Asadora !, Tome 2

あさドラ! [Asadora!] #2

by Naoki Urasawa, Thibaud Desbief (Translator)

L’intrépide Asa à bord de l’avion du vieux Kasuga, un vétéran de la seconde Guerre mondiale qui se rêve à nouveau chevalier du ciel, parachute des vivres aux victimes du typhon. Asa fait front avec courage se refusant à penser que sa famille a probablement été engloutie avec sa maison.

Mais quelle est cette trace, visible depuis le ciel, et qui ressemble à une énorme empreinte…?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Seinen, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction

210 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 30, 2019

About the author

Urasawa Naoki (浦沢直樹) is a Japanese mangaka. He is perhaps best known for Monster (which drew praise from Junot Díaz, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner) and 20th Century Boys.

Urasawa's work often concentrates on intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, a deep focus on character development and psychological complexity. Urasawa has won the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Japan Media Arts Festival excellence award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008 Urasawa accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University.

Series list (not including short stories collections):
- Pineapple ARMY (パイナップルARMY) 1985-1988, written by Kazuya Kudo;
- YAWARA! 1986-1993;
- Master Keaton (MASTERキートン) 1988-1994, written by Hokusei Katsushika;
- Happy! 1993-1999
- MONSTER 1994-2001
- 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) 1999-2006
- 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年) 2007
- PLUTO 2003-2009, based on Tezuka Osamu's Tetsuwan Atom
- BILLY BAT 2008-2016
- Master Keaton Remaster (MASTERキートン Reマスター) 2012-2014
- Mujirushi (夢印-MUJIRUSHI-) 2017-2018, collaboration with Musée du Louvre
- Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ!) 2018-ongoing

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moxie. Gumption. Grit. Determination. Asa Asada is loaded with them, and she is going to save her family from disaster or avenge them if she cannot. And the second her hand touches an airplane control stick she knows nothing is going to get between her and the sky.

Events move from the aftermath of Typhoon Vera in 1959 to the threshold of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The bigger story starts to come into focus even as Naoki Urasawa keeps his cards close to his chest and indulges in all the little character moments that keep his epics grounded in humanity.

[Bookishrealm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment in the series where we learn so much more about an older Asadora as she continues the hunt for the rest of her family. For some reason, Urasawa's ability to mold together historical fiction and science fiction is really working with me. I ADORE Asa as a character and I'm extremely excited to see where this story takes us in her journey. I can definitely see this becoming a favorite series of mine in the future.

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Asadora is my newest guilty pleasure! I absolutely adore this manga series about a young girl, Asa, and her search for her family and potentially a giant monster. It's fun, an easy read and quite the light read too. I highly recommend picking this up if you're looking for a fun, fast moving, and slightly mysterious book that won't bring you down or make you feel grey.

There's so many good parts to this book, so let's just write up a quick summary of my notes:
1. Mysterious intro in the jungle
2. Giant monster! In the flesh!
3. "Hero of the Skies" - This is a great tag line for the book, by the wa.
4. Shota is super sweet.
5. "Rotten egg like you" is the best insult I've heard all week.
6. Flash forward and cliffhangers.

Overall, I love this series! I think it's off to a great start and I'm still super intrigued about where it's going to go.

Five out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viz for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naoki Urasawa's art is exceptional.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

We pick with the two of them trying to rescue everyone and even searching her family but then we find the bullet wound that Kasuga sustained and its upto Asa to learn from him and save the plane and him and its such an amazing thing to see this young girl learn how to fly the plane and people are shocked. Plus there is this amazing sequence where she legally gets the plane and its one of the most heartful moments later and then 5 years later we pick up with whats going with them and things have changed for sure. Also Kaijus.

This volume had everything from revelations to heroic moments to coming of age with the supposed mystery of a big monster who destroyed it all and also some scientists and their discovery and they could only say Asa? Its probably building to something huge for sure and the art gets better. Sensei at the top of his game with this volume. The future volumes with their revelations are gonna be awesome.

[Mir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is excellent. Just accept how slow it is (for a graphic novel).

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume wraps up the aftermath of the typhoon, but not before we see it leave its lasting mark on Asa Asadora. While she and the old pilot are looking for the rest of the Asadora family, they witness a strange sight: a giant tail or tentacle rising from the log-strewn sea, right near where a giant reptilian footprint marks the spot where Asa's house used to stand. Neither Asa nor the old man can quite believe what they're seeing, and quickly the sight of three familiar survivors and the old man's worsening injury claim their interest, and the strange object becomes nothing but a weird memory of a bizarre time...

I've got to hand it to Naoki Urasawa - this is just as fascinating as the first volume. Asa's growth as a character, as she learns to function in a crisis in ways that impress everyone around her, make her more than just a Strong Female Character; she's a kid having to grow up way too fast, but somehow finding joy in it. The bookending of the volume, with the same researcher and image of giant claw marks in a jungle, remind us that there's more to this story than just a coming-of-age narrative, but Asa really is the heart of things - possibly in more than one way. The pacing is expertly done, the fidelity to the time period is impressive, and there's still that undercurrent of the unknown that carries everything along. We're in for a long ride here, but I don't doubt that it will be worth it.

