House of Five Leaves. I am currently rereading the manga series House of Five Leaves by Natsume Ono, which is a historical story about an awkward ronin who bumbles his way into a group of criminals who call themselves “The Five Leaves.” When he stays (even after learning that they’re kidnappers who live off ransom money), he becomes their fifth member.
I first met Ono’s work as an anime, which I’ve watched countless times. The music, the voices, the ambiance … I find them calming. So I’ll often have House of Five Leaves playing on the side while I’m writing. Last year, I picked up the manga. Mostly to see if there was more to the story. Much to my amazement, the story diverges at Volume 4. Not only does the anime edit out an entire (main!) character, the ending is different. (Not in a bad way, simply different.)
Anyhow! These two screenshots are from the first and last episodes of the anime. And I think they sum up my storytelling style quite neatly.
House of Five Leaves (the manga) is complete in 8 volumes. The anime is complete in 12 episodes. Also by Natsume Ono: Gente (the manga) which was made into Ristorante Paradiso (the anime) and ACCA-13. Both are excellent. I really hope more of their works are translated into English.
FORTHRIGHT 
Fond of bookends, eh?
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Utterly smitten.
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Love this… The art style, with the depiction of a simple act of sharing encompasses the emotional complexity of truly caring for another. A picture says a thousand words. Or perhaps I’ve been quarantined too long, lol!
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::happy sigh::
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aksdjfh I *love* the Ristorante Paradiso anime! Didn’t realize the manga went by a different name. oAo Lemme just… add that to my list quietly like I don’t already have hundreds of series in my TBR pile. TTvTT;;;
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Same!
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Ohhh! I love the ACCA-13 anime so much. It’s so calming for me and that opening is so nice. It never occurred to me to check if there was anything else by that mangaka.
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Goodreads has helped me make a lot of those connections.
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Sigh…my list just got a little longer.
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Ever-teetering piles!
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It’s now time to go one level deeper into the dream. Find and read the Light Novels…
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I’ve tried various light novels and have always been wretchedly disappointed by the quality of writing.
For me, going a level deeper is writing the fanfiction. ::twinkle::
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That’s fair. Light novels are typically written targeting teenagers and younger, and the translation qualities definitely vary. Wildly.
But the stories are sometimes worth enduring the poor translations and well-trodden tropes for. Infinite Dendogram is a lot of fun, as is Arifureta. Both of which have had their stories chopped and left strewn across the butcher’s floor for their Manga and Anime adaptations.
Of course, this opinion is somewhat biased by my lack of ability to watch most Animes.
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