Twin Spica, Volume: 01 [Paperback]

Kou Yaginuma (Author)

Book Description

Series: Twin Spica | Publication Date: May 4, 2010

Mission: 01 contains the first four chapters of Twin Spica and three additional short stories set in the world of the property.

In a Tokyo in the not too distant future a young girl studies deligently with ambitions of soon attending space academy.  If things work out just right, her future may very well be among the stars as well. And yet, every time she looks up to the stars there is a sense of melancholy in her heart. A sadness surrounds Asumi, as space exploration itself has profoundly impacted her life for as long as she can remember.

But she is not alone...A young man wearing a lion's mask is always beside her. He speaks of the constellations and galaxies as if he they were like home. He knows what it is like to love the stars--slightly bitter and yet always so warm and inviting. Truth is he has gone through much of Asumi is just experiencing. And now in spirit he will forever be with Asumi guiding her on her path to space.

The Fireworks of 2015:Yaginuma's debut comic is the pilot story in the Twin Spica universe, detailing a world a five years before the events in the series.

Asumi: Five years after the Lion Shuttle tragedy and the Kamogawa household face another sad event--the passing of Asumi's mother. 

Yet Another Spica:In a short story exclusive to this release, Mr. Yaginuma details his own real life Twin Spica moment, where he believes encounters a living version of Asumi!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While replete with giant robots, alien invasions, and incredibly creative mecha that fires the imagination, many Japanese sci-fi entries use their fantastic trappings as an accent to the fascinating and all-too-human protagonists of their narratives. This effort from Yaginuma (Asumi) utterly involves readers in the dreams and ambitions of young Asumi Kamogawa, and it's easy to see why the series was a smash hit in its native land. Thirteen-year-old Asumi lives in Japan in 2024 as the country's space program is resurrecting itself in the wake of a launch tragedy 10 years earlier, and Asumi aims to be among the first wave of young astronauts to take Japan into the stars. Raised by her construction worker father, Asumi is the apple of her dad's eye and he will do everything in his working-class power to make her dream of attending the Tokyo Space School come true. The relationship between father and daughter is very moving, and Asumi's interaction with her equally ambitious schoolmates is also compelling stuff. There's no action to speak of, instead each page contains more genuine emotion than an entire space fleet's worth of similarly themed stories. Opening with a strong introductory volume, this series shows great promise and bodes well for future installments. (May)
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Review

A Publishers Weekly Big Graphic Novels for 2010 selection!

"Twin Spica is told with an uncommonly graceful blend of optimism and melancholy. Artist Kou Yaginuma takes his sci-fi premise seriously, and he treats his characters with warmth and intelligence. Strongly recommended."--The Comics Reporter

"Twin Spica is a pleasantly unexpected tear-jerker that hits the nostalgia key for those of us of a certain age who wanted desperately to go to space camp, even after the Challenger explosion."--Erin Finnegan, Zero-Gravity Bride & Publishers Weekly

“[Yaginuma]’s work fuses Twin Spica with both a sense of childhood nostalgia as well as encouragement to venture beyond. Replace ‘space exploration’ with the goal of your choosing and you have the recipe for an inspiring parable of progress… It’s refreshingly divergent from the majority of the manga on shelves at the moment.”—Otaku USA

“Twin Spica is grounded in realism, and takes slow, purposeful steps in laying out its story, illustrated in a classic style that avoids both outrageousness and cutesiness. Because the work is a natural charmer with a protagonist you care about deeply shortly after the outset, this first volume gets you hooked in no time; the remaining 15 can’t come out fast enough.” —Bookgasm

“Kou Yaginuma has created a fascinating alternate future for Japan, where tragedy becomes the foundation of both the protagonist’s story and her country’s entry into the space race… Asumi’s single-minded dedication to her childhood dream is admirable. As soon as I finished this book, I found myself already longing to read more.”—i ♥ manga!

