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The setting: A boys’ boarding school in Germany, sometime in the latter 20th Century. Fourteen year-old Thomas Werner falls from a lonely pedestrian overpass to his death immediately after sending a single, brief letter to a schoolmate:

To Juli, one last time
This is my love
This is the sound of my heart
Surely you must understand

Thus begins the legendary and enigmatic The Heart of Thomas, by Moto Hagio. Inspired by Jean Delannoy’s 1964 film, Les Amitiés Particulières, The Heart of Thomas was nearly cancelled early in its serialization, in 1974, until Hagio’s first trade paperback, The Poe Clan, Volume 1, sold out in a single day, giving her new series a new lease on life. The result was a story more complex, less accessible, and yet so compelling it can be found near or at the top of any list of classic shōjo manga. Translated by manga scholar Matt Thorn and packaged with the same loving attention to detail as Hagio’s Eisner Award nominated A Drunken Dream, The Heart of Thomas is already the most eagerly anticipated manga translation of the new decade.

Praise for A Drunken Dream and Other Stories:

2011 Eisner Award Nominee: Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia

About.com 2011 Readers' Choice Awards Winner, Best New One-Shot Manga

One of Booklist's Top 10 Adult Graphic Novels for 2010

Named to numerous "Best of 2010" lists including Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best Graphic Novels and Comics of 2010, Publishers Weekly's Fifth Annual Critics Poll; Publishers Weekly's Critic's Picks: Manga in 2010, About.com: Manga (named the Best New Manga of 2010), The Manga Critic (named the Best Manga of 2010), New York Magazine's Top Ten Comics of 2010, NPR's Most Memorable Comics & Graphic Novels of 2010 and many more.

"Once the folks at Fantagraphics decided to dip their toes in the manga pool, they didn’t mess around, choosing to launch their new manga line with this collection of short stories from one of the most influential creators of manga for women. Not a retrospective of a waning master, the book instead showcases a career four decades in the making that remains vibrant and relevant today. Hagio’s stories are infused with dark emotions — longing, jealousy, remorse — that are instantly identifiable and, hence, often uncomfortable to confront." – Eva Volin, Booklist (Starred Review)

"Moto Hagio is a genius and leader in the style of shojo manga (comics for women readers). [...] The stories aren't about make-up and kitties, though. They're actually deep, complicated, and often deal with family relationships. At times, the works can be a bit abstract, as well, using allegories and plenty of symbolism. In the end, Moto's work has no need to be categorized as any different from any other realistic manga. Bound in hardcover format with gold foil, this amazing collection deserves a place in any serious manga reader's collection." – Eric Nakamura, Giant Robot

"The stories here are plucked from [Hagio's] sea of accomplishments, span four decades, and feature such common themes as friendship, siblings, death, the woods, the future, and love. Most come across as either quite poignant, deliciously odd, or frickin' creepy." – Whitney Dwire, Bust

"Hagio Moto remains one of the most criminally undertranslated mangaka to have barely made an impression on the English-language manga market. It is criminal because of the profundity of her impact on the art form in Japan as it hit a crucial development phase in the 1970s. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories is... a down payment on the exploration of that legacy as it collects a number of short pieces that hint at the span and depth of her work..." – Rob Vollmarr, World Literature Today

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