I of course have loved Takahashi since my early days of reading manga. At one time I deeply loved Inuyasha and enjoyed Rin-ne for the most part. My favorite however will always be the Mermaid Saga books, as they blend the supernatural with the everyday and horror so brilliantly. They're a little historical, a little hopeful, a little action packed...just mt absolute favorite.

This short collection features none of her pre-existing characters, but her signature style all over again. Each story has a little bit about the fantastic to it; whether its the title story where two students are chosen to bear the mirror that shows people their sins to the kid who's afraid of cats and has his arm possessed by one, these are all outside of the ordinary.

Largely they work. Takahashi is no stranger to short manga stories, so she's a dab hand at outlining a world before diving straight to the point of it.

My favorite however was the last comic, which was collaboration between herself and Mitsuru Adachi, ruminating on how they became interested in manga and how they've encouraged each other for decades in large and small ways. Its very touching as well as fascinating to see how they both came to the industry.

Especially as I adore Adachi's Short Program (slice of life stories about growing up and the myriad relationships we have through life) series and Cross Game (baseball) series.

A welcome treat for long time fans, but much like Kaoru Mori's collection, Anything and Something, new-to-her readers may not find the stories as nostalgically endearing. ( )

Who wants a manga short story collection? With horror, magic realism and whimsy? I do, I do, I do!
Rumiko Takahashi creates her characters so effortlessly, and I love the drawing style.

Came the Mirror – a creepy story about a magic mirror that sucks out the darkness in people’s souls. This one felt too short and slightly half-baked, it seemed that there was more to say. I still enjoyed it, though.

Revenge Doll – be careful with magic dolls that people send you for no particular reason! Here is a pretty “standard” horror story, but it is set in a manga studio, and there is a nice twist at the end. Loved it!

The Star Has a Thousand Faces – a very silly story about a very silly actress, the cast and crew of a very silly drama, and a very silly series finale that almost (!) wasn’t filmed (and what a tragedy that would have been ;))). I had lost of fun, thumbs up.

Lovely Flower – an interesting take on a crazy stalker plot. There are pheromones. The story doesn’t go the way you’d expect and there is a plucky heroine ☺

With Cat – this is a cute teen romance with lots of misunderstandings. Also, you have cats cursing humans and possessing them. How delightful!

My Sweet Sunday – an autobiographical piece on becoming a manga artist, written in collaboration with Mitsuru Adachi. It’s nice enough, but it’s probably my least favourite story in this collection, There was a certain lack of whimsy.
( )