The Perfect Edition

Gr 8 Up—Soviet-era spy mystery meets medical drama in this manga about a young doctor struggling to navigate the world of professional politics and murder. Dr. Tenma is the third son in a family of doctors, who left Japan years ago to work under his idol in a hospital in Dusseldorf, Germany. His brilliance in surgery is matched only by his kindness to his patients, and his sense of obligation to everyone who comes through the door. He's on the fast track to promotion and power, until he refuses the hospital director's order to leave the victim of a brutal crime on the table and go help the mayor instead. Suddenly he goes from the cusp of a bright future to a grunt. His fiancée leaves him, his promotion is given away, and his patients are removed from his care. But when the men who took everything from Tenma wind up suddenly dead, he's set down a path that will change his life forever. This volume will please manga fans who crave history and humans over fantasy and fighting. The art is well done; characters are clearly defined from each other, with exaggerated features (noses, eyebrows, hair) that look perfectly in place in a 1980s flashback. Younger readers should be warned of violence (mostly off-screen), death, and murder. A good supplemental purchase for anime clubs.—Clair Segal, Horace Mann School, New York City