TSURUTA Kenji

[MattC302]

Tsuruta Kenji is a brilliant mangaka probably most famous for 'Spirit of Wonder' or the Emanon series.

Spirit of Wonder

Serialized In: Afternoon/Morning
Genre: Drama, Historical, Sci-Fi
Japanese Status: One Volume (complete)
International Release: Licensed by Dark Horse
Online Status: One Volume (complete)
Demographic: Seinen
Mangaupdates

Contains 12 chapters: 9 short stories, and 3 Miss China stories.

1. The Universe is so Vast and Wonderful!
2. Leaving One Night by the Light of the Full Moon
3. To Invoke the Stars
4. Little Melancholy
5. The Young Scientists' Club
6. See You Later, God Willing
7. Marsy in the Land of Time
8. Natsuko
9. The Young Scientist Club on Mars
10. The Melancholy of China
11. China's Wish
12. China Strikes Back

The Japanese edition collects all 12 chapters in one volume. The Spanish edition from Glénat released the full series in 3 volumes. The English edition from Dark Horse published only the Miss China chapters, first in comic format, then in one trade paperback.

Omoide Emanon

Serialized In: Comic Ryu
Genre: Drama, Historical, Supernatural
Japanese Status: One Volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: One Volume (complete)
Demographic Seinen
Mangaupdates

Based on the award-winning novel by Shinji Kajio, Memories of Emanon tells the story of a mysterious girl who holds a 3-billion-year old memory, dating back to the moment life first appeared on Earth.

Forget-me-not

Serialized In: Morning
Genre: Mystery, Slice-of-Life
Japanese Status: One Volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: One Volume (complete)
Demographic Seinen
Mangaupdates

Mariel Imari is a private eye trying to become a first-rate detective to be able inherit her late father's estate. For some strange reason, the mysterious thief Vecchio is taking an interest in her. As if that wasn't enough, her old friends at Interpol and her siblings make life more troubling for her.

Sasurai Emanon

Serialized In: Comic Ryu
Genre: Drama, Slice-of-Life, Supernatural
Japanese Status: One Volume (complete)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: One Volume (complete)
Demographic Seinen
Mangaupdates

Based on the award-winning novel by Shinji Kajio, Memories of Emanon tells the story of a mysterious girl who holds a 3-billion-year old memory, dating back to the moment life first appeared on Earth.

The first half of the volume is the colored Wandering Emanon '67 chapters (published before as Emanon Episode: 1). The second half is Wandering Emanon set before the '67 chapters.

Bouken Erekitetou

Serialized In: Afternoon
Genre: Adventure, Slice-of-Life
Japanese Status: One Volume (ongoing)
International Release: Unlicensed
Online Status: One Volume (ongoing)
Demographic Seinen
Mangaupdates

After her grandfather's death, Mikura chose to continue their island express courier service. With her seaplane and her adventurous cat, Endeavor, she lives life as she chooses. Soon, Mikura becomes very interested in a mysterious island that seems to move around, according to local legend. After some extensive effort to determine the island's whereabouts, she manages to get a brief glimpse of it from the sky. Now that she knows it's real, she's determined to find the island again, no matter what it takes!

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Tsuruta Kenji has become one of my favorite mangaka ever since I came across the Emanon series a while back. I think my favorite piece of his work is the "Miss China" portion of 'Spirit of Wonder'. I think it's delightful in every way.

I've sort of become addicted to this guy's art. It really speaks to me and I can't get enough of it. I will read anything this guy illustrates, and I've spent hours scouring the internet looking for more of his artwork. Besides his scanlated manga series mentioned above, so far I've come across the cover illustrations he has done for the 'Sky Crawlers' novel series, his Hita Hita art book, which is awesomely NSFW, another art book that I believe is called Kyouyou Illustrations, a select few pages from FUTURE, which I believe is some sort of an art book, and some random pictures that I cannot place.

He has a few other art books that I can't find any pictures of and then I read that he did a manga adaptation of the 'Abenobashi Mahō Shōtengai' anime. I did find a volume cover to that, but no other information, and it also has an adaptation by another mangaka, so that's confusing a bit. Then there seems to be a manga called 'SF Meibutsu: Tsuruta Kenji Shoki Sakuhinshuu', but I can't find any info or scans of it.

Like I said, I am addicted to Tsuruta Kenji's art, so if you know of any of his work that I missed, point me in it's direction please