A very mixed bag. The art is extremely well-done, but the stories are self-indulgent (old guys like classic rock) or confusing. (Why is a kids' cartoon version of cartoon mice battling a cat in the same book as a story about a stripper and a snake?) Urasawa may have reached the point of needing an editor but being too famous to use one. Or I just don't care about the things he wants to make comics about, as I don't find "psychics are really real" or "guy can kill people by looking at them and goes up against mobsters" particularly interesting concepts.

Another gorgeous Urusawa collection from Viz, charming, moving, and gorgeously illustrated. Just absolutely lovely

Excellently illustrated and a staple of consistency in innovation and technique from this excellent graphic novelist! I can't wait to see what comes next.

This is a short short collection. I enjoyed Urasawa's detailed facial expressions and the body language of the people. The first story of a mobster using a man with a strange gift was powerful and poignant. The rest of the book wasn't as good. I really didn't get thr final story of a meandering Western. Close to go was a story I wasn't sure if it was fiction about the artist traveling to see bands in the 1980s. The resemblance to the musicians was uncannily accurate. Great art!

I previously really "Pluto" and have a list of Urasawa's work on my to be read list. He never fails to write phenomenal short stories. He leaves you wanting more, but not in a way that's unsatisfying. He has perfected writing just enough. Nothing is dragged out, but it's not rushed either. This collection was definitely a shining example of that. I'll definitely continue to seek out his work in the future. Really good read!

This was a fun collection of short fiction and autobiographical essay-ish stories. If you're a fan of Urasawa, you'll definitely like this; the art is the usual good stuff- I mean, look at that cover! The autobiographical bits are interesting, and give a pleasant peek into Urasawa's life- I'd love to sit down with him and hear about all the shows he's been to! The fiction was great- I think Throw to the Moon was my favorite, but I did love that Kaiju story, especially the end- oh, my heart! A solid offering for fans or new readers alike!

#SneezeNaokiUrasawaStoryCollection #NetGalley

My review for Booklist is here: https://www.booklistonline.com/Sneeze-Naoki-Urasawa/pid=9739921

The review was also cross-posted to Smithsonian BookDragon: http://smithsonianapa.org/bookdragon/sneeze-by-naoki-urasawa-translated-by-john-werry-in-booklist/

*Received via NetGalley for review*

A collection of short stories from an acclaimed creator, all varying in length and theme. The art is serviceable, but it wasn't;t what I expected and it didn't engage me.

I’ve been impressed with Naoki Urasawa’s works since reading 20th Century Boys, and here we have a collected works anthology of sorts. While Sneeze aims to link all of its stories with the act of… well, sneezing, I think that you could divide these assorted chapters into two categories: musically-based slice-of-life stories and fantastical tales. It’s cool at how wildly different the stories within the anthology are, but I’m more into the mysterious intrigue of the latter half. Tales such as “The Old Guys” and “Musica Nostra” feel like a spinoff of 20th Century Boys, which is fine, but it doesn’t carry too much emotional weight.

On the other hand, I liked all of the tales that had colored pages. Henry and Charles is a Tom and Jerry-esque manga that showcases the bumbling antics of the titular mice, and the fully-colored chapter is a fun romp. Kaiju Kingdom, on the other hand, has French otaku Pierre and Japanese researcher Misaki investigate the mysterious appearances of Kaiju in Japan, and features a mythical aspect with a funny punchline at the end. If you can get past the less interesting (but admittedly more grounded) music tales, this is a great anthology for Urasawa fans.

(Read this review and more over at Gaming Trend! https://gamingtrend.com/feature/impressions/uwu-whats-this-the-first-ever-manga-minis-review-column-featuring-beastars-orient-and-more/)

This book features many short stories by the legendary Urasawa. This was a great read. The best story in the book was the story with the mice. It felt like an episode of Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes. A real treat for western readers! Please consider reading this manga if you want a short book with no continuous volumes, or different variety of art styles that are very friendly for western readers!

Some of the stories in this collection will stay with me for a long time, but the others not so much. I think if I had been more familiar with his work, I might have appreciated it a lot more. His style is most definitely unique and I can see why he is so popular and has such a huge fan base.

I will be including a review of this book on my blog with my December wrap-up.

This collection proves that not only is Naoki Urasawa a legendary psychological thriller writer--he does just as well with varying genres and lengths. I of course love the art, and the characters despite the short time I spent with them. 'Sneeze' will keep you reading until the end and then leave you wanting more, and in my case wishing a few of the stories could be made into full series of their own. Highly recommend this to fellow fans of Urasawa's works but also to fans of manga in general!

