Winter is the perfect time of year for quiet reflection and relaxation, and sometimes it's hard to do the latter when you hear "nyo!", "myuuu", or "dou shi o!" coming from the TV every 10 seconds (or less). This is when we take a break for sanity's sake and settle down to a good [comic] book. But that's not what this update is about at all. I just wanted to tie winter to manga! How'd I do?

Those of us who grew up before everyone and their pets (literally) had credit cards and Right Stuf accounts still like to go to stores sometimes, where we can flip through our books and evaluate them a bit before buying them. For the online shopper though, sometimes all there is to go on is the cover. So this spotlight is dedicated to some of the good catches in the domestic manga scene that have equally appealing cover art! The following picks are solid evidence that the garnish is an important part of the meal.

A pinch of shoujo for sweetness

Sakurazawa's Angel Nest is a deviation from her more soap operatic works, and the cover follows suit by showing off a bit of loneliness instead of longing. The cover of Kare Kano's first volume captures its protagonist's confidence and vanity perfectly. And the eighth Marmalade Boy cover exposes the comic's sweetness as well as its drama.

A hearty laugh for body ...

Love Hina's light-hearted focus on fun and family is reflected in its fourteen covers. They also reflect the comic's tendency toward happy beginnings and endings.

A gentle flame for warmth...

A big artistic theme of the Vampire Miyu comics is the many faces of beauty, which matches up nicely to the morally ambiguous storyline. The face of the emotional Yui (New Vampire Miyu, vol. III) is pristine and vulnerable but exceedingly compassionate. The face of Miyu takes on many forms, from playful to seductive to lonely, and everything in between - while the face of Larva rarely changes at all.

A spoonful of kindness for character...

Planet Ladder has one of my favorite sets of covers. The covers actually seem to reflect the emotional growth of Kaguya, as she starts in a whirlwind of confusion and slowly gains strength and confidence within herself.

Finishing touches for flavor...

CLAMP artwork always seems to add the right amount of splendor to a manga shelf. It would take up too much space to show all my favorites, but it only takes a couple to see why they're special.

And a toast, to good times.

I wasn't wild about the character designs in Great Teacher Onizuka, but this cover sure caught my eye. The comic is great fun throughout, but it doesn't have many scenes that you just want to look at for a while - so this cover is an unusual treat.