Utsubora: The Story of a Novelist Paperback – Illustrated, June 18, 2013

To an author, to write is to live. What happens if you can no longer write? What then, is life?When I first came across this book, I knew nothing about it nor its author, Asumiko Nakamura. The cover art alone intrigued me enough to want to pick it up, and I'm glad I did. The art on the inside was off-putting to me at first because because the characters, especially the male ones, looked like typical Yaoi or Shonen Ai character designs. Which means that they may be shown to sometimes have unusual, broad shoulders, be incredibly handsome in the face, or suffer from Yaoi basketball hands. The male characters may have some visual tropes from those more erotic comics but the women are also drawn very beautifully. With that said, it would be really unfair to judge this book by character design preferences because there are a lot of good things going for this book.As the title of the book implies, Utsubora is the story of a novelist. The main focus of the story is about an author and what happens to him when he succumbs to the lows of plagiarism. Filled with mystery, drama, and sensuality, Utsubora is a fun read. In the end, Utsubora is also a smart book that will have you guessing what exactly is going on with the cast of characters in the book.At the end of the book, there are some extras. Including an Illustration Story and Translator Notes. I really appreciated the translator's notes segment because it included interesting, informative cultural facts of things seen in the story and its the closest you can get for having commentary for a book. I feel this really adds to the cultural understanding of modern Japan.Utsubora is Asumiko Nakamura's first book published in English, and I enjoyed the book enough that I would definitely pick up another book by her if it were ever published.Recently released in North America in a single, thick volume by Vertical Inc, Utsubora is definitely worth checking out.

I'm a huge fan to say that least, or I have been recently. I really love her work.I've only been able to read her work through scanlations but to actually have a gorgeous work of her's in my possession is truly grand! I really hope there are more English translations of her work to buy, because I would buy them right away! (please start with the Boy's Love and Erotic books that she has, those are really lovely)Anyways, some of the reviews I've seen made me doubt about getting this book. One even said they didn't know it was a manga! And I'm just wondering how that could even happen because Nakamura has done so many different kinds of Manga to not know what to expect. She has so many genres, like what type hasn't she done yet?The story in itself was a little slow but don't let it fool you!It's like it takes you on a steady waltz and then in one slow, silent step it stabs you with realization.I can't really give any more than what it tells you in the book description but it makes more sense to read it than to read the description. And another thing is that it kept me on my toes and I had no idea about the ending twist until it just... Happened.I would recommend this if you love something along the lines of: psychological, mystery, anxiety, and romance of the twisted kind. Twisted as in it's all kinds of ... mixed up in the head.

First, I applaud Vertical Inc for taking a chance on "utsubora". There aren't any ninjas, giant robots or super powered aliens here. Instead, Nakamura has crafted an intense mystery "whodunnit" around the death/murder of a novelist. The artwork is minimal, solid and striking as we are taken on a journey to find out who the killer is and how all the players are involved. In the story Mizorogi Jun is a writer who unable to come up with a new book steals a novel from a friend. he soons finds himself as a suspect when the girl is found dead. I don't want to say too much so this review is vague. The mystery gets deeper when we realise the deceased author had a twin sister and Mizorogi actually enters into an affair with the sister.This a great stand alone work and really worth the purchase.