Hey all, Sam here.
All right…let’s see if I can get back on track with my review schedule, because I am falling more and more behind with every little hiatus I take, and that is not fun for me. It’s starting to get difficult to try and find a balance between my overdue reviews and my upcoming release reviews. If I could have a few days to just sit down and do nothing other than write up these review posts, then maybe I could start to catch up…even if it meant sometimes having two posts a day. Unfortunately I don’t like the idea of doing that because I’d be even more likely to burn myself out.
So…when I post my TBR for the month, I’m likely to read some or most of what is on that TBR, but I don’t know how likely I am to review those books in the month I read them or even the month after that. I’m still trying to figure things out.
On the plus side, I think I do technically have enough content in my backlog to have posts up every day for a couple months…so let’s see if I can start keeping a regular schedule here.
Anyway, hello, and welcome to Manga Monday. Let’s just dive right in.
A powerful tale of forbidden love, shame, and revenge comes to life in Manga The Scarlet Letter. Faithfully adapted by Crystal Chan from the original novel, this new edition features stunning artwork by SunNeko Lee (Manga Les Miserables) which will give old and new readers alike a fresh insight into the Nathaniel Hawthorne’s tragic saga of Puritan America.
Manga Classics editions feature classic stories, faithfully adapted and illustrated in manga style, and available in both hardcover and softcover editions. Proudly presented by UDON Entertainment and Morpheus Publishing.
My Thoughts
Rating: 4 stars
I’ve really enjoyed this Manga Classics series. As someone with a B.A. in English Literature, it’s nice to get to go back and experience some of these books that I read in my youth or during my studies. The fact is that while in school I had to read these stories analytically, dissecting them for purposes of discussions and exams. But with the adaptation to manga, it is so so much easier to just read these classics for enjoyment.
Even when the classic deals with horrors and traumas and less than happy lives or situations, they feel easier to digest when done with cutely styled character design. This is especially true since some of the lengthy descriptions of surroundings can be at least partly expressed with actual visuals, and internal monologues or even spoken dialogues can be broken up into several panels of text.
Plus, in true manga fashion, these read much faster than the classic novels they are adapted from.
The one thing I will say about Manga Classics: The Scarlet Letter is that I personally feel like I missed out on some of the clues towards the forbidden romance, and I think some of Hester’s musings about Pearl’s delightful oddities were not as overt….but I say this with the caveat that I have not read The Scarlet Letter since college (probably around 2008), so I’m probably not remembering things as clearly.
I also read this particular manga in January 2024, and am just now writing the review at the end of April, so I am sad to say that I don’t have a lot of specific things to say about this story, but it was a good adaptation (from what I remember, anyway). Maybe I should do proper classic re-reads? Nah, I have too many new and diverse reads to invest my time towards finishing.
I can’t believe I still don’t actually own any of the Manga Classics. I’ve read several of them now, and keep requesting them on NetGalley any time I come across them. I should probably start adding them to my manga collection.
All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
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