Okay, so I confess, I don't usually cover manga style graphic novels for the blog. It is not that I am incapable of reading right to left, or that I have some deeply held prejudice against Asian art. Actually, the real reason is that I feel inadequate. It is pretty much impossible for me to keep up with regular graphic novels already, and when I see the manga section in a bookstore, my heart sinks, because I know I could start reading now and never catch up. So I apologize for my shortcomings -- but every now and then I get a strong recommendation or two and I give it a try. So listen up, Moto Hagio's A Drunken Dream and other Stories is the best example I have ever seen of writing short stories within a graphic novel format.
Oh, sure, Will Eisner's A Contract with God is a classic and it does a great job of presenting gritty realism in an urban setting. But Moto's work is beautiful and weird and lyrical and gripping and magical.
I can't do justice to any story with my description, but I'll try to give you a taste. My favorite story was Iguana Girl. A woman gives birth to a daughter, but when she is first shown the child, she sees her as an overgrown iguana. Her husband, the nurses, and everyone else see a normal human baby, but the mother is horrified. When a second baby is born normal, poor Rika (the iguana girl) begins to suffer neglect and hatred form her mother. There is a satisfying and somewhat redemptive ending.
Not all the stories are that odd. Many are stories of people trying to understand and love each other. This would work well in a high school literature class -- particularly for AP English I think. But is also just a really good read.
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