Mori Kaoru - Shirley (Chi. trans.)

Like Emma, this is set in Victorian England. There are four short stories about Shirley Madison, a 13-year-old maid, and her employer.

Since I read this in Chinese, I have absolutely no idea what her employer's name is. The scanlations said "Cranry Bennett," but I'm pretty sure "Cranry" is her last name, not her first. Anyway, I guess I'll refer to her as Ms. Cranly.

Ms. Cranly owns a small coffeeshop; she's single and self-employed and decides to take on Shirley despite Shirley's young age. They have a pseudo-familial relationship: Ms. Cranly gives Shirley a doll, Shirley watches over Ms. Cranly.

Part of me had small squidges related to the fuzziness of the master-servant relationship and the power differential, but really, the stories are so small and sweet that I didn't want to be too grumpy.

I adore Mori's art and her panel layout so much. I found out that Emma, and presumably Shirley, was published in a seinen magazine (? because of the maid fetish thing?), which explains the boxier panels and the more structured layout. But there's this great little sequence where Shirley gets her new maid outfit. She stands in front of the mirror, than slowly discovers the swirly skirt, and a small smile starts to blossom on her face.

It's about two or three pages, all wordless, but you know exactly how she feels.

There are two other maid-related short stories in this volume, "Mary Banks" and "Nellie and I," but my favorites are still the Shirley ones.

Mushishi, ep. 01-03

I didn't think anything could really be more beautiful, eerier, or flat out stranger than the manga, and yet...

So far, this is a series with really high production values. The backgrounds and the music (as far as I can tell) are gorgeous, as is the animation and the voicework. And they really add to the experience of the story, so much so that I wasn't at all bored, even though the first three episodes are completely straight and very faithful retellings of stories from vol. 1 of the manga.

I love all the little details: how Ginko wears slightly Western clothes while everyone else is clad in traditional Japanese clothing, the emerald green of Ginko's one eye contrasted with the muted browns and greens of the background, actually being able to hear the silence or the noise described in the story about the silence-eating mushi.

rachelmanija has a better write-up of the basic premise of the series.

And even though seeing something animated should have completely horrified me or squicked me out (mushi in ears), there's something so matter-of-fact about Ginko's attitude and the animation. I just watched, eyes wide and mouth open in wonder, as Ginko smears the sticky remains of a mushi off his hands and a little boy gets grossed out.

I think this is going to be one of the rare shows in which I want to both read the manga and watch the anime, even if it is repeating storylines.

Really, really recommended, maybe even for people who don't normally like anime.