This is a 5-volume manga series comprised of individual short stories that all have to do with coffee one way or other. Each of them is bittersweet with a philosophical bent.
A noble family lives in an isolated island. They have an abnormal behavior toward their own twins members. They do rituals, tortures and scientific experiments on them in order to obtain a mysterious knowledge and power.
From Tokyopop: The smugglers in our tale--guys who have to clean up the bodies after mob assassinations in which heads get ripped off--are a cold-hearted silent veteran, an old man, and a young guy forced to do dirty work to pay back money he owes the mob. When the young smuggler makes a mistake by allowing a captured rival to escape, the price he must pay for his error gets horrifically high...
(from ebookjapan): Mirage is an old-fashioned bar on a street corner. Men who are lost in life come to the mirage, transcending time and space, and become captivated by Maya, the beautiful proprietress. What do the defeated men want from Maya? A bewitching and sad story of men by Leiji Matsumoto.
Rose Hip Rose is a manga about a teenage girl who fights crime. While the setup doesn't sound so great, it gets better as the manga progresses. The series' major strong point is the art. Along the way, she ends up having a showdown with a major criminal named The Goat. However, it seems that The Goat doesn't seem to like being caught. Be wary, though, the series is very violent. The art and story are by Fujisawa Tohru, author of GTO and Bad Company. The art is quite nice, but somewhat different from GTO's. If you like violence, gore, Fujisawa, or cacti, Rose Hip Rose is the manga for you. Oh yeah, did I mention it was violent?
From Kotonoha: Maki Takano and his three best friends Ryo, Natsume and Mei are students at a private academy for highly gifted children. Like all the other students of this isolated and heavily guarded school, they have never seen the outside world since they were brought to the school at the young age of three. When a new female student named Kiriko Hinatsu arrives, Maki has the strange feeling that he has met her before. However, he seems to be the only person who can remember the girl. When he confronts her with his discovery, Kiriko reveals the unbelievable truth about their existence: The school they have been living at all this time is actually an experimental facility and all the students are but guinea pigs who are being used for sophisticated neurological experiments. Maki now has to decide: Will he continue his false but sheltered life or will he help Kiriko escape even if that means putting himself and his mental health at risk?
Mitsuru is beautiful, graceful and admired by many people, but she has a weird problem--a single, violent movement against her can get her begging sweetly for more! Her nickname M, also stands for masochistic. Natsuhiko, is a guy who found out Mitsuru's secret on their first day of senior high school. Even so, he has an equally bad problem--the mere glimpse of his reflection can send him into a flying fit about how beautiful he is! He is nicknamed as N for narcissistic. They both hope to minimize their chances of being exposed because of their weird behaviours.
(From the publisher's description) The scene is of a heart forgetting and a body learning. When there’s a lot piled up, it’s time to resurrect the figure of the lascivious older brother...?! Other stories include baseball players playing a different game in the locker room, the love/hate disaster of soldiers left behind on a deserted island, and more. With three non-serialized stories plus the sequel to “Koihime”, there are over 100 pages of previously unpublished work in this gorgeous masterpiece collection!! **Be warned: Incest, rape, and pedophilia-Just as the chapters warn!
Stories included in this volume: 1. Mishiranu Machi (見知らぬ街) (Date:1989) A group of teenagers went on a summer holiday and had a car accident. The woke up and found the whole city was empty. How can they escape the eerie place? But more importantly, can they really all go back? Note: It has been suggested that MATSUMOTO Yoko traced some of her panels of this stroy from Birthday Present (MIYAWAKI Akiko). 2. Youkoso Mystery Tour e (ようこそミステリーツアーへ) In the summer holiday, a 15 year old girl Kana went on a vacation on an island, when a certain hotel giving out invitation to join a treasure hunt event with only a ridiculously impossible map to read. With a group of four along with her cousin Riku who can't handle transportation, her little brother Takashi who likes mystery and her brother's girlfriend Natsuki, the group join the event, meeting suspicious people and witnessing unexplainable occurences. Can they find the treasure? Is there any hidden agenda from the hotel owner by making such an event? 3. A wa Akuma no A (アは悪魔のア) An almost dead man entrusted a Devil statue to Riku, a 15 year old boy. Before they realized, Kana, Riku, Takashi and Natsuki were already involved in an adventure involving antiques, cops, a devil in disguise, an angel in custody, and a cold blooded killer.
Yui, codename: "The Killing Doll" is an matchless assassin, programmed with an emotional override that makes him little more than a puppet. Hired out by a ruthless coorporation, Yui loses control of himself whenever there's a job to be done. In the precious few moments he has to himself, he tries to build a life for himself with the guidance of a priest and fellow assassin, Miyagi.
beginnning with the Bloody Valentine War between Earth and the colonies,On one side is the Earth Alliance, and on the opposite is the space colonies that form ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty). Mankind is divided over human genetic engineering, with normal humans known as "Naturals" and the genetically altered humans known as "Coordinators".While ZAFT has a head start on mobile suit design, the Earth Alliance quickly catches up with its five prototype Gundams. With ZAFT having stolen four of the prototypes, young Coordinator Kira Yamato pilots the GAT-X105 Strike Gundam and is forced to fight his old friend Athrun Zala. Little do they know that there exist sinister forces working to bring about events that go far beyond their worst nightmares. -Taken From Wikipedia
From HMR: The main character, Rui, is a hardworking and happy girl. One day, her neighbor moves away and leaves behind a stuffed panda bear. Rui decided to take it home, since she's always loved panda bears. She goes to sleep with it one night, and discovers herself in bed with a stranger (who also happens to look like her ideal man) the next morning. He introduces himself as Peter, and that is how she ends up meeting three other guys...
