Welcome to the HOTEL!
Happy New Year! To kick off 2007, we give you two sweet one-shots that should especially appeal to the SF fans out there. In TUDM, Tetsu Kasabe’s latest stroke of genius, we follow the story of two soldiers who are struggling through the jungle evading enemy bullets and missiles. One of them, however, is not what he seems to be…
The second short story is a special gift from zindryr, our awesome guest translator. Created by Boichi, a South Korean artist who publishes works both in Japan and his homeland, HOTEL is a fantastic sci-fi epic (yes, epic!) in the best tradition of Isaac Asimov. Big thanks to ickypop for his phenomenal lettering and retouching work and The Postindustrialist for a great copy-editing job! If everything works out, we may have another story by this author for you in the near future. 
Sweet. Just the other day I was thinking, “man, I could go for some one-shots about now.” Gracias, compadres.
some dude January 1, 2007 @ 7:55 pm
Wow. Props to The Postindustrialist.
Lybi January 1, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
big ups to kotonoha, best wishes 2007
Oliver January 1, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
Without a doubt one of the best SF short story’s that I have read in the last 25 years. An incredible balance between truth, fiction, humor, and artwork without being stereotypically preachy or overly psychological in it’s delivery.
A perfect companion to the PLANETES manga!
chrono January 2, 2007 @ 3:58 am
I have to say I enjoyed Hotel a lot.
There isn’t much else I can add, too stunned for words. Chrono, above me, pretty much summed up how I feel about it. The best part is as much as I loved it, I was satisfied with the ending, which is a very rare occurance.
Very much looking forward anything from the same artist and much thanks to all the people who worked on bringing it to us to enjoy ^_~
Sylph January 2, 2007 @ 11:23 am
HOTEL was just fantastic! I really enjoyed reading it.
Keep up the good work! I look forward to reading more releases.
pathologic January 2, 2007 @ 11:52 pm
Hmmm… I noticed there’s three comments in a row praising Hotel, but no mention of Kasabe’s piece, so I guess it’s up to me to tell you that it didn’t go unappreciated; I was already something of a fan of his from his other stuff that’s been scanlated, so it’s good to see anotherof his one-shots! I think he has a knack for ‘em.
some dude January 3, 2007 @ 1:47 am
Enjoyed both stories very much; TUDM was bittersweet, and Hotel definitely gave off some Asimov vibes. Though having “Keira Knightley” pop up in the latter took me out of the story briefly. Great choices to complement each other!
hi there January 5, 2007 @ 11:52 am
Happy New Year to everyone at Kotonoha!
You guys have the best taste in choosing what to bring us. Hotel was lovely. The art was gorgeous, especially the human expressions. But more importantly, the story was crafted so well it told more in 42 pages of graphic than many full-length books I’ve read. Brilliant stuff.
But yeah, I have to agree that the Keira Knightley bit was slightly disturbing.
dj January 6, 2007 @ 10:59 am
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou by Hitoshi Ashinano, Ai-Ren by Yutaka Tanaka, Pale Cocoon by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, and now, Hotel by Boichi.
Damn. It’s pretty f***ing impressive when SF writers turn something dreadful like the end of the world into a message of hope.
Anonymoose January 6, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
Its great to see you guys returning with some one-shots after the superb Forget, and you picked two incredible ones. I expected great things from Kabsabe, but Hotel really supprised me with how great it was, in particular how much the ending resonated with me. There were a couple of odd plot devices that I could criticize it for, but the emotional payoff was good enought to make me forget those. Very similar to the second volume of Phoenix.
Huff January 7, 2007 @ 2:39 am
Both stories were really great to read, even though I like Hotel a whole lot more. Thank you and happy New Year!
Siris January 7, 2007 @ 8:43 pm
Not related to this update, but thought to rant here anyways. I finally got my copy of Hideji Oda’s “A Patch of Dreams” which is a sort of a sequel to Coo’s world. Info here: http://www.ponentmon.com/new_pages/english/vago/frame3.html
I’m again really, really impressed by the overall quality of Ponent Mon release. Too bad PM does so limited printing that Kan Takahama’s Kinderbook is the only other title of their catalog that I’ve managed to get. Currently I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Jiro Taniguchi’s Ice Wanderer doesn’t suffer Kiriko Nananan’s Blue’s fate, get sold out before I get it.
Jinchi January 11, 2007 @ 1:54 pm