A review by eightyen
Speculative Japan 2: The Man Who Watched the Sea and Other Tales by Issui Ogawa, Yasumi Kobayashi

emotional mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Great little selection of short stories. I bought this because one of the authors also did the story for Illusion of Time, a Super Nintendo game from my childhood.

This gives a nice little tastes of Japanese 'speculative' fiction, as it calls it. Which I believe just boils down to a blend of fantasy, sci-fi and mystery (non-realistic genres). Nothing that really sticks out here, just a bunch of solid little stories, each quite distinct from the other. You'll find a bit of everything.

To the other reviewer re: cover art: my copy says on the back that the cover art is by Naoyuki Katoh.