Tsunami Girl was a gripping slow burn packed with Japanese culture. The part-manga-part-prose follows Yūki’s struggle with anxiety, relationships (familial and otherwise), biracial identity and PTSD after experiencing the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, tsunami and the aftermath of the subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster during a visit to Japan to see her grandfather.
This is such a beautifully crafted story, most notable the plot and character development. The few pages of manga before each chapter really made this story stand out, it felt like a special secret just for the reader.

Wow! What a powerful novel with a heartbreaking topic with Julian's writing being delicate and beautiful. I thought there would be more manga than there actually was, but I still enjoyed it and loved the illustrations when they came up.

I was under the impression that Tsunami Girl was a graphic novel, but it turned out to be some mix between graphic novel and prose, which did not work for me. I didn't enjoy the writing style, so the whole "just text" part wasn't for me at all.

I have had strong ties with Japan since I was a teenager when I first started learning Japanese. To me, Japan is like a second home and I travel there frequently to see my friends there, to go to concerts, etc. I still remember that day. I remember worrying about my friends in Japan. I still remember seeing them again for the first time after that day.

I love how the book is a combination of manga and prose. There is a certain calmness amid the disaster and the internal turmoil in the writing. It will make a great course book but just am not sure if I have the emotional strength to teach it. A truly beautiful book.