[Met · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urasawa si conferma il solito sagace narratore. Come sa stuzzicare lui con il mistero, solo pochi altri. Mi stuzzica l'introduzione di questa creatura, che fa sterzare la storia verso una piega sovrannaturale. Ma è tutto da vedere, siamo ancora al volume 2...

[Keiko, the manga enthusiast ♒︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was such a relief that Asa's staying at Kinuyo's house with Kasuga—I mean she's indebted to the old lady but still!! They look like a family that Asa fits into perfectly.

I love how Naoki Urusawa just slaps drama, mystery, and science fiction... and sometimes even comedy into one hell of a volume. He's got that magic in him that I really adore.

[Rory Wilding · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first volume of Naoki Urasawa’s latest manga Asadora! delivered a wonderful character-driven piece of historical fiction set in the backdrop of Typhoon Vera. However, the actual hook of the story occurs in the last two pages, in which Asa Asada and the aging former pilot fly through the aftermath of the typhoon and discover the footprint of what looks like a Kaiju. Based on this reveal, Urasawa sets up an element of both science-fiction and mystery.

Please click here for my full review.

[Lia · Rating 5 out of 5]

moxie girl yo!!

[Matty Dub · Rating 5 out of 5]

This new series by manga GOAT Naoki Urasawa will help cement him as the greatest mangaka not named Tezuka to ever live.

I thought I was getting a cute slice of life book...I mean, I literally couldn’t have been more wrong! This is part historical drama, part Indiana Jones-esque adventure, part coming of age, part intrigue and maybe, just maybe, part Kaiju story.

Asa is such a well realized character. She’s got this endearing and admirable determination and can-do attitude. She’s braver than anyone I know and has this larger than life presence. She’s my favorite new protagonist so far this year, and I’ve read the Mistborn trilogy this year.

Urasawa does it again!

[ScottIsANerd (GrilledCheeseSamurai) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like volume one, I couldn't stop reading this until I had finished the whole damn thing.

[Roman Stadtler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Urasawa's so friggin' good! His art, his character's facial expressions, and, oh my, his plotting and pacing. There's thrilling plane aerobatics in this volume, and a landing that was so realistic and suspenseful, I felt like I was watching a movie! And Asa Asada, our heroine (is that an outdated term? Our protagonist), is so compelling, cool and determined and strong, she's destined to go down as one of the strong positive characters, that happens to be female, in comics. In fact, the instances of a looming reptilian tail or a cutaway to a far-off discovery happens, I was jolted into remembering this series isn't just about Asa, there's some kaiju action that's the catalyst for her story, now and at a future point we saw in the opening pages of the first volume. She's such a likable, compelling character, she makes you forget all about the monster plot, showing how masterfully Urasawa is leading us along in his story. After reading his Pluto series, and now these two volumes, I'm convinced I need to read his other works. He's a Master.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asadora! is still in that delightful phase of a comic where you can’t quite tell where the story is going and the possibilities are joyfully open. Overall, though, it’s a lot more upbeat and optimistic than Urasawa’s older work - this is his take on a kid’s adventure comic, with our plucky heroine helping disaster victims and facing down evil smugglers while discovering that she’s a natural pilot. A time-skip at this early stage suggests the story will enter more complex waters before long, but the breezy tone carries over. Urasawa’s great artistic strength remains his faces - he’s doing backgrounds on Asadora! himself and it’s sometimes a little scratchy but the expressiveness of his characters gives the breathless, romping storyline a layer of depth all by itself.

[Emmett Budisalovich]

I think this book was really thrilling and was exiting and there was a hug problem that they have to solve and the did it very nicely except for a part i'm not gonna tell the girl has to fly the air plain. and it was really cool i would recommend this book.

[Jenny Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good series so far. I enjoy Asa's spunk and her passion for flying. I really want to know more about what's going on in present day, and is it connected to the picture she found???
This series shows why Naoki Urasawa is so popular- he has a way with characters and suspense for sure!
Check out my YouTube channel for bookish videos and monthly wrap ups!

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

No sé hacia dónde irá esto, pero Asa me tiene enganchada. Me descoloca lo del animal gigante extraño, es como que no pega con el resto de la historia que es una maravilla. A saber qué nos tiene preparado Urasawa esta vez.

[LaPommequirougit · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://lapommequirougit.com/2020/08/...

Je remercie les Éditions Kana pour cette lecture. Deuxième tome qui est dix fois plus prenant que le premier. Dès le début on est embarqué dans l’émotion et l’héroïsme dont fait preuve le personnage d’Asa.

