{"title":"Books by Alexa Frank","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781681379401","title":"Miss Ruki","description":"\u003cb\u003eCHOSEN BY \u003ci\u003eTHE WASHINGTON POST \u003c\/i\u003eAS ONE OF THE BEST COMICS OF 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA young woman rejects the fast-paced consumer culture of 1980s Japan in favor of a slower, more carefree lifestyle in this tenderhearted, sweetly funny classic of slice-of-life manga.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA classic of Japanese manga, \u003ci\u003eMiss Ruki \u003c\/i\u003eis a warm and vivid portrait of the lives of two young women in Tokyo during Japan’s 1980s bubble economy. The titular Miss Ruki spurns the fast-paced consumer culture of the era in favor of a lighthearted life dedicated to her hobbies, her books, and spending time with her anxious but far more pragmatic friend, Ecchan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTakano’s art moves with all the warmth, grace, and clarity of the everyday moments it depicts. Sweet and funny, these vignettes of a long-gone time still resonate today with readers and authors in Japan, with famed contemporary manga artist Keigo Shinzo noting, “To read it is to grasp something of the essence of Japan.... This is the kind of manga I want to draw.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMiss Ruki\u003c\/i\u003e is a vertical comic strip meant to be read right to left; each story begins in the top right panel and continues down the column before moving leftward.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303698116981,"sku":"9781681379401","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781681379401_69f94ce9-d2cb-4cc2-a719-3b853735ba14.jpg?v=1786024629"},{"product_id":"9781770465053","title":"Offshore Lightning","description":"\u003cb\u003eAnxiety and longing suffuse incisive portraits of postwar Japan\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNazuna Saito began making comics late. She was in her forties when she submitted a story to a major Japanese publishing house and won an award for newcomers. She continued to work through the 1990s until she stopped drawing to take care of her ailing parents. In her sixties, she took a job teaching drawing at Kyoto Seika University and became inspired by her talented students. When she returned to teaching, her storytelling interests had shifted. Before suffering a stroke she drew “In Captivity” (2012) and “Solitary Death Building” (2015)—both focused on aging and death. \u003ci\u003eOffshore Lightning\u003c\/i\u003e collects Saito’s early work as well as these two recent graphic novellas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStories like “Buy Dog Food and Go Home” and “Offshore Lightning” focus on middle-aged men caught in a cycle of self pity and self reflection. Saito gently pokes fun at their anguish and self-involvement while capturing the pathos of these men as they revisit childhood friendships and lost loves. By contrast, “In Captivity” follows three siblings visiting their ailing mother who is succumbing to dementia and resentful at her loss of agency. The siblings take a drive as they reckon with balancing the painful legacy of her caustic personality with attempting to honor this woman at the end of her life. “Solitary Death Building” documents an eccentric cast of elderly gossips as death descends upon the housing complex where they all live.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56304305570165,"sku":"9781770465053","price":23.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781770465053_08b2b204-9602-4bde-aad3-0aed67547108.jpg?v=1786024209"},{"product_id":"nekojiru-udon","title":"Nekojiru Udon","description":"\u003cb\u003eA cult classic of alternative manga that follows two cuddly-looking cat siblings as they embark on dreamlike, darkly comic adventures of casual cruelty and spiritual horror.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeginning in 1990, Japanese readers of the legendary comics magazine \u003ci\u003eGaro\u003c\/i\u003e were treated to something entirely new: stories of humor, cruelty, and deep nihilism all told through a pair of smiling cartoon cat siblings, Nyaako and her little brother, Nyata.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten and drawn by the self-taught artist Chiyomi Hashiguchi under the pseuodym Nekojiru, \u003ci\u003eNekojiru Udon\u003c\/i\u003e is a dark delight. Newly translated by award-winning translator Alexa Frank, this edition collects all three volumes of the series in English for the first time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book's cover is designed by Joe Kessler.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57507759980917,"sku":"9781681379838","price":27.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781681379838.jpg?v=1787042899"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-alexa-frank.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}