Farewell to My Alter: Nio Nakatani Short Story Collection

This collection of manga by Nakatani (“Bloom into You” series) investigates the different avenues by which grief, identity, and love can be expressed and experienced. Nakatani has gathered stories from different points in her life to create a collection that’s both eclectic and cohesive. Each short story exists in its own world, complete with its own people and culture. In the title story, Nakatani explores self-identity through a set of identical twins who think of themselves as one person rather than two separate individuals; this is one of Nakatani’s earliest works and gives a glimpse into the evolution of her drawing style. The rest of the stories have a cohesive style with slight differences to complement the tone of each narrative, whether a teen romance or a fantasy in which a monster fights a knight. Nakatani’s volume also offers a new and exciting insight into the mind of the mangaka, thanks to a series of afterwords that reveal her creative process and demonstrate the evolution of her work. Readers looking for manga series with a similar drawing style might appreciate Hisaya Nakajo’s “Hana-kimi,” Nobuhiro Watsuki’s “Rurouni Kenshin,” and Natsuki Takaya’s “Fruits Basket.”