MJ Review: Garden Dreams

[Jason]

Title: Garden Dreams
Manga-ka: Fumi Yoshinaga
Originally Serialized in: Wings (Shinshokan Publishing)
Genre: Historical, Shoujo
Licensed by: Digital Manga Publishing
Price: $12.95

Yoshinaga’s rabid yaoi fans might be disappointed by the latest offering of her work from DMP, a historical title with only the barest mention of male love. However, fans of her series Antique Bakery, who loved its glance at the ravages of human emotions and contact, will be moved by this work. A lonely Baron is visited by two traveling bards, brothers named Saud and Farhad, and their appearance forces him to face the unpleasant fact that everyone he loves has left him, in at least two cases, violently.

This is an older title of Yoshinaga’s, originally published in 1999. Overall, her art is well suited to the Renaissance-like setting of her story. Her trademark flowing lines and ethereally pretty men are present in abundance, as are her spare panels, often devoid of any detail, save the characters and their text bubbles. She hadn't at this point completely mastered the stoic faces her characters often wear, betraying emotion only in the twitch of an eyebrow or lip, but the beginnings of that mastery are evident.

Her story walks a fine line between angst and realistic sadness. She doesn’t get quite as depressing as she does in other works such as Don’t Say Anymore Darling, but neither is she as light hearted as in Flower of Life. The ending of this tale is slightly unrealistic, as if she was afraid of carrying through with what she had originally planned, but readers will enjoy being able to see her early work as she was developing her gift of plotting.

DMP has done a nice job developing this for an English-reading audience. The cover is eye-catching, the translation doesn’t suffer from awkward wording, and the art is reprinted bright and clear. Long-time fans will enjoy this volume for all of the reasons they love her other works, even devoid of the hot sex scenes she is known for in other stories. Those new to Yoshinaga’s work will easily fall under her spell and will want to read more by this talented artist.

Reviewer: Snow Cleo
Proofer: Eduardo Menendez
Editor: Lissa Pattillo