manga
book 22: One Thousand and One Nights, Volume 10 by Jeon JinSeok
Sehara completes the telling a story from the Romance of Three Kingdoms to his captive, the king of England, letting the king know that in spite of mutual respect between them, he cannot give up his loyalty to Shahryar. Sehara escapes Jerusalem, returning to Bagdhad to find Jafar as sultan and Shahryar presumed dead. Heart broken, Sehara leaves Bagdhad without telling anyone where he is going, ending up with an old trade acquaintance in China. Meanwhile former sultan Shahryar is discovered, half-dead, in the desert by a band of muslim gypsies. He can only think of continuing his journey to rescue Sehara, arriving in Jerusalem and confronting the king only to find he is too late. After returning to Bagdhad and also learning of Sehara's abrupt departure, Shahryar takes up the book trade, believing that in trading in stories, he must cross Sehara's path again some day.
book 23: One Thousand and One Nights, Volume 11 (final) by Jeon JinSeok
After extensive searching, Shahryar finally locates Sehara. Shahryar tells Sehara a story set in the future about gods born as humans on earth but having unbreakable bonds. They travel off into the sunset beginning a new set of stories to pass on to the future.
So, some parts of this manhwa were interesting. The author did a lot of research into the tales that he retold, which were from around the world, not just arabic. I didn't understand the point of some of the stories. I don't know if it was a cultural boundary or if it was just not very clear. The boys love aspect was pushed a bit hard sometimes, but I guess that's what a lot of people who specifically read boys love manga and manhwa are looking for. It wasn't a horrible series, but I'm not sure yet if I want to keep it to read it again.
book 24: Uzumaki, Volume 1 by Junji Ito
This is a short manga horror series. The premise is that the Japanese town of Kurozu-cho is cursed, with the sinister element being represented by the shape of a spiral, aka uzumaki. Considering spirals are found prevalently in both human and natural design, there is a lot of fodder for the episodes of horror to follow. The narrator is a teenage girl, Kirie Goshima, who is from and cannot seem to leave the town, as her haunted and sprial aware boyfriend, Shuichi Saito, strongly suggests. This first volume includes people folding themselves into spirals, plunging scissors into their ears to destroy the body's most perfect spiral, the cochlea, hair curling up and manipulating others like medusa's tresses, and spiraling creamatorium ashes being turned into clay for diabolical pottery. I looked down with amusement after reading this to note that the caftan I was wearing had a spiral pattern as the base fabric under the floral pattern. :)
book 25: Uzumaki, Volume 2 by Junji Ito
In this volume, spiral mayhem continues. A boy becomes a human, undead Jack-in-the-box. Students and teachers evolve into human snails. People are incinerated by a spiraloid beam from a possessed, defunct lighthouse. Spiraling swarms of mosquitos give rise to blood-sucking mothers bearing precoscious infants who are determined one way or other to return to the womb. And, monsoon season begins with the eye of a very localized storm focusing on Kirie.
Sehara completes the telling a story from the Romance of Three Kingdoms to his captive, the king of England, letting the king know that in spite of mutual respect between them, he cannot give up his loyalty to Shahryar. Sehara escapes Jerusalem, returning to Bagdhad to find Jafar as sultan and Shahryar presumed dead. Heart broken, Sehara leaves Bagdhad without telling anyone where he is going, ending up with an old trade acquaintance in China. Meanwhile former sultan Shahryar is discovered, half-dead, in the desert by a band of muslim gypsies. He can only think of continuing his journey to rescue Sehara, arriving in Jerusalem and confronting the king only to find he is too late. After returning to Bagdhad and also learning of Sehara's abrupt departure, Shahryar takes up the book trade, believing that in trading in stories, he must cross Sehara's path again some day.
book 23: One Thousand and One Nights, Volume 11 (final) by Jeon JinSeok
After extensive searching, Shahryar finally locates Sehara. Shahryar tells Sehara a story set in the future about gods born as humans on earth but having unbreakable bonds. They travel off into the sunset beginning a new set of stories to pass on to the future.
So, some parts of this manhwa were interesting. The author did a lot of research into the tales that he retold, which were from around the world, not just arabic. I didn't understand the point of some of the stories. I don't know if it was a cultural boundary or if it was just not very clear. The boys love aspect was pushed a bit hard sometimes, but I guess that's what a lot of people who specifically read boys love manga and manhwa are looking for. It wasn't a horrible series, but I'm not sure yet if I want to keep it to read it again.
book 24: Uzumaki, Volume 1 by Junji Ito
This is a short manga horror series. The premise is that the Japanese town of Kurozu-cho is cursed, with the sinister element being represented by the shape of a spiral, aka uzumaki. Considering spirals are found prevalently in both human and natural design, there is a lot of fodder for the episodes of horror to follow. The narrator is a teenage girl, Kirie Goshima, who is from and cannot seem to leave the town, as her haunted and sprial aware boyfriend, Shuichi Saito, strongly suggests. This first volume includes people folding themselves into spirals, plunging scissors into their ears to destroy the body's most perfect spiral, the cochlea, hair curling up and manipulating others like medusa's tresses, and spiraling creamatorium ashes being turned into clay for diabolical pottery. I looked down with amusement after reading this to note that the caftan I was wearing had a spiral pattern as the base fabric under the floral pattern. :)
book 25: Uzumaki, Volume 2 by Junji Ito
In this volume, spiral mayhem continues. A boy becomes a human, undead Jack-in-the-box. Students and teachers evolve into human snails. People are incinerated by a spiraloid beam from a possessed, defunct lighthouse. Spiraling swarms of mosquitos give rise to blood-sucking mothers bearing precoscious infants who are determined one way or other to return to the womb. And, monsoon season begins with the eye of a very localized storm focusing on Kirie.