spawned discussion among the Japanese readers as to whether this manga can be considered “yuri” or not. To be honest, I’m not really interested in the answer to this question. Just being able to follow the sisters’ harmonic daily life and see how they manage to overcome their problems with optimism and hope is satisfying enough for me. ^^

Contrary to some scurrilous rumors, our decision to launch this project in the same month that the anime adaptation starts to air is pure coincidence. Though we certainly don’t mind if the anime helps to boost the interest in the manga a bit.

It has been a while since we last released something from Comic Cue. Today, we have two new 1-shots from the 9th volume: Black Coffee and Green Beans. Both were edited by a new editor named Leche. Let’s give him a warm welcome. Will there be more 1-shots from this unique publication in the near future? We’ll see.

We finish off the first volume of Seizon – LifE with the 8th chapter. Both Boris and Chojiki have done a great job on this series so far. I hope you enjoy the story enough to join us again when the second volume kicks off shortly.

The third volume of Kilico is nearing its end. Today’s chapter is just the calm before the storm. If you think this volume doesn’t offer enough action and blood up till now, you don’t want to miss its ass-kicking, no-holds-barred finale that comes in an 88-page-long (!) chapter. Tomorrow, people are going to die.