Naoki Urasawa-sensei is an acclaimed mangaka. That, we don’t doubt. He’s the brain and the hand behind masterpieces like “Monster” and “20th Century Boys!”. He specializes in capturing the weird part of humans. His touches are both realistic and unrealistic at the same time. That, of course, results in great entertaining reads. What’s more interesting, however, is that Urasawa- sensei is known for weaving two stories at the same time, as if one story is not hard enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sharing this ARC.

This is an interesting manga story collection - different subject and genres by different authors. I'm glad I went back and read the foreword where Urasawa says the common thread is things that he enjoyed as a kid/found delight in. I couldn't figure out a comment thread as I was reading.

There's a nice combination of stories... something for everyone. As a manga newbie, I was grateful for the sampler platter. Although, on the flip side, I wonder if that means that everyone will only gravitate to a couple of the stories and not be as invested in the others. That ended up being my experience.

I look forward to talking with my middle school manga readers and getting their feedback!

An odds and ends collection. Some charmingly weird short stories (a standout is the story about the French kaiju otaku in a world where giant monsters attacking Tokyo is Japan's biggest tourist attraction), some musical montages (seeing Dylan or McCartney in concert), some non-fiction travelogue (visiting the LA music scene). If you like Urasawa's other off-kilter and sweet work you will like this but this is probably not the place to start if you haven't read him before.

Song of choice: Urasawa Naoki — Bob Lennon
Recommended meal: A cold bottle of soda pop fresh from the fridge at the store, the condensation on the outside of the bottle like the sweat dripping off you in the summer heat. Pair it with a crisp, cool apple of your favorite variety, the sort where biting into it reminds you of the oncoming chill of winter setting in during late autumn.

While I first became aware of Urasawa’s work through his longform series like Monster, Billy Bat, and Pluto, I’d argue that it’s this collection of short stories that shows his real talent. Like most manga creators, Urasawa’s serves as both artist and writer (assistants are usually uncredited in the fast-paced and thankless manga industry; whether Sneeze features any additional creators in the original Japanese edition is not apparent).

Sneeze’s collection is eclectic; the first two stories (“Damiyan!” and “Throw Toward the Moon!”) could be described as crime drama built around psychic powers, while the following “The Old Guys” is an autobiographical work that jumps between scenes linked by Urasawa’s observation of older men who share his love of music. “Henry and Charles” is a comedy in the vein of classic western cartoons, focused on the antics of a pair of mice avoiding a cat. The collection then returns to true-life stories of music, where “It’s a Beautiful Day” is based on stories related to Urasaw by the late musician “Enken”, AKA Kenji Endo; the following “Musica Nostra” is a short set of Urasawa’s observations about guitarists, as well as his five-part “L.A. Music Travelogue”. The following “Kaiju Kingdom” seems to link to Urasawa’s interest in the genre as expressed in his ongoing series Asadora, but is focused on a French kaiju otaku who visits Japan to see the sites where giant monsters attacked. The final story, “Solo Mission” is a sci-fi short, but suffered in the digital format due to having been originally published as a French BD; its left-to-right reading order reverses it from the entire remaining text, and its twist ending is easily spoiled by readers who don’t know to jump to the end of the book and read backwards after the previous story.

I mentioned that Urasawa is both an artist and author for a reason, because he’s actually what you call a triple threat: he’s a musician as well, as seen in the music of choice this time around. His passionate interest in world music including British and American rock shines in this collection, and it’s interesting to see how the mood contrasts with and influences his fictional works. Endo’s name was elsewhere lent to a fictional musician in Urasawa’s “20th Century Boys”; I’d even hazard a guess that those interests broadened Urasawa’s horizons; both Sneeze and his long-form works feature frequent inclusion of foreign characters and settings. There’s drama, comedy, painful romance, and supernatural weirdness, but the global scope of the work still manages to feel very personal and human.

This all ties in Urasawa’s ability as an illustrator; whether representing real people or envisioning fictional characters, his style has a strongly western-influenced touch that tends to feature diverse face shapes. Per stereotypes, white characters can mostly be picked out by comparatively oversized and detailed noses, but the more serious visual style of Urasawa’s pencils makes each feel like a real and unique person. Faces are instantly recognizable even with strange expressions or different hairstyles; expressions are conveyed with passionate intensity, bodies are diverse and postures powerful.

