Erica Sakurazawa reveals what happens when real people are touched by an angel.

CONSUMER ADVICE

While this title does not contain any glorious sex, violence, or language, parents should be aware that there are at least two non-sexual pictures of a nude angel drawn, and that this title does deal with the harsh topic of a woman who has discovered that her husbend is cheating on her. I honestly don't think kids would find too much in this title that would interest them anyway, but this is worth pointing out. Fans of drama may get a lot more out of this then anyone else will, as the pacing for this story tends to be on the slow side at time, while it slowly and carefully developes the story and characters in this title. Fans of Erica Sakurazawa should be more then satisfied with this title.

I LOVED the first "Angel" book! It was the book that got me interested in Erica Sakurazawa's books, and (so far) it remains my favorite of the bunch by far, a true masterpiece. Now we have the oddly named sequel "Angel Nest" among us (okay, so it was released shortly after the first book was released, something I didn't get right away), and all "Angel Nest" has done is given me a craving for more angel stories from Ms. Sakurazawa. The story begins when a young woman by the name of Natsu who comes home from work early one day and finds out her husband, Ken, is having an affair with another woman. Shortly after Natsu discovers this disturbing news, she moves into her own apartment and is shocked to discover that there is an angel (that no one else appears to be able to see) living at her new apartment. This comes as no shock to us readers since we read the first book. What DOES come as a shock is that a few days later, the woman who Ken was having an affair with (who’s name is Emi) ends up moving in with Natsu because she fears Ken is stalking her! What makes the situation even more bizarre is that Emi can see the angel too!

Ironically, this is about as far a role the angel plays in this book. While the angel never did anything out of the ordinary in the first book, in this book the angel practically disappears into the background, and the story focuses on the strange bond Natsu and Emi end up having. Natsu is shocked to discover that she and her ex-husbands mistress have an awful lot in common, and Emi discovers just how kind and loving Natsu is, and she regrets ever having an affair with Ken in the first place. This is all the story that there really is to talk about. But like the first book, the story is not what makes this series special, it's the journey itself. These characters are not cardboard cut outs, but are real people who have real feelings who deal with real life situations in realistic ways (how's that for a tongue twister). There is nothing simple about the situation these two people find themselves in, but it is interesting to see how they deal with it, and when the conclusion comes it is all very rewarding. What's even more shocking is that despite the fact that the angel does practically nothing in this book (which is, surprisingly, even less then what she did in the last book), the angel is still one of the key driving forces in making this story work. The angel must be a good luck charm or something, because Erica's angel stories always tend to be the best stuff she works on.

Makes me kind of wish she would make a full series with the angel, but I know Erica just can't stay with one set of characters too long, as she must be creating something new all the time. Still, one hopes that Erica will take time out of her busy schedule to revisit our favorite angel somewhere down the road. Anyway, there is a downside to this book. The first downside is the artwork, which still comes off as uninspiring and bland at times. The second downside is that the angel story is too short. The story is only ninety-four pages long, which makes this a sweet but far too short tale. So what's filling up the other one hundred and six pages you ask? Well, that's the third problem, in that there are a few unrelated short stories at the end of the book, most of them clocking in at around thirty pages each. These short stories aren't nearly as interesting as the angel story though, and they are all too short to establish a story and the characters personalities, and still manage to make us care. Personally I didn't care for these stories, and I think it's mainly a waste of time to even read them. Despite these setbacks though, "Angel Nest" is a book I highly recommend getting.

I know there are books that you know are technically the best thing you've read, and books that are your personal favorite books that you will read again and again despite their shortcomings. The "Angel" books fall in the second category for me, and I know they will for many other people who read them too. Unfortunately, I have to wonder how much longer that will be. Since releasing the initial wave of Erica Sakurazawa books Tokyopop hasn't released anymore of her books, and it looks like the ones they've initially published have gone out of print. I'm not saying that they have for sure (I have no solid proof of this), but I rarely see the books in bookstores anymore, and the ones I do see don't have Tokyopop's new red fish logo or anything, which suggests that they've been sitting on the shelf for quite awhile. Is there a market for Erica Sakurazawa books anymore? It may have been easy to sell them in 2003 when the manga boom was just getting started, but now I have to wonder whether future Erica Sakurazawa books would find an audience now. There's just so much stuff out there, that something like "Angel's Nest" (despite being a one shot comic) can easily (and criminally) be overlooked. Don't let yourself be one of the people foolish enough to not discover this gem of a book.