Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 (ガイコツ書店員 本田さん [Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san] #1)

The Artisan Geek

Rating: really liked it
29/8/20
I really enjoyed this manga, I thought it was really cool to see what goes on behind the scenes at a book store and there were some really funny moments -- the smiling exercise lmao. I love how the main side characters are so quirky with their disguises and the expressions of all the other side character :) Very much looking forward to the rest of the series.

28/8/20
The idea of a skeleton working at a book store really appealed to me, which is why I had to get myself a copy.

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Diz

Rating: really liked it
This manga series gives an insider's view of what it is like to work in the manga section of a Japanese bookstore. Having worked at a bookstore in my younger days, I could relate to the stories of dealing with strange customer requests, restocking shelves, and dealing with unusual management. It's all true. I imagine those who have bookstore work experience will enjoy this more than others as it gets pretty deep into the inner workings of bookstores.

Stewart Tame

Rating: really liked it
Anyone who's worked retail should identify with this book. Honda-san works in a bookstore in Japan. All coworkers have had their names and appearances changed to prevent identification, but presumably these stories are taken more or less from life. Many of them involve manga, and I assume it's because that's the department in which Honda-san works. I gather that this bookstore either specializes in manga, or is large enough that the manga section requires its own dedicated staff. Since manga’s appeal is universal, Honda-san also gets many foreigners looking for books.

As someone who works in retail myself, I was surprised at the lack of customer horror stories. Because everyone who's worked a customer service position has encountered at least a few of those. Honda-san is either incredibly fortunate, or simply saving those stories for future volumes. I did find the chapter about the smile-training seminar eminently relatable though.

At first, I was a bit off-balance while reading this. Honda’s style takes some getting used to--the juxtaposition of humans with ridiculous heads or masks with normal people. I also struggled a bit trying to figure out whether Honda-san is supposed to be male or female (seems drawn as male, but could just be relatively flat-chested), before realizing that I was being silly in even thinking it mattered. Clearly societal prejudices run deep.

Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit. I'm definitely interested in reading the next volume. Recommended!

Katy

Rating: really liked it
I feel seen... If you've ever wondered what it was like to sell comics, then this is the closest I've seen it!

Paul Spence

Rating: really liked it
For many of us, bookstores are a place of magic and wonder: places we go to find a new story to lose ourselves in – but have you ever wondered what goes into running one? Here with the answers is Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, which takes a look at what it means to work in a bookshop in Japan!

The story follows Honda-san, a skeletal bookseller who’s in charge of foreign comics and art books in the bookstore he works at. Alongside his co-workers Honda-san does his best to meet the varied and sometimes weird requests of the shop’s customers as he juggles his everyday tasks in this workplace comedy.

It’s not just the customers Honda-san has to help, as he also has to reject pushy sales people who are trying to get their books promoted! Naturally no bookstore has the space to promote every new book in a given week, but despite this, the publishers try their hardest to get stores to advertise their wares – and Honda-san has a difficult time saying no…

Some of you may already be familiar with Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san thanks to the anime that aired last year. The series took the internet by storm when Honda-san encountered a father on the hunt for a ‘special yaoi book’ for his daughter in one of the early episodes. For a book lover like me it was an unforgettable story, and I’m so glad that the manga has now reached our shores.
Like the anime, the manga goes in-depth on what it means to work in a bookstore. It’s full of interesting information I never knew before, but it’s not just informative. It’s also great fun! The characters we meet throughout this first volume are varied, from yaoi fans to shonen collectors and those who’ve come from overseas. Both the cast themselves and their interactions with Honda-san are all very unique and a real joy to flip through.

This manga is based on mangaka Honda’s real life experiences working as a bookseller, which gives the series a very genuine feeling. Although Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san would have undoubtedly been a fun read without this ‘inside knowledge’, it’s hard to deny that the wacky antics are easier to buy into when you know they’re true to life.

If you’re even remotely a fan of books (not necessarily manga, but that helps!) then you’ll have a great time reading the series. No doubt if you work in retail yourself you’ll also get a kick out of the interactions Honda-san shares with his coworkers, who all have problems of their own in their various store sections. Speaking of Honda-san’s coworkers I feel it’s worth mentioning that they’re all given fantastical designs like Honda-san. Each individual has a unique mask or piece of headgear that they’re identified by. For example: Fox-san and Lantern-san, named after the fox mask and lantern helmet the two sport. It’s a fun idea and adds a lot to the comedy element of the series.

Where artwork is concerned, this first volume looks fantastic. If you’ve watched the anime then you’ll already know what to expect, as it’s very true to the manga. For those of you who haven’t seen the anime, the artwork for Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is very detailed, expressive and fun. There’s a lot going on from panel to panel but, with clear and distinct outlines for the cast, it’s easy to follow what’s happening on the page and distinguish what’s important from any given scene. The series’ humour relies on the visuals and the mangaka does a fine job of making sure every joke lands perfectly.

The only downside for some readers is that there are a lot of references to manga and anime made throughout this volume, and some of the jokes don’t quite work if you don’t get them. This volume includes lots of translation notes at the back of the book to try and help you through, but I’m sure it could become annoying to go back and forth for them if you aren’t getting any of the references.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san comes West thanks to Yen Press. The series has finished in Japan at just four volumes and Yen Press currently have Volume 2 scheduled for an October release, with Volume 3 in January 2020. Volume 1 has been translated by Amanda Haley and the translation reads well. I think praise is especially deserved for how well Haley manages to convey scenes where Honda-san is dealing with English customers and speaking in broken, stuttered speech. It does a great job of both showing that Honda’s out of his comfort zone and that he’s struggling to communicate.

Overall, Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san is a real treat for book lovers. If you’re an existing fan thanks to the anime then the manga is well worth jumping into, but newcomers will also greatly enjoy their first steps into Honda-san’s world. I’m certainly looking forward to Volume 2!

scar

Rating: really liked it
it was fun enough but a bit too chaotic. i guess that was the style but still

Rod Brown

Rating: really liked it
I was super excited by the title and cover of this book. I was expecting something weird and twisted. Instead I just got some pretty generic stories about being a clerk in a bookstore: stocking shelves, dealing with odd customer questions, getting customer service training. Giving the bookstore employees crazy heads is just a gimmick to hide identities in what is presented as the confessions of a real-life bookseller. So disappointing...

Thomas Maluck

Rating: really liked it
Fifth star unlocked by the customer service training chapter, too real.

David J

Rating: really liked it
I used to work at Barnes & Noble and knew this would be just up my alley. This is quite funny and so easy to engage with. I would never have thought a skeleton working at a bookstore would be so relatable, but that's what retail will do for you, haha. A definite recommendation.

Also, this was my first manga! I can't wait to read the rest of this (short) series.

ᗩᑎᗪᖇᗴᗯ

Rating: really liked it
For booksellers everywhere

Honda-san works in a Japanese bookstore. This story is a little drier than I expected, but the art is great and, having spent time working in retail, I relate to many of her experiences. Looking forward to the next volume.

Ashley

Rating: really liked it
Honda is a very sincere and hard working bookseller! You could say he works himself to the bone!
I really love this - Bookselling culture vs. library culture here but the common ground is that he cares for the people he serves, the sincerity is true, and we both have adventures with them. Sometimes a patron can make or break your spirit! The chapter with him getting berated over the phone and the next one of the kindest patrons he's had is so relatable I felt like I was in his exact shoes

It's also illustrated by him! I've never seen a skull be so expressive! That's also my vibe - skulls are the best and I would have the same persona if I was drawn in his style 100

Loved it!

Courtney

Rating: really liked it
Added value for me as I recently read the first volume of ‘one punch man’

And thanks to this I looked at the wiki for bandes dessinée

Another review that I saw expressed disappointment about the premise/mechanic of the skull face and the other non-traditional faces as only being means to grant anonymity. I also felt a kind of disappointment.
I think a bookstore populated with fantastical characters would be an interesting aspect of a story. I also think that a bookstore staffed with humans is interesting on its own. I understand the need to give people their right to privacy, but what is the point of the choice of having these true to life experiences obfuscated by an absurd appearance? I suppose it's whimsical. I feel that the style choice bogs down the actions of the story rather than adding to it.

Anyone please let me know if there are books about a bookstore, library, etc. staffed by extraordinary beings as part of a premise or setting.

Dana

Rating: really liked it
This didn’t hit the mark I hoped for. Probably my bad. The art is very distracting and I didn’t care for it. Which then led the whole book off tracks for me. I like the idea of having all of Honda’s coworkers have these masks to protect their identities and such but then you get all these... almost over stylized version of humans and stereotypes as customers. I found the situations almost overdramatized but I’ve worked retail before so I can see that these could have definitely happened.

Overall not the book I had hoped for but still an interesting insight to manga sellers in Japan.

James DeSantis

Rating: really liked it
Got bored half way. Cool idea but the various stories from a book seller could be done far more interesting than this. None of the stories stuck out. Art was solid tho.

Llyr Heller-Humphreys

Rating: really liked it
Glad I watched the excellent anime first, but a very fun first volume.