Kiki's Delivery Service

Written by: Eiko Kadono (translated by Emily Balistrieri, illustrated by Yuta Onoda)

First line: Once, there was a little town sandwiched between a deep forest and a gentle grassy hills.

Why you should read this book: The inspiration for the fabulous Miyazaki film, this book presents a more complete picture of the little witch who must set out to support herself in a new town with only one magical power: to fly on a broom. With patience and good will and creativity, Kiki begins to win over a population of people who are suspicious of witches and unsure why they should welcome one into their town, until eventually she finds herself a popular local celebrity with lots of friends who is known for being able to solve any problem. A sweet, delightful story about independence, growing up, and love. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You can't imagine anything good about having a witch around. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Written by: Toshikazu Kawaguchi

First line: Oh, gosh, is that the time?

Why you should read this book: This novel (or 4 linked novellas depending on how you want to count) about a magical basement cafe where, if you follow the rules and respect the ghost and don't expect too much from the trip, you can travel to the past or the future for the exact space of time it takes for a cup of coffee to get cold was a bestseller in Japan. Even though the characters who take these journeys are aware that they cannot change the present by traveling to the past (they can't even leave their seat, or communicate with anyone who wasn't physically in the cafe on the day they arrive) they still feel strong compulsions to go back and say the thing they didn't say the first time around. And even though they can't change events, they can still change emotions and expectations and use this magical gift to improve their lives.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It may lose something in translation; it's a very "quiet" kind of story with very little action, but an awful lot of exposition. 

Nana & Kaoru Volume 6

Written by: Ryuta Amazume

First line: Is my mom really...DEAD?

Why you should read this book: Kaoru's mom is not really dead, but she does manage to guilt trip him into moving to Okinawa, and he justifies his abandonment of Nana because she's going to leave him for university anyway, so what's the point of torturing himself for another year? In Okinawa, he finds that his skills as a ropemaster are in high demand, and he enjoys a scene with his favorite fetish model before realizing that BDSM, for him, is inextricably entangled with his emotions for Nana; meanwhile, Nana realizes that she can't live without Kaoru. She travels to Okinawa twice to salvage their relationship, which still seems undecided until the (very) satisfying (but somewhat unbelievable) climax of the story, after which the young couple agree that whatever the future holds, they will make their decisions together. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't really understand BDSM.

Nana & Kaoru Volume 5

Written by: Ryuta Amazume

First line: "Zero points"? What" What does he mean?

Why you should read this book: Forced to confront their emotions by a crotchety old leather master, Nana and Kaoru both acknowledge their bond and the symbolic nature of a collar to keep them tied together, after which Kaoru makes Nana a bespoke collar, with love, leading to a fun, full-circle encounter in the field where he first took her after her first collaring. There's a fun sequence where Tachi and Mitsuko top Kaoru in the basement of the bondage shop (deepening his relationship with Nana), after which we get a very different story about a couple in their twenties, toying with BDSM to save their relationship, who are both advised with great perspicacity by the now wise in the ways of kink teenagers Kaoru and Nana. But the book ends with the main characters once again being forced to confront the fact that they have only a year of high school left, and there are no guarantees in life, because loved ones can disappear in an instant. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: This one actually has sex in it, but, due to Japanese censorship laws, the male genitals are drawn as magic markers.

The Reason I Jump

Written by: Naoki Higashida (translated by KA Yoshida David Mitchell)

First line: When I was small, I didn't even know that I was a kid with special needs. 

Why you should read this book: Perhaps there's never been another book like this one, written by a nonverbal, autistic 13-year-old whose primary method of communication is spelling out words by pointing, one-by-one, at the Japanese hiragana letters on a grid. Most of the book is presented in the form of Q and A, with the author answering questions about why and how he does what he does by explaining his inner experience, along with a few provocative short fiction pieces that also provide interesting insight into a mind that might have once remained forever closed to neurotypical observers. The young author's sensitivity and understanding of his own condition, his relationship with the rest of the world, and his expectations for the future, are delightful and eye opening. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: You just find all children annoying. 

Nana & Karou Volume 4

Written by: Ryuta Amazume

First line: What am I doing?

Why you should read this book: As the end of their junior year approaches, Nana and Kaoru continue having increasingly intense BDSM sessions while revealing to themselves the depths of their feelings for one another. Kaoru tries to improve his grades so Nana won't leave him behind at college, while giving her everything she needs to finish out her high school career strong, weathering her own tribulations and never letting anyone down. For her part, Nana begins to worry about a life without Kaoru, and begins to think more carefully about his needs and happiness.

Why you shouldn't read this book: This is a softcore BDSM manga that contains, among other things, three entire chapters of teenage perverts scouring the internet to find an obscure pegging video from the '90s for a dude they don't even like as a person, in the name of helping him regain his pride. If this is distasteful or nonsensical to you, likely you should not get anywhere near this book. 