Asa, c’est une petite fille. Suite à un terrible typhon qui a fait d’horribles dégâts dans son village, elle a décidé avec l’homme qui possède un avion, d’aller distribuer des onigiris à tout le monde. Il faut les nourrir, il faut les aider, elle ne peut pas se résoudre à ne rien faire.

Le problème, c’est qu’Asa ne retrouve pas sa famille, elle ne trouve pas sa maison. À côté de tout ça, une chose vraiment invraisemblable va venir perturber Asa et le pilote, quelque chose de vraiment, indescriptible…

J’aime de plus en plus ce manga. Ce petit bout de chou qu’est Asa me touche en plein cœur. Elle est touchante, elle est courageuse, c’est une vraie petite héroïne du haut de son jeune âge.

En plus, comme avec le premier tome, au début, on a quelques pages, qui nous intriguent, questionne. Elle nous donne un avant-goût de choses qui auront lieu dans l’avenir, puis ensuite on en revient toujours à Asa. Cela ne fait qu’augmenter la torture et l’envie de comprendre ce qui se passe !

En bref, c’est un deuxième tome vraiment réussi. J’ai autant adoré que le premier, je dirais même plus. Ce manga promet beaucoup d’émotion et je sens que mon cœur ne sera pas épargné ! 😉

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the series. If you have read the first, then it will sort of make sense. If you haven't read the first it will make even less sense.

This is a slow moving story. The only things we k now are that Asadora's family home is destroyed by what people think is a tsunami, but she is able to see the monster that did it, from her vantage point in the airplane that she flies to save people whose houses were destroyed.

But, no one believes her, until someone goes looking for the monster, 10 years later.

And that was where we were at with the first book, and now, she is flying an airplane, and someone else has seen the monster.

So, we must wait for the next book to find out where this is all going.
Thanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review.

[Chris Aylott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seemingly in no hurry to get anywhere in particular, this story of a girl, her airplane, and a kaiju (that loves them both?) wanders through a few more hours after the 1959 Nagoya flood, then jumps ahead five years to a new development in the story.

In the wrong hands, this probably wouldn't work, but Urasawa's characters and the details of the setting hold my attention just fine. Take as long as you like, I'm enjoying the journey so far.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frankly I'm biased when it comes to literally anything Urasawa has done (I have a tattoo even), but this volume had everything I love about his story-telling, including a couple parts that made me say "oh my god" out loud.

[Mattia Lugli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una misteriosa orma, una ragazza molto dotata ed un ex militare, con questi dettagli finiva il primo volume di Asadora! Ed in questo secondo numero riprende aggiungendo altri dettagli ai misteri, come è oramai un classico della narrazione di Urasawa. Un altra misteriosa apparizione, un altra traccia di questo inspiegabile essere, ogni cosa si infittisce, e nello stesso momento, vediamo il mondo andare avanti, in un altro momento della vita di Asa.

La vedremo crescere, così come cresceranno i dubbi e le perplessità dietro quei mistero che l'avvolge. Una ragazzina troppo sveglia e piena di talento e spirito d'iniziativa, in un mondo corrotto e difficile.
Ed allo stesso modo vedremo crescere la curiosità dietro il misterioso essere che si aggira tra le pagine di questo fumetto, lasciando tracce qua e là, come è un classico della splendida narrazione di Naoki Urasawa.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that the introduction of the characters is out of the way, we're going to focus on Asa and her discovery of airplane piloting, before taking a 5-year leap forward in time to find out what may have destroyed the family home in '59.

Asa becomes more and more endearing, and we sense the beginnings of an intrepid adventuress who will take us on a journey of amazing discoveries.

Urasawa is having fun with this story and he's letting us enjoy it too.

[mochitto · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
Me ha tenido más enganchada que el primer tomo porque hay más acción y hay un desarrollo del personaje principal, de niña a adolescente.
Como siempre, no es solo la historia lo que me gusta, sino también el estilo de dibujo. A ver cómo sigue

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still have no idea where this will go, but the journey so far has been interesting. I did roll my eyes more in this volume than the first.

[Dasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't help but think that the ratings are this high just because this is Urasawa. I'll give it another few volumes to develop, but honestly I could live without it.

[Knigoqdec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Много съм доволна от начина, по който се разви действието. Урасава наистина умее да загатва съспенс и да го съчетава с чисто житейски неща - борбата със стихията, смелостта да помагаш на другите, да се спасиш, да летиш... В този том има много живец, пламък. Много ми хареса :)

[kuusela harry-pekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real emotional wallop. A great progression of an intruiging story with lifelike characters.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Asa and Kasuga continue to drop food from the airplane to survivors of the "typhoon". During one of their runs, a huge tail appears out of the debris and almost swats the airplane out of the sky. They agree that they were hallucinating. Kasuga passes out from a gunshot wound and Asa must fly the plane. She tricks the plane's owner to give her the plane. Time passes and Asa is 17. She is an excellent pilot. Kasuga's former army instructor appears with a picture of the tail. Asa tries to discover what the creature is. #AsadoraVol2 #NetGalley