Overall, Sneeze is a solid collection that shows much of the range of its creator’s ability and interests. My only complaint is that the localization team didn’t seem to make much of an effort to explain the contexts of some of the nonfiction bits; I had to look elsewhere to learn who Endo was.

If you’ve been reading manga for any amount of time, chances are you’ve at least encountered the name Naoki Urasawa. The internationally acclaimed mangaka is known in the west more for his long-form works like Monster and 20th Century Boys, but VIZ Media is publishing some of his short-form in Sneeze: Naoki Urasawa Story Collection, with translation by John Werry and touch-up art and lettering by Steve Dutro.

Sneeze opens with a brief definition of the title: “a sudden expiration of breath. A short work as opposed to a long work. It can even make the most beautiful person look momentarily ugly.” While in long-form, Urasawa’s more known works span years, these stories are just brief moments in people’s lives. However, this is still Urasawa, and his penchant for twists and turns is still present even in the shorter page constraint. There are gangsters, psychics, kaiju and kaiju enthusiasts, and mice that boast too much for their own good. Each character discovers something they may or may not regret during their lives.

“DAMIYAN!”a story about a gangster who hires a man who may (or may not) be able to hurt people with a single stare, dials the absurd humor up to an 11. It was a great way to start this collection by showing a lighter side to the mangaka. Another standout was “Henry and Charles,” a full-color quest of two mice to get a piece of cake without waking the housecat. Urasawa cites his love of American comedies and cartoons such as Looney Tunes for inspiration, and it shows. Thoughtful commentary for each story is included in the back of the volume, making this a much more personal anthology than expected. Urasawa reflects on how much of his work is influenced by what he loved as a child, as well as the culture of the 60s and 70s.

The other side of this anthology is a wonderful showcase of the mangaka’s love of music. There’s a short piece (with a lovely personal afterword) about a story once told to him by Japanese rock musician Kenji Endo. (Sound familiar? Kenji Endo is also the name of the main character in Urasawa’s 20th Century Boys.) Musica Nostra is predominantly a personal travelogue of Urasawa’s trip to LA, where he saw Neil Young and Paul McCartney play live, and performed at Timewarp Records (Urasawa is also a musician). While very different from the fictional stories in the anthology, it is also a refreshingly personal look into the mind of such a well-known mangaka.

As always, Urasawa’s unique art style stands out: faces have all manner of extreme expressions and are right at home with the absurd humor that comes into play. Movement is also fluid between panels, which assists with the more slapstick comedy in pieces like Henry and Charles. I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Dutro’s lettering. It is clear that thought was given to text style and font based on the tone/nature of each piece. Musica Nostra stood out especially for the choice to make the lettering font appear handwritten, which complimented the art and layout of the page mimicking a personal journal.

While every story in Sneeze might not be for everyone, I would definitely argue there is something for everyone in this anthology from a beloved mangaka. It is a must-have for any Naoki Urasawa fan, and definitely worth checking out by anyone who loves comics.

At the start of Sneeze, the latest collection of short stories by mangaka Naoki Urasawa, there is the definition of a sneeze, described as “a sudden expiration of breath” and “a short work as opposed to a long work”. That perfectly describes a short story, and considering that Urasawa is known for his long-running manga titles, these stories allow him to let loose and have fun.

And if you’re wondering: no, none of the stories are about sneezing. It’s just that Urasawa draws faces that look ugly when sneezing.

The recurring theme of multiple stories here is something extraordinary happening in our mundane lives. The first story, “DAMIYAN!”, centers on two young men trying to make some money by working for the Yakuza. The titular character, Damiyan, is also a telekinetic. Despite its odd premise, which leads to moments of black comedy, the story ends up being a Yakuza member trying to balance his life of crime and his role as a father, leading to one of the more uplifting conclusions in Urasawa’s arsenal.

“Throw Toward the Moon!”, in collaboration with Takashi Nagasaki, feels closest to Urasawa’s best known titles like 20th Century Boys and Monster. After receiving a prediction from a psychic at a young age, a journalist uncovers the truth of this supposed psychic years later, which leads to murder and corporate conspiracy. Urasawa has always been good at mystery, and with only thirty-two pages, he takes something initially silly and wraps everything up where the psychic’s prediction ended up being true.

Urasawa has always explored both the light and dark within humanity, and this idea is best personified later in this collection with “Kaiju Kingdom”. Set in a world where Tokyo has been attacked by numerous Kaiju since 1954, a French fanboy of these monsters visits the city, which has used its destruction as a tourist attraction. There is certainly satirical comedy going on throughout, not least how these tragedies have made a profit, there are still tragedies that people are still coping with, something that our French protagonist eventually realizes. Very much a tribute to the early Godzilla movies, Urasawa embraces the conventions of mixing the melodrama with Kaiju action, all of which is drawn to perfection, from his expressive character design to his well-detailed background art.

In what is the most out-of-left-field story, and also the most fun, is “Henry and Charles”, about two mice sneaking into the kitchen to get a strawberry cake while making sure they don’t wake up the cat. Originally created for a children’s illustrated magazine, Urasawa is doing his best Looney Tunes impression with a great emphasis on slapstick comedy, whilst the banter between the eponymous mice is hilarious.

Although Urasawa is known for his specific line-work that makes him one of the standout artists in the industry, there are some stories here where his art style is looser. They serve Urasawa’s love of music, such as his travelogue of the Los Angeles music scene. These particular tales are more self-indulgent, and feel like he is not putting in as much effort, but “It’s a Beautiful Day”, which tells the story of real-life musician Kenji Endo and his band visiting a strip club one night, serves as a touching tribute to the late musician.

As always with these collections, some stories are better than others, but Sneeze overall is a fun departure from Naoki Urasawa’s more dramatic works.

Naoki Urasawa is beloved by many, and is by far one of the most talented creators in manga. That said, readers aren’t always interested in a long-form story. With how little time there is in the day, we often want something short to pass the time. Viz Media’s most recent Urasawa release scratches this itch: Sneeze: Naoki Urasawa Story Collection. Can Urasawa continue to deliver in a smaller page count?

Sneeze compiles eight short stories from Urasawa’s career. While Urasawa is often associated with writing thriller manga, here he explores a much broader set of themes. There are certainly more traditional stories in this collection such as “DAMIYAN!” and “Throw Toward The Moon!”, but Urasawa balances them out with some surprising additions. One of my favorites was “Henry and Charles”, which focuses on two mice attempting to traverse a kitchen to get cake, all while avoiding a fearsome cat. It feels reminiscent of an old Warner Bros. cartoon, making it a humorous read from start to finish. Sneeze is a testament to Urasawa’s versatility as a writer, showing that he is more than a master of a single niche.

Urasawa also has a well-known passion for music, and it’s aptly showcased through “It’s a Beautiful Day” and “Music Nostra”. “It’s a Beautiful Day” centers a story told to Urasawa by the late musician Kenji Endo. While the story isn’t solely focused on music, you can see the admiration that Ursawa had for Endo and his peers during its opening pages, and how he was fascinated by the tale. Meanwhile, “Music Nostra” details Urasawa’s personal travels in Los Angeles, where he got to attend Woodstock and meet the former president of Apple Records Jack Oliver. Ursawa’s enthusiasm throughout the experience is infectious, and it’s easy to see why music has had such close ties to his work.

At this point, it should be no surprise that Urasawa’s artwork is beautiful. Each of his stories has a meticulous amount of detail, even in the minor mannerisms of characters. As “Henry and Charles” shows, this isn’t limited to human beings, as the mice in that story are just as expressive as the rest of Urasawa’s designs. He can bring a sense of realism to the most absurd of premises, making his work an addictive read. Urasawa is by far one of manga’s greatest talents, and Sneeze reminds readers of that on every page.

Sneeze is another brilliant manga from Naoki Urasawa, showcasing his skills in short-form storytelling. Readers will be impressed by the variety of stories showcased in the collection, and will be left wanting more by the end of their read. Bless you, Urasawa!

Maybe you already know manga artist Naoki Urasawa from his acclaimed works like Master Keaton, Pluto, Monster, and 20th Century Boys. Perhaps you don't. Either way, Sneeze: Naoki Urasawa Story Collection should be on your radar. Suppose you're unfamiliar with Urasawa's work. In that case, this collection of short stories offers an exquisite taste of what he's capable of creating. If you already know him from his series, this book compiles some deeper cuts into an easier to grasp format. The most striking thing about the collection is Urasawa's versatility. The stories in this collection vacillate from sci-fi tales involving psychic powers to personal journals about seeing Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan perform in Tokyo. And yet, each of the stories carries Uruasawa's signature ability to imbue his characters' faces with powerful emotion and make perfect use of silent panels. Come and see a master at work.