Nana and Kaoru Volume 2

Written by: Ryuta Amazume

First line: The name's Sugimora Kaoru.

Why you should read this book: This sweet, exploratory, completely nonsexual BDSM fantasy story about two Japanese high school students fumbling their way through desire continues with Nana and Kaoru's secret relationship impacting their interactions in their school life, which then flows back into their "breathers." Several chapters comprise Nana's first spanking, and then there's a weird interlude with Tachi strongarming Kaoru into a scene after he and Nana miss their connection on New Year's Eve, and finally there's an absolutely massive storyline about Nana getting sick and needing a lot of help to insert a suppository. Meanwhile, Nana's friends are starting to question her relationship with Kaoru, Tachi is getting really jealous, and Kaoru struggles with his feelings of love, tenderness, and devotion to his sub, none of which seem dominant to him, all of which he's sure Nana would reject. 

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a funny softcore BDSM fantasy manga about teenagers, so probably a lot of people just aren't going to vibe positively with this content, and they should just step away and go cry about obscenity somewhere else, because this page doesn't believe in literary censorship.

Dementia 21

Written by: Kago

First line: Private elder care service company, Green Net. Our Motto: "There's no place like home in the twilight of life."

Why you should read this book: This comedic horror manga pokes fun at the divide between youth and old age while creating a genuine sense of dread at the concept of aging; to be elderly in this world is to be a sort of monster, a distant, dangerous, unknowable and uncontrollable other cut off from humanity in particular and distressing ways and determined to make the young as miserable as you are. Yukie Sakai is an excellent and dedicated home help aide, so of course one of her co-workers gets jealous and ensures that Yukie gets the worst jobs, and indeed, her clients have a strange way of turning into monsters while the world gets more and more bizarre, a la Winsor Mccay's nightmare visions. While the overall thesis may be a commentary on the dissolution of family bonds in a world that increasingly turns to technology to fill the gaps that once held tender community, it's also hilarious and terrifying.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're about to check in to a care home, as a resident or a worker.

Fragments of Horror

Written by: Junji Ito

First line: The man I eloped with and currently live with is terrifies of something and he won't come out from under the futon.

Why you should read this book: This is one of the strangest horror anthologies I've ever read, with the scary element of almost every story somehow revolving around some type of sexually creepy woman. "Dissection-chan," about a girl who is obsessed with being dissected and harasses medical students to cut her open, was one of my favorites, but other sexually creepy women feed men raw meat, have inappropriate relationships with historical buildings, and try to remove men's heads.There's also some time travel, some cross dressing, some justice, some injustice, some ghosts, some Lovecraftian terrors, and a decent body count.

Why you shouldn't read this book: If you're looking for any type of conventional slasher tale, you won't find it here; it's not even conventional within its supernatural genre; it's really far out.

Gaijin: American Prisoner of War

Written by: Matt Faulkner

First line: Koji—why don't you turn on the radio while we do dishes?

Why you should read this book: Prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese-American teen Koji Miyamoto never really thought about being biracial, but suddenly he looks like the enemy, and the people around him begin treating him like the enemy; he's even worried that his own father might actually be the enemy. He and his mother are surprised when he is called to an internment camp, and his mother decides to go with him, even though she is white, because she can't let him go alone. In camp, Koji faces another type of discrimination, because he's not Japanese enough, but, despite the betrayal by his government, Koji does his best to become an honorable person, and the book carries him through the end of the war and his reunification with his Japanese father.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You're still in denial about what the American government did to its own citizens during World War II.

A Japanese Fairy Tale

Written by: Jane Hori Iké, Baruch Zimmerman

First line: Long ago in the Land of the Rising Sun, there lived a woman who was called Kyoko.

Why you should read this book: An incredibly ugly man and an incredibly beautiful woman seem to have a happy marriage, and this can only be explained through through a fairy tale about sacrifice and divine intervention. As an unborn soul in heaven, Munakata learns that his bride-to-be on earth is destined to be hideous in the superlative, and pleads with god to make him he ugly one, apparently so he doesn't have to look at her, or maybe because it's OK for nasty dudes to marry hot chicks, but not vice versa. Kyoko is suitably impressed with his martyrdom and compelled to fall in love with him.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You have a tendency to dig too deep. On the one hand, it's kind of sweet. On the other hand, it's kind of sad.

The Funny Little Woman

Written by: Arlene Mosel

First line: Long ago, in Old Japan, there lived a funny little woman who liked to laugh, "Tee-he-he-he," and who liked to make dumplings out of rice.

Why you should read this book: Originally published over forty years ago, this small and wonderful fairy tale still has the power to delight. A woman who doesn't seem to take anything seriously blunders into mortal danger and uses the power of not really caring very much to defeat a legion of terrible demons and make off with a magical artifact. Great fun for reading aloud, with eerie-funny illustrations that heighten the sense of tension unfelt by the protagonist.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You are serious about stranger danger.