“With art that would make Studio Ghibli proud, this story moved and impressed me. I look forward to more volumes from this series with anticipation. A+” —About Heroes

“Twin Spica may be the book to really keep an eye on this year.” —Wednesday’s Haul

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Vertical; 1 edition (May 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934287849
• ISBN-13: 978-1934287842
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #488,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful story of a childhood dream, July 12, 2010

By 

Grace - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Twin Spica, Volume: 01 (Paperback)

This manga exceeds all expectations. The art is beautiful, the story is magical, and the dreams of a future "rocket driver" makes you believe in your own childhood dreams. You dont have to be interested in space to like this graphic novel, it is for all ages and up. Every moment is breath taking, and makes you want to keep reading. I know I had a de ja vu, reading about this sweet girl and her ability to achieve her dream despite "what people would expect of her." Sometimes you just have to believe to make it happen, if you want your dreams to be real. That is the main point the novel tries to relay.
Trust me, you will want to read volume 2 and on! This has become my favorite series.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Stars Shine Bright Indeed, August 2, 2010

By 

James S. Taylor (Scarborough, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Twin Spica, Volume: 01 (Paperback)

In the early Twenty-First century a disastrous malfunction sends a Japanese space launch straight into the middle of Yuigahama city, leaving both burnt out wreckage and lives in its wake. Despite this, Asumi Kamogawa grows up there dreaming of piloting a rocket and journeying into space. As a teen, her childhood dreams will run into difficult realities: other potential astronauts with differing motives, the pressure of attending an academy where only a few will graduate, and the fact that a town that has suffered such a tragedy leaves scarred lives looking for revenge.

If I can emphasize one thing: do not let the covers fool you. Yes, they are a hard sell: they look sweet and like it is a series for children. Yes, there is a talking lion-man. Yes, I almost didn't buy it for those reasons, too. However, that would have been a big mistake. Despite the age of the main characters, it is not a childish manga any more than Miyazaki's anime, to which Spica has drawn comparisons, is merely for children. This is a book about hope and seeing dreams come to fruition, despite a context of pain and tragedy.

The first volume should have you hooked, but if you're not convinced by the end of the second, well, I worry about the state of your heart.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Brilliant, December 9, 2010

By 

Nicola Manning (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Twin Spica, Volume: 01 (Paperback)

Reason for Reading: This is a Cybils '10 nominee and required reading for me as a graphic novels panelist.

I think you could say I read my fair share of manga, and as time goes by I'm reading more and more; it has become one of my reading passions. I don't think I've ever been this enthused about a first volume since I've been reading manga. Absolutely brilliant! First off we have an utter realistic science fiction story, set in 2024, about a 13yo girl, Asumi, who wants to be an astronaut and takes the exams to enter space training school. Her mother died shortly after she was born when Japan's first ever completely Japanese made fully-manned rocket was unsuccessfully launched and crashed into a city causing many deaths. This rocket was named The Lion, which becomes a theme carried on in the story. Now Asumi and everyone who passed the space school entrance exams have been taken to the school and put under a 7 day confined space test in groups of three. What happens is an amazingly well-written science-fiction story.

While the present story is going on, we also learn much about her character and back story through frequent flashbacks to her childhood. It is at this point that an edge of fantasy, or perhaps magical realism is added to the plot, as Asumi had an invisible friend growing up called Lion, who looked like a man with a lion mask on. Now whether he was imaginary or a ghost from the past is something that is explored and though it sounds strange becomes integrated seamlessly into the story.

Asumi has been characterized with insightful skill, the reader gets inside her head and learns what makes this girl tick, what she feels and how determined she is. Asumi is also a nice person, regardless of who she meets up with she manages to let her own true character prevail through others often heated discord. This volume ends with the final selection of those who passed the test (which was very intense) and will make up the space program class.

Following this we get the *bonus material* which includes the original short story that was the inspiration for this series. Then Yaginuma followed the story up with a mini-series about Asumi's childhood, which follows next. That mini-series was such a success that he followed it up with this sensational series we are finally able to read in English. But that's not it! To finish up the book Yaginuma gives us one more extra short story about Asumi. The first four books are out and I plan on buying them, 5-10 are planned to be released in 2011 and the final 11-16 in 2012. This is a definite